However, over the past year, there has been an extremely low amount of games that I have truly been excited to play, let alone actually enjoyed playing. I then came to an unfortunate realisation last weekend; after spending over an hour in all of my local game stores I returned home with nothing. Not a single game. I had shelves upon shelves of games available to choose from and I did not want to buy anyone of them.
It was then that I realised that I was bored of current games.
Coincidentally it was on the very same day that I read this quote in an online news article:
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| Warren Spector - Designer of the recently released Epic Mickey |
"I'm disappointed by the fact that we still focus solely on combat mechanics and rendering techniques, at the expense of other things we could be devoting energy and effort to.
We could be focusing on non-combat AI and making conversation as compelling as fighting for a change. Wouldn't that be great? We could be focusing on making storytelling truly interactive.
We just focus on prettier pictures and flashier graphics attached to more impressive combat scenarios, and honestly, that just bores me." - Warren Spector
It deeply concerns me that such a world renowned and veteran game designer such as Warren Spector could be bored of games too. It made me ask myself questions, as a gamer and game designer, such as what can I do to ensure that the current state of games changes for the better? How can games innovate or will their mechanics simply stagnate as the photorealistic arms race continues to rage on?
"We could be focusing on non-combat AI and making conversation as compelling as fighting for a change. Wouldn't that be great? We could be focusing on making storytelling truly interactive."
ReplyDeleteSee, for me, this is why I enjoy Mass Effect. The conversation wheel and "Paragon / Renegade" options and scenarios they opened. The combat was nothing to rave about, but it was something to bridge between set piece moments.
It's also the downside, in a lot of people's view, to the Metal Gear Solid series. Focusing so heavily on trying to create an epic action movie sequence, that it pushes people away through cutscenes that stretch on for ages. I gave up on MGS4 when I realised I'd been "playing" for 2 hours and had only had say... 15 minutes of in-game control?
Lastly, this concept of "truly interactive storytelling" is nothing innovative, personally. It's been around since the days of dungeon books (Turn to page 99 to hit the monster, 252 to run away etc.). It's been around in games before such as Fahrenheit / Heavy Rain and also tried in a LOT of Mega CD games, thanks to their heavy use of FMV technology.
I personally don't think there's anything different interactivity wise between Heavy Rain and a Choose-Your-Path book. Just the way that the content is delivered to the end user.
I do prize Story over Graphics, "unique" Gameplay and such else, but it's often used as a crutch to back up poorly designed / implemented Games. Here's thinking of you, Assassin's Creed "Gathering Information" missions!
Peace,
SB.
Personally I think its the lack of intertesting new mechanics.
ReplyDeleteAs a general rule I rarely (if ever) play games that are simply about fighting, and much prefer adventure games or RPGS, something with some interesting characters and good puzzles to solve with interesting items i can use to interact with the world and such..... *points to my obsession with the Legend of Zelda*
But it seems even though consoles are becoming more convenient to design 'good mechanics' games for, what with all the motion sensitivity and such, all it's being used for is more and more sports games or dance games.... how lame....
So yeah I'd say its the lack of interesting mechanics being implemented into gameplay nowadays. As you said, too much focus on pretty graphics and fights... not enough gameplay.
I'm not heavily in to game design or playing them these days due to other commitments but I have to concur with the quote you used. I think that these days it is just a case of "how pretty can we make this game look?". Thing is, I was thinking the other day at all the consoles I have had during my 28 yrs and thinking about it I had more enjoyment out of my megadrive and playstation than I ever have had from my xbox 360 or ps3! There just isn't any real gameplay these days that captivates and truly enables you to engage in worlds far surpassing what we have available to as now! How many Call of duty's or Fifa's are we going to have to suffer before we get real games like "the story of Thor" or "shinning force"?!? I'd even settle for an old skool resident evil!
ReplyDelete