PRO DESIGN TIPS - GATING: "BioShock Remastered" (2K Games, 2016)
COMMON GAME DESIGN TECHNIQUE EXAMPLE: GATING (Skill/Gear)
In reference to introducing skill or gear gating in Bioshock, let’s have a look at some
comments from the focus group testing, as described by the game director, Ken Levine;
“Overly dense, confusing, and not particularly engaging. Players would acquire new
powers and not know how to use them, so they stuck to using more traditional weapons
and became frustrated.”
“We changed the medical pavilion from having sandbox style gameplay to having
a set of locks and keys that were set up to ensure that the player knew how to use at
least a few key plasmids” (Finley, 2023).
Plasmids, as I’m sure you know, are a kind of special power or skill that you dis‑
charge from your hand and you select them dependent upon the task you need them for
(which is, in many cases, combat). In the case of the locked door example, the level has
been re‑designed specifically so the player will learn how to use plasmids. The benefit
of skill gating the player with that door is that once the player leaves that area, as a
designer you can be certain the player understands and is able to use plasmids. There
are some questions if this is entirely successful, as for much of the game I used the same
physical weapon (see Box 2.9) and mostly ignored the plasmids, other than when spe‑
cifically required for a task, a bit like having a toolbox and only ever using the hammer.
WANT MORE TECHNIQUES? this TEXT is an ABRIDGED EXCERPT from the BOOK: Teaching Video Game Design Fundamentals: A Guide for Educating with Practical Examples and Learning Materials. (Andy Sandham, Routledge/Taylor and Francis/CRC Press 2025)
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