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Open world

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An open world is a video game level where players can freely roam a virtual world.[1] Open world gameplay is sometimes described interchangeably with sandbox gameplay or free-roaming.[2][3] Terms such as open world and free-roaming allude to the absence of artificial barriers,[4] in contrast to the invisible walls that are common in more linear level designs. However, many open world games still have such restrictions at some point in the game environment, either due to absolute game design limitations or temporary limitations imposed by the game's linearity.

Gameplay

An open world is a level designed as a nonlinear, vast open area with many ways to reach an objective.[5] Some games are designed with both traditional and open world levels.[6] An open world facilitates greater exploration than a series of smaller levels,[4] or a level with more linear challenges.[7] Reviewers have judged the quality of an open world based on whether there are interesting ways for the player to interact with the broader level when they ignore their main objective.[7] Some games actually use real settings to model an open world, such as New York City.[8]

A major design challenge is to balance the freedom of an open world with the structure of a dramatic storyline.[9] Since players may perform actions that the game designer did not expect,[10] the game's writers must find creative ways to impose a storyline on the player without interfering with their freedom.[11] As such, games with open worlds will sometimes break the game's story into a series of missions, or have a much simpler storyline altogether.[12] Other games instead offer side-missions to the player that do not disrupt the main storyline.[13] Most open world games make the character a blank slate that players can project their own thoughts onto, although several games such as Landstalker: The Treasures of King Nole offer more character development and dialog.[4]

Games with open worlds typically give players infinite lives or continues, although games like Blaster Master force the player to start from the beginning should they die too many times.[4] However, there is a risk that players may get lost as they explore an open world. Thus designers sometimes try to break the open world into manageable sections.[14]

History

Turbo Esprit (1986)

Origins

Elite is often credited with pioneering the open world game concept in 1984,[1][15][16] and games such as Wing Commander: Privateer and Freelancer have been described as sandbox games.[10][13][17] However, the games that had the most impact were the Grand Theft Auto series,[3] and other early 2D games also featured nonlinear level design.[4] Furthermore, there were several games before Grand Theft Auto III that offered players the ability to explore an open worlds while driving a variety of vehicles. Turbo Esprit provided a 3D free-roaming city environment in 1986 and has been cited as a major influence on Grand Theft Auto.[18] Others include the DMA Design (later renamed Rockstar North) game Body Harvest (1998) and Midtown Madness (1999). Grand Theft Auto III has also been likened to the Driver series in 1998.[19]

Critics sometimes treat the release of Grand Theft Auto III as a revolutionary event in the history of video games, much like the release of Doom nearly a decade earlier.[20] Still, Grand Theft Auto III merely combined elements from previous games (the game has been likened to The Legend of Zelda and Metroid[4]) and fused them together into an entirely new and immersive experience. For instance, radio stations had been implemented earlier in games such as SimCopter (1996), and missions based on operating a taxi cab were the entire basis for Crazy Taxi (1999).

After the release of Grand Theft Auto III in 2001, many games which employed a 3D open world were labeled, often derogatorily, as Grand Theft Auto clones, much like how many early first-person shooters were referred to as Doom clones[21]. Ironically, some reviewers extended this label to the entire Driver series, even though this series began years before the release of Grand Theft Auto III.[19]

Beyond Grand Theft Auto III

With the success of GTA III, many open world games produced afterward such as The Getaway , and Saints Row featured similar themes of free roaming. True Crime: Streets of LA and Crackdown also incorporated the open world genre and the new GTA style RPG genre that was created alongside it..[citation needed] Meanwhile, Rockstar Games published Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in 2002, which has been called one of the best games to use an open world design, [22] and followed this with even larger worlds in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto IV.

Other games employed the open world concept beyond that of the urban crime RPG genre. Spider-Man 2 was highly praised for its large, free-roaming Manhattan and was followed by many other comic book based open world games such as Ultimate Spiderman and [[The_Incredible_Hulk_(2008_video_game)|The Hulk . Bratz: Rock Angelz, Jaws Unleashed, and Bully showed other ways of implementing an open world beyond the familiar conventions of Grand Theft Auto.

Bethesda's Fallout 3 (2008) is an open world game, allowing the player to fully explore Washington DC and the local area around it. The main quests can be postponed without consequence, which enables the player to freely roam the world.. New DLCs have recently been added, giving the player even more space to roam. The game has realistic graphics and displays excellent physics.

Ubisoft Montreal's Assassins Creed (2007/8), also attempted to incorporate the open world theme into stealth based gameplay, and received glowing reviews (See Wiki for details.)

The Destroy All Humans! series is well known for its twist on 3D open world gameplay. Instead of playing on the traditional "mankind defending the world" type of alien invasion game, Destroy All Humans! allowed players to play from the alien perspective, different open world gameplay experience. [23][24]

The Sims 3 will also feature open world abilities.[citation needed]

theHunter, released March 2009, features a large open world island for players to hunt different animals across.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Sefton, Jamie (July 11, 2007). "The roots of open-world games". GamesRadar. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
  2. ^ Logan Booker (2008-07-14). "Pandemic Working On New 'Open World / Sandbox' IP". Kotaku. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
  3. ^ a b "The complete history of open-world games (part 2)". Computer and Video Games. May 25, 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Harris, John (September 26, 2007). "Game Design Essentials: 20 Open World Games". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
  5. ^ Chris Kohler (2008-01-04). "Assassin's Creed And The Future Of Sandbox Games". Wired. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
  6. ^ Harris, John (September 26, 2007). "Game Design Essentials: 20 Open World Games - Air Fortress". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  7. ^ a b Chris Kohler (2007-11-23). "Review: Why Assassin's Creed Fails". Wired.
  8. ^ James Ransom-Wiley (2007-08-10). "Sierra unveils Prototype, not the first sandbox adventure". Joystiq. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
  9. ^ Steven Poole (2000). Trigger Happy. Arcade Publishing. p. 101. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  10. ^ a b Bishop, Stuart (March 5, 2003). "Interview: Freelancer" (HTML). ComputerAndVideoGames.com. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
  11. ^ Chris Remo and Brandon Sheffield. "Redefining Game Narrative: Ubisoft's Patrick Redding On Far Cry 2". GamaSutra. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
  12. ^ Chris Plante (2008-05-12). "Opinion: 'All The World's A Sandbox'". GamaSutra. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
  13. ^ a b "Freelancer (PC)" (HTML). CNET (GameSpot). March 4, 2003. Retrieved 2007-12-30. {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  14. ^ Patrick O'Luanaigh (2006). Game Design Complete. Paraglyph Press. p. 203, 218. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  15. ^ Whitehead, Dan (February 4, 2008). "Born Free: the History of the Openworld Game". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
  16. ^ "The complete history of open-world games (part 1)". Computer and Video Games. May 24, 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
  17. ^ Desslock (December 22, 2003). "X2: The Threat (PC)". CNET (GameSpot). Retrieved 2008-07-25.
  18. ^ Retrorevival: Turbo Esprit, Retro Gamer issue 20, page 48. Imagine Publishing, 2006.
  19. ^ a b Jeff Gerstmann (2006-03-14). "Driver: Parallel Lines Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2008-07-24.
  20. ^ Game Informer Issue 138 p.73
  21. ^ Doom, Encyclopædia Britannica, Accessed Feb 25, 2009
  22. ^ Mike McShaffry (2003). Game Coding Complete. Paraglyph Press. p. 278. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  23. ^ Official website for Destroy All Humans!
  24. ^ IGN Hands On for DAH!
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