(no subject)

[egypturnash]

I wish Google Maps had a "walking" mode. That would make planning things like the trip Nick and I took out to Trader Joe's a lot easier.

Also, damn, I really miss living in Glendale where it was sunny all the time, and there was a TJ's like five blocks from where I lived. Oh, to move back to California.

---

Meanwhile, the past couple days have been spent in the grips of GTAIV and its hooks into parts of my brain that make me act like an addict, thanks to read_alicia loaning us her 360 for a bit. I keep on comparing it with GTAIII, due to it being set in a caricature of New York, and it keeps coming up wanting - sure, it's more detailed, but most of the detail is at the expense of gameplay. Zooming across a bridge, then having to brake sharply to stop and pay toll does not enhance the fantasy in the least, IMHO. The whole thing's full of design decisions like that: petty simulationalism over fun. Which, really, is no surprise after all the micromanaging you had to do of your character in GTAIIISA.

I should just hook the box up to the router, give it my cc info, and buy Space Giraffe and a few other indy games. (ooh, and it seems that Everyday Shooter is on Steam now. Better download the demo on Rik's machine, this one keeps sounding cool.)

Comments

[leighqualix.livejournal.com]

"most of the detail is at the expense of gameplay"

oh you mean like pretty much every game ever now

[ultraken.livejournal.com]

That's one of my biggest gripes with the game industry as a whole right now. I regard simulationist realism as an especially pernicious death trap, as it sharply limits gameplay options while consuming unbounded development resources. GTA4 is almost a case study in this, with well over a hundred developers working shifts night and day and costing $100 million. It made its money back almost instantly, though, which just adds fuel to the fire.

(My personal game project is a deliberate reaction against that tendency.)

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, pretty much. sigh. Not having a NEXT-GEN GAMING CONSOLE!!! of my own I kinda forget this, as I'm still living in a world where a big team is, oooh, five people?

[turbinerocks.livejournal.com]

Well, even on the last gen of consoles, many teams were godawful enormous. I like GTA, but I get my mileage out of the simulation aspect by going on rampages. Right now, a five person team or smaller is for indies and small casual developers. Even the games I work on have 8 or 9, though they have small dev cycles.

I like GTA, but what would really push my buttons is an RPG that does away with some of the slavish simulation aspect of a game like Oblivion, but leaves (or improves on) the freedom, consequences, and storytelling aspect. It doesn't really exist. Japanese art direction without the horrendously repetitive Final Fantasy style approach to RPGs. I do like what GTA4 is done, but I'm more excited for it because now it's been done and more focused games can take some of the ideas and put them in their bag of tricks.

[shatterstripes.livejournal.com]

I think I've come to the conclusion that, at least for me, the entertainment value of a game tends to be in inverse proportion to the number of digits in the team size. Big games by big teams are safe, and tend to only deliver novelty in terms of more and more content.

The days of one guy making an awesome game in his basement are almost entirely gone - but a handful of people can make something tight and focused and neat.

[turbinerocks.livejournal.com]

They do tend to be safe, but not always. I don't think Assassin's Creed and Oblivion were terribly safe, they were large projects, but very focused and innovative in their design. Oblivion is the opposite of the game driven my marketing, people are still buying it to this day and it was practically a launch title. Word of mouth is pushing it now.

As for smaller games, Aquaria is two guys in their basement, and it's completely brilliant. The days of one guy making an awesome game really aren't gone (look for the game Dwarf Fortress, it's absolutely brilliant, and it's one crazy guy using ASCII graphics) but the difference is that you can be a dedicated computer gamer and still not even hear of some of these one-man projects. You need to be specifically tuned into the indie scene, or glued to the Penny Arcade forums. One guy is likely not going to make a game that can penetrate the mainstream market, but one guy can definitely make a living off their games. See Dave Gilbert and his adventure games, or Jeff Vogel and his many hardcore Ultima-style RPGs. ideally, you have at least three or four people, like the Moonpod or Introversion guys, enough spread out skills that you can really make a reliable living,