Extra Punctuation: Not All Sequels Suck

[SaintWaldo]

That idea about the Holodeck? Yeah, it exists, it's called Neverwinter Nights Toolset. Start modelling. Oh wait, there's actual effort involved with moving a written idea into a visual, let alone interactive, format? Drawing and programming and testing and timing and math and other useless shit? Well, FUCK THAT! I don't have time to actually BE a Renaissance person to feel I deserve to OUTPUT like a Renaissance person. I demand more from my consumer level entertainment. A LOT more. Intel, you're seriously slicking up the loo floor, here. Get cracking.

I mean, seriously computer industry, where the fuck IS my real Holodeck? Not the force fields thing that would only be used for protein dispersal and backrubs. I'm talking about the guts part, the super-connections intuition part. You know, the one that knows how to do a simple fucking pallette/model/ruleset/metagame/ARG/DLC template system that reads my twisted gas huffing mind and feeds what I want right back into my tail-sucking gullet?! Why can't we have the computers do all the hard menial tasks and let us just spew great ideas and have them massage us into the deep slumber of an eternal night in space.

Oh shit. As usual, nature provides already. It's called HEROIN.

 

[TheOneandOnly]

... Make things more complicated and you loose a lot of the potential creators that are out there, simply because they cannot get into it. ...

If you're not willing to endure difficultly for your ideas then you probably don't deserve to be recognised for them though. It's a matter of evolution, those who aren't committed or ingenious enough to overcome the challenges of creating something new fall by the wayside and the standards gradually improve. I'd like to make it clear that I'm referring only the creative process itself, and not to publishing and reproduction where the evils of the profit margin tend to have the last say.

 

[WabbitTwacks]

Games: GTA 3 vs GTA 1 or 2? Street Fighter 2 vs Streetfighter? Dungeon Keeper 1/2?

It's a good rule of thumb, but it's not set in stone.

And just to annoy Yahtzee, Buffy (TV Series) beats Buffy (Movie).

I actually enjoyed the first two GTAs more than GTA3, but then again I'm a 2D freak.
But yeah, Buffy the series is much, much better than the movie.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

That's what I've been Saying (rambling) for a LONG time now! Personally, I want Valve to release a retail version of Source that lets us Noobs make 3D FP games without any (or very little) technical knowledge.

It isn't Source, and it isn't exactly amazing looking. Hell, the AI included in it is perhaps the worst you have ever seen. But if you want to get introduced to making FPS games, try googling for FPS Creator; it has an included set of textures and stuff, it's quite easy to get into. It's very basic but worth a try if you've got some time on you.

Spoiler: It looks kind of like this

Never seen that before. Will definitely look up when I can, Thanks!

 

[Georgie_Leech]

Hello, I'd like to introduce you to someone:

This is (sometimes) CHARNAME, the protagonist from the two Baldur's Gate Games on PC. He is quite cross because you didn't mention him, what with BG2 being a good sequel in every way: more gameplay, in many ways more fun; a better villain; more character development for more characters with more relationships... Everything the first BG did, the second dis better, along with it's own touches and additions.

 

[lord.jeff]

I find it weird that you apologized for making a hasty statement, and then go on to make the exact same statement about another medium, not only that but you went to say game stories only improve because of the technology and that's not true either, nice way to undo your apology. As for the Inform 7 it's a good idea that well allow for more games, which is good but I don't think many would be good, even if several novelists used it. Game writing has a few extra aspects to it like giving the character consequence for failing, limited control on pacing, and presenting puzzles in a way that any one can find the solution(I think this is where most writers well fail). I do think would be a good teaching tool for game development students though.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Maybe I'm just biased here but that game dev platform sounds a lot like UDK if it was a little more user friendly. I mean everything in UDK can pretty much be done by working with pictograms represent complex codes and links. Programming with kismet, material creation, linking animations, designing levels, queuing sounds, pretty much everything is accomplished through graphics and flow charts. Its not as user friendly as it could be meaning that some time needs to go into cracking what goes where but its still the most user friendly thing you can do with a non-programmer base. Maybe that's just me.

 

[Vhite]

I dont dislike Meteroidvanias but I think that Castlevania 1, 3 and 4 are much better. But thats just my opinion, probably because I prefer simple games with harder difficulty.

 

[Vhite]

Just because the story's good doesn't mean the game's good, of course. RPG Maker comes to mind.

Some RPG Maker games are pretty incredible.

Leo and Leah [http://rpgmaker.net/games/2324/] Incredibly thought provoking story. (Especially after chapter 4)

Sunset over Imdahl [http://freehare.com/games/detail/sunset_over_imdahl] Shows just why time travel is never a good idea...

Ara Fell [http://rpgmaker.net/games/12/] Widely hailed as the most beautiful RPG Maker game.

Exit Fate [http://site.scfworks.com/?page_id=3] Basically Suikoden

Edit: FEH! I completely inverted the point of your post. I apologize for that. RPG Maker game with a good battle system...? Well, the one that comes to mind is...

A Home Far Away [http://rpgmaker.net/games/2226/] Youtube up some gameplay videos.

Indeed. One game made on it is my 2nd or 3rd in my top 10. Its called Broken Hearts, but you will probably never play it because its czech game but combat is best I have ever seen in JRPG, difficulty is rather brutal and it only add to the story when you finish it because it is so good/bad that it just broke for 2 days and I hated it year after I finished until I slowly realized that even story with very bad ending can be a good story.

 

[Harry Mason]

But what if mainstream gaming took the Inform 7 approach? Create a deep, intuitive toolset designed for non-programmers that can let you create models, textures and game mechanics with dropdowns and a visual mouse-driven interface to as complex a level as the user desires, so that any lone developer, like ones who specialize more in aesthetics or story writing, can create a game that could then be sold in mainstream circles or over Steam to anyone who wants to look for it? .

Um... Little Big Planet 2, much? I know it's not perfect, but I've played Plants Vs. Zombies, Classic Zelda, Zombie Survival Games, and a Heavy Rain thing (one of the coolest levels ever published) all on my PS3 for $60. The Controllinator has gotten the game creation past the "always including Sackboy" thing and there are awesome, easy to use tools for making top down shooters, platformers, puzzle games, strategy games, and even a rudimentary FPS. Someone just programmed a 3d camera, for god's sake. Just check out "Hansel and Gretelbot" and tell me that it doesn't have amazing potential!

By the way, everyone play Fruit Fight: Cherrybombers! Does that count as self promotion?

 

[Shjade]

Games: GTA 3 vs GTA 1 or 2? Street Fighter 2 vs Streetfighter? Dungeon Keeper 1/2?

In order: tech upgrade sequel, tech upgrade sequel, and haven't played them.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

". And from an enlightened modern standpoint, absolutely nothing looks worse than PS1-generation polygon graphics, not even photos of dying children. "

That gave me a good laugh. I'm not so sure about the rest of the article though.

 

[Negatempest]

Films: Alien/Aliens, Godfather II, Dawn of the Dead, Goldfinger (though that may be cheating), Star Trek 2, Terminator 2, Empire Strikes Back (Dodgy ground but it's a contender), The Dark Knight, Mad Max 2, The Toy Story Trilogy, Lethal Weapon 2, Addams Family Values

Novels: Dexter in the Dark, Barchester Towers (The Warden), Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer), War of the Worlds (The Crystal Egg), A lot of Lovecraft's "inspired by" works, Wild Cards.

Games: GTA 3 vs GTA 1 or 2? Street Fighter 2 vs Streetfighter? Dungeon Keeper 1/2?

It's a good rule of thumb, but it's not set in stone.

And just to annoy Yahtzee, Buffy (TV Series) beats Buffy (Movie).

Damn you, ninjaing me a good 3 hours before I read this article. Damn you and time machine uses!

 

[bojac6]

They do have games that are made by writers using a simple programming language and an intuitive interface. It's called Table Top RPGs. No computer game ever has or will match the freedom, story telling, or sheer fun of a good session of D&D.

 

[Covarr]

Sequels better than the original? Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond. Same protagonist, similar sense of humor, but they realized that the gameplay in the original was reeky and boring so the sequel played nothing like the first.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Aphroditty]

I actually think that is a bad thing. Let us look at books for example. Would it have really been good if writing books was so complicate that only a select few with years of training could write them?

Well, actually, it already is. Writing takes both talent and experience, and is much more involved than "have a good idea and then write 400 pages of your characters diong things". Very few people actually write on a level that is publishable. See: Fanfiction.

And yet, because there are so many people writing and reading compared to just two hundred years ago, literature has blossomed and expanded a hundredfold.

What you're talking about is Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is shit. Good law, although obviously the percentages don't have to be that precise. But the point is, when the number of people producing stuff expand, both the pool of awful stuff and the pool of 'good' stuff get wider and deeper. More than that, having a rarefied, hermetic elite (like the field of game development has been, although increasingly less so with the upsurge in indies) as the only producers of art doesn't tend to give us good art, it just tends to lead us to accept what they are producing, bad or good.

Besides, even awful stuff sometimes has value to those who created it. Is there a reason to deprive people of the ability to create something for themselves that they can value, simply because most others don't have a similar opinion?

 

[demoncub1990]

I can't say that I've played the first two Baulder's Gate games but my favorite RPG is Baulder's Gate: Dark Alliance I'm not sure if it's any better than the original or the second one but that might be a moot point due to introducing new characters and such.

 

[Mosop]

There are some programmes that allow people to creat games with little to no knoweledge of programming (such as the Blender Game engine and it's logic bricks) however most of these sytems are very limited and it can be very hard to create something decent.