Minigames: Small Challenges Can Pose Big Problems for Developers

Minigames sometimes get a bad reputation for distracting from a game’s core mechanics or plot, but that doesn’t always have to be the case. Minigames, like any other element of game design, can increase immersion by making the player feel like they are developing helpful skills rather than taking on arbitrary challenges.

In stealth games, minigames often focus on the espionage-based side of stealth mechanics, like hacking and lock picking. These tactics can vary widely in difficulty, and some games allow players to increase their skill in a particular field via a leveling system to make challenges easier.

Hacking and Lock Picking Minigames

While many games are driven by quick reflexes and sharp eyes, stealth games specialize in evading enemy capture or executing the perfect stealth kill. Including smaller stealth challenges like hacking, lock picking, or espionage expands the player character’s arsenal of tools and gives players the satisfaction of developing skills outside of the core competencies of the game.

Cracking a difficult “hacking” puzzle in Mass Effect 2 isn’t actually anything like real-life computer hacking, but it uses a skill not present in other areas of the game—matching one type of code to another—which makes it feel like a new and varied part of gameplay.

Alekhine’s Gun, set in the Cold War era, gives a great example of how to incorporate minigames that support player development. Lock picking and safecracking are invaluable skills for a historical spy, and minigames help players appreciate the difficulty of these tasks. Rather than matching codes, minigames in Alekhine’s Gun challenge the player to match shapes to open a lock, or line up gears to crack a safe. This turns each challenge into a miniature test of skill that awards you the same satisfaction as executing a particularly tricky headshot.

Lock picking and hacking are two of the most common minigames, showing up in titles like Skyrim, Mass Effect, and the BioShock series. While none of these titles are purely stealth games, the inclusion of minigames serves a similar purpose—they enrich the plotline and give players an opportunity to feel further invested in a game’s mission by developing valuable skills.

Creating Fun and Engaging Minigames

Using minigames in the stealth genre presents an interesting challenge for developers. How can you tie an element like lock picking into a game without taking away from the sense of tension that so often drives the genre’s progression? To successfully do this in any genre, developers have to keep a few things in mind.

It’s easy for minigames to feel tired or overused when so many use such similar mechanics. BioShock and Watch Dogs feature very similar hacking challenges reminiscent of old-school games like Pipe Dream—by turning pieces, you control the flow of liquid or information and aim to get it to a certain point in the game. While neither of these hacking games are bad, such similar techniques can frustrate players looking for a new challenge.

Making a truly innovative minigame can be difficult because it needs to be recognizable to players, challenging enough to feel like a good investment, but without being unnecessarily difficult. It should also be reminiscent of the concrete skill it represents; BioShock‘s Pipe Dream-inspired minigame has the water connection to Rapture, but its connection to hacking vending machines is tenuous at best.

Fallout 3‘s hacking mechanic is refreshing in this regard—while it’s not perfect, this minigame supports the main plotline and develops player skills. In the game, players are challenged to guess a correct password from a list of options, using clues for how many letters are correct and in the right position. Increasing your science skill helps you tackle more difficult terminals, eliminating some of the incorrect password choices.

Minigames can also frustrate gamers who want to get back to the core game. They frequently stop the action even if you’re being chased, breaking immersion for players who like a challenge. To combat this, some games include a timer on their minigames to give them a sense of urgency—BioShock starts the water flow after a time limit, meaning that players can’t just sit and strategize.

For the player who just doesn’t want to bothered with minigames, some games make challenges optional. This is helpful in a game like Alekhine’s Gun, where there are multiple routes to success. Players can choose a variety of paths on their way to completing objectives, rather than being forced into one set method. They can skip lock picking, for example, or safecracking. This allows players who enjoy minigames to get the satisfaction of solving puzzles, and lets players who don’t want to be distracted stay focused on the main mission.

Impressive Minigames Aren’t Impossible

Making minigames that are fun and engaging for players can be difficult. Developers need to make it different from core gameplay while still tying it into the atmosphere and story. By making quick, small challenges that are more of a test of brainpower than reflexes, players can get through minigames quickly and use different skills to accomplish the task. If the game’s obstacles can be solved through other means like brute force, dialog trickery, or disguises, players who don’t like minigames should be able to skip them entirely. While minigames aren’t every gamer’s cup of tea, it is entirely possible to make them fun, exciting, and unobtrusive—exactly the way most gamers like them.

For espionage-based gameplay and clever lock picking minigames, order Alekhine’s Gun. With wickedly tense gameplay and clever, engaging objectives, this stealth game is set to impress.