Fellow gamers - I need your assistance

[Ante]

Ok, I have a small project which I will reveal later, but before that I need your opinion. Let's think about typical situation - you sit in front your gaming machine (pc or console) and want to play a game. Everything goes well until...

Few examples:

1. You continue your game, and the game asks you insert CD1. You insert CD1 and load the saved game. Right after that the game asks you to insert CD2. Why, oh why it can't ask the CD2 right from the beginning if you are continuing from the point you left.

2. You are in front of one challenging puzzle. You think that you have all the items you need in order to solve the puzzle but even though you try very hard the puzzle remains unsolved. You have been running around for hours in order to figure it out where's the problem. For example you have a lock and the key. The key fits in the lock but it doesn't seem to open. At this point you have no idea that the lock needs to be oiled before the key can be used. Shorty, the game doesn't give you any feedback of your actions.

[NiniendoLeibowitz]

1. Why does it ask for CD 1 before CD 2? Simple. Because CD 1 has data that isn't in CD 2. A simplistic example, CD 1 holds all the information about the list of data to be used such as backgrounds, music, textures, 3d mesh, etc. All of these data in the whole game cannot be stored on CD 1, so, some of the data is moved to CD 2. As I said, this is just a simple example to illustrate that occurrence. You can argue that the list of data can be placed at CD 2 also, but that's beside the point. The point is, CD 1 holds things not found in CD 2.

Some games have different behaviours, like when you start up the game, it asks for CD 1. Then, when you load your game, the game figures you are on CD 2. That's of course, a different case.

2. No feedback for your action? It's more like common sense that you should know why your action didn't work, especially for your simple specific lock puzzle. Instead of 'Nah, it doesn't work.', you should be able to find out that the lock is too rusted and needs lubrication. Developers, I believe, tend to put lots of shortcuts, generalizing actual item use to either:
a.) Correct item is used (successful feedback)
b.) Incorrect item is used (and results to this generic unsuccessful feedback)

Sometimes, you'll get some sort of feedback, and it's nice. But it doesn't happen all the time. Maybe it's developer schedule, among other things.

[Sunich]

So, Ante, what are you driving at?

[Senta]

That remainds me of the icicle of SyberiaII I just didn't get it
I spent a long time running around. I restarted game, from earlier savings and that time I did not put fishbone to the hole. I thought there was a bug But there wasn't, just pixel-hunting...

Ante, good questions.
Niniendo, good answers.

[Sunich]

It'd be great if the sound of the key turning in the lock would be like the real one when it fails to open it, plus the old lock should look really old, dirty, unused for ages. That'll make the player think of oiling the key.
Disks swapping is bad. I agree. There's nothing we can do about it.
Senta, that icicle was the most stupid puzzle (rather pixel hunting, right) in the whole game.

[Ante]

Heh, now I got an idea. One humorious aspect would be the following scenario:

"The player founds goggles and after examining them for a while she notices that they are pixel hunting goggles! Wearing them would allow you to see all the hotspots! No more pixel hunting!"

[gail]

Wonderful idea!

[Sunich]

lol indeed