Amy Hennig, game director at Naughty Dog for the Playstation 3 game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

When we're conducting an interview with a developer, the bulk of our time is spent discussing their current project. But after the voice recorder is turned off and the liquor is flowing, the conversation almost inevitably shifts to videogames made by other teams working in the same genre as that developer. For us, it's always fascinating to look at games through the eyes of those who make them, because they often see things through a different set of eyes than the typical gamer; the same can be said of reviewers who are particularly knowledgeable about a certain genre. As part of our ongoing quest to take the best conversations that are occurring in the shadows and bring them to light, we offer you the new occasional series Make or Break, which asks prominent developers and reviewers to share with us the five key features, details, methods or flaws that they look for from games in the same genre.

Our newest contributor is Naughty Dog creative director Amy Hennig, whose resume includes stints at Electronic Arts (as an artist/animator and game designer), Eidos (as director for several acclaimed titles like Soul Reaver, Soul Reaver 2, and Legacy of Kain: Defiance) before joining Naughty Dog in 2003, where she directed Jak 3. Her most recent title, the Playstation 3 game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, launched last month to strong reviews. In today's installment, Hennig explains what she looks for in an action/adventure game.

The first adventure game I ever played was (appropriately) Adventure on the Atari 2600, almost thirty years ago. It completely hooked me, and I've been a fan of the genre ever since. As a gamer, I'm always looking for an immersive, story-driven action/adventure game--finding a good one is like losing yourself in a really great book. And as a developer, this is the kind of game I'm most passionate about making. There's no greater reward for a designer or storyteller than knowing that you've transported the player out of the mundane and into the world that you've created.

So all that being said, here are some of the features I look for in the action/adventure games I play--and the qualities I've hoped to achieve in the games I've worked on.

1. The Urge to Explore

BioShock, developed by 2K Boston/Australia and published by Take-Two Interactive 

From the moment the player steps into the game world, the environment should ignite the imagination and inspire our natural human instinct to investigate and explore. Obviously this urge is driven by a lot of factors, including story and character. But even in the absence of any plot motivations, the environment--taken all by itself--should inspire exploration.

This doesn't mean that an adventure game has to have wide-open levels like GTA or Assassin's Creed--in fact, some of the best adventure games are pretty linear, with only an illusion of open-endedness, but you still feel compelled to find your path through the space, figure out a way to reach a landmark in the distance, or just see what's around the next corner. So why do some games succeed at this, while other games fail to inspire?

For me, the most memorable and compelling game environments combine the familiar and the unexpected in some imaginative way. I think you've got to give the player something familiar to latch onto, to ground themselves in, and then you put a twist on it and confound their expectations. This dislocates us from our comfort zone and makes us want to learn and discover more about our surroundings.

Who Got It Right: BioShock is a great example of this, the way they took the familiar architecture and Art Deco aesthetics of the '30s and '40s, but set the city underwater. We know what Art Deco looks like, and we've seen underwater environments, but it's the collision of these two familiar elements that's unique and interesting. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus also come to mind--the architecture and landscape are grounded enough in reality to give the player a familiar foundation, but it's not quite like anything we've ever seen before. The castle that Ico must escape is just architecturally recognizable enough to make the setting accessible, but it's immediately clear that we're on some other world, in some other reality, and it's this infusion of the exotic and unfamiliar that stimulates us to explore.

This may be kind of a tangent, but I think this is why we find ruins so intriguing (both in real life and in games). Not only are they interesting spaces to explore, but there's something inspiring about buildings in decay, the juxtaposition of architecture and nature. It's what the Romantic poets and artists called "the sublime"--the merging of the beautiful and the grotesque--and how the collision of these opposing emotions creates a feeling of awe that transcends the mundane and excites the imagination.

2. A Cohesive Game World

Ico, developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Japan

Why It Matters:  I think players are also driven to explore when it's clear that the game world has been built with a cohesive understanding of how all the geography and architecture fits together--both spatially and logically. You want to look across a vista and see distant landmarks that you know you're going to reach later (or look back at landmarks you've already visited). It's satisfying to work your way through the interior of a structure and emerge on an upper level that you couldn't reach before. Or to stand at one end of a massive, complex chamber, trying to calculate how you're going to reach your goal on the other side.

Who Got It Right: Both Ico's castle and the palace in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time are great examples of this principle--both are created with such a clear sense of architectural reality that they become almost like characters in the game.

Now and then, you also want opportunities to appreciate the scale of the environment in an adventure game--not only to see how your current location fits into the overall landscape, but to get a sense of the epic scope of the game world. The designers of Assassin's Creed really nailed this in their city designs, as Altair moves seamlessly from street level to his bird's-eye vantage points on the city towers. And of course the breathtaking vistas in the God of War series memorably capture the mythical scope of those games.

3. Attention to Detail

Assassin's Creed, developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft

Why It Matters: In the end, a game is the sum of its parts, and what ultimately holds the experience together--beyond the macro elements of the layout--is all the little details, and how they cumulatively affect the player's immersion in the game. How does the game feel when you're just standing still, looking around? Are there simulations running in the environment to keep the world alive? Do the music and the ambient soundscape set the mood of the game? Is there enough variety in the animations, sound effects, VO [voiceover], visual effects, etc. so the player doesn't immediately become aware of repetition? Does the environment respond appropriately and consistently to the player's input?

Often it's the little, seemingly inconsequential elements (outside the core features of the game) that impress us the most, and help sustain our willing suspension of disbelief. Those moments when you say to yourself, "I can't believe the developers thought of that"--it might just be a clever bit of IK [inverse kinematics], or an alternate animation; a bit of VO from the characters; a vista or environmental detail off the beaten path; an unexpected physics response; or a shift in the music in reaction to game events.

Even more important is the team's attention to narrative authenticity. Every little detail in the character designs, objects, terrain modeling, texturing, etc. should demonstrate that the designers and artists did their research. More often than not, it's all these small details, even if they're almost subliminal to the player, that tell the story.

Who Got It Right: Assassin's Creed is a great example--you can tell just by moving through the world that the team did a ton of research to get all the historical details right. The authenticity of the costumes, architectural styles and construction materials keeps you immersed in the fiction. And BioShock is a masterpiece in this regard--the environment is just packed with visual and auditory details that tell us everything about Rapture. In a game like this, the story is almost told by inference--through the player's interpretation of the evidence--which engages the player far more than if the narrative is force-fed to them.

4. Does It Make Me Think?

Peter Jackson's King Kong, developed and published by Ubisoft 

Why It Matters: When I play an adventure game, I want to be mentally engaged, not only by the story, but by obstacles in the environment. The problem can be (and usually is) as simple as getting from point A to point B, and there might only be one linear solution, but the game should force the player to stop frequently and think, "what now?".

Ideally, these problem-solving elements are just complex enough to make the player feel clever and give them a sense of satisfaction, but not so complex that the player's forward momentum is stalled for any significant length of time. The challenge might be as simple as figuring where to go next, triggering an event to open up the path, or devising a clever approach to a combat set-up.

A really great adventure game will give the player a solid set of complementary mechanics, and establish some simple cause-and-effect rules for environmental interactions, then set the player loose to devise solutions to the obstacles the game throws at them.

Who Got It Right: This is something I thought Ubisoft did well in Peter Jackson's King Kong. By giving the player a couple of key mechanics (you can shoot things, jab with a spear, or throw the spear) and implementing just a few basic environmental rules (spears can skewer grubs; grubs will distract predators; thorny plants are impassable; thorny plants and grass can be burned; wall-torches can be shot to spread fire; spears can be ignited to carry fire), they elevated what could have been a mindless shooter into an adventure with quite a bit of problem-solving.

And of course BioShock is an even better example of how a few well-implemented mechanics (like the acquired plasmid powers) and environmental properties (e.g., water can be electrified; oil can be ignited) can create a deep system of tactical choices for the player. Other good examples: the physics puzzles and magnetic grapple in Tomb Raider: Legend; Ico's simple environmental puzzles; and of course the adventure games we all learned design from, The Legend of Zelda series.

5. A Compelling Story and Characters

Heavenly Sword, developed by Ninja Theory and published by Sony Computer Entertainment 

Why It Matters: Ultimately, I think a great adventure has to be driven by story. For me, this is what distinguishes adventure games from pure action games--a big part of the player's motivation should come from wanting to see what happens next, discovering how the plot unfolds, and a growing attachment to the characters.

Ironically (and unfortunately), this is where many adventure games fall short. Too often, the story seems like a bare framework that's only there to prop the gameplay up. Or the dialogue feels monotonous, even self-indulgent. While games these days often have hundreds of pages of script, the overall presentation somehow feels like it's lacking. And presentation is crucial, I think, for the player's emotional investment in the story.

Who Got It Right: Heavenly Sword stands out as a good, recent example of high-quality storytelling (especially in its production values). The performances are genuine, and the plot intricate and compelling enough keep the player engaged. BioShock is another standout, but for completely different reasons--unlike the traditionally-told narrative of Heavenly Sword, BioShock's story unfolds more through inference and deduction as you explore Rapture. And in many ways, this is more engaging--because the player is actively interpreting the clues around them, instead of just passively observing.

I think this is why Ico and Shadow of the Colossus still stand out for me as the two most memorable stories I've experienced in games. Because just about everything is left to the imagination, players are actively engaged in the interpretation of the experience. This allows them to project more of themselves into the game, increasing their emotional investment.

Which isn't to say there isn't room for well-told, traditional narratives in games. If Ico and Shadow are art-house films, there's still a place for the summer blockbuster--which is what we wanted to tap into with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, by focusing on pace, performance and production values. I only hope that the game lives up to many of the principles I've advocated here!

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment