Video games have evolved dramatically since the 60s and 70s when the likes ofSpacewar!and Atari laid the foundation of what would become a multi-billion dollar industry. That evolution has seen trends come and go, from an emphasis onplatformers in the 80s and 90sto the cover-based shooters of the 2000s. But there have been smaller changes too, as developers play around with minor game mechanic tweaks. Objective markers have had a particularly interesting past, and their evolution won’t end any time soon.
It’s hard to pin down when exactly objective markers became the norm for video games. For years, players were forced to either explore their surroundings or follow some other implicit direction. In the early days of the NES, that usually meant moving from left to right, just as players are instructed to do inSuper Mario Bros.without ever having to be told to. To this day,Super Mario Bros.has the best tutorialin the industry without having to tell players what to do. Players see where they need to go and can direct themselves there.
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Modern Video Game Worlds Rarely Need Objective Markers
Video games aren’t what they were in the 80s, at least not at the triple-a level. Exploration has always been a major part of traditional video game experiences, but the breadth of worlds has changed dramatically sinceSuper MetroidandThe Legend of Zeldawas the bar. Now, video game worlds can be as small as a few square miles or as large as an entire universe, simply depending on the type of game. Worlds have become more complex, but also easier to navigate.
Look atAssassin’s Creed Valhalla, for instance. The player’s home base,Ravensthorpe, is centrally located on the map with larger settlements scattered around. These settlements are interconnected by a complex system of rivers, which players can sail along to traverse most of the world.
ThroughoutAssassin’s Creed Valhalla’sstory, players make alliances with those settlements one by one, trying to build a foothold for their own settlement in England. Assasin’s Creed Valhalla is also one of the few games that allow players to shirk objective markers completely, instead introducing “adventure mode” that gives players general search areas and directions rather than objective markers.
Fortunately, those general directions are really all one needs to tackleValhalla’schallenges. The map is easy to use and the directions are put plainly, making it easy to comprehend where a player needs to go. The extra work that it takes to find an objective is also funneled into exploring using this method, which helps players find interesting side content and makes the world feel fleshed out. If developers want players to appreciate the world that they’ve created, then the best way for them to do so is to simply make players explore without any hand-holding. It genuinely makes for a better game in the long run.
Making More Immersive Video Games
Perhaps the biggest perk to dropping objective markers from games, though, is how much more immersive it makes the world feel. Video games have steadily become more complicated as time has pressed on, and part of that complexity is telegraphed in how cluttered UIs have become. Health bars, ability bars, cooldowns, buffs – each one takes up space on the screen, and it’s enough to take players out of the experience in particularly egregious instances. Objective markers are just another element of that, but they’re worth sacrificing.
The alternative is to make quest markers, and UIs in general, easy to toggle on and off. TheSkyrimmodImmersive HUD is an excellent example of how a UI can be there when players want it but gone when players want it out of the way. Simply letting players toggle the interface - and by extension objective markers - is a wonderful middle ground between sweeping changes and small tweaks.
