March 2013: Pacing

Hello!  I was at a local IGDA meeting when the speaker remarked that great games are not always original ideas, but that the game designers had all the elements, right pacing, and balance to create a great game.  In fact, we have a long honored tradition of building on top of other games, in particular board games and other social games.

I remember loving a casual game called Fairies.  Yes, it was the same gameplay mechanic as Chuzzle. There was just something about the theme, the story, music, and pacing of Fairies that really appealed to me.  While I knew about Chuzzle, the whole fuzzy balls and chemistry beakers never appealed to me and I felt that the difficulty ramped up unevenly.  I have played other classic puzzle games like Puzzle Bobble and have experienced uneven levels.

In bigger games, one might think about pacing as lulls and highs, or variety in gameplay.

• How would you define pacing in videogames?
• How does pacing affect the player experience?
• How do you control pacing in videogames?
• What would you consider to be great pacing?
• What games are good examples of great pacing?