#temporary barriers in games

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

spring jasper
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Do you mean the term for the way it's presented? Or the fact that it's temporary?

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Your example would be considered a content lock; specifically, a map region lock gated by an objective.

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The "objective" could be a progression goal, currency, event trigger, etc.

hearty ferry
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Thanks! Thats a good term - I meant in terms of its presentation format (requiring game text or some physical blocker without directly saying you cant do this yet)

spring jasper
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I don't know that there's really a terminology for it; the ask here is how to portray content locks. So the conversation would at the UX level require thinking about 1. portraying the barrier visually in the world, and 2. conveying the unlock mechanic.

In your example, 2 is conveyed via an NPC that the user may trigger during progression. The alternative that you're comparing it with sounds like running into the fog of war and getting a popup? What do you envision the opposite of a "soft barrier" to be?

hearty ferry
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Hm - maybe a hard barrier is a wall and a soft barrier is people doing construction a pathway?

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And yeah! I was just curious if there were any common terms and content lock is a good one

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  1. conveying the unlock mechanic.
    I think maybe this is what determines hard or soft? If you hit a wall and bounce off saying you need to be lv.30 or above maybe thats a more solid lock while them saying "We're doing construction because of the monster running around wrecking things (kill quest)" is a soft? So defined by storytelling or subtlety
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Im not sure if thats a good metric to judge hard or soft though