Video Games: what you you guys think?

[geoffbaker]

took me a while to figure out texting.

It's for when kids want to communicate, but not actually have to TALK to someone in real time...

Our culture is getting pretty scary when you think that kids have TVs, computers, games, phones and fridges in their rooms...one day they will just never have to come out again...

The only thing I ever had in my room growing up was piles of books.

[rideOn]

I used to play video games mostly back in the 80's but not nearly as much as some friends. I still play as a momentary escape. I like the Wii because it's Type B, like me. I remember trying Jak and Daxter a few years ago and found it way too difficult. I just wasn't interested in the time required to get good at it., I just prefer to live in analog, if you know what I mean.

[dogbone]

Never made it to Pac-man ! Pinball & pool,, I guess it shows I'm an old fart 

[The Garbone]

Well,  I have a XBox and was quite into Halo 2 and the beginning of Halo 3.   Ran a team on the 2old2play.com and were in some ladder matches etc..  Great fun, we would play about 4 hours 2 nights a week.   Then I discovered motorcycles and got to busy in the real world..  Kinda miss the gaming and some of my friends.....  Have not logged into Xbox live in about 6 months.

Edit.....   Wow, this is my 1000th post...  Go figure, and I did not even plan it that way..

[REpozer]

Edit.....   Wow, this is my 1000th post...  Go figure, and I did not even plan it that way..

Did anything happen? Like flashing lights and gonging buzzers?

[The Garbone]

Got an email from Kevin,  they are giving me a free C5 for my accomplishment...  Sweeetttt....

[REpozer]

Got an email from Kevin,  they are giving me a free C5 for my accomplishment...  Sweeter....

Ahhh Man, All I got was this lousy T-shirt, with "1000" across the back.

[doomed1]

alright, to be clear, i'm only asking to gather opinions. as an aspiring game designer, learning about audiences and external opinions matters to me. my next question to some of you would seem counter-intuitive, but i'd like you guys to seriously consider it.

what would it take for you to start playing games, or for some of you pick them up again, and play them about as regularly as, for example, you watch TV for leisure? as a follow-up (and for those who are already at the prior question), what would you look for most in the games you would presumably play. to be perfectly fair, i ask everyone this question, no matter what i'm expecting as a response, even my parents.

now for the benefit of Jeff, who wrote that great and very interesting response, the least i can do is answer your questions.

What are you studying? What video games do you like? What kind of games do you want to design? What schools/programs are you interested in?

i'm a man of your field, studying for a 20y/o English major with a minor in communications at the Saint John's University is Collegeville, MN (not Queens). i grew up on Sim City 2000, the old SCUMM point and click adventure games like Sam & Max, and Flight games like X-Wing, so of course i have a love of those, but it would be easier to list genres i DON'T like than genres i do, and even then there are exceptions. i'll play anything so long as i feel the game is balanced to whatever playstyle can be adapted to it.

as for kinds of games i'd like to develop, i find most of the games i've designed are of the shooter genre, but what i usually do with these concepts is have some sort of interaction element, particularly social interaction, as an integral part of the gameplay. design it as an experience that has a message than just something to do. it's tricker to manage than you would think.

currently i'm looking very intently at the University of Central Florida for their production MA since it's something i can achieve with my inconsistent fine art skills and my (putting it nicely) weak coding skills. besides, it allows me to be more creative with conceptualizing.

i actually live in the NYC metropolitan myself, just over in JC. i'd actually love to discuss this further, maybe over lunch if you'd like. drop me a PM.

[jdrouin]

what would it take for you to start playing games, or for some of you pick them up again, and play them about as regularly as, for example, you watch TV for leisure? as a follow-up (and for those who are already at the prior question), what would you look for most in the games you would presumably play. to be perfectly fair, i ask everyone this question, no matter what i'm expecting as a response, even my parents.

For me to take up a video game regularly it would have to feature something that keeps me coming back, something that merits repeated engagement like a good book or movie. As I mentioned in the case of Enemy Territory, it was the social aspect of team play combined with the nostalgiac visual style and narrative (WWII). With Return to Castle Wolfenstein, it was the challenging missions and problems to solve, plus you the player were the main character in the narrative. I guess I tend to like games that have a realistic period / setting, like a novel or movie, with some sort of overarching thread to hold the episodes together and make them interesting. What it would take to make me a regular player, though, would be a more sophisticated set of outcomes or states of gameplay.

I would say most video games promote values of genocide and/or consumerism. In first person shooters or other violent games you have to kill all the "bad guys," or as many as possible. Other games like Pacman require you to obtain all of the resources or capture all the objects. Then there are simulators, which allow you to approximate a real activity that you might not be able to experience first hand (like flying a plane). And then of course there are games of strategy or probability-based prediction (i.e. The Sims, which I've never played). I'm sure most video games involve some combination of all these. So I would want something that presents a complex worldview while having concrete, exciting conflict (like how Shakespeare is lyrically beautiful, philosophically deep, and punctuated by wicked sword fights). It's hard to imagine what such a game might do specifically, since by nature a game is usually very goal-oriented, thus producing a black-and-white moral focus.

But whatever it is, cool weapons are a must.

I think Roland Barthes had some interesting segments on games and game theory in Mythologies or Mythologies II. I would dig them out but a former roommate stole them.

Hope this helps. I'll send you a PM.

Jeff

[jdrouin]

Also, I've always wondered how you could design a game with a truly open-ended outcome. It seems to me they're all deterministic. But then so are tragedy and comedy.

Jeff

[GreenForce82]

I used to play video games alot... I have some games that I want to play now but my basement is a mess so... 

I like games with intense stories like a great book, I also think that the ability to choose the direction of the game is a cool concept but I understand there are limitations to that. 

I like interacting with real people but I have never played an mmorpg. (i want to WOW but I am afraid of the "crack" like addiction I have seen in others.

A good way to have a game progress into different areas by the choices a gamer makes would be:

To be in real time where the developers are constantly on their toes to write story plots and dialogue as the game goes on. Having a huge base of game players become involved in the story itself would be one way to facilitate this but the rendering of new "things" would be a difficulty here... Kind of like a WOW expansion but as I said more real time.

Also having the people who kick ass most, become newsworthy in and out of the game and being able to follow that persons saga could make for an expansion into having game viewers as well as players.

if you wanted to join the "awesome" person you could ask or try out and it could truly become an epic battle of good versus evil or just two factions fighting for something.

To perhaps take movies and books and make games out of them that are more open to the world that was created by them rather than the characters in them...

For example the world of Lord of the Rings instead of having to be one of the characters you simply exist in that world and the events unfold around you and you can and would be encouraged to participate on one side or another but wouldn't actually have to.


Or Harry Potters world, you are a magician from youth and can choose to go to hogwarts during various eras, like when Snape and James were there or around Harry's time but not be one of the main characters, so as to be more realistic, but allow for changes to some of the plotlines to include your influences...

also the start up would be to allow you to choose who you are from what kind of background (muggle born, pureblood, half giant,  hobbit, human, elf) stuff like that.

My basic Idea is to create Worlds from these works, I think the Star Wars games have gone this direction but more titles need to go this rout I think.

[geoffbaker]

Several things missing from most games:

1) Ease of startup/initial involvement. Most games can be extremely difficult for a first timer to learn without an experienced player to give pointers. I've always wondered why, with the feedback controls we have now, we couldn't have a "demo" mode where the joystick is controlled by the computer, demonstrating how it turns and moves etc, in sync with the play. You hold it and you feel it push left as the character turns left, etc etc.

2) You want to make a lot of money, find a game for older audiences. 99% of games are aimed at young audiences (I mean under 30) and as you get older, shootemups grow less interesting. Violence becomes more of a turnoff than a turn on. But a truly compelling game for older audiences could be a huge hit. Think vintage, like the WW2 games; but maybe with some different twist. Just finished watching "Defiance"..

3) If you're going to stick with an existing formula (Harry Potter, Tolkein, Star Wars, Star Trek) I think the key is to find an area nobody's done. A Harry Potter game set mostly in the Muggle side? Tolkein from the Appendices, not the movie.

4) If I was a game programmer today, I'd be banging on Microsoft's doors for the API for their Project Natal. Now THAT is going to change games... you'll be able to reach for the shelf, pull down a book, open the pages, look for the secret code... all by mimicking those gestures.

Just my cent's worth