Having started a handful of new games over the past month or so, a trend that seems to persist in a lot of modern video games was once again brought to my attention, or should I say the lack of a trend. You see despite it being years since the feature was first introduced to the games industry, there still seems to be a significant lack of games with ample achievement tracking.

Really my ideal package would be to see a game that tracks achievements a bit like a cross between The Orange Box and World of Warcraft. I want menus where I can see the progress I’ve made towards each achievement, pop-ups when I reach a significant milestone towards a certain achievement, and when achievements involve interacting with specific locations, items, enemies etc. I don’t just want my progress to be conveyed to me numerically, I want it communicated in specifics. For example, say I’m playing an action-adventure game which includes three melee weapons and there’s an achievement for getting a kill using all three. I don’t just want to see that I’ve got a kill with 2/3 weapons, I want to see achievement tracking that shows me I’ve got a kill with the sword, and the chainsaw, but not with the bat. However, for most games these kinds of features seem a far way off when a lot of games still lack basic achievement tracking.

I know that in the grand scheme of things this kind of feature is a small addition to a game, but that’s why it confuses me that it’s not a more widely implemented feature. Don’t think I’m left in a blind rage over this lack of achievement tracking, I just feel a little bemused by its absence. If you’re playing a game on Xbox LIVE, Steam, Playstation Network, or even some other services, achievements are going to be part of the experience. Most people who play games on these services seem to at least care about achievements, and a surprising number of people are absolutely hooked on them. Given this it seems like you could please a lot of people with not too much effort (keep in mind we’re talking about “effort” as a relative term within the field of games development) just by putting achievement tracking systems in your game. Perhaps if we all wish really hard we’ll see more of that loveable achievement tracking in 2011. Good luck, have Batman.

-Gamer_152

Having started a handful of new games over the past month or so, a trend that seems to persist in a lot of modern video games was once again brought to my attention, or should I say the lack of a trend. You see despite it being years since the feature was first introduced to the games industry, there still seems to be a significant lack of games with ample achievement tracking.

Really my ideal package would be to see a game that tracks achievements a bit like a cross between The Orange Box and World of Warcraft. I want menus where I can see the progress I’ve made towards each achievement, pop-ups when I reach a significant milestone towards a certain achievement, and when achievements involve interacting with specific locations, items, enemies etc. I don’t just want my progress to be conveyed to me numerically, I want it communicated in specifics. For example, say I’m playing an action-adventure game which includes three melee weapons and there’s an achievement for getting a kill using all three. I don’t just want to see that I’ve got a kill with 2/3 weapons, I want to see achievement tracking that shows me I’ve got a kill with the sword, and the chainsaw, but not with the bat. However, for most games these kinds of features seem a far way off when a lot of games still lack basic achievement tracking.

I know that in the grand scheme of things this kind of feature is a small addition to a game, but that’s why it confuses me that it’s not a more widely implemented feature. Don’t think I’m left in a blind rage over this lack of achievement tracking, I just feel a little bemused by its absence. If you’re playing a game on Xbox LIVE, Steam, Playstation Network, or even some other services, achievements are going to be part of the experience. Most people who play games on these services seem to at least care about achievements, and a surprising number of people are absolutely hooked on them. Given this it seems like you could please a lot of people with not too much effort (keep in mind we’re talking about “effort” as a relative term within the field of games development) just by putting achievement tracking systems in your game. Perhaps if we all wish really hard we’ll see more of that loveable achievement tracking in 2011. Good luck, have Batman.

-Gamer_152

I still have mixed feeling about achievements. At one point, I had the notifications turned off on my Xbox 360, but eventually turned them back on. I think I've gone out of my way to get only one achievement since I've had my Xbox 360. I tied a lady up and placed her on the railroad tracks in Red Dead Redemption. The only reason I knew about the achievement was from my reading about it on Giant Bomb.

I like the way Fallout New Vegas keeps track of its smaller in-game achievements, but I'd like to see the system go universal for Microsoft achievements.  I'm sure it's something we'll see eventually, though whether or not it will be retroactive will, of course, depend entirely on the publishers and developers. 

" I still have mixed feeling about achievements. At one point, I had the notifications turned off on my Xbox 360, but eventually turned them back on. I think I've gone out of my way to get only one achievement since I've had my Xbox 360. I tied a lady up and placed her on the railroad tracks in Red Dead Redemption. The only reason I knew about the achievement was from my reading about it on Giant Bomb. "

"I like the way Fallout New Vegas keeps track of its smaller in-game achievements, but I'd like to see the system go universal for Microsoft achievements.  I'm sure it's something we'll see eventually, though whether or not it will be retroactive will, of course, depend entirely on the publishers and developers.  "

I don't know, a lot of recent games seem to incorporate a tracking feature in some form, I would like to say it become a universal trend though I agree.  
 
Listening to the latest Bombcast I was getting angry at Jeff describing the troubles he is having in Borderlands with achievements, it's a perfect example of what can go wrong when something like this is overlooked.
 
@Gamer_152:  Don't worry about the amount of views, it could be worst, could be my blog!

 Well I only actively pursue the achievements out of the games I really enjoy , which translates to only Mass Effect 1/2 and the Orange Box  , excluding Team Fortress , is there one thing I don't like  are the  "on line" achievements *shudders*

" @Gamer_152:  Have you noticed there's been an increase of in-game achievements? I just bought Shadow Complex and little things pop up all the time. Even on my Wii, there's in-game achievements or stamps or whatever."

" I don't know, a lot of recent games seem to incorporate a tracking feature in some form, I would like to say it become a universal trend though I agree."

" Well I only actively pursue the achievements out of the games I really enjoy , which translates to only Mass Effect 1/2 and the Orange Box  , excluding Team Fortress , is there one thing I don't like  are the  "on line" achievements *shudders*"

I'm not gonna read all that. To be honest. 
 
But that Orange Box joke is fucking amazing. Thank you.

" I'm not gonna read all that. To be honest.  But that Orange Box joke is fucking amazing. Thank you. "

I really wish more games gave you some kind of idea how far you've progressed in an achievement. I really like achievements, and I often go after them so not being able to see how much I've done (if it's a goal of doing like 100 actions of some kind) is really annoying

I think I like the idea of just stat tracking in general. A lot of games implement an option to see your time played, deaths, kills and such and it does seem odd that a lot of those details are left out of the achievement realm and it's upsetting when I come across a game that does not do these things. 
 
It's interesting, Game Center on the iPhone shows the progress towards certain achievements via a percentage value and a circle graphic, which I found to be rather pleasant. 
 
I would totally love to see that sort of thing carry over onto the consoles.

" I think I like the idea of just stat tracking in general. A lot of games implement an option to see your time played, deaths, kills and such and it does seem odd that a lot of those details are left out of the achievement realm and it's upsetting when I come across a game that does not do these things. "