3.16.2004

Making games of the future

So, the other day I was thinking about all the types of games out on the market right now. I could not think of a current release that didn't involve destroying something. The Sims came to mind but it's not really current any more and there are cases where you could put your sim in a room with no doors (Evil, you should try it sometime. It's liberating). Doing a quick check of the most popular games on Gamespot.com revealed two games that don't involve destroying things: WWE and MVP Baseball 2004. Both could be regarded sports games (WWE is more of a sport in video game form than in it's TV farce form). 1up.com has a similar list of top 5 games, all of which are games with some sort of destruction.

Some games has unrealistic destruction such as Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Mario Kart Double Dash. In the Wind Waker, the player controlled hero runs around swinging his mighty sword at goblins and other baddies, which disappear in wisps of smoke when destroyed. Double Dash has somewhat tamer destruction where as instead of non-player characters wisping aware, balloons are popped, the shine is stolen, or the vehicle is simply blown up in the air creating a delay for that character to return to the action. Of course there is the totally opposite side of destruction with ultra-gore, ultra-realistic chaos. The recent game Ninja Gaiden has the player spinning around, running along the walls, slicing the bad ninjas in half. This is of course with gratuitous amounts of delightful squeamish stuff. You know, blood, guts, arms flying off, heads rolling on the ground, etc...I think you get the point. Of course my favorite right now, Unreal Tournament 2003 where players run around "gibbing" each other. I can only hope that UT2004 will be just as much fun.

Now before you all get up in a huff about how right I am and those games should be banned, you need to hear my main point. I like to play fun games. All the games in the 2nd paragraph are all fun. All are engaging breaks from the real world. All I am saying is that there's a whole bunch of games based on the destruction of stuff. There just has to be something more out there. A new genre that hasn't come of age or a dying one that needs a giant restart. Of course the latter I'm talking about is the adventure game. The former...well, hasn't come of age yet so it hasn't been heard of yet.

In the past, I could not stand adventure games. They require too much thinking and as young boy, thinking was not high on my list of things to do that day. Playing games like Kings Quest, while entertaining with it's witty dialogue and somewhat "killer" graphics of it's day, was an exercise in futility. I could never beat the damn games. I preferred games like Super Mario Bros. and Castlevania, precusors to the current trend of "twitch" games. Now, I almost yearn for the days of a plot that's interesting and a game that requires thinking. It would at least be something different. However, getting new adventure games will be a huge challenge as the major companies of the past great adventure games like Monkey Island and Sam and Max are killing the new games in production cause of the list found on Gamespot.com.

Now, as a game designer wannabe, I'm really curious where the next generation of genre will come from. Does it exist already but needs some spit shine on it? Or does the technology that will spawn it years off down the road? One game that I really like, and I can't seem to stop talking about, is Dance Dance Revolution. It's basically a rhythm game where the player hits specific combos on a dance mat instead of a standard game controller. This is innovation on two levels: It's doesn't involve killing/destroying anything and it makes the player get in shape if he/she wants to be good at the game. The only draw back is that the first DDR was first released 6 years ago. It's still fun. Subsequent versions just include some new feature and new songs. Both are pretty good. Though because it's one of those games that's simple to learn, impossible to master, it's still an enjoyable time. Something I would enjoy looking into is combining the use of the dance mat and the new Eye toy to make a super dance game where you have to use your arms as well to hit markers on the screen through your imported body movements from the cam. Another direction I would love to see the dance mat move to is a game requiring movements like in DDR but translating them to a character on a screen having to hop around moving platforms. The simple mechanics would remain, it would be just mixing it up a little.

And there's always new technology that's pushing the direction of computer/video games that comes out every so many months. Our game world is always in dynamic flux. It's almost always a wait and see type of situation. I have other ideas I would love to pursue as well. But the night draws to a close and sleep is overcoming me. So, with that, I say goodnight.

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