Things they need to start doing in gaming

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666thHeretic

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May 26, 2008
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I've noticed a number of "things they need to stop doing in games" discussions lately (not all here, mind you, I just found a bunch of old articles recently and the like). So, as a small change of pace and a chance to stand on my soapbox for a bit, I'm going to discuss things they need to start doing.

1) Fully customizable controls
They don't have to take this to a ridiculous degree, I just want them to adopt the method fighting games use--the one where each command is listed with the corresponding button(s) and you can change what that button is. It seems really minor, but play two similar games with noticably different control schemes and you'll wish they did this. I tried to play some Saint's Row 2 the other night and killed like three people trying to change my gun (the melee button in SR2 was the same as the change weapon button in another game I had been playing). I realize killing three people in Saint's Row isbasically just a typical Tuesday night for my character, but I wanted to illustrate my point with a recent example. I am aware that this is the case with a PC game, but console games need to do this.

2) Custom difficulty
(This one's a little long, the most important part is the second paragraph)
A little while ago, I was playing a Company of Heroes mod called "Afrika Korps" and for some reason the computer just threw Stormtroopers at me. He would upgrade them--I lost several light vehicles to his Panzershcrecks--but once he unlocked his Stormtroopers he quit building anything else, and what he had left over where allowed to die without being replaced. This may sound frustrating, but I actually had a great deal of fun with it. I built needlessly complex defense networks and laughed maniacally as Germany's best footsoldiers struggled to get past my array of snipers, mortar teams, and machine guns (one of my snipers got over 70 kills). Later, I found myself in the mood to try that again, this time limiting myself to use no vehicles, but shortly into the game he brought out a Puma and I was forced to rearrange my whole army. And I thought, "what if I could make him use infantry only?"

My dream of custom difficulty was actually realized a long time ago, back in Goldeneye for the N64, (007 difficulty) but I've never seen it again. And when I say "custom," I mean adjusting what enemies you'll fight, how good their aim is, how much damage they do, everything. Goldeneye did this brilliantly--the game could go from so easy you didn't need to fire any shots to beat the level (barring parts where "kill this guy" was the objective) to so hard that you would need cheat codes just to stand a chance (enemies with maximum accuracy were incapable of missing you). In particular, I would very much like it if you could control how smart the enemy AI is, and what units/weapons/skills/whatever he can use. I'm honestly quite curious to see what an Expert-level Ai from Company of Heroes can do with nothing but Riflemen, Greyhounds, and M4 Shermans (probably still manage to destroy me). I would also like to be able to adjust what handicaps each player/AI gets. Things like that.

3) Skippable cutscenes
Self-explanatory. Half the reason I haven't played Metal Gear Solid 4 is that I don't want to sit through all the damn cutscenes (especially since I haven't played the other games, and the cutscenes would therefore mean little to me). I suppose that Paul and Grant would have to change the name of the series to something like "We Could Skip It, But We Won't" but that's a small sacrifice. So long as they keep making videos, anyway.

4) Artistic Touches
Remember how in Fallout 3, when your character sees the sun for the first time in their life, the momentary blindness actually effected you at the time? Or how the enemies in Silent Hill are all based on the insecurities of the character? Wasn't that awesome? The main thing keeping games from being fully embraced as art is that the industry isn't trying hard enough to change it (that and some people won't accept anything new as art, but fuck those people). There's a game called Heavy Rain coming out at some point or another that might change this (the whole thing is more like an interactive story than a normal game), but until it loaunches we won't know how much of that is really happening and how much is just hype. I will concede that enjoyability is the most important aspect, but that's no reason we have to ignore the potential of an interactive medium. BioShock used the expectations we have of a game to present questions about free will, to impressive effect, so hopefully that will become something of a trend.

5) Make Life Easy For the Modders
One of the big strengths of the firt Dawn of War series was that it was fairly easy to mod, or so I'm told (I don't have nearly the skill necessary to mod a game). Team Fortress and Counter-Strike, two of the biggest online games ever, both started out as mods. And since "there are some great mods for it" might serve as incentive to buy a game, it only makes sense that developers make the game fairly easy to mod. This is a fairly minor one, but it would be nice.

I have some other comments on the industry as a whole, but they would be rather more negative than this, so perhaps I will save those for another time. I would just like to applaud Valve, by the way, for being so good about the last two (they made life a lot easier for the Team Fortress guys in particular). So, I guess this is the part where I invite comments and observations from the rest of you, so have at it.
 

Clashero

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Aug 15, 2008
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Indeed, they need to add all this in gaming more often.

As for Artistic Touches, you said "There's a game called Heavy Rain coming out at some point or another that might change this (the whole thing is more like an interactive story than a normal game)".
Surely you haven't played The Longest Journey or its sequel, Dreamfall. Those are the epitome of interactive stories (not to mention that no game's storyline is more gripping and well-developed than those two)
 

JRCB

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Hmmm.... I'll agree with these. It's simple (ish) enough to do, and would be welcomed by many.
 

quiet_samurai

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Actually having the ability to make your character look the way you want would be cool. Like Oblivions character creation, but extend it to the rest of the body. And to pick your wardrobe at least the color or something. If I want to make a mowhawked, fat, cross eyed hero who only wears silver and electric blue clothing I should be able to.

Oh and nudity, I sometimes have the urge to run around naked in games.
 

666thHeretic

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Clashero said:
Indeed, they need to add all this in gaming more often.

As for Artistic Touches, you said "There's a game called Heavy Rain coming out at some point or another that might change this (the whole thing is more like an interactive story than a normal game)".
Surely you haven't played The Longest Journey or its sequel, Dreamfall. Those are the epitome of interactive stories (not to mention that no game's storyline is more gripping and well-developed than those two)
I've heard lots of good things, but haven't seen them in stores. I plan to buy them on sight for that exact reason. Heavy Rain is much more advertised, and if it's successful, might bring about a significant change; that was the main reason I mentioned it. Of course, now I have to go and check EB Games for Longest Journey now. You've gone and made me all curious.
 

Cortheya

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I was expecting a list of demands....this all seems reasonable enough to implement
 

Chipperz

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Devil's advocate time...

666thHeretic said:
1) Fully customizable controls

OK, I can't find anything wrong with this.

2) Custom difficulty

See, what you've described isn't difficulty, it's Skirmish settings. I'm all for selecting a game occasionally where everyone can only use infantry or whatever, but this would be game-breaking in all other single player.

As for your other point in this section, I'm not quite sure I understand. Do you want to be able to, say, set the A.I. to do loads of damage but have no accuracy or something? It just sounds too fiddly when simply selecting "Normal" from a menu would do the same overall trick.


3) Skippable cutscenes

I'm all for this once you have been forced through the cutscene once. The developers (should have) spent a long time making sure the storyline makes sense, it's only common courtesy for a gamer to watch it. Besides, without cutscenes, games are just generic figures to shoot at. Doom was fun and all, but to have EVERY game like that!?

4) Artistic Touches

Again, no REAL issues here. Just having art inserted for the sake of art would be BAD though. Most games wouldn't need them...

5) Make Life Easy For the Modders

I think Bethesda had the right idea with the G.E.C.K. - make a download that can mod the associated game quickly and easily. I really think more games should come with something like it/get DLC containing it
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
really the only one I dont totaly agree with is the artistic touches since while they are nice they are also an extra expense that isnt always needed for the product, altho they are usualy nice
 

KissofKetchup

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I know that some fps's are doing it, but there's no excuse anymore for not showing the players body when they look down.
 

blank0000

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WE need to stop pretending that the game industry is still "fighting to be accepted and influential" It already is. But still I hear people trying to rally the troops to fight to be "Accepted" and demanding more artistic this and daring that. They already exist.
 

Leorex

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I dont agree with the artistic one, because each game is its own uniqe butterfly, and some might be a pice of art. while others might not.
 

Teh_Lemon

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Sep 5, 2008
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I love them all evenly in the exact order you put them in (although 1 and 2 should be switched)
 

newguy77

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Same opinion here, the list is great, especially number 1.
I played a demo and I wanted to switch 2 buttons around, but noooo, I have to use their stupid controls or their left handed stupid controls.
 

666thHeretic

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Chipperz said:
2) Custom difficulty

See, what you've described isn't difficulty, it's Skirmish settings. I'm all for selecting a game occasionally where everyone can only use infantry or whatever, but this would be game-breaking in all other single player.

As for your other point in this section, I'm not quite sure I understand. Do you want to be able to, say, set the A.I. to do loads of damage but have no accuracy or something? It just sounds too fiddly when simply selecting "Normal" from a menu would do the same overall trick.

quote]
What I was picturing was a additional difficulty setting, so you'd have easy, medium/normal, hard, very hard/insane, and then custom. You could then adjust things that affect the difficulty; for example, in an FPS you could adjust the health, accuracy, weapon quality, and number of enemies, whereas in an RTS you could adjust the ability to react to changing circumstances, ability to effectively counter units, efficiency when purchasing units or upgrades, and so on, as well as an optional thing to determine what units they would and wouldn't use. Looking back, I probably could have made that section a bit clearer, but I was trying to record my thoughts before they slipped my mind. Still, thanks for the critique, and I agree completely with your comment on the fourth one.
 

Noone From Nowhere

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People 'need' to start using development kits such as XNA for more than games about flatulence and simplistic puzzle games or side scrolling beat-em-ups whose design was outdated as soon as River City Ransom was released. Thinking of which, a multiplayer brawler RPG in the vein of RCR wouldn't be bad at all.
As a benefit of a lack of the requirement to get one's game evaluated by the ESRB in the X-Box Live Community Games marketplace(as 'Angry Barry' shows), people could push the limits of what can be in a game to desensitize people to it or make a highly personal product such as a slice-of-life or auto-biographically themed videogame. Think 'American Splendor' but in videogame form...which would sort ofd be like the Sims based upon actual events with realistic dialogue and visuals by Robert Crumb.
Maybe I need to learn how to use XNA so I can do it myself.