This article is a written out version of a presentation I did last year, it explains some of the difficulties of designing an open-world game, and outlines the genres of games that I believe would be best suited to have an open world. Last but not least, I have pointed out several potential challenges of designing for an open-world game.
I have personally gotten into several discussions about “what defines an open world”, “what is an open-world game”, and “what isn’t an open-world game”. The definition definitely varies between people, simply because the word “open” itself has a lot of different connotations and denotations, it is a flaw in the language we use. However, I believe that, in a professional context of game design, there should be certain elements of gameplay or game features that should be included in a game, if it wants to be defined as an “open-world game”. While looking around searching for answers, I headed to our “trusty“ Wikipedia for a look. Definition of an Open World Game according to Wikipedia:
In video games, an open world is a game mechanic of using a virtual world that the player can explore and approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay. — Wikipedia
While I am not getting into the discussion of how “correct” this definition is, I am going to propose three guidelines that I believe should manifest in an open-world game:
An open-world game should take inspiration from the real world, but exceeds the real world;
The opposite of “open-world”, should be a “restrained world”;
The biggest highlight of an open world is that it can satisfy players of different play styles.
These are not definitive statements that should be fitted on every open-world game, but these are my personal philosophies that I think should manifest in these games.
Why are open-world games so popular?
Before we dwell on the designs and challenges of an open-world game, I keep asking myself “why is an open world so attractive?” If we look at the Steam store or reports on upcoming games that are currently in development, we can see that there are more than 50% of games in development in mobile games are labeled as “open world”, and there are more than 5000 titles on Steam that is tagged as Open World. With the success of Genshin Impact, the open-world games in the mobile game market have rocketed in 2020, and so many other studios are looking to follow the trend.
Other than the commercial potential of an open-world game, I tried to analyze the attraction of an open-world game from the player’s point of view, and here’s a simple chart for my brief conclusion:
It goes into the relationship between the open world and the player, and how the player interacts with the world.
The relationship between the player and the game is intricate in an open-world game because it resembles the real world they live in, but it should also surpass it. The design of an open world drives the players to grow and explore the world, while the player is making decisions that will affect the game world. I have created this chart to better visualize this relationship:
Game Genres That Goes Well with “Open World”
By analyzing available game statistics via Steam store and App Store, I have organized these two charts to compare genres that are most widely used to combine with the “open world” tag:
Among these successful open-world games, there are several games worth learning from:
Through these games, we have learned that there are two popular tags that go alongside the “open world” tag in most games, and these two are good examples of how features from different genres can comply with each other and highlight each other’s advantages while overcoming their short-comings.
Studies on Chinese Mobile Game Market
According to Newzoo’s Gamer Segmentation on Video Game Player’s Motivation, most Chinese players are hoping to be the “ultimate player”(hardcore game players). And out of those players, 42% are playing games to explore the world and the plot of the game.
For most “Time-filling Players”(play games to kill time), 44% of them hope to play games that are easy to master and 74% of them want to spend free time playing games. And non-”time-filling players” look for world exploration, world-building, and game stories in games. Meanwhile, “traditional players’ and “ultimate players“ want to see the strong narrative design, character growth, and clear goals in games.
From these mobile game players, we can see in the chart below that the percentage of female players in RPGs has grown through the years, and 59% of those RPG players are between 24 and 35 years old.
The need of the market and the inherent short-comings of the open-world design led me to believe that the character-driven narrative space in RPG, the social-driven advantages of MMO and the thrill of combat and exploration in Action Adventure games should combine with the “Open World” genre and provide a satisfying game for most players in the market.
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