Are Mini games good or bad?

[HentaiPie]

Do you add mini games to your games? I've heard a few people say it takes away from the actual game itself, however I personally think it adds a little bit of gameplay time to your game, as well as makes look like you've put more effort into it. What's your opinion?

Personally, I've added two mini games to my game thus far. I have a gameboy and purchased TheUnproPro's MVBoy Retro pack (with the sounds) and have a playable gameboy in my game, as well as an adult Black Jack game I've added as another way to potentially gain (or lose) money.

 

[Sevarihk]

I personally really like (well made) minigames.
One of my favourite games back on gameboy advance was "Urbz", which had a very neat array of minigames you could play to earn money, ranging from small races to dr. mario-like puzzles. Granted, it is more a simulation game than a RPG, so that might have been a reason why it worked so well. Maybe with an RPG you run the risk of distracting from the story if you have too many minigames...

 

[Starbird]

as long as they're quick and offer some kind of real reward to the player, i think they can be great. picker boards, spin wheels, slots, plinko, or short skill game that grants a prize -- all of that can work really well. but when i'm playing an RPG i don't suddenly want to be stuck playing 10 minutes of space invader or pac man or whatever. that's my take :)

 

[HentaiPie]

as long as they're quick and offer some kind of real reward to the player, i think they can be great. picker boards, spin wheels, slots, plinko, or short skill game that grants a prize -- all of that can work really well. but when i'm playing an RPG i don't suddenly want to be stuck playing 10 minutes of space invader or pac man or whatever. that's my take :)

Good insight. I'm making a simulator, so I added black jack(21) which is a quick game, and you pay $25 to play. If you win, you win $50 so it's a game of risk. As a simulator I did make it so if you click on the gameboy you can play a very quick 4 level rpg game. It doesn't have any bonus if you win or lose, but I thought adding it would help with the simulation. What are your thoughts on that?

 

[Starbird]

i think with gaming there always needs to be some kind of payoff in exchange for the player's time. it can be as small as bonus content or a little joke or easter egg, or it can be something that helps them progress in the central game, but either way, it's best if there's a little treat at the end, whether as an expected payoff or a happy surprise

 

[Kurito14]

I would say depending on your mini-games. First of all, a mini-game has to be fun to play. For an example of that, a fishing game which is popular I did the survey in another forum. It must multiple types of fishes or you can add fish enemies too. Second, a reward which @Starbird brings up need to be worthwhile; it needs to balance so a player cannot abuse the economic of your game and gets rich quick.

If you make a gamble game, I suggest a tickets system or different currency exchange for rewards. Please do not make it mandatory and prevents a player from progression.