Goals for Gamers

This video introduces the topic of object clarity in video games, and provides demos of games that set clear goals for players. Visual Descriptions of Game Demos Life is Strange 2: Sean, a 17-year-old boy, stands in a small basement. The player opens Sean’s journal in which four objectives are currently displayed: hunt for munchies, find drinks for Eric’s party, ask Dad for money, and find a blanket. The screen fades to what the journal looks like after one of the tasks has been completed – “find a blanket” has been crossed out. The Outer Worlds: In the Settings menu, under Quest Updates, the player toggles the setting from Timed Fade to On and closes the menu. Now, in the upper right of the screen, the chapter name is displayed (“Stranger in a Strange Land”) along with the current objective (“Find Hawthorne’s Ship”). From a first-person perspective, the player explores a futuristic metallic building while holding a gun. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey: On a sunny Greek island, the player (Kassandra) rides a horse along a dirt path. A map marker appears on the left side of the screen. The player selects Follow Road by holding the A button. Onscreen text says, “Press Y to go to Quest Objective” and the player does so. A dotted line appears along the path, and the horse follows this line automatically. The Witcher 3: On the main menu, the player selects Continue, which initiates a plot summary. Dandelion, the game narrator, provides a voiceover while a still image is displayed onscreen – a sick woman lies in bed while a small impish creature sits on the floor beside her. Geralt, the character controlled by the player, is standing in the doorway outside the frame and his shadow is visible on the floor.