History Main / SlidingScaleOfContentDensityVsWidth

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series started out on the far, ''far'' "Width" end of the scale. ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena Arena]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'' have absolutely massive game worlds, on the scale of real life countries. However, to fill out these worlds, any areas not related to the main quests (or a few prominent side quests, in the case of ''Daggerfall'') are [[RandomlyGeneratedLevels Randomly Generated]], with ProceduralGeneration used for dungeons. This allows for huge game worlds with nigh-infinite content...but at the cost of that content getting very repetitive, very quickly. Come the third game in the series, ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', Creator/{{Bethesda}} took a drastically different philosophical approach, swinging to the "Density" side of the scale. The game world was significantly scaled down (to a "mere" nine square miles compared to thousands) but was entirely hand-built. It helps that, through the use of SpaceCompression, it is nowhere near the size of it's predecessors, but is still far larger than most game worlds. Another reason for this philosophical change was ''Morrowind''[='s=] MultiPlatform availability on console (specifically, {{UsefulNotes/Xbox}}) as well as PC, a first for the series (and first for a prominent WesternRPG in many, many years at the time). This changed helped ''Morrowind'' to get into the hands of a wider audience, being the BreakthroughHit for both the series and the development company. Follow-up games (''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'') swung the series back toward the middle of the scale. Both increased the size of the game world compared to ''Morrowind'', but also brought back elements of random and procedural generation to fill out those larger game worlds. Coupled with [[LevelScaling enemy and loot]] spawns being spread sheet generated, much of the "density" uniqueness seen in ''Morrowind'' was lost.

* Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto and Creator/EijiAonuma felt that ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' got a bit too Wide with ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess''. This is why they made sure that ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' was Denser. Fan reaction to this lead to ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' being a WideOpenSandbox in the vein of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI the NES original]].

* Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto and Eiji Aonuma felt that ''Zelda'' got a bit too Wide with ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess''. This is why they made sure that ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' was Denser. Fan reaction to this lead to ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' being a WideOpenSandbox in the vein of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI the NES original]].
** Shigeru Miyamoto had largely sat back and let the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' staff do its own thing, but for ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'', Miyamoto became heavily involved. The result was a much, much denser game than any previous Paper Mario title.

Each approach has potential boons and drawbacks. Games with Density can easily maintain the player's attention and provide a meaty experience within a relatively short playtime, but the types of experiences can be fairly limited and not very cerebral. Games with Width offer a broad palette of experiences over a frequently long playtime and a potential for greater WorldBuilding (in games that actually have plot), but can also leave players bored by the pacing (and FakeLongevity in some cases) or overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content.

* Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto and Eiji Aonuma felt that ''Zelda'' got a bit too Wide with ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess''. This is why they made sure that ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' was Denser. Fan reaction to this lead to ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' being a WideOpenSandbox in the vein of the NES original.

** Shigeru Miyamoto had largely sat back and let the Paper Mario staff do its own thing, but for ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'', Miyamoto became heavily involved. The result was a much, much denser game than any previous Paper Mario title.

* Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto and Eiji Aonuma feel that ''Zelda'' got a bit too Wide with ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess''. This is why they made sure that ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' was Denser.

* ShigeruMiyamoto and Eiji Aonuma feel that ''Zelda'' got a bit too Wide with ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess''. This is why they made sure that ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' was Denser.

Genres that tend to be Denser include {{Action|Game}}, {{racing game}}s, {{Casual Video Game}}s, {{PlatformGame}}ers, and {{Rail Shooter}}s. Genres that tend to be Wider include [[AdventureGame Adventure]], ActionAdventure, {{Role Playing Game}}s (especially most {{Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game}}s), {{Strategy Game}}s, and {{Wide Open Sandbox}}es. Gaming in general saw a shift to Width with the VideoGame3DLeap during the 5th console generation.

Genres that tend to be Denser include [[ActionGame Action]], racing games, {{Casual Video Game}}s, [[PlatformGame Platformers]], and {{Rail Shooter}}s. Genres that tend to be Wider include [[AdventureGame Adventure]], ActionAdventure, {{Role Playing Game}}s (especially most {{Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game}}s), {{Strategy Game}}s, and {{Wide Open Sandbox}}es. Gaming in general saw a shift to Width with the VideoGame3DLeap during the 5th console generation.

* The creators of ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101'' said that they deliberately made the game fairly short (under 8 hours) so that they could focus on making a compact and very fun experience.

Each approach has potential boons and drawbacks. Games with Density can easily maintain the player's attention and provide a meaty experience within a relatively short playtime, but the types of experiences can be fairly limited and not very cerebral. Games with Width offer a broad palette of experiences over a frequently long playtime and a potential for greater WorldBuilding (in games that actually have plot), but can also leave players bored by the pacing or overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content.

Genres that tend to be Denser include [[ActionGame Action]], racing games, {{Casual Video Game}}s, [[PlatformGame Platformers]], and {{Rail Shooter}}s. Genres that tend to be Wider include [[AdventureGame Adventure]], ActionAdventure, {{Role Playing Game}}s (especially most MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGames), {{Strategy Game}}s, and {{Wide Open Sandbox}}es. Gaming in general saw a shift to Width with the VideoGame3DLeap during the 5th console generation.

Genres that tend to be Denser include [[ActionGame Action]], racing games, {{Casual Video Game}}s, [[PlatformGame Platformers]], and {{Rail Shooter}}s. Genres that tend to be Wider include [[AdventureGame Adventure]], ActionAdventure, {{Role Playing Game}}s, {{Strategy Game}}s, and {{Wide Open Sandbox}}es. Gaming in general saw a shift to Width with the VideoGame3DLeap during the 5th console generation.

* ShigeruMiyamoto and Eiji Aonuma feel that ''TheLegendOfZelda'' got a bit too Wide with ''TwilightPrincess''. This is why they made sure that ''SkywardSword'' was Denser.

Content in video games, whether it's new gameplay or plot, can be given to the player in various ways.

Tangentially related to the SlidingScaleOfLinearityVsOpenness, as Linearity typically correlates with Density, while Openness typically correlates with Width. FakeLongevity is sometimes present in games on the Width end of the scale.