Casual Game Design: Seeking

    I've never been a massive fan of seeking games, mainly because my patience seems to wear thin whenever I'm sitting staring at the same space for one object. Trefry doesn't give seeking games an exactly shining review either.
    He suggests that seeking, like sorting and matching, is an instinctive proccess, with which I'd agree. Man has been seeking for hundreds of thousands of years, its a suvival instinct. This instinctivity supports seeking games as a solid foundation from which to build casual games. They require no explanation as all humans are familiar with the concept of finding hidden objects. Trefry points out that seeking games offer no replayability, once a player has discovered the object, or the route from A to B, the game becomes useless. Unless of course a game like find the ball under the cup is being played. However games like that require no logical thought proccess or strategy to allow the player to find what they are looking for, making seeking games fairly unsatisfactory even after completion.
    One method that Trefry suggests is trying to implement logic into seeking games to try and add a sense of accomplishment, other than just persisting to seek until you eventually complete the game. He uses a few examples in the chapter, none that I can talk confidently about having not played them, however the game 'Crimson Room' I have played. This is a game where the player is locked in a room and is left no instructions as to how to escape, they must rely on their seeking abilities to help them. Logic is integrated into Crimson Room in that the player must find an object in order to interact with another object in order to progress. For example, finding the key under the bed that will open the box on the shelf, which contains a shard of glass that can be used to cut a hole in the wallpaper. Even though this is just a glamourised version of seeking, players can begin to feel like they are using some form of problem solving, which can create an overall stronger sense of satisfaction. What's also a nice little extra to Crimson Room is that there is a snippet of narrative given at the beginning of the game, which isn't much but helps the player immerse themselves in the dilemma.
    Other than pointing out the few flaws in seeking and potential improvements to it Trefry doesn't expand much further, and I don't think much more needs to be said either. I'll finish this post with a link to Crimson Room so you can see if you agree with what Trefry or I feel about seeking games.

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/games/room