Testing Achievements

Achievements given simply by having tested some action in the game.

Using the pattern

Optional Goals

Smooth Learning Curves

Testing Achievements are typically designed through selecting some of the optional activities supported by the game, one that might otherwise be overlooked if players are focused on one strategy of completing or winning the game. However, for games with Varied Gameplay one can construct Testing Achievements to make players test other ways of playing the game, so these types of Achievements can also be used to encouraged Varied Gameplay if the difference in gameplay is under players' choice (rather than the game varying the gameplay between different parts).

The action may or may not have to be successfully performed for the achievement to be given.

What differs Testing Achievements from Goal Achievements is simply that even if performing the activity could be see as a goal, it is a trivial goal to succeed with and the main requirement is that the player is willing to try the activity (and does not need to successfully complete it). Grinding Achievements may be constructed from requiring players to perform the same activity as the same used in Testing Achievements, but repeatedly performing an activity is directly opposite to testing it.

Consequences

Like other types of Achievements, Testing Achievements can be seen as a type of Reward and a basis for Meta Games.

Optional Goals

For games with Varied Gameplay, Testing Achievements can be used to make players at least test the different ways of playing for a short while. This may promote Replayability, but is probably more likely to do so when combined with Goal Achievements to provide Rewards both for beginning to play a certain way and for successfully completing the game or Quest in a game by playing a certain way.

not much of a Meta Game.

History

New pattern created in this wiki.