[UbuntuWomen] What makes a video game "female friendly"?

Kathryn crunchyfroggie at gmail.com
Thu Feb 28 07:58:14 UTC 2008


Not having to kill the enemies is a commendable idea, but that is typically
the method by which a player can add to their skills and 'hit points'.  I
guess there might be other (more creative) ways to strengthen the
protagonist and their team, as the enemies gain power.

I love the idea of sneaking around enemies or trapping them... make sure you
leave those elements in.  I much prefer the covert style of gameplay to
confronting a room full of enemies at once.  I'll abandon a game if the
adrenaline rush is excessive.  I guess that's why I prefer turn-based or
other strategy to first person games.

Some games (e.g. Evil Genius) offer characters who can distract or divert
enemies, for example with charisma or by confusing them somehow.  If there's
a magical element to the game, you could lure enemies to "dummy"
(mirage-like) characters and trap them that way.  In Alpha Centauri, Dierdre
can 'harness' the native locusts and flora and turn them against her
enemies.  I really liked that idea, and it offered a kind of attack that the
(human) enemies couldn't match.

I really like this thread of discussion.  I've never before met anyone
involved in game design.  I'll stay keenly tuned to any further posts. :)

Kathryn

On 28/02/2008, Thierry <psyping at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> I was originally hoping for gameplay where no enemy hat do die, but that
> idea
> was quickly thrown away, as it would take too much scripting and planning,
> and because killing stuff is something of a standard in games.
> Enemies crawling away at the last moment might still be something good for
> the
> creepier levels, though - the "I know something is here, but I can't see
> it"
> factor. :)
> However, I don't think I should worry about this all too much - the player
> always (again, except for boss battles) gets the choice between sneaking
> past
> enemies and attacking them, and there are a lot of puzzles, especially in
> the
> middle of the game.
>
>
>
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