FPS's MOST important qualities.

[Lawyer105]

The most important thing for an FPS is to know what it's trying to be.

If it's aiming for mindless kill-stuff-a-lot action, e.g. DukeN, then don't try throw plot or cover or anything like that in. Toss in big guns, big monsters and GTFO of my line of fire!

If you're shooting for something realistic, then enough with the health regen FFS! Full cover, one-hit kills etc. And for GODS sake, stop having the whole game be about missing nukes!

If you're going for squad based tactical, PLEASE give me companions with an IQ greater than my breakfast cereal...

And so on.

Combining stuff never works. Decide what you're shooting for and stick with it.

Oh yeah... and enough with the stupid ideas of making enemies able to see through walls and outshoot my sniper rifle with their pistol! That is NOT how you increase the difficulty!

 

[Valdsator]

Satisfying guns, and good controls.

Really, when you're shooting a gun with a crappy, stiff animation, and bad sound, it's really gets rid of the fun. In an FPS, a lot of the time, the guns are the main characters, so you have to make them awesome. Having lots of explosions (depends on the game, I guess), and everything burst in to bits when you shoot them helps, too.

Good controls is obvious. Since it's all about shooting stuff, if you can't shoot stuff comfortably, it's a bad game. Not sure if it's a bug, but in Quake 2, when I click the mouse, it takes half a second before the gun shoots. I have yet to beat it.

 

[Grond Strong]

The most important thing for an FPS is to know what it's trying to be.

If it's aiming for mindless kill-stuff-a-lot action, e.g. DukeN, then don't try throw plot or cover or anything like that in. Toss in big guns, big monsters and GTFO of my line of fire!

If you're shooting for something realistic, then enough with the health regen FFS! Full cover, one-hit kills etc. And for GODS sake, stop having the whole game be about missing nukes!

If you're going for squad based tactical, PLEASE give me companions with an IQ greater than my breakfast cereal...

And so on.

Combining stuff never works. Decide what you're shooting for and stick with it.

Oh yeah... and enough with the stupid ideas of making enemies able to see through walls and outshoot my sniper rifle with their pistol! That is NOT how you increase the difficulty!

Heh, games trying to find themselves... Sounds funny. But, in a sad sort of way, not funny at all. Playing a confused, discombobulated game is like scratching one's fingernails on a chalkboard made of sandpaper.

I KNOW RIGHT! There is no way in purgatory that your weenie pistol is matching the range AND accuracy of my sniper from a mountaintop away. I don't even realize how you can see me. Totally uncool.

 

[nima55]

there must be sci fi elements for me =3

 

[Grond Strong]

Satisfying guns, and good controls.

Really, when you're shooting a gun with a crappy, stiff animation, and bad sound, it's really gets rid of the fun. In an FPS, a lot of the time, the guns are the main characters, so you have to make them awesome. Having lots of explosions (depends on the game, I guess), and everything burst in to bits when you shoot them helps, too.

Good controls is obvious. Since it's all about shooting stuff, if you can't shoot stuff comfortably, it's a bad game. Not sure if it's a bug, but in Quake 2, when I click the mouse, it takes half a second before the gun shoots. I have yet to beat it.

I liked what you said about guns being the "main character." I never looked at this way... Perhaps you're right! After all, no matter what, a gun will always be there in an FPS. Might as well make 'em awesome.

Like I've said before, an FPS should feel like it's you and I couldn't agree more. If I had an uncomfortable gun in my hand during a world-wide apocalypse and couldn't effectively neutralize my targets. I think I'd take my chances and find a 2x4 with a nice sized nail in it. Unfortunately, most games don't have this ability...

 

[Grond Strong]

I know some of you incredibly intellectual people out there have more ideas just waiting to be exposed to the world! Write them down! And idea not shared is an idea wasted! And I assure you, if I ever become a multi-billionaire off of videogame ideas from this post... I will put you all down on my list of people who I will consider sharing my wealth with.

 

[SovietSecrets]

As long as its fun, the most important quality in every game, its a good game to me.

 

[team star pug]

What I look for is good, engaging gameplay, a well written story, a stable game that looks good without focusing on graphics. Basically, a Valve game.


Mindless is okay if it's fun.


What I hate about FPSs:

Cover combat
'realism'
graphics > gameplay
graphics > story
DRM
buggy engine
MP > SP

What do DRM, MP and SP mean.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

What makes a good fps good?

Does it take skill to kill people?
If I can take a light machine gun, and without aiming down the sights get multiple kills through eight walls at long range, then it is not a good fps.

 

[Mute52]

What do DRM, MP and SP mean.

DRM- Digital Rights Management, how you are licensed the game
MP- Multiplayer
SP- Single Player


As long as it's fun, immersive, and creative, it's a good game. There doesn't need to be a story for it to be good, (Counter Strike, TF2).

 

[Grond Strong]

What makes a good fps good?

Does it take skill to kill people?
If I can take a light machine gun, and without aiming down the sights get multiple kills through eight walls at long range, then it is not a good fps.

Depends what kind of walls you're shooting through. Ah, I kid. Seriously though, it is nice to be challenged occasionally. Seems to me that some developers like to "cater" to the demands of the masses and leave out key qualities that used to make old school videogames so great. I also think this is why we can set our own difficulty. Unfortunately, setting the difficulty higher sometimes only means being able to shoot through four walls instead of eight. Instead of giving the AI more of a brain, a higher difficulty means giving them amazing accuracy and endurance but still with the battle smarts of a mole rat.

 

[Rayne870]

The most important thing is Commitment. If you are going for arcade don't ground it down with realistic stuff, if you are going realistic try to eliminate arcade like elements.

Other than that I think weapons should be balanced yet unique, whether these are arcade style weapons or realistic style. Essentially there shouldn't be another Goldeneye Klobb.

Multi-player wise I think there should be things that encourage players to not camp, not penalize but encourage. This is usually easy to do with pickup items or level design. Be sure to allow snipers to have a few places to perch in though.

Control options should be as open as possible, especially when it comes to toggle/hold for crouch, and zoom. Further than that open button mapping is appreciated greatly, or at least have button mapping that is the "industry standard"

 

[Grond Strong]

there must be sci fi elements for me =3

Sci-fi huh? Oh, you're one of THOSE people... Lol. I kid. In an age of Modern Warfare and Undercover Black Ops, sci-fi can be a breath of fresh air. Unless of course you are completely immersed into Crysis, Resistance, Fallout, Bioshock, Halo, Gears, Metro 2033, Borderlands, Bulletstorm or any other shooter than falls into the not-so-realistic category. In which case a realistic videogame might be a breath of fresh air... Haha. Sci-fi is always fun. I have no argument with you. Everyone to their own, which is why I wrote this thread.

 

[Laser Priest]

Atmosphere, story, and above all else, actually being fun.

Realism over fun and demented scoring systems (looking at you, Bulletstorm) or annoying objectives are great ways to ruin any game, let alone FPSs.

 

[Grond Strong]

The most important thing is Commitment. If you are going for arcade don't ground it down with realistic stuff, if you are going realistic try to eliminate arcade like elements.

Other than that I think weapons should be balanced yet unique, whether these are arcade style weapons or realistic style. Essentially there shouldn't be another Goldeneye Klobb.

Multi-player wise I think there should be things that encourage players to not camp, not penalize but encourage. This is usually easy to do with pickup items or level design. Be sure to allow snipers to have a few places to perch in though.

Control options should be as open as possible, especially when it comes to toggle/hold for crouch, and zoom. Further than that open button mapping is appreciated greatly, or at least have button mapping that is the "industry standard"

Yes! It should be harder to camp in MP than it is in a redneck trailer park! There is almost nothing that will more quickly cause a gaming aneurysm of the brain than some camping dude bottlenecking my spawn. I WILL go over the edge. And you don't like me when I'm angry... *Turns green*

Optional Controls! So I just had this sick idea and I don't know if this is where you were going with this but I don't know why anybody hasn't thought of this before. Why not make a game that allows us to customize our own button layout? I know that some have the defaults already created but say I don't want any of those? What if I was able to go through each button and pick a task for it in the options menu? THAT would be amazing. You sir, are a genius.

 

[Grond Strong]

a campaign that doesn't suck or end in under 10 hours, a lot of guns so you can have fun trying out new weapons instead of going "oh, shotgun/machine gun combo, yay!" AI that doesn't suck, unless you make it suck (adjustable difficulty with a normal mode that is slightly better than most normal modes) SPLIT SCREEN CO-OP ALONG WITH ONLINE GAMING and DLC to come.

I have a couple brothers and friends that I love to play with. When I get a game that looks cool but doesn't have a split-screen campaign or multi-player option it's a mega-bummer. Definitely a must in my book.

 

[Rayne870]

The most important thing is Commitment. If you are going for arcade don't ground it down with realistic stuff, if you are going realistic try to eliminate arcade like elements.

Other than that I think weapons should be balanced yet unique, whether these are arcade style weapons or realistic style. Essentially there shouldn't be another Goldeneye Klobb.

Multi-player wise I think there should be things that encourage players to not camp, not penalize but encourage. This is usually easy to do with pickup items or level design. Be sure to allow snipers to have a few places to perch in though.

Control options should be as open as possible, especially when it comes to toggle/hold for crouch, and zoom. Further than that open button mapping is appreciated greatly, or at least have button mapping that is the "industry standard"

Yes! It should be harder to camp in MP than it is in a redneck trailer park! There is almost nothing that will more quickly cause a gaming aneurysm of the brain than some camping dude bottlenecking my spawn. I WILL go over the edge. And you don't like me when I'm angry... *Turns green*

Optional Controls! So I just had this sick idea and I don't know if this is where you were going with this but I don't know why anybody hasn't thought of this before. Why not make a game that allows us to customize our own button layout? I know that some have the defaults already created but say I don't want any of those? What if I was able to go through each button and pick a task for it in the options menu? THAT would be amazing. You sir, are a genius.

I'm no genius it's just little things I picked up along the way from what other games I feel did right. Quake 3 Arena is my inspiration for the controls, and anti-camping largely comes from Unreal Tournament.

I do wish you luck in the industry, and I hope one day we'll see each-other at a seminar or something. I'm looking at starting college for game development myself. Currently I'm number 7 on waiting list, but it is very likely that I will be starting this coming fall.

 

[Rayne870]

a campaign that doesn't suck or end in under 10 hours, a lot of guns so you can have fun trying out new weapons instead of going "oh, shotgun/machine gun combo, yay!" AI that doesn't suck, unless you make it suck (adjustable difficulty with a normal mode that is slightly better than most normal modes) SPLIT SCREEN CO-OP ALONG WITH ONLINE GAMING and DLC to come.

I have a couple brothers and friends that I love to play with. When I get a game that looks cool but doesn't have a split-screen campaign or multi-player option it's a mega-bummer. Definitely a must in my book.

Totally agreed here, now that I have come to the age that I can drink I can think of nothing better than having my best friend over and going through some awesome Belgian beers while saving the world and tearing shit up.