Bad Game Design

El Héroe Oscuro

El Héroe Oscuro

IG: elheroeoscuro
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    [PokeCommunity.com] Bad Game Design

    I think we've all been in this instance before, or have seen some of our friends experience it at one point or another. You're blazing through a level and then all of a sudden something comes from out of nowhere and destroys you in an instant. In a rage you throw your controller across the room and automatically blame the game for your shortcomings. However, there's a thin line between blaming a game on "bad game design" and a "difficulty" factor. So my question is what constitutes bad game design? When is it fair to blame a game by it's design rather than the difficulty that is presented towards you? What instances in video games have you witnessed for yourself where you can say the game design is the root of your failure? Imagine if you were a game designer viewing that instance of bad game design: how would you fix that?

    Feel free to comment below with any examples of bad game design that you have come across as well as whether or not you believe that "bad game design" is an actual thing!​
     
    I like that Lion King example, it took me forever as a kid to beat that level because it was so confusing and so many jumps you can easily miss and die or get stuck.

    I can't really think of a game from the top of my head, i'll post back when i can think of one.
     
    Well 2 games pop in my mind now:

    1)Prophecy The Viking Child:Your sword is so short that you have to be 1 mm away from the enemy to hit him and sometimes you dont know whether your jump will result safely on the ground or right on top of an enemy

    2)Kid Icarus Uprising:In Chapter 20 10 enemies circle you and shoot beams that take 1/4 of your life each!It is also a special air stage where you dont have your flight powers!It is on 9.0 I know but even the last boss on 9.0 didnt give me that much trouble!Oh and if you manage to survive 8 needle bombs are coming next!
     
    [PokeCommunity.com] Bad Game Design


    Non-Human, one of the installments for the horrid Action 52. Not just bad game design with pointless Elton John-like heads, but bad gameplay, too.
     
    Hydlide. Hydlide is a prime example of ♥♥♥♥♥♥ game design. It doesn't have an attack button, so instead of "Gameplay" you jump towards your enemies and hope you live. Plus the game uses forced grinding to pad out the game. It pretty much does everything wrong that it could.
     
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    Roaming Murkrow said:
    I like that Lion King example, it took me forever as a kid to beat that level because it was so confusing and so many jumps you can easily miss and die or get stuck.
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    I"m glad someone got that reference haha. I hated that level when I played it as a child, and those puzzles and hit boxes are just so darn to hit accurately that the game just become unconditionally too hard and broken.
     
    Probably my most hated games: Dungeon Lords and PMD: Gates to Infinity
    The first game basically makes you think of being an Open World game, while it isn't. It's also confusing, because the information you sometimes get out of the dialogs is the exact opposite to what you have to do in the actual gameplay. Also since no enemy is immortal, there are a couple of instances where you can break puzzles by defeating the respective enemy, which also gives you tons of EXP making you totally overpowered.

    The latter, I don't know. I've played PMD: Blue Rescue Team before and it was ok. But GtI felt totally differently and had a lot moments that got me so frustrated making me want to throw my 3DS against the wall...
     
    elheroeoscuro said:
    I"m glad someone got that reference haha. I hated that level when I played it as a child, and those puzzles and hit boxes are just so darn to hit accurately that the game just become unconditionally too hard and broken.
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    I actually "got" that reference, I just didn't comment on it. But I agree with you there; that level is game-breaking.
     
    elheroeoscuro said:
    I"m glad someone got that reference haha. I hated that level when I played it as a child, and those puzzles and hit boxes are just so darn to hit accurately that the game just become unconditionally too hard and broken.
    Click to expand...
    I got it, commented and did not get appreciation...
    Me crysta...
    [PokeCommunity.com] Bad Game Design
     
    Any god damn open space game that has no map with traversal over several areas. Warrior Within is a perfect example of this, a great game where I had no idea where I was going unless I do it in one sitdown.
     
    elheroeoscuro said:
    [PokeCommunity.com] Bad Game Design
    Click to expand...
    Oh

    my

    god



    This screenshot sent me on a horrible nostalgia trip. Playing this bloody level of The Lion King on my SNES as a kid. The hit box detection was just so absolutely brutal. Good lord. I could never grab those hippo tails. My jumps were all off. It was such a difficult stage layout to begin with, but those completely broken mechanics.... just, ugh. So, fffffff

    All my rage. Dammit. That level is the stuff of nightmares
     
    I don't know if this counts more as bad programming rather than design, but Rule of Rose had really awful collision/hit detection - you can swing a weapon and watch it go through an enemy, but it won't even take any damage. And an enemy can take a swing at you with a very visible gap between you and where the blow landed, and you'll go flying. Combat was incredibly infuriating.

    Though from the design perspective, it had many flaws, too. The orphanage is huuuge, which could have been a good thing if they used the space well, but often, the chapter will just have you run around the entire place, opening every door (and there are literally hundreds of doors that serve absolutely no purpose - you yank it open and a kid inside snaps it back shut immediately) to find where the next cutscene/objective is. Sometimes there's a puzzle or hint, but usually it's just running around and guessing where you should be.

    And some more complaints about the combat - Jennifer (protagonist) is incredibly weak and slow. She always moves slowly, she extends her arm very slowly when attacking, which makes the already infuriating combat even worse. Boss battles take forever for that reason - they aren't hard, because there is a pattern to their attacks and they only have a couple signature moves, but they can run on for an incredibly long time. Jennifer's HP does not increase but bosses get increasingly stronger, to the point where sometimes she can only take two hits before dying. And keep in mind because of the hit detection, you have to be incredibly close to the enemy to do any damage, but they can hit you from a pretty good distance.

    So yeah, lotta bad decisions made by the people that put this together. :P Story was great though, it's really a shame the gameplay wasn't as good.
     
    Juno said:
    I don't know if this counts more as bad programming rather than design, but Rule of Rose had really awful collision/hit detection - you can swing a weapon and watch it go through an enemy, but it won't even take any damage. And an enemy can take a swing at you with a very visible gap between you and where the blow landed, and you'll go flying. Combat was incredibly infuriating.
    Click to expand...
    I only needed to read the first sentence to tell you that's bad programming. :P
     
    That reminds me...

    Ride to Hell: Retribution.

    The entire game that is. They apparently came up with every bad game Idea and executed them as poorly as possible. It's like they were trying to make a bad game.
     
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