?Bob Bates calls out this idea in Game Design: SotS, in the context of puzzle games: "Don't make the player perform a complex action twice. Once he has completed the steps to a puzzle, if he needs to do it again give him a single input that will perform the entire sequence."
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?The Legend of Zelda series uses this well; haven gotten through an area, you either acquire an item (PrivilegedMove) that makes traversing it (and other places) easier, or a shortcut back out is provided.
A completely general rule this is not; ?Tetris, for instance, would surly be ruined if you never replayed the lower levels to get back in the grove before tackling the harder ones.
CategoryGoodIdea | CategoryNeedsWork
