Foreshadow the destinationdraft

Definition

Showing the player a place, item, or objective before it is reachable, usually through a window, across a gap, or from a vantage point. The reveal establishes a goal, and the route to it becomes a question the player carries.

How to spot it

Note every moment you say out loud that you want to get over there. Then check whether the level eventually takes you there, and from which direction. A good preview is framed so the destination is unmistakable and the path is not; if both are obvious, it is signage rather than foreshadowing.

Why it works

A goal the player sets themselves outpulls one the game assigns. Seeing an unreachable reward converts navigation into problem solving, and arriving later closes a loop the player opened, which reads as competence rather than compliance. The preview also does quiet mapping work: the destination becomes a fixed point that the intervening space is measured against. The technique obligates the designer, though. Every previewed space that turns out to be scenery teaches the player to stop trusting what they see.

Levels using this (3)

Derived from level entries, not maintained here.

• E1M1: HangarDoom · 1993

  The armor sits behind a window in the opening room, seen before it can be reached. The detour to collect it is the level's first authored choice.

• Undead BurgDark Souls · 2011

  The bridge, the church spire, and the drake are all visible from below long before they are reachable, so the vertical route is legible from the ground.

• The Clockwork MansionDishonored 2 · 2016

  Jindosh's position and the mansion's upper floors are glimpsed through shifting geometry well before access, so the objective stays oriented as the space rearranges.

Related

• Weenie
• Sightline control
• Shortcut loop