Comments | erf_: in which kevin waxes zarathustran

erf_

in which kevin waxes zarathustran

Jun 16, 2011 19:27

In the month following the end of my last contract I've done a lot of recentering. Specifically, I've been trying to rediscover what it is I love about video games so much that I'll gladly work an engineer's hours in an artist's living conditions just for another shot at doing it for a living ( Read more... )

work, games

Comments 8

retch June 16 2011, 23:50:46 UTC

Nicely written. :) I disagree with a fair bit of your conclusion, but then I like the highly detailed intricate swiss watch games, and want to build those.

erf_ June 17 2011, 20:41:43 UTC

I believe it's a matter of genre. I think one of the reason why a lot of early first-person shooter maps were so tedious was because early designers saw their maps as Parchesi boards pretending to be space stations, not architecture someone would actually have to navigate. (Hence lots of elevators, colored keycards, backtracking through foyers, elaborate 2D symmetries in the overhead map that were invisible in 3D...) But something like Advance Wars--well, that IS a board game.

Less obvious are the games that exist somewhere in the middle, like RPGs. On one hand, Diablo II. Wouldn't work at all without the boardgamey elements. Complex skill trees and forcing the player to do lots of arithmetic to make decisions are half the game, and the results of those decisions profoundly and rewardingly affect the more visceral experience of slicing things apart and blowing shit up in the other half. I used to criticize those kinds of games because five minutes at the level up screen is supposed to deliver enough enjoyment for each hour and a half ( ... )

retch June 17 2011, 21:11:17 UTC

Actually the random maps in Diablo are intentional and in Dave Brevik's mind incredibly important. He feels very heavily that the randomness is critical to creating that true sense of exploration. The world IS what you go and discover, not something that you can look up a map of online. That wasn't a minor part of his design, it was a crucial element. :)

Complexity is indeed a reaction to people having mastered simpler ones. Genres tend to grow in complexity over time as once you've established the language of a particular game type you can express more complex ideas within that genre and the players demand increased complexity to keep purchasing it. This can ultimately lead to the demise of a genre as complexity spirals upwards, driving off new players while retaining an ever shrinking set of genre devotees (because you always have lossage over time ( ... )

erf_ June 17 2011, 21:44:42 UTC

Elegant and fun to play is what I'm shooting for too. :] And I am frequently impressed by how even games with well understood mechanics can deliver surprises. (Orbital Defense Platforms + Heavy Carriers = mobile blockade! :D ( ... )

Thread 5

drabheathen June 17 2011, 16:26:14 UTC

Submit this to GammaSquad!!!

http://gammasquad.uproxx.com/

And, awesome. Awesome!

drabheathen June 17 2011, 17:52:17 UTC

Also, I can see this as a speech.

erf_ June 17 2011, 19:43:48 UTC

This appears to be an advertising blog for UGO. While I'm sure there are folks among its readership who would enjoy the baroque screeds of a pathologically frustrated game developer, I don't think they publish this kind of thing.

And 1UP.com (which is also owned by UGO) doesn't do editorials.

Have been thinking about pitching to the Escapist, though. Just need something I can write about in a less bloggy, more journalistic tone.