Dead-Ends in Games, and How to Use Them

A 'Dead-End' in Dead Gear. Or is it?

Let's consider Dead-Ends in games. What are dead-ends?

 I would define them specifically as such:  

An non-essential area or path in a level that the player can take that will require backtracking to return to the original 'correct' path.

 Dead-Ends have long been touted as an exercise in bad game design by older game design veterans; particularly those who designed multiplayer maps in first-person shooters such as Doom, Unreal, Quake, etc.

They have a point, a player running into a long corridor only to find no reward down there might feel betrayed, or annoyed. Certainly in multiplayer deathmatch maps, which were the norm back then, you generally want to keep a circular flow to the levels, allowing attacks and escapes to occur in any direction.

But even then, there were exceptions; I remember even in some of the multiplayer deathmatch maps, it was common to have a long corridor with a powerful pick-up (either a powerful weapon or full armor) at the very end. The fact that you would have your back exposed the entire time you ran down the corridor to get the powerup, and that you'd have to run all the way back; made it a risk vs reward situation; something that spiced things up and that many players appreciated.

The One True Way indeed.

But that's an entire different genre. Different games and genres will generally have different reactions to a dead-end.

For instance, RPGs (particularly JRPGS) can be maddening when you find a path that leads to nothing. I remember playing Suikoden Tierkreis on my DS; a very well produced JRPG, but not without its flaws.

But two flaws in particular, in combination, inspired a rage in me the likes none have ever seen.

-Long Dungeon Corridors that lead to nothing.
-Random Encounter Battles every 3-5 steps.

It made what should take a 15 minute romp through a dungeon into a grueling hours-long affair; irritatingly and artificially extending the playtime of the game. It could have been more easily forgiven if it wasn't such a pain getting to the end of a corridor, OR if there was a nice reward for doing so.

Catching view of a Strider

In more linear, single-player action games, dead-ends are not often used, much to the detriment to the game. Valve, of Half-life fame, used them on occasion, either rewarding the player with heath, ammo, hint or a visual treat that the player would not have been able to see otherwise.

For instance, near the beginning of the game, as the player walks through City 17, they can walk down a dead-end alleyway, and catch sight of the spider-like Strider enemies, something that they won't be facing until the end of the game.
Valve is quite skilled in rewarding the player venturing off the beaten path.

And that's really one of the greatest boons to dead-ends: it prevents a game from becoming too linear, without having to create alternate pathways to the same destination. It can also intrigue the Completionist player, who wants to find and explore every inch of a level. But if used irresponsibly or unfairly, it can just irritate people playing the game, especially if there's a lot of unnecessary backtracking. Interestingly, Elder Scrolls: Skyrim was extremely gracious in that most of their dungeons exist in a large loop, connecting the final room of the dungeon with the very first room; allowing the player to skip backtracking through the entire dungeon. This was handy because it also allowed level designers to be more ambitious with their designs, creating points-of-no-return, obstacles that would force the player to defeat the dungeon, unable to go back the way he came.

Dead-Ends can also cause a few pretty interesting player behaviors! Take a look below.

Let's pretend this is a map for the last part of a First Person shooter level. There are three paths at the end of the initial corridor, but only one leads to the end of the level. To continue, the player will just have to guess to head to the right if there are no visual or audio hints to guide him there.

As you can see, if the player takes the wrong path, leading to a dead end, they are forced to retrace their steps.

The fact that a dead-end does not provide essential gameplay, means that the player is not required to enter the dead end to complete the level. 

This of course means that the dead-end can not contain anything that is essential for completion of the level or later levels, if one cannot return to this area later. This is mostly an issue in level or chapter-based games.

 You can also justify a dead-end by making it essential to traverse in order to progress in the level.

In this example, the player needs to find the green key in order to bypass the green door. In this case, it is not really a dead-end as much as necessary backtracking within the level.

A possible fault with using this strategy exclusively is that eventually the flow of the level will feel much too linear if taking every single path is essential to beating the level.

There's an interesting behavior I've noticed in players that play games with branching paths and dead-ends.

If one particular path is clearly marked or hinted that it is the correct door to go through, players will always almost NOT take that first! Why? Because they don't want to miss the chance to find hidden goodies elsewhere in case that hinted doorway is actually a point of no return.

Samus cannot traverse these spikes until she gets the grappling beam.

This brings us to the most relevant genre to Dead Gear; the games that feature an open game world that are not sectioned off into stages or levels.

This includes games such as Zelda, Metroid, Resident Evil and Castlevania. One of the common traits between all of them is that they feature backtracking to a degree. Another is their use of Game-Locks.





A game-lock is a level design mechanic that is, for all purposes, a Dead-End for the player; until they obtain a new item or ability (or trigger an event) that allows them to bypass it. In a game like Resident Evil, it can be something as simple as finding a key to a matching door that they found in a dead-end ages ago on the other side of the mansion.

In many ways, the Game-lock is one of the essential ingredients to creating a Metroidvania game; ensuring a fairly linear game while retaining an enormous game world with branching paths. Look at this map of Castlevania:SOTN. While enormous, the game limits your progression entirely on abilities gained. (Although, in the game's greatness, entire regions, bosses and abilities are completely optional!)

Another important caveat is that in SOTN, there is not a single dead-end that is unrewarded. Even if it's something as simple as a small health item or a crappy weapon, the player won't feel cheated for their efforts in exploring.

Mining Drill in Greenlight Mines

Let's take another look at the Dead Gear picture I posted at the top of this post. This is an example of a Game-Lock that also functions as a Dead-End. He simply cannot progress any further with his current abilities. But the player may notice the opening from above; and even if he doesn't, he will remember the large mining drill, making a mental note of it. When he returns later with a new-found ability and manages to get through that opening in the ceiling, he will feel accomplished and proud of figuring out this Game-lock.

There's a lot more to talk about, but this post has gone on pretty long already. See you next time.

-Alex