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Pixel Hunting
How do you guys feel about it in adventure games?
I used to find it annoying but at this point, I really hate it. I was replaying Runaway and its sequels recently, and there are portions of that game where I got stuck for days, just because I missed a hotspot that blends into the background. It is so bad, that I tried to mouse over every pixel of every screen everytime I got stuck, just because I wasn’t sure whether it was me forgetting the solution or not carrying that one item hidden in the background. I don’t know about you guys, but I find that tedious, frustrating and distracting from my enjoyment of the game. I had the same problem with my recent community playthrough of Toonstruck (I will give that game some slack because it is old), where I also got stuck because of hidden pixels. Just curious what your thoughts and experiences are with this dreaded aspect of adventure games.
It’s another of those things game designers had back before people knew how to make good games. It’s a way to make games last longer at the expense of enjoyment.
I don’t see any reason a modern game won’t have hotspot highlighting, unless it’s the focus of the game (like HOGs).
You can be certain some purists here will blabber about how it adds challenge and requires attention or whatever. I thought it was stupid while I was playing in the late 80s, and today I think it’s stupid AND I don’t have the amounts of free time and patience I had as a child.
Yeah, few games do it now for good reason. I equally found it terrible and I’m glad we’ve moved away from it. Some might say it’s not really an issue with the hot spot reveal seen in a lot of games, but that’s a clue that shouldn’t be needed really.
Recently completed: Game of Thrones (decent), Tales from the borderlands (great!), Life is Strange (great!), Stasis (good), Annas Quest (great!); Broken Age (poor)
Pixel hunting has never been a good idea, and even before the hotspot revealer was invented, there were a lot of games that tried to prevent or at least minimize it, by making the hotspots as obvious as possible.
The first runaway game unfortunately had a couple of cases, where there were some hotspots that were very difficult to find, which is also what I like the least about the game.
I had the same problem with my recent community playthrough of Toonstruck (I will give that game some slack because it is old), where I also got stuck because of hidden pixels.
Runaway is actually almost just as old, there are only 7 years between the too games, and hotspot revealers had still not become standard.
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
Yeah, pixel hunting is bad. There’s no excuse for it. The weird thing is that people complained about it instantly and the first game with a hotspot revealer was Simon the Sorcerer II back in 1995, but somehow the problem persisted for years and years and years.
Runaway is actually almost just as old, there are only 7 years between the too games, and hotspot revealers had still not become standard.
It feels weird that Runaway’s release is closer to Toonstruck’s (or even to KQ6’s) than to the present. It’s like when you realize that Cleopatra lived closer to us than to the construction of the Pyramids.
the first game with a hotspot revealer was Simon the Sorcerer II back in 1995
I’m pretty sure the first one also had hotspot highlighting (though it didn’t mark exits). Dunno if it was the first either, I was expecting you to name some ancient obscure game.
Pixel hunting has always been my least favourite design feature in adventure games and it is shunned for a good reason. You’d think modern higher resolutions would have made it more toleratable, but it’s just as annoying today as it was with the lower resolutions. No moderd game should use it ever.
I agree with what’s been mentioned already. It’s an uninteresting chore to just have to mouse over the entire screen in search of the one pixel you may have missed. I’m glad most games now have a hotspot revealer.
The worst cases are indeed where the hotspot blends with the background. Probably the only exception to this is Prince Alexander’s ring in the first screen of KQ6 because it sparkles so much you pretty much can’t miss it…
The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka
Hate it too!
Only really got into adventure games properly 4/5 years ago and there’s been a few that I’ve gave up on pretty quickly because of it, even if they’re classics and/or highly rated. (e.g. original Gabriel Knight)
It doesn’t bother me terribly when I know I’m supposed to be doing it. Where it gets frustrating is when I miss something on the other side of the map and I don’t even know there was anything to miss, and I’m left scratching my head.
But if the game is like “There must be a quarter around here somewhere” and I have to look around for it, that doesn’t bother me so much, most of the time.
Runaway is actually almost just as old, there are only 7 years between the too games, and hotspot revealers had still not become standard.
Wow you are right, it just feels very new because the graphics hold up well, but it is really old now. Also to be fair, the third game in the series added the hotspot feature. Wonder if there are any new games that still have this problem. Any you can think of?
It Depends. First of all I do not like active hotspots automatically as soon as I walk into a scene, I enjoy doing a little searching as long as it does not become a meaningless search that only cause frustration. Or as Frogacuda said if the character says something like “I know it has to be here.” That’s fine.
On the contrary it bothers me a lot if I have to go wandering around through multipes scenarios looking one thing I could have forgotten and I have not the slightest idea what it can be. I hate it. It is a resource that some games use or used with the sole purpose of delaying the player.
” I remember. Somebody died. It was me.”
~
Pixel searches and mazes are the two most annoying and needless puzzle types in gaming. They serve no purpose other than to delay the players arrival at the desired conclusion. I know I have said in the past that mazes are fairly simple, (if they are constructed in a certain set of ways,) but that doesn’t make them any less tedious.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
But if the game is like “There must be a quarter around here somewhere” and I have to look around for it, that doesn’t bother me so much, most of the time.
Sure, there is a difference between pixel hunting in general in a game, and then having a scene where you have to find a know number of items in a limited area. As long as you know that you have to search for something and you know that it is in a specific room, then I don’t really mind a little search puzzle, though it will never be my favourite kind of puzzle.
Wonder if there are any new games that still have this problem. Any you can think of?
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, Murdered Soul Suspect, The Tesla Effect and at least for one puzzle Dreamfall Chapters, to name the ones I could think of. The problem still exists, but it seems like it is only 3D games that uses this now.
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
Unless it’s intentional, I think you can safely chalk it up to bad visual design - sure, you don’t want the object to stick out too much if you want a little bit of hidden object thrill, but downright making it impossible to make out something you need to pick up probably means the graphic guys and designer dropped the ball.
With 3D games you often get the problem, that the object itself can be perfectly visible, but the hotspot won’t pop up unless you are looking at it from just the right angle. Probably more of a hotspot bug than intentional design, but it can be just as or even more annoying than the old style one pixel hotspots.
You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ
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