Mini-games done right: Ever happened before?

[yaster]

It wasn't particularly good but it had one saving grace: it was very, very quick. Much better than BS1 that's for sure. The multiple outcomes was also a nice touch but made very little difference on the long run. A note to developers: if you absolutely HAVE to include a shitty minigame, at least make sure it can be done quickly like this one.

Hell has frozen! Someone else on the codex played Bioshock 2. I feel relieved...

And arcomage was awesome. Unlike mentioned earlier Kotor's equivalents. You want to play it in every city not because it gives some money/exp but because it's actually fun.

 

[Flux_Capacitor]

Here's another:
Shadowrun (Genesis) - The Matrix

I'm not sure this one qualifies, as it was such an integral part of the game, and probably isn't exactly 'mini'. But it was cool, so I'm mentioning it.

 

[deuxhero]

No More Heroes 2 was a good enough example.

Not only do the minigame's 8-bit stylings help further establish the main character (he's an otaku who became an assassin after winning a "beam katana" on an internet auction) and the game's motifs that come with him but the money earned from them was entirely for the cosmetic bonus of customizing his outfit (plus the ability to play more minigames at the gym to improve your stats and buying one of the weapons, but that isn't the point). The fact that all (except one intentionally annoying one) of them are actually fun doesn't hurt.

 

[Sceptic]

Hell has frozen! Someone else on the codex played Bioshock 2

AND finished it too! Beat that

And arcomage was awesome. Unlike mentioned earlier Kotor's equivalents. You want to play it in every city not because it gives some money/exp but because it's actually fun.

One clever thing about Arcomage's design is that each city had a different set of win conditions. Due to the nature of the game and the cards, the most effective strategy to win varied wildly between short and long games. Having to adapt your strategy to both the cards you had AND the victory conditions made for very good variety.

 

[Tycn]

Thief 3's lockpicking wasn't too bad.

Indeed. I wanted to mention it as well.

and Splinter Cell. It helps that it was properly integrated into gameplay and locks hindered you in real time.

 

[Lothers]

Every good minigames were mentioned, for me SS2 minigames were the best.

 

[Arcanoix]

Well? A lot of gameslatelyhave tried to make up for what they lack in RPG elements with mini games. Those elements inevitably suck to the point where they are considered to be the games worst part. Are there any games where it haven't been so? Is it theoretically possible to include mini games in a non-retarded manner? Why are developers doing this to us?

Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire had some badass minigame with a dancing bomb trap. If you failed, KABOOM - YOU DIED. Unless you had some shields/anti-explosion potion on you. That and you couldn't "reload and try again" because the dance figures would reset randomly. Difficulty made the booby trap go faster. Look it up.

 

[MetalCraze]

There was only one minigame that wasn't a stupid shit.

It was Pazaak.

 

[DraQ]

There was only one minigame that wasn't a stupid shit.

It was Pazaak.

What about the ones in Anachronox?

*casts dispel Skyway*

 

[MetalCraze]

Nah they weren't good. Lockpicking wasn't annoying because it was simple, but the pipeline minigame was annoying, mostly due to it being in many games.

Pazaak was better because it wasn't forced on you and didn't require twitching. Yeah in the nutshell it was just a Black Jack with some additional "features" but it worked and it made sense.

The other big problem with most minigames is that they don't make any sense at all in relation to where they are being used (playing frogger in ME to get minerals? Haha)

Actually now I remember other good implementations - like Tex Murphy 4. There he had to read some messages, but they were teared apart. So you had to put pieces together. It makes perfect sense, isn't it?

 

[J1M]

Hacking in Bioshock 2. Plenty of folks would go BAAW at me after saying that but really - it's good, minigame that is - and seriously, who of you actually played the damn game?

It's neddle sliding left and right, you can stop it with a button, the goal is to stop it at the right moment.

It's over quick - you have time limit. It doesn't have simple binary execution, no just win/lost&reload but win+/win/no-consequence/critical-failure with gives player space to perform better. It have difficulty progression, at the end of the game I was not capable of executing it without critical failure(there are upgrades(?) making it easier, I didn't use them). It require skillz. And it has place in gamespace and is directly connected with standard gameplay - when you are performing hacking monsters still attack you etc. It makes hacking harder during fight. Actually I was not able to multitask good enough to hack and fight at the same time, could only hack away from monsters or very fuckin' quick. Hmm, there is bayout? I didn't remember that.

There are also tools with darts allowing hacking at the distance and auto-hack. It's nice.

Of course it have its share of problems but not particularly big. When you hack shop terminal and manage to win+ you get bonus item. Sucks because it encourages hacking everything, not just things you very much need. it would be better with just bigger discount - turrets and security bots have something like that.


btw: sry for xbawks screenie, no KKK for me

I liked the sliding bar hack thing, but I don't see why they couldn't have different mini-games for the different things you hack. The pipe game already existed. Would really alleviate the biggest problem with mini-games, repetitiveness.

 

[yaster]

I liked the sliding bar hack thing, but I don't see why they couldn't have different mini-games for the different things you hack. The pipe game already existed. Would really alleviate the biggest problem with mini-games, repetitiveness.

I prefer 1 competent minigame to dozens of crap ones. Pipe game was terrible, long, boring, challenge-less and it stopped time when performed so it's not really compatible. Making it realtime doesn't solve the problem either since Its interface is bulky and huge therefore player can't control his avatar in normal game space. No, just no.





Speaking of good minigames:

Thief's lockpicking is fantastic (don't know if it is the same as in thief3). It is very simple and doesn't even allow for failure, you can perform it in steps to make it even easier. But what's great about it is that it takes two most precious resources for this particular game: time and silence.

Scaling through lock strength (longer time it takes to open it) and how lit the area around is makes for additional challenge in different situations. Competent map maker and this shit is great.

 

[J1M]

I liked the sliding bar hack thing, but I don't see why they couldn't have different mini-games for the different things you hack. The pipe game already existed. Would really alleviate the biggest problem with mini-games, repetitiveness.

I prefer 1 competent minigame to dozens of crap ones. Pipe game was terrible, long, boring, challenge-less and it stopped time when performed so it's not really compatible. Making it realtime doesn't solve the problem either since Its interface is bulky and huge therefore player can't control his avatar in normal game space. No, just no.

Who said anything about dozens? One for security stuff, one for vending machines, and one for safes.

The pipe game really wasn't that bad, until you had to perform it 300 times. I agree that it pausing the game was undesirable.