Loading

Loading screens in video games are pretty boring. Sure, you can fluff them up with a little animation or music, but they’re still there for the player to wait while the console does its thing. The good stuff is on the other side, no matter what’s added to enrich the experience or distract from the boredom. Loading screens, especially longer ones, are a good opportunity to leave, to grab a glass of water or a snack, to check on something in the house, to stand up and stretch. The problem then, is that players might have left the room entirely by the time the game loads and dumps them into the action. In the worst cases this will force a restart, and with it another stretch of loading. I recently encountered this in the Resident Evil 3 remake, where the loading bar hung around 10% for most of the time, before quickly jumping to 90% and then throwing Jill in front of a hungry zombie. One way to negate this issue is a confirmation prompt replacing the progress bar when it reaches 100%, requiring the player to actively return to the game. While this is generally effective, it needs to be accompanied by cues, preferably audio - perhaps supplemented visually - to jolt those who distract themselves with their phones or something else during particularly long loading screens (the PS4 version of Metro Exodus is on notable offender). As power and processing speed increase (or whatever else will shorten loading times – I come from the Luddite school of technological appreciation), the loading issue is naturally solved, in the process making a continue prompt an unneeded hassle for the player, although this is a minor issue and could be modified in the porting/remaster process. Clever design or focussing on a console has allowed some developers to negate load screens and keep players constantly engaged, although designing games in this fashion can create its own set of issues. Even something as simple as the loading process has pitfalls and the potential for serious user experience problems.