Posted by Tim on Sep 1, 2009 twenty five to three am
I think your PAX talk should be about your insight on why some games make it big, while most don't.
You had a big post about you replaying MI 1 and 2 a while back, in which you noted things like pixel hunting, manually opening a door and such is unacceptable in games nowadays. Why was it allowed then, and don't we allow it anymore now. That's really interesting stuff!
I played the recently released special edition of MI 1 and although it was great nostalgic fun for me, I believe it would never have made a great impact without its fanbase from the 80's. We just don't spend enough time any more on playing through games. In the past, you've made comments about adult gamers having little time and how episodic gaming therefore makes sense. I think it would be very interesting to hear more novel ideas on how to get players to be devoted to a game again.
We are too spoiled, there are too many games out there, so we want to jump as quickly from one game to the next. Developers have followed this trend and no longer spend many months to really finish, polish and 'some other word that sounds like a language' a game. Most games nowadays are either tech demos (demonstrating a fancy graphics engine) or some over commercialized hype (Halo 8, call of duty 20).
An example of how it should be done is Battlefield 1943 (been sold over a million copies in a short time). They have taken the old gameplay concept of battlefield 1942 (released in 2002 or so) and updated it with their latest engine. But I think they spend most of their time balancing the game so it plays well. The network code runs smooth, teams are well balanced, etc. Mind you there are only 4 maps! But for the first time since years I'm experiencing again what it is like to really know a map, know where players commonly hide for cover, what are good approach routes and try out new ways to outsmart the other players.
So I would be very interested to hear your view on what makes players stick to a game. I'm not going to PAX though, so be sure to post the slides or some video online :)
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Posted by Tim on Sep 1, 2009 twenty five to three am
You had a big post about you replaying MI 1 and 2 a while back, in which you noted things like pixel hunting, manually opening a door and such is unacceptable in games nowadays. Why was it allowed then, and don't we allow it anymore now. That's really interesting stuff!
I played the recently released special edition of MI 1 and although it was great nostalgic fun for me, I believe it would never have made a great impact without its fanbase from the 80's. We just don't spend enough time any more on playing through games. In the past, you've made comments about adult gamers having little time and how episodic gaming therefore makes sense. I think it would be very interesting to hear more novel ideas on how to get players to be devoted to a game again.
We are too spoiled, there are too many games out there, so we want to jump as quickly from one game to the next. Developers have followed this trend and no longer spend many months to really finish, polish and 'some other word that sounds like a language' a game. Most games nowadays are either tech demos (demonstrating a fancy graphics engine) or some over commercialized hype (Halo 8, call of duty 20).
An example of how it should be done is Battlefield 1943 (been sold over a million copies in a short time). They have taken the old gameplay concept of battlefield 1942 (released in 2002 or so) and updated it with their latest engine. But I think they spend most of their time balancing the game so it plays well. The network code runs smooth, teams are well balanced, etc. Mind you there are only 4 maps! But for the first time since years I'm experiencing again what it is like to really know a map, know where players commonly hide for cover, what are good approach routes and try out new ways to outsmart the other players.
So I would be very interested to hear your view on what makes players stick to a game. I'm not going to PAX though, so be sure to post the slides or some video online :)