Pixel hunting

[Litrick]

Pixel hunting should not exist if:

a) the game has been designed in such a way that the puzzles can be figured out by logical thought

b) the game player has sufficient skill/logic (whatever you want to call it) to figure out the puzzles, and therefore would be looking for specific items. Or seeing an item which could relate to a puzzle would trigger them to click it.

If you knew there was something usefull there in the first place, you would be able to see the item, therefore would not need to search for it. It would be quite clear where you need to click if you saw a pair of scissors for example, and you needed a pair of scissors for a puzzle.

Therefore if you are having to hunt around on every pixel, on every screen, you must not be looking for anything in particular, and therefore are stuck, or have not been able to figure out what item(s) you need for the puzzle(s)

So, does pixel hunting really exist? or is it just game players who are not capable of figuring out the puzzles who have made this term up, because that is what they resort to?

[MdaG]

Runaway proves pixel hunting exists.

[dazsin]

Runaway proves pixel hunting exists.

The pixel huntin in Runaway is absolutely superb - spot on.

Its not unfairly difficult - you just have to keep an eye out for the objects. For me it adds an extra dimention to an adventure than, when stuck, simply trying every item with everything. There could just be something youve missed.

[Curt]

"Pixel hunting" has a place in adventure games. How it is implemented is the key to its success or failure though. Nobody wants to spends ages searching for one tiny little hotspot all the time, but often items are placed in such a way that the pixel hunting is not a chore. There are literally hundreds of adventure games with thousands of items requiring pixel hunting to find, but only a few are ever mentioned in the arguments against them. I'd much rather search areas of rooms using my mouse cursor as the "eyes" of the character than have to move a character around at the correct angles for it to "see" the hotspots (unless it is in done in a way similar to that used in the Tex Murphy series, first-person mode then being able to switch to mouse cursor to "look").

Pixel hunting, if that's what people want to call this technique, exists and long may it do so (I prefer clue/object hunting anyway, as that's what I'm normally searching for and the hotspot is usually made up of far more than one pixel - nobody call the work detectives do "atom hunting") Unfortunately, with more and more adventure games being geared towards a bigger, more profitable multi-platform market I fear the days of the mouse cursor in adventure games could be numbered. I hope not - there is room for all.

[Crapstorm]

I, for one, can't stand pixel-hunting, but I end up doing it in almost every adventure game. Few activities are more tedious than painting the screen with the pointer in search of a hidden hotspot. It's mechanical and devoid of intellectual challenge. I don't know why developers find it so hard to make games without hidden hotspots, but I guess it's tougher than it looks.

But some people do enjoy pixel-hunting; The success of the downloadable game Huntsville is a testament to the fact. However, in that game, you don't get a "smart" pointer, so you do the hunting with your eyes, which makes it a little more cognative than screen-painting.

[MoriartyL]

I can't stand the stuff, for a personal reason: I have trouble with noticing little details in any medium. Forget pixel hunting- I have a problem just noticing the completely visible on-screen objects! This is one of the reasons almost all adventure games are impossible for me to play unless I'm playing along with a walkthrough. (And with a walkthrough, it's not exactly fun.) I could walk through a room fifty times and never see the thing staring me in the face, let alone some little 4 pixel by 4 pixel blob. I think all games should take care that all objects which can be picked up or manipulated are easily distinguished from the background picture. I don't care if this is done by highlighting, or labelling, or careful layout, or some sort of graphical signal when you enter the room, or a different graphical style, or a loud voice which says, "Pay attention to the box in the lower right corner."! But to deliberately hide things the player needs to progress- that is inexcusable.

Edit: Oh, and I apologize for pushing the thread farther off course.