Don't tell the player how to play your game

The reasoning for this is that the player experience is greatly hindered by searching up answers to problems found in a game.

Who are you to tell the player that their way of playing your game is wrong? It might be hindering for you, but maybe other players enjoy scanning a wikipage, making a wikipage, or excel documents.

Fun™ is inherently subjective and game developers often make the mistake of trying to force fun into their game while ending up taking it out of.

Give warnings and hints

That being said, warn players if they make irreversible decisions and possibly hint about the outcome.

When playing Witcher 2 I was a bit annoyed that sometimes quests would fail when I would complete another quest, because a certain character would leave. I ended up reading online how to do certain quests in order so I wouldn't miss anything. The best way is to design quest lines where this doesn't happen. Second best way is to give the user a fair warning that other (open) quests can't be done once this quest has been completed.

Have a pleasant UI

Make your UI ncie for the eyes and intuitive to use. If it's cluttered and/or unintuitive (looking at you, europa universalis) players will get their information elsewhere.

Encourage, don't punish

Don't add arbitrary punishments like timers to levels that will make the player fail (xcom2). Instead, provide bonuses if a player finishes faster. Players tend to look up solutions when they get stuck (can't be the level in 12 turns). Getting a bonus might be an incentive to keep trying, although arguably some will also look at a solution.

Don't tell the player how to play your game

The reasoning for this is that the player experience is greatly hindered by searching up answers to problems found in a game.

Who are you to tell the player that their way of playing your game is wrong? It might be hindering for you, but maybe other players enjoy scanning a wikipage, making a wikipage, or excel documents.

Fun™ is inherently subjective and game developers often make the mistake of trying to force fun into their game while ending up taking it out of.

Give warnings and hints

That being said, warn players if they make irreversible decisions and possibly hint about the outcome.

When playing Witcher 2 I was a bit annoyed that sometimes quests would fail when I would complete another quest, because a certain character would leave. I ended up reading online how to do certain quests in order so I wouldn't miss anything. The best way is to design quest lines where this doesn't happen. Second best way is to give the user a fair warning that other (open) quests can't be done once this quest has been completed.

Have a pleasant UI

Make your UI nice for the eyes and intuitive to use. If it's cluttered and/or unintuitive (looking at you, europa universalis) players will get their information elsewhere.

Encourage, don't punish

Don't add arbitrary punishments like timers to levels that will make the player fail (xcom2). Instead, provide bonuses if a player finishes faster. Players tend to look up solutions when they get stuck (can't beat the level in 12 turns). Getting a bonus might be an incentive to keep trying, although arguably some will also look at a solution.

Don't tell the player how to play your game

The reasoning for this is that the player experience is greatly hindered by searching up answers to problems found in a game.

Who are you to tell the player that their way of playing your game is wrong? It might be hindering for you, but maybe other players enjoy scanning a wikipage, making a wikipage, or excel documents.

Fun™ is inherently subjective and game developers often make the mistake of trying to force fun into their game while ending up taking it out of.

Give warnings and hints

That being said, warn players if they make irreversible decisions and possibly hint about the outcome.

When playing Witcher 2 I was a bit annoyed that sometimes quests would fail when I would complete another quest, because a certain character would leave. I ended up reading online how to do certain quests in order so I wouldn't miss anything. The best way is to design quest lines where this doesn't happen. Second best way is to give the user a fair warning that other (open) quests can't be done once this quest has been completed.

Have a pleasant UI

Make your UI ncie for the eyes and intuitive to use. If it's cluttered and/or unintuitive (looking at you, europa universalis) players will get their information elsewhere.

Encourage, don't punish

Don't add arbitrary punishments like timers to levels that will make the player fail (xcom2). Instead, provide bonuses if a player finishes faster. Players tend to look up solutions when they get stuck (can't be the level in 12 turns). Getting a bonus might be an incentive to keep trying, although arguably some will also look at a solution.

Don't tell the player how to play your game

The reasoning for this is that the player experience is greatly hindered by searching up answers to problems found in a game.

Who are you to tell the player that their way of playing your game is wrong? It might be hindering for you, but maybe other players enjoy scanning a wikipage, making a wikipage, or excel documents.

Fun™ is inherently subjective and game developers often make the mistake of trying to force fun into their game while ending up taking it out of.

Give warnings and hints

That being said, warn players if they make irreversible decisions and possibly hint about the outcome.

When playing Witcher 2 I was a bit annoyed that sometimes quests would fail when I would complete another quest, because a certain character would leave. I ended up reading online how to do certain quests in order so I wouldn't miss anything. The best way is to design quest lines where this doesn't happen. Second best way is to give the user a fair warning that other (open) quests can't be done once this quest has been completed.

Have a pleasant UI

Make your UI ncie for the eyes and intuitive to use. If it's cluttered and/or unintuitive (looking at you, europa universalis) players will get their information elsewhere.

Encourage, don't punish

Don't add arbitrary punishments like timers to levels that will make the player fail (xcom2). Instead, provide bonuses if a player finishes faster. Players tend to look up solutions when they get stuck (can't be the level in 12 turns). Getting a bonus might be an incentive to keep trying, although arguably some will also look at a solution.