Pacing: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:04, 11 August 2007

Pacing is to do with the player's sense of "continuing action" throughout the game.

Some definitions of pacing:

"The player's sense of passing events -- actions, decisions, plot points, puzzles ... -- the sense that things are happening or that something is going on"
- Lodestone

"The rate at which the player encounters new game elements, as compared to the rate of his (logical) actions -- where a logical action may consist of several actual commands"
- Andrew Plotkin

Puzzles are often used to control the pacing of IF games, mainly because they require thoughful decisions from the player. Andrew Plotkin writes in this RAIF thread, "Anything the player has to stop and think about doing is effective pacing."

Players have reported a difference between having to stop and think about a puzzle (in which case the game feels "suspended" and the pacing is unharmed) and feeling "stumped" by a puzzle, which can make the pacing grind to a halt. (See this RAIF discussion thread).

This article is a stub. You can help IFWiki by expanding it.
TODO: Pacing techniques; refine definition?

Links

Pacing of plot thread on the rec.arts.int-fiction newsgroup.
Pacing in the IF Gems review quotes collection (also available from the IF Archive).

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-Pacing is to do with the player's sense of "continuing action" throughout the game. When the pacing grinds to a halt, speeds up too much or is too inconsistent, gameplay suffers.
+Pacing is to do with the player's sense of "continuing action" throughout the game.
-[[Puzzles]] are often used to control the pacing of IF games, although a sense of feeling "stumped" by a puzzle can also undermine it (see
+Some definitions of pacing:
+"The player's sense of passing events -- actions, decisions, plot points, puzzles ... -- the sense that ''things are happening'' or that ''something is going on''"
+<br>- [[Lodestone]]
+"The rate at which the player encounters new game elements,
+as compared to the rate of his (logical) actions -- where a logical action may consist of several actual commands"
+<br>- [[Andrew Plotkin]]
+[[Puzzles]] are often used to control the pacing of IF games,
+mainly because they require thoughful decisions from the player.
+[[Andrew Plotkin]] writes in
+[http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/browse_frm/thread/a76ccc8e2c3ef3bd this] RAIF thread, "Anything the player has to stop and think
+about doing is effective pacing."
+Players have reported a difference between having to stop and think about a puzzle (in which case the game feels "suspended" and the pacing is unharmed) and feeling "stumped" by a puzzle, which can make the pacing grind to a halt.
+(See
 [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/browse_thread/thread/3ee496d5e49437b5 this]
 RAIF discussion thread).
-{{stub|Expand, refine definition}}
+{{stub|Pacing techniques; refine definition?}}
 ==Links==
-* [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/browse_frm/thread/a76ccc8e2c3ef3bd Puzzles as pacing devices] and [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/browse_frm/thread/3d50f83354eb1010 pacing of plot] threads on the rec.arts.int-fiction newsgroup.
+* [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.int-fiction/browse_frm/thread/3d50f83354eb1010 Pacing of plot] thread on the rec.arts.int-fiction newsgroup.
 * [http://dfisher.serverspeople.net/ifgems/gems_6.html#6.2 Pacing] in the ''IF Gems'' review quotes collection (also available from the [http://mirror.ifarchive.org/if-archive/programming/general-discussion/IFGems.zip IF Archive]).
 [[Category:Glossary]]