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How to improve hitboxes(hotspots)?

edited November 2022 in Adventure talk

I've had quite a few comments from players on my game that they feel the hotspots or "hitboxes" are hard to aim at when playing.
Personally I don't have this problem, being a veteran of point and click adventure games since the 90s. Some of you other old guys probably agree, pixel hunting is half the fun but it seems lots of the younger audience doesn't appreciate this.
Is there a way to improve using hotspots to make it easier for players? Currently I just make the hotspot as close to the the size of the item as possible, or even use the cool polygon2d feature that snaps directly to the edge of a PNG sprite to make it exact. Should I be making them bigger?
For my mouse cursors, I have them pointed at the top left of the cursor. That seems most logical to me?
I've considered making items "highlight" when moused over but ultimately this feels too dumbed down to me. I don't like how modern games all highlight items which breaks immersion and treats the player like a child.

What have your experiences been with this?

Comments

  • As this is more to do with design than AC itself, I'm moving this to "Adventure talk".

    Good question, though. Personally I prefer "chunkier" Hotspots that have a wider border around them than one that just covers the sprites.

  • What seems to be a common trend that seems to be added to games lately to probably combat this issue is that of the "hotspot reveal". It is a button or middle mouse button click, that reveals all the hotspots in a scene for a brief moment. See games like Deponia.

    Imho one needs to probably rather design the game so the user would want to click certain areas but I have seen that the pixel hunting can be quite ridiculous in some games. Keep in mind as well that if you are exporting the game to run on a mobile phone one day that it can become so tiny that the player will find it difficult to click on the smallest of the small hotspot.

    Im also debating in my game what interaction with what hotspot is the best to use. As you say @Endlessdescent sometimes half the fun is the pixel hunting, but there is a fine line for that to become annoying. I mean we get full games made out of "pixel hunting" with hidden object games. I think though its a balance to make it just right.

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