Oh wow, I’ve managed to this blog out on time, and in celebration, I’m going to talk about something short and sweet and a little a deviated from my usual topics. This week, I bring you the 10 Commandments of Achievements. This is a doctrine of rules that I feel all developers should follow when implementing achievements (or trophies if that’s your thing). So let us begin the sermon.
First Commandment, Thou shalt give reward that dost reflecteth the work doneth for thine achievement.
I don’t want to get 20 achievement points for completing the training mission at the start of game, but only 30 for completing the game on Insane-Impossible-Haveyounolife difficulty in 1 hour using your feet. The amount of gamerscore you get should be a fair representation of the time, effort and skill that goes into obtaining it.
Second Commandment, Thou shalt not subjecteth thine players to more than one play through, especially for longeth games.
Some games are reasonably short (Portal) or have stories that can be enjoyed multiple times (Dead Space for me), but most of the time, with a story heavy game, one play through is enough. So I don’t want to see an achievement that says ‘Complete two play throughs’ (I’m looking at you Mass Effect 2). A player should never be forced to play a game more than once.
Third Commandment, No achievement shalt be missed
This one relates to the second commandment, in that I don’t want to find that I’ve played through the game but missed the only opportunity to kill the only pink flamingo that spawns once half way through level 22, with no way to go back and replay the level. The only thing worse than being forced to replay a game for an achievement is being forced to replay a game for an achievement you could have unlocked the first time round.
Fourth Commandment, Thou shalt stacketh achievements based on thine difficulty
I’ve completed the game on expert. I’ve got the achievement for completing the game on expert. Now why must I go back, considering I can take all the game can throw at me, and prove I can complete it on an easier difficulty? It makes no sense. Completing the game on one difficulty should unlock achievements for all lower difficulties. Arguably there are some exceptions, such as music games where playing a lower difficulty can be just as challenging as playing a high one. Just ask anyone who is used to playing Rock Band on hard guitar to go down to easy!
Fifth Commandment, Thou shalt not use achievement to force thine players hand.
I have my uber evil character, they’ve been evil the whole game. I’ve made them kill puppies, evict orphans, destroy churches and even leave the toilet seat up. Now why must I choose to save the kingdom rather than let it burn, just to get an achievement? Now it’s fair enough you want to reward ‘moral choices’, but reward both extremes. I don’t want to ever have my choice based gameplay influenced so i can satisfy my achievement OCD.
Sixth Achievement, Thou shalt not reward the best at thine multiplayer
Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t see anything wrong with multiplayer achievements. But I do hate is achievements for say, being the top of the leader board for a week. Or for racking up the most hours online. Or for any of the hundreds of online status’ that only one person can occupy at a time, usually the person with the least amount of a real life so they have the time to sink every waking hour into multiplayer.
Seventh Achievement, Thou shalt always respecteth the sanctity of 5
Okay, I get a little crazy about my gamerscore, always aiming for aesthetically pleasing numbers like 1,000, 5,555 or 20,000. But even the most sane person gets a little annoyed when they get an achievement worth 1, 2, 6 or any other non-multiple of five achievement, fucking up the standard convention of gamerscores being a multiple of five.
Eighth Achievement, If thoust giveth away special editions, dost not allow special editions to make thine achievements easier or harder.
The are times when, no matter how badly you want, you just either can’t afford or find the that rare special edition of the game, with its various codes, props and art books, so don’t give those who did an easier time unlocking achievements. Now I’m not extending this to DLC, which can also make certain achievements easier, as DLC is available to everyone, whereas special/limited editions are just that, and not everyone can get hold of them.
Equally, don’t give players special edition codes that make it harder to unlock achievements. This includes special weapons that may disable achievements for completing the game a certain way, for example.
Ninth Achievement, Thou shalt not cause pain, to body or mind, in pursuit of achievements.
Okay, straight up, I’m looking at you Bladder of Steel. Yes, you, don’t look around, no other achievement has caused me so much suffering and anguish. I’ve had hand cramps, rages, aching bladder and even the shakes (from too much pre-setlist Relentless). An achievement should never hurt. Ever. That’s all there is to it.
Tenth Achievement, Thou shalt always track thine achievement progress
”Have I already got that bonus? I’m pretty sure I got it last round? How many of those guys have I killed, I’m pretty sure I must’ve killed more than 100. God dammit, where’s that check list” – I fucking hate this, right here, this uncertainty. I want to be able to go into the options menu and see how many skeletons I’ve killed, how many of the multiplayer bonus’ I’ve unlocked (I’m looking at you Assassins Creed Brotherhood) or see any of a myriad of possible achievement progressions I could have.
Well, that’s it, there’s my Ten Commandments of Achievements. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments. Hell, please comment! Until next time.
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