Collectibles - How To Design an Enticing Collect-a-thon

Collect-a-thons - I never cared much about collectibles. I never do them. Unless...

1. The locations of all collectibles are hinted at in the Minimap/Map. Just like the Riddler Challenges in Batman : Arkham Asylum, the Blastshards in Infamous or the weapon canisters in Shadow Complex/Metroid etc. I simply don't care about collectibles, if I can't 'work' on them. Location by location. I need to know a collectibles general location or I will not care. Ever.
2. The collectibles have to directly 'upgrade' my avatar's capabilities. Just like the Agility Orbs in Crackdown or the weapons canisters in Metroid/Shadow Complex. Every collectible, or every few collectibles, I get a substancial and gameplay relevant reward (ability boost).
3. The process of getting the collectible has to be fun. Some of the collectibles should pose a true challenge, yet not be overly frustrating. The process of getting the collectibles should be supported by the game mechanics. Collectibles in a game with fun exploration gameplay works. Searching every nook and cranny in a linear game - not so much.

• Do you like Collect-a-thons?
• Which games did you complete a Collect-a-thon for?
• Why that game?
• What do you want from collectibles?
• Do you agree with me on how collectibles should be handled?

Personally, I only did 100% of all collectibles in Batman : Arkham Asylum. Just because they were kinda fun to do and because I always knew, where to look. I must have gotten most collectibles in most Metroid and Zelda games, because they generally are meaningful enough for me to care about them.
 
But seriously, most games fail at collectibles. Either it feels like an impossible task, as there is no official in-game hints/markers on my minimap/map to point me in the general direction of the collectibles... or the collectibles just don't do anything meaningful... most of the time, both is the case.
 
I really wish all games with collectibles would do them right. Meaningful and manageable - without having to resort to printout maps or having to search the map with a crime scene investigation style searchgrid inch by inch and still probably missing something. No chance of completion whatsoever. Unless you got a some kind of personality disorder compelling you not to stop, unless it's 100% completed, these kind of collect-a-thons will be of no gameplay value.

Batman's were very good, they were fun puzzles, but none has been as great as Crackdown's too me, and the beauty is how simple they are.  The more you grab the higher you can jump, the more of them you can then reach. 
 
I mostly agree with your list but the one that doesn't fit that I would add is Assassin's Creed II's glyphs, which weren't upgrades but just revealed awesome bits of backstory and then one big story reveal at the end.

" Batman's were very good, they were fun puzzles, but none has been as great as Crackdown's too me, and the beauty is how simple they are.  The more you grab the higher you can jump, the more of them you can then reach.   I mostly agree with your list but the one that doesn't fit that I would add is Assassin's Creed II's glyphs, which weren't upgrades but just revealed awesome bits of backstory and then one big story reveal at the end. "

Arkham Asylum probably did collectibles better than in my opinion anyway, I have seen done in any other game. It didnt feel like it always does with me, which is pointless and boring with no reason to go for it. I dont care about achivements and I never will, so I never care for go for them in any games really because as I said, they are just dumb and boring to me, with getting an achivement usually the only thing that it gets you(most of the time). If there is a good reason to go for them, sometimes I will do it,(such as cool unlocks or something like that)even if I dont really enjoy it much, but with Batman AA, I didnt care about any of that, I felt like they were done well enough that I enjoyed finding all of them.

Yeah I like to collect stuff as long as it's not impossible. I like a good challenge as much as the next guy, but I don't think I'm gonna stick around very long if it's only possible to find if you know every nook and cranny of the map without actually looking at a map of the map. Batman handled collectibles very well. Well enough to make me find and solve all 240 of them. Other games should look up to Batman and do collectibles in a similar manner.

Do you mean like in GTA4, where you have to shoot all the flying rats aka pigeons? Because it really frustrates me! Has anyone managed to get them all yet? I don't know how i will go about getting them. 
 
And the feathers in Assassins Creed 2.
 
I generally like collect-a-thons but i have only completed ones in COD4 and MW2, the Intel items. I don't know if this counts.

I only go after 'all' collectibles, if their location is either marked or hinted at on the in-game map. Batman : Arkham Asylum does it with the little green questionmarks. Metroid shows of collectibles on the map too. Without such markers on the in-game maps, collectibles seem utterly useless to me, because it's impossible to get 'em all, without printing out some kind of map. I certainly will never print out a map for collectibles.

I really liked the collectibles in Assassin's Creed 2. They gave you money and also the truth and the seals get you extra stuff that is really cool.

" I really liked the collectibles in Assassin's Creed 2. They gave you money and also the truth and the seals get you extra stuff that is really cool. "

If your world is bigger than a level in one of the classic N64 platformers, excluding DK64 because those were still too big, then you have to 
a) limit the amount of collectibles - don't have anything much more than 100
b) have a way to differentiate between the different collectibles, so that those using a FAQ for the last few missed ones don't have to check every area they've been to. Give them slightly different names (eg: the different Fallout 3 bobbleheads) or check off the ones which have already been picked up on the map. 
c) If you really need to, hint at the locations or allow the player to uncover the exact locations later on to help. Believe Metroid Prime 3 did this a while back, and while at first I was a little annoyed that they'd encourage that over exploration, I would probably end up using a guide for the last few pick ups that I'd missed anyway.
 
My favourite game is Banjo-Kazooie so naturally collectibles are something I've had plenty of experience with, just annoys me how many games seem to get the whole thing wrong after this long.

" @supermike6 said:

" I really liked the collectibles in Assassin's Creed 2. They gave you money and also the truth and the seals get you extra stuff that is really cool. "

Are the collectibles visible or hinted at on the map/minimap? The flags in the first Assassins Creed weren't. I would have gone after them, but without map markers/hints, I'm just not gonna do it. "

I don't mind looking for stuff like the flags in AC or the feathers in AC2 
Sure they're not shown on the map but even a retarded monkey knows how to use a computer and a TV at the same time. 
So there's really always a map for me to look at if it gets too hard (not that it was hard to get the flags in AC1, they were all in obvious spots.. same goes for the feathers in AC2, still collectiong those because I'm playing other games as well)

" I don't mind looking for stuff like the flags in AC or the feathers in AC2 Sure they're not shown on the map but even a retarded monkey knows how to use a computer and a TV at the same time. So there's really always a map for me to look at if it gets too hard (not that it was hard to get the flags in AC1, they were all in obvious spots.. same goes for the feathers in AC2, still collectiong those because I'm playing other games as well) "

" If your world is bigger than a level in one of the classic N64 platformers, excluding DK64 because those were still too big, then you have to 
a) limit the amount of collectibles - don't have anything much more than 100
b) have a way to differentiate between the different collectibles, so that those using a FAQ for the last few missed ones don't have to check every area they've been to. Give them slightly different names (eg: the different Fallout 3 bobbleheads) or check off the ones which have already been picked up on the map. 
c) If you really need to, hint at the locations or allow the player to uncover the exact locations later on to help. Believe Metroid Prime 3 did this a while back, and while at first I was a little annoyed that they'd encourage that over exploration, I would probably end up using a guide for the last few pick ups that I'd missed anyway.  My favourite game is Banjo-Kazooie so naturally collectibles are something I've had plenty of experience with, just annoys me how many games seem to get the whole thing wrong after this long. "

I usually never do collectables as i find it extremely boring and brings no joy to gameplay for me. So it has to be done in a fun way, i admire Batman and what they did, and if my game didn't freeze at a certain pick up i might have finished all the collecting.