10 Video Game Design Rules You Can Never Unsee

8. Your Final Remaining Health & Ammo Are Actually Worth More

We've all been low on health and/or ammo in a game and only barely skated by thanks to our awesome gaming skills - but in fact, you most likely had a little help from the game itself.

Assassin's Creed and Doom, for instance, place a higher hit-point value on the last few chunks of the player's health, to improve the likelihood of sweaty-palmed players feeling like they made it through by the skin of their teeth. But in fact, they had a smidge more health than they thought they did.

The same often appears to be true of ammo, with System Shock allowing the player's last bullet to deal double damage, potentially giving them that crucial final edge when the chips are down.

This is one of those fantastically clever aspects of game dev the player can't physically see, but once you're aware of it, you'll never think about your in-game resources the same way again.