Like a game where you're basically Jigsaw from the Saw movies? There's potential there, I think.hawk533 said:
Splatterhouse in Australia?
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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There should also be a clear and present difference between punishment and challenge. A lot of the games that claim they are mindless violent fun seem to have MORE fun telling you game over than "YOU JUST KILLED THE ENTIRE WORLD" they say you get to earn that screen saying you win. But instead, they just tell you to do the impossible.
If you're going to have a game that's true mindless violence the challenge should be kept moderate at MOST . . . a lot like Dynasty warriors which is as close as games really come so far to some of the points you make Yahtzee. By having huge swarms of enemies that take almost nothing to destroy but changing the formula so that their bits come off with squelches and sprays of permanent blood the game would go from blank faced violence to truly mindlessly fun gore.
I might sound like I'm being a wuss saying the difficulty should be lowered but imagine this.
A game comes out advertising mindless gore and violence advertising that it's ONLY aim is to be fun shit for people that want to blow bits off dudes with spraying blood for a few hours. Then you play it, and much like splatterhouse you find yourself watching a game over screen more often than watching the death animations of the enemies. God of War tries very hard to have mindless gore and violence, but it fails time and again by suddenly throwing instant death puzzles that have unfair timers, and enemies that swarm you but have WAY too much health to chisel through. (note: I have beaten all 3 god of war games, so no . . . I did not give up because they were difficult)
So, if you really want a game to be mindlessly fun, make it challenging to get through the game, especially the later sections, but do not make it to where chances are unless you manage to do it perfectly you will never get it.
Also, Regular checkpoints. As you yourself have said Yahtzee, it's more frustrating then challenging to be told at the very END of a section "oops you died . . . time to start over!" if there are regular checkpoints it creates a bit of space between that frustration and that fun.
The best games, keep a person in that state of pure fun longer. The more often you take them out of the action (loading screens, game over screens etc.) the faster you take the fun away from them.
Well I've rambled on enough I think. Take what you will from this, if anything. Feel free to compliment it, berate it, or completely ignore it.
And always Yahtzee . . . keep doing what you do best man. We wouldn't want you ANY other way.
If you're going to have a game that's true mindless violence the challenge should be kept moderate at MOST . . . a lot like Dynasty warriors which is as close as games really come so far to some of the points you make Yahtzee. By having huge swarms of enemies that take almost nothing to destroy but changing the formula so that their bits come off with squelches and sprays of permanent blood the game would go from blank faced violence to truly mindlessly fun gore.
I might sound like I'm being a wuss saying the difficulty should be lowered but imagine this.
A game comes out advertising mindless gore and violence advertising that it's ONLY aim is to be fun shit for people that want to blow bits off dudes with spraying blood for a few hours. Then you play it, and much like splatterhouse you find yourself watching a game over screen more often than watching the death animations of the enemies. God of War tries very hard to have mindless gore and violence, but it fails time and again by suddenly throwing instant death puzzles that have unfair timers, and enemies that swarm you but have WAY too much health to chisel through. (note: I have beaten all 3 god of war games, so no . . . I did not give up because they were difficult)
So, if you really want a game to be mindlessly fun, make it challenging to get through the game, especially the later sections, but do not make it to where chances are unless you manage to do it perfectly you will never get it.
Also, Regular checkpoints. As you yourself have said Yahtzee, it's more frustrating then challenging to be told at the very END of a section "oops you died . . . time to start over!" if there are regular checkpoints it creates a bit of space between that frustration and that fun.
The best games, keep a person in that state of pure fun longer. The more often you take them out of the action (loading screens, game over screens etc.) the faster you take the fun away from them.
Well I've rambled on enough I think. Take what you will from this, if anything. Feel free to compliment it, berate it, or completely ignore it.
And always Yahtzee . . . keep doing what you do best man. We wouldn't want you ANY other way.
I'm salivating at the thought of such a game, Yahtzee. Add the arsenal of 200+ weapons from 'Aeons of Death' and you'd be set. Variety when inflicting deadness (in weaponry & bestiary) is vital, surely.
Shoot, cast, summon, trap, hack & slash your way to victory. Why not throw in a cash/xp element to allow the upgrading of weaponry or minions in-between survival phases? Starting to sound like a 3D shooter-tower-defence...
Someone MAKE IT!
Shoot, cast, summon, trap, hack & slash your way to victory. Why not throw in a cash/xp element to allow the upgrading of weaponry or minions in-between survival phases? Starting to sound like a 3D shooter-tower-defence...
Someone MAKE IT!
I think something like this could be immensely satisfying.
Best stress relief game ever? Probably.
Something akin to the intro scene of Heavenly Sword.
Unstoppable, infinite health, no recoil, fully powered weapons, and a hoard of enemy's.
Include Yahtzee's blood effects, and you're set.
Best stress relief game ever? Probably.
Something akin to the intro scene of Heavenly Sword.
Unstoppable, infinite health, no recoil, fully powered weapons, and a hoard of enemy's.
Include Yahtzee's blood effects, and you're set.
I completely agree with the silly sound effects and the constate state of gore.
Since Goldeneye had the bodies stain I have wanted that on everything. The way blood disappears instead of maintaining its stain is weak.
MORE GORE!
CONSTANTLY!
Since Goldeneye had the bodies stain I have wanted that on everything. The way blood disappears instead of maintaining its stain is weak.
MORE GORE!
CONSTANTLY!
A bow and arrow type weapon should be included, limbs detached via arrow should remain attached to the arrow and should dangle from the wall the arrow eventually lands on.
Enemies should react appropriately to seeing their chums get slaughtered, because what's the fun of murder if others aren't enjoying your handiwork. (This should only be attempted if the designer is willing to include plenty of responses)
Innocent critters should be in the game, there shouldn't be any reward for killing them, they are their own reward.
Enemies should react appropriately to seeing their chums get slaughtered, because what's the fun of murder if others aren't enjoying your handiwork. (This should only be attempted if the designer is willing to include plenty of responses)
Innocent critters should be in the game, there shouldn't be any reward for killing them, they are their own reward.
Not that he'll read this but:
These two points would not go well togeather asthetically.
Segmented character meshes experience trouble supporting such visual agumentation while being animated. Coupled with the dismeberment, gore at this level, done in this manner is just not possible.
With all in one character meshes, point 2 would be less prone to visual failure. But dismemberment would be difficult to achieve.
We're looking at a good few years before the kind of gore specified is possible, without looking ugly as shit. Very impracticle to have gore at this standard ATM, when devs need time to focus on more important things.
Most, if not all the other points, would work.
- Enemy models should be modular. Heads are one segment, each limb is divided into three, and each torso into, say, six. If sufficient force is applied, segments will detach. Enemies should have animations to compensate for the loss of one limb or part of the torso (with one hand fastened to the wound, maybe), but loss of two or more limbs is fatal. If one segment sustains sufficient damage in one go, it should explode into small squidgy bits.
- Enemies should also appear moist and weighty rather than dry and bony. Bloated with muscle and fat, glistening with greasy sweat, like a big moist birthday cake that yields satisfyingly to the knife. Since human beings hate themselves (see previous column on zombies,) humanoid enemies are the most satisfying to kill, especially exaggerated ones that seem like ugly parodies of humanity (as with many of Painkiller's enemies.)
- Enemies should also appear moist and weighty rather than dry and bony. Bloated with muscle and fat, glistening with greasy sweat, like a big moist birthday cake that yields satisfyingly to the knife. Since human beings hate themselves (see previous column on zombies,) humanoid enemies are the most satisfying to kill, especially exaggerated ones that seem like ugly parodies of humanity (as with many of Painkiller's enemies.)
These two points would not go well togeather asthetically.
Segmented character meshes experience trouble supporting such visual agumentation while being animated. Coupled with the dismeberment, gore at this level, done in this manner is just not possible.
With all in one character meshes, point 2 would be less prone to visual failure. But dismemberment would be difficult to achieve.
We're looking at a good few years before the kind of gore specified is possible, without looking ugly as shit. Very impracticle to have gore at this standard ATM, when devs need time to focus on more important things.
Most, if not all the other points, would work.
He reviewed Halo Wars that one time. And some Zelda games which don't really fit into those four things very well (Zelda is NOT an RPG). There are probably others too but really, what you said are pretty much the four basic types of games that get made these days.Hardcore_gamer said:
Didn't feel like reading all the comments, so I apologize if this is a repeat.
I think what would make these games more appealing to the horror fan base - since most of these games seem to have a pseudo-horror feel to it - is to have a boss monster go against that coloring and dismemberment scheme Yahtzee is going for.
Ideally for me, I was thinking of a much larger than human, reoccurring boss monster, who I suppose looks like you pulled Andre the Giant inside out; and let me explain why this works at least for me:
- Reoccurring because if the first few appearances lead more to a survival feel to it, you get both the greater sense of accomplishment for killing it later, but you also get that nice "Oh, god, now I have to try and kill this thing? I'm gonna die!" mentality on the last encounter, whereas the first two encounters (cause any more is overkill to me) that really is the case if you try to kill him.
- Design because its a nice contrast to the rest of the enemies. You hear the gore, you know you're hitting it, you should be hurting it, but you can't tell. He should seem damn near invincible until, I would say, about a third of the way through his health when you get the first physical signs that he's mortal and hurting. Then of course about the 66-80% point when he starts crippling about in disbelief that something so insignificant can hurt him, but at that point we're getting too far into my personal taste I would think.
Anyway, that's just what I'm thinking.
I think what would make these games more appealing to the horror fan base - since most of these games seem to have a pseudo-horror feel to it - is to have a boss monster go against that coloring and dismemberment scheme Yahtzee is going for.
Ideally for me, I was thinking of a much larger than human, reoccurring boss monster, who I suppose looks like you pulled Andre the Giant inside out; and let me explain why this works at least for me:
- Reoccurring because if the first few appearances lead more to a survival feel to it, you get both the greater sense of accomplishment for killing it later, but you also get that nice "Oh, god, now I have to try and kill this thing? I'm gonna die!" mentality on the last encounter, whereas the first two encounters (cause any more is overkill to me) that really is the case if you try to kill him.
- Design because its a nice contrast to the rest of the enemies. You hear the gore, you know you're hitting it, you should be hurting it, but you can't tell. He should seem damn near invincible until, I would say, about a third of the way through his health when you get the first physical signs that he's mortal and hurting. Then of course about the 66-80% point when he starts crippling about in disbelief that something so insignificant can hurt him, but at that point we're getting too far into my personal taste I would think.
Anyway, that's just what I'm thinking.
Is it the gore or watching something writhe about on the ground as their senses are bombarded by mind-shattering pain? If it's the latter, I would like to toss in impalement, fire and acid effects, some kind of crushing mechanic that pulps enemies and... I ran out of ideas.
Severance: Blade of Darkness uses a sensible use of gore without it getting boring and unsatisfying.
Just think of it like Rune: Viking Warlord, except this was first.
Just think of it like Rune: Viking Warlord, except this was first.
I know that this is unrelated but for some reason my steam download speed always seems to peak when I'm reading extra punctuation
(Use it as advertising if you will)
(Use it as advertising if you will)
sounds like he's talking about an improved version of Prototype
it basically hit all the points he discussed (if you think about it)
it basically hit all the points he discussed (if you think about it)
This type of game should also allow for visual differentiation in the damage caused by bashing weapons, slashing weapons and piercing weapons. Crushed bone deformities from bashing, more severing and cuts from slashing weapons, and probably piercing weapons would have to all be disposable throwing knives and such that stick in the body causing sores and wounds. It'd be cool to see a boss fight in which, if you hurl throwing knives at him, he pulls each one out separately, leaving various wounds all over him. Possibly crushing them in his hands because he's a gigantic steroid shaped like a man.
