In a recent interview with PSU, Q-Games studio founder Dylan Cuthbert was asked about the inclusion of PlayStation Network Trophies in the PixelJunk games, and what goes into the design and conception of them.
“We start designing the trophies at around the 70% or 80% point, when we know what features the game is going to have. We do go out of our way to design the trophies so good players can collect almost all of them naturally,” said Dylan.
Speaking of previous conflicts of interest with PixelJunk trophies, and the difficultly/time needed to obtain them, Cuthbert stated that the studio has now changed design philosophies in order to better adhere to the overall fun and experience of hunting down those trophies we all love so much.
“For Eden (which was the first ever game with trophies I think?) we considered trophies to be “achievements,” ie. things you need to go out of your way and challenge yourself to obtain,” said the creator of the PixelJunk franchise. “However, after we released Eden we realized people were much happier collecting them through the natural course of the game so we changed the design criteria for them,” he added.
When asked by PSU about the impact of Trophies and Achievements in video games, Cuthbert had a few thoughts to share.
“I think they’re fine—they shouldn’t take over from the game itself of course, but if designed well they don’t interfere and can encourage the player to explore areas of the game they wouldn’t have before, enjoying it more.”
Don’t expect future PixelJunk titles to force you to go out of your way in order to get 100% trophy completion.