Game UX - The best flow for mounts: Temtem
-a look at Game Feel #2-
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When people talk about User Experience, there are some common misbeliefs induced by the use of screens. Interfaces sure are a mean to help or guide the players, but they trully are a thin part of UX overall.
‘Game feel’ comes from special intentions and tweaks that the creators of the game will refine to reach the experience’s objective they have in mind, the emotion they want you to feel, the contraints (or lack of) they want you to come across.
How players relate to a ‘mount’ feature has always been tricky and, often, a direct source of frustration if it isn’t done the good way.
Accessing to the feature through several actions, having to repeat these actions every 2 minutes in the game because that disappeared when entering and/or exiting a building, not having access to these advantages in ‘inside places’ like caves, passages or even certain roads, mounts can often cause pain more than relief.
Purpose
In this monster taming game, the mounts serve a simple and widespread function: going faster. That is actually the main purpose of the mounts in every other game that implement them.
And that is exactly why the mount must be quick and easy to access. As you can’t make it 100% automatic (not everyone want to go fast at every time), the maximum of inputs you’ll need is the closest to the minimum: one.
Extra perks
Not only does the mount feature allows players to go faster, but in Temtem, it also have extra perks. First of all, it allows you to dodge wild encounters. That means infinite shortcuts and time saved.
And as Temtem has a mechanic to find rare Luma Temtems (they physically appear in the world when using a special radar item), the mount has been especially thought to function with this item. That means that the player can dodge wild encounters and in the same time go and confront the radar’s temtems that procs (see the definition) on the map.
A job well done
A good surprise is born when a habit is shaken up and the result pleases the players more than the old way, and Temtem actually gives two occasions to be well surprised.
A. The mount is persistent when… entering a cave. Yes, you read it right. That means NO ANNOYING JEAN-ZUBAT EVERY FIVE SECONDS.
B. The mount is persistent when… going in the water. Isn’t it perfect?
Having the mount possibilities in water gives the players all the perks of having it on the ground (no wild encounters + slight speed bonus), that means that it can also be activated by just pressing one button.
Bonus: the surf will have a special skin according to the selected mount to make a visual feedback that the benefits are currently active.
This mount feature shows that, one more time, the team has made a real reflexion effort before implementing it in the game.
