Micro Guidance

SpotLight & Guide Lines

Object under spotlight matters more.

Don't overestimate the power of Spotlight and guide lines though.

Attention & saliency

Contrast

Contrast in color, size, direction, shape, motion, texture contrast

Player attention matters

Player attention may be in wrong direction — e.g. player may think the goal is to open a locked gate, when the solution is to climb through a window

Objects outside attention become hard to notice — e.g. players will notice enemies that from behind. If enemies come from behind, use explosions or something to announce their appearance. Or if you know where players are looking at, let enemies appear in front of players view.

Visual language

Real-world Logic

E.g. ant trails lead to a cave / lizards crawl on climbable surfaces

Camera

visual center / composition

Affordance

Let appearance matches actual function

Positive affordance → attract — e.g. white walls are climbable

Negative affordance → block — e.g. roadblocks

Mechanic

Lethal areas

Fire, spikes

Indicate a dead end

Shovel striking metal bounces off with a "clang" sound

3D perspective

players may more easily miss visual cues in 3D perspective

AI guidance

NPCs, animals(e.g. Ghost of Tsushima), environment(e.g. Monster Hunter)