Innovative Gaming is done.

[mjcabooseblu]

"Here's one: A genetically-engineered Taiwanese chef teams up with a newt in a fez to rescue his large-bosomed girlfriend from mummies. There, you see? It's easy."

--Yahtzee Croshaw

Seriously, dude. Original concepts are easier than people think.

 

[yanipheonu]

Well I mean, who really cares if a game is innovative. I just want it to be fun... innovation can just be a nice bonus.

 

[Wuggy]

Way to speak in superlatives. Yes there's less innovation, because innovative games are almost always a risk financially. But that innovative gaming is "done"? Isn't that a tad extreme? Wasn't it just 4 years ago when Portal, a game revolving around innovative ideas, came out?

To be honest I see your point to some extent: Good products are made when you take an already existing idea and improve upon it. But I just see your stance on the 'end of innovative gaming' a bit close-minded.

 

[Solo-Wing]

"Here's one: A genetically-engineered Taiwanese chef teams up with a newt in a fez to rescue his large-bosomed girlfriend from mummies. There, you see? It's easy."

--Yahtzee Croshaw

Seriously, dude. Original concepts are easier than people think.

No that was not an Gameplay Idea. That was an Plot or Story Idea. though I remember one Extra Punctuation where he talked about Leveling down being the concept of the Gameplay. That actually intrigued me.

 

[RivFader86]

We shouldn't stop asking/wanting for innovative games....some of us just should stop opening up 1000 threads for each game bitching about how it doesn't reinvent almost the whole genre ;P

 

[zeldagirl]

We as gamers should never stop demanding new innovation. We should always want to have new experiences available to us - life is experiential. With new ideas comes new ways of viewing life for the player. That's something that should be cherished.

 

[mjcabooseblu]

"Here's one: A genetically-engineered Taiwanese chef teams up with a newt in a fez to rescue his large-bosomed girlfriend from mummies. There, you see? It's easy."

--Yahtzee Croshaw

Seriously, dude. Original concepts are easier than people think.

No that was not an Gameplay Idea. That was an Plot or Story Idea. though I remember one Extra Punctuation where he talked about Leveling down being the concept of the Gameplay. That actually intrigued me.

What about the newt? For all you know it could be a magic newt. An INNOVATIVE newt.

 

[CWestfall]

It is just an personal opinion. I am finding that new and exciting ideas are getting fewer and further between.

The lack of AAA innovation is probably because of the whole recession thing. You, sir, just need to look harder.

Check this thing out. Looks kind of cool. Found it in about 30 seconds on Steam.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/72200/

When was the last time you saw a game about creating the universe?

 

[BreakfastMan]

I guess we should stop asking for interesting movies that defy the norms then since Tvtropes exist, eh? Not to be a jerk or anything, but that seems to be the gist of what you are suggesting, and quite frankly, I find it silly.

What you are refering to is Story/Plot. I can see there being an Infinate amount of good stories and plot. I am referring to gameplay.

I was just giving an example to illustrate a point. If you think that innovative game mechanics are done, then you must also think that innovative story-telling/delivering mechanics in films are done too, right? Film has been around much longer than games. What makes it different (assuming you think it is)? One would think that if you think that innovation is done in games, it would logically follow that you think innovation is done in films or even books. See what I mean? What you are saying is that innovation is "dead" because everything that is being done today in games (well... most everything anyway) is built on what has come before, when film and books have done the same thing for ages, and few consider either to be without innovation. If they were, things like House of Leaves or Inception should not exist. Yet they do, building on what has come before to make something new.

Also, you seem to think that story-telling and gameplay are two separate things, when more often I find that they are intrinsically linked and inseparable.

 

[BlackIvory]

You can never really say that new ideas are gone just because you haven't seen a new one in a while, its just that no one really came up with something yet, but you can never tell when the next big thing well come.

"Everything that can be Invented has been Invented" ~ Charles H. Duell, he said that in 1899, just put that in your mind.

Also. BAM!. You can never know what might show up in the heart couple of years to change life style as we know it

 

[RADlTZ]

I think the problem isnt that we've run out of new ideas, but that everyone has gotten so used to slaming games into genres. It seems that there are few developers that push the FPS or the RPG (and so on) outside of what constitutes the minimum standard/expectations of what a game needs to be sorted into the genre its aiming for.

Innovation for me can be as simple as adding a new game mechanic, so long as it works well. It could be something like giving everyone in the next CoD gravity boots so they can fight matrix-style all over the place, or giveing Master Chief the grappeling hook from just cause 2. Although having said that the electric whip in bulletstorm and all those creative-kills didnt seem all to impressive inovation wise so maybe I'll just stick with what I said in the first paragraph.

 

[Shameless]

]Shit you guys just said my mind. That is how I wanted to phrase this topic but I could not use the right wordings. This is probably why I failed English... Twice. I am horrible at getting my exact thoughts on paper.

Actually my point was that he wasn't aware of all the innovation that didn't come after 1899, like airplanes,computers, TVs etc.

So you can't just say there can't be any kind of innovation, because you don't know the future and don't know what kind of direction gaming would take in the future.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Define "innovation" for me and then we can start playing with the term. Nobody ever gives their definition of the word and everyone seems to have different definitions yet thinks everyone else has the same definition.

You reminded me of this here witht that.
Two blokes are arguing about the Definition of flight. We all understand the word flight but the individual definitions of the word could be different for each of us.

Okay. Now answer my question. Our definitions of "innovation" clearly differ. "Innovation" is a social construct and I doubt if I belong to the same micro-culture as you.

 

[Solo-Wing]

Define "innovation" for me and then we can start playing with the term. Nobody ever gives their definition of the word and everyone seems to have different definitions yet thinks everyone else has the same definition.

You reminded me of this here witht that.
Two blokes are arguing about the Definition of flight. We all understand the word flight but the individual definitions of the word could be different for each of us.

Okay. Now answer my question. Our definitions of "innovation" clearly differ. "Innovation" is a social construct and I doubt if I belong to the same micro-culture as you.

I am speaking of new gameplay Ideas. I am not asking for new Story ideas because we got plenty of those I am referring to new ideas to fight your enemies, or to solve puzzles, or to get from point A to point B. Nearly all the good Ideas for doing those tasks have been done, and any new Ideas for them go vastly unnoticed because AAA games are to scared to come out of the little hole that is repetitive and samey games that they continue to make.

It is just an personal opinion. I am finding that new and exciting ideas are getting fewer and further between.

The lack of AAA innovation is probably because of the whole recession thing. You, sir, just need to look harder.

Check this thing out. Looks kind of cool. Found it in about 30 seconds on Steam.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/72200/

When was the last time you saw a game about creating the universe?

That is actually really cool. But it looks a hell of a lot like the Space age from Spore. Then again I might need t play it before I can say that. But I will most likly ever get a credit card so I can't buy it on Steam.

 

[Vault101]

the only problem is the whole "playing it safe" with procuction costs and all that

but really? Im not wirred because

because as far as I can tell everything has or hasnt died ot is dying or wont die...

 

[Twilight_guy]

I. snip. your. post. I SNIP IT UP!!

I don't think that all the good ideas have been done. I mean saying that we've done everything is like when the US patent commissioner declared [a href="http://www.quotationspage.com/weblog/2005-08-26-239/"]Everything that can be invented has been invented.[/a] The act of creating new things is a continuous process and not one with a discrete end point. saying "we're done, nothing more can happen" is dumb because it implies that nothing new can happen forever and forever is a very very long time. Maybe we're in a slump but I don't think saying "innovation is done" is a smart move.

 

[veloper]

We'll prolly never again see so much game innovation in one place, like we did in the '90s, but there's still original gameplay in recent titles. Here's some examples:

original gameplay mechanics:
Portal, Braid, TMOPB Winterbottom, The Ball

different mix of genres:
Puzzle quest, Recettear

tweaks renewing old ideas:
VVVVVV, Shatter, Super meat boy, Amnesia, Mount&blade

Some originality is still there, but you shouldn't look for it in games like the next COD, Halo, Madden or Gears.
The problem is most gamers will continue to buy the reshashed sequels and ignore anything they don't recognize.

 

[Saelune]

Think of human DNA. None of it is unique. Not the bits and pieces. My DNA is comprised of a mix between my mother and father's whos is a combination of their parents and so forth. But that combination of unorigional bits makes the unique DNA that is my own. Thats how I look at games. Good games just take those unorigional bits and combine them into something new.

 

[Space Spoons]

Personally, I really don't give a care whether or not games are "innovative". When I play games, I'm playing for fun first and foremost. As long as it's entertaining, I really couldn't care less whether or not the concept is original.