It has been a long time since I have fallen into a game like I have with Destiny. It does a lot right and it does a lot that infuriates me – with any game this is true. Esthetic design choices versus functional design choices are something that Destiny has made me think about recently. I love the way Destiny is designed, but there are parts of it that are hard to swallow.
Bungie chose to use a companion app to dispense information about their game. They aren’t the first developer to do so (Mass Effect, WOW, GTAV, etc.), but they are the first developer who has chosen to put so much information in the companion app. So much of the information is in the companion app that it makes me wonder “Are people getting enough out of this story?”
Destiny is a self-styled MOFPS (Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter). Everything from the dailies to the raids show that this game is going after that MMO status. They aren’t making MMO money yet, but if they continue putting out these expansions they might at least look like Blizzard in that regard. They are definitely going after MMO playtime; they want people coming back everyday. Bungie has done all of this while staying safely within the FPS milieu with which they are so familiar.
Bungie has chosen an artistically minimalist strategy in it’s design for Destiny. The whole menu structure is exquisite when one thinks about how most games are continually assaulting the player to visit the store, check their achievements, or even change the options – something that is extremely functional yet would throw a kink into the design of Destiny’s opening menus.
In most MMOs, the player usually is updated the moment they log onto their server. They are shown updates to the game usually in blog posts or special bulletin messages. This information is really just the first stop before moving on to official or unofficial message boards.
I was playing Destiny before the launch of House of Wolves and I picked up a Decoherent Engram, as one does when they play Destiny. I went to the Tower to decypher the engram, but the Cryptarch didn’t even recognize the engram – nothing popped up when I entered into his shop screen.
I thought the engram was glitched. I almost deleted the engram thinking that it was broken. Luckily, I went online and checked with my google overlords. I found an official message from Bungie on a Destiny message board that said they knew about the issue and we should keep the engrams until May 19th when the House of Wolves patch drops.I’m glad that I searched around for the information! I might have missed out on some sick gear.
Adding an info tab or a blog would kill the clean look of the menus, yet it would make the game more informative and user friendly. I am undecided if I want the I Love Bees-ification of game design to take hold in the industry any more than it has. I’m not sure if I want to comb the internet for all of the information behind Destiny. I like playing games. So, I really just want the game to tell me what’s going on within the game. This goes doubly for all of the story information in the Grimoire! There are huge story chunks written just for the Grimoire, and a lot of the audience will never see it.
Destiny is an evolving game. I am sure that it’s design will evolve as well. That also means that my opinions on it’s design will change.