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Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design - Second Edition
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Ending games can be just as hard as starting them. In the good old days, there wasn’t an end to a game, just a kill screen.7 Or games just ran forever, frequently wrapping their scores around like your car’s odometer. Then along came Dragon’s Lair, and everyone wanted to know whether or not Dirk rescued the Princess—and players spent lots of money to find out.8
How long should a game be? In the old days, the average was 20 hours. In the really old days, it was 40. For modern story-based console games, playtime averages 8–12 hours. Contrast that with mobile games with play sessions that can last minutes but still offer dozens of hours of gameplay for a single title. Multiplayer games can offer years of gameplay. Even after logging more than 400 hours on Team Fortress 2 (Valve, 2007), I still enjoy playing it.
I recommend ending the game when you feel that you have left the players feeling satisfied. If you leave plot points dangling...
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