We have a fuck ton of space marines. Thats the only way I can really say it. It seems like every shooter these days takes place sometime in the future and involves a bipedal tank lumbering around spewing bullets and one liners. Likewise,every RPG takes place either in the ancient past or in the far off space age. Either way you're still killing giant spiders, its just whether or not those spiders are painted chrome. It seems that almost every genre has just plopped itself down in a comfortable time period or two and is now crossing its arms and refusing to leave.
Now this isn't too bad as long as they keep finding ways to make the games fun and interesting,but most fall prey to gimmicks instead of actual innovation. Its the basic formula of "You're a macho twat in a suit of power armor who can_________" and then you just insert some single gameplay element into the blank and roll with it. It could be slowing down time, deforming the terrain,having awkward sexual innuendo with a hologram, whatever, it still has the aforementioned ubiquitous power armor and space attached. Likewise,RPGs seem to just parrot mechanics that are decades old, maybe with one or two random things thrown in. They tend to do this, starting in some idyllic happy land of sunshine and smiles that then suddenly takes an abrupt detour in to dystopia town. All this always seems to happen either in some magic fantasy land either in medieval times or just in space.
Now it seems to me that there are a great deal of times, places and ideas that game developers are overlooking. Bioshock is a great example of things most people are overlooking, setting their game in a uniquely steampunk world. So, my question to you is, what worlds/times would you like to see more of in games?
Now this isn't too bad as long as they keep finding ways to make the games fun and interesting,but most fall prey to gimmicks instead of actual innovation. Its the basic formula of "You're a macho twat in a suit of power armor who can_________" and then you just insert some single gameplay element into the blank and roll with it. It could be slowing down time, deforming the terrain,having awkward sexual innuendo with a hologram, whatever, it still has the aforementioned ubiquitous power armor and space attached. Likewise,RPGs seem to just parrot mechanics that are decades old, maybe with one or two random things thrown in. They tend to do this, starting in some idyllic happy land of sunshine and smiles that then suddenly takes an abrupt detour in to dystopia town. All this always seems to happen either in some magic fantasy land either in medieval times or just in space.
Now it seems to me that there are a great deal of times, places and ideas that game developers are overlooking. Bioshock is a great example of things most people are overlooking, setting their game in a uniquely steampunk world. So, my question to you is, what worlds/times would you like to see more of in games?
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