Achievements

Let's talk about Achievements.

Some people love achievements in their games, going out of their way to try and acquire every single one; others care very little for them, and are more interested  in the story/plotline or the actual game mechanics.
But I think they are very few people do who not enjoy achievements at all- almost everyone can appreciate a notification popping up, congratulating you on having completed a task!

 

This makes achievements the natural first option when trying to create game-like educational software. Achievements appeal to pretty much everyone, and have plenty of depth in terms of how they are earned, how many there, and their own tiers/classes.

I'd like to reference a piece from the Gamification Wiki on Acheivements, which you can check out here. It has some great questions to consider for a game designer wanting to incorporate Achievements into a game. Highlights include:

• Do you give Achievements often?
• Have you implemented a place for players to collect and show their Achievements, such as a Trophy Case?
• Do you have an Achievement Map to show the Achievements you have, ones you could earn, and available info on how you can earn them?
• Have you implemented Achievement Tiers such as the common ones like "Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane, and Unknown?"
• Do you use clever names and graphics on your Achievements to add Character? How about humor or wit not only in the names or graphics but also in how you obtain the Achievements?

I want to touch on that last one in particular. Whenever I think of achievements, I think of Xbox's Achievement/Gamerscore implementation and Playstation's Trophies - these two systems have pretty much shaped how I view modern achievements, primarily because they were so smooth, well designed, and the character of the achievements was extremely well done. For example, consider the game inFamous for the PS3. In the game, the player (endowed with the power to control electricity) acquires a power which allows for limited levitation/gliding, a useful ability when trying to get somewhere quickly. When the player travels a certain total amount of distance solely by using this power, the "Frequent Flyer" Trophy is awarded. All of the achievements in the game have some kind of unique, funny, or interesting title, and it's always fun for the player to discover these awards.

 

I can go into great detail about all the different facets of a great Achievement System, but I'll just say a little bit more to wrap up: Achievements are almost always great game elements to incorporate. They appeal to pretty much everyone, and even more so to those players and perfectionists who strive for 100% completion. Collecting things is fun. Game designers have to make sure to not only make the achievements themselves interesting, but the journey to obtain them fun as well.

This will be the first in series of posts describing various Game Elements, such as Achievements. Check back soon!
Peace,
KR