All About Gameplay and a Solid Foundation

#1 A minimally frustrating challenge and the sense of achievement is always going to be deemed fun, the emphasis on graphics will hopefully plateau as we approach realism, and we can start paying our designers / storyline script writers what they deserve.

I loved a game called Gazzillonaire(sp?) Deluxe from years back, i would be easy to recreate but i dont think i could enjoy playing a game i made. So if anyone bothers to send me a clicky :P j/k

#2

Quote:circa 1999 just to review what makes a good game

I constantly play through old NES/SNES/Genesis ROMS for the same reason. I'm not sure when it happened, but I still feel that game designers think that leveraging the power of 3d graphics can let them slack in the gameplay dept.

I would love to see someone do a 3d clone/update to Atari's E.T. with Torque using the exact same gameplay. Get it? Even with awesome 3d graphics and lighting and particle effects the game would still suck.

As for graphics, it's not how many bits you have, it's what you do with them. DW Griffith can take on Jerry Bruckheimer any day.

#3 Or how about a remake of this one... www.seanbaby.com/nes/egm09.htm ;)

(I'm joking of course)

#4 ROTFLMAO

I remember hating these guys.....

www.seanbaby.com/nes/egm18.htm

#5 Five Million E.T. Pieces

Quote:In order to keep the site from being looted, steamrollers crushed and flattened the games, and a concrete slab was poured over the remains.

LOL

#6

Quote:and a concrete slab was poured over the remains

I read in a UK gaming magazine that the site was located and is now reserved for DRIV3R

#7 I loved the first Driver... the best part was the beginning, where they test your skills in the parking lot.

Also, the option where you could make your own car chase movies was pretty innovative.

#8 I loved the first Driver too. I haven't played the others, but apparently the 3rd hasn't fared so well if they're making a comment like that.

#9 I thought that it would do well, back when I heard about it.... cause I thought they hired some big hollywood celebs to do acting and voices... but I guess it didnt work.

Best racing game I've played so far is EA's NFS Underground.

#10 Just discovered Alice. Way cool.

#11 Holy Toledo. The production budget for Thief: The Dark Project was $3 million bucks. This was back in 1998.

#12 IMHO a good game requires a lot of features, you always need something new every few levels. Most games now are fps based and they are all pretty much of a likeness. In the 2d days you could let your imagination run wild and easily create anything you can think of. Now I think 3d itself is the limiting factor, movement in a 3d world is quite slow and ur always having to check your alignment.
In 2D Platformers for instance you can get quite frantic jumping on monsters and platforms, grabbing ropes and flying about. In 3d you have to have check your alignment, fiddle with camera to make sure you don't miss the jump, you lose sight of the baddies when you jump to land on their head etc.

#13 That really depends on the game ... or maybe the player. I've played plenty of fast moving 3D games where I can move quickly and still control the action just fine. Sonic Adventure comes to mind ... it replicates the fast action of the originals just fine.

#14 Fruit:

back when 2D was all there was, people were saying "im so sick of the same old sidescrolling platform games, that's all thats being made" ...so now its the same thing for FPSes

i would say fps are less about precise movement/position and more about precise aiming... thats what makes it fun...

overall, 3d games are just 10x more dynamic..... more freedom. But that is also what makes them bad in a way... because the beauty of 2D games is that the action is focused... the graphics are clear and obvious in 2 dimensions... and usually in 3rd person, so you see more around the player.

so there's 2 sides to every coin.

#15

Quote:a lot of features, you always need something new every few levels

I'm a bit of a minimalist/purist, as long as the core gameplay is rock solid, a lot of extra features / new things in every level are just gravy. Tony Hawk and Tetris both come to mind here; dress 'em up all you want, it's the core gameplay that makes the games fun.

Quote: In 3d you have to have check your alignment, fiddle with camera...

Quote:plenty of fast moving 3D games where I can move quickly and still control the action

You both make good points, I'd have to agree with both of you. Maybe the answer is simply that it takes that much more good design in a 3d game so that you don't have to check your alignment, mess with the camera, etc., and that many 3d games lack that skill or effort; it's harder to pull off well.