“Sometimes you can hate your character, sometimes you can like them, but you should always be fine with playing as this character.”īlacha looks at it much like a foundational aspect of other game mechanics. “Everything is based on this connection,” Blacha says. When you want to create something as engaging as the real world, you have to avoid black and white choices.” Forming ConnectionsĪccording to Blacha, the impact of all those choices - no matter if their outcomes are good, bad, or somewhere in between - all hinge on one simple thing: a player’s relationship to their character whether or not the design/writing team has successfully made a player comfortable inhabiting them.

“They remind players that the world they immersed themselves in, no matter how deep it is, is less complex and interesting than the real one.The world outside is not black and white, it's not simple. Part of making those choices truly meaningful – of not only creating interesting narrative moments but also using them to reinforce the studio’s worldbuilding – is to rarely offer choices that can be simply classified as “good” or “bad.”“We avoid black and white choices because they are not emotionally engaging,” says Blacha.

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