Practical Game Design

Pacing from day one

The slow and gradual introduction of game mechanics mentioned above is an example of a pacing exercise. The pace of the game is most often being dictated by the rhythm and intensity of the levels you create. The intensity can stem from both physical and cognitive challenges as well as artistic and emotional stimulation. Novel content and difficult sections raise your intensity while repetitive segments and low difficulty lower it. Prolonged periods of low intensity lead to boredom, while long, overly intense sections can exhaust your players.

Tightly controlled singleplayer content (especially if it's story driven) tends to be much harder to revamp once integrated. Therefore, it's important to think of pacing from the ...