Game design
June 27, 2006It’s important to remember that for those who work in the gaming industry, it isn’t just entertainment - it’s a serious business in which billions of dollars are invested. With the dearth of genuinely original games being released nowadays, I’ve just read an interview with Warren Spector -
So, to try to wrap this up in something less than book length, I don’t believe it’s ever a waste of time to give players real choices, rather than fake ones. If all you’re doing is putting players on rails and rocketing them through your story, why not just build a roller coaster or make a movie? If the only choice a player gets to make is which weapon to use to kill a bad guy, you’ve completely wasted that player’s time. Roller coaster rides are immense amounts of fun, but really, all they do is provide an adrenalin rush and a moment’s distraction from the workaday world. Games can be more. Movies are terrific storytelling devices - I love movies - but movies already exist. I don’t need to make them. (Well, I kinda want to produce a movie someday, but that’s another matter entirely…) If all you’re doing is telling yourstory to players (with the added attraction of getting to pick a gun once in a while), why bother?
The above quote probably touches on the reason why I’m less interested in most games nowadays than I used to be. All the games I play use (in part) the design philosophy that Warren Spector is espousing - giving the player freedom of choice to find their own approach. Civilization 4, Galactic Civilizations 2, Heroes of Might and Magic 3 and 4 etc…
I wasn’t too enamoured of the Prey demo, not because it wasn’t good, but because I’ve played enough of those types of games in my youth already. I’ve moved onto quieter, more contemplative games.
There are plenty of original game concepts if you know where to look. The most prominent example is definitely ‘The Sims’ - not to my taste because I’ve found I totally suck at that type of social interaction. Black and White 2 is another very original concept, and it isn’t as bad as the critics make it out to be. The Movies is another original concept, although the execution is sadly flawed (IMHO). Darwinia is an incredibly original concept. And I’m very much looking forward to Will Wright’s Spoor next year - the opportunity to build an alien race from scratch is too good to pass up.
