Role Play a Game Developer

Originally Posted by CarcusRex
Thanks, DArtagnan… I would have hated to misread and misinterpet such a cool post.

no comment

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
The only problem I see, is that we're not seeing the combination of artistic control and technological prowess.

One my dream designs, for instance, which is sort of like the ultimate evolution of System Shock - won't happen with a perception like the current one.

No one with enough money to make it a reality will take that chance, and such a game won't work with indie production values, because it'll remove the essential aspect of total immersion.

Sometimes, though, Indie's will come out of the woodwork and surprise us with some highly respectable tech found in their games. I'm sure there's a few examples that I'm missing here, but one comes to mind in the way of Mount & Blade's combat. The fidelity that they have established with that system, and especially the implementation of their mounted combat, (where most other devs have refused to go per difficulty) seems to me to be pretty advanced. If nothing else, it sure is an adrenalin pumper…

And, befitting your point, and what makes M&B a great example, is that the excellent technical achievement in their combat model was NOT followed through with altogether high production values… for the game has seen its share of criticisim as being wanting in story and game play… which I tend to agree with. So I can see your point.

Originally Posted by Dasale
no comment

Hehehe… sometimes I really do need a sanity check… for sure!

Originally Posted by CarcusRex
Sometimes, though, Indie's will come out of the woodwork and surprise us with some highly respectable tech found in their games.

That, and new, fresh games themselves !

First Ankh, now Ceville and soon The Book Of Unwritten Tales !

Originally Posted by CarcusRex
An aspect of old school rpgs that I’ve always been fond of are the atmospheric text descriptions of objects and locations … … reading in place of pure eye candy.

You nailed it. The fantastic visual improvements of the 'Age of 3D' do nothing more than steal 'processing time' from the most powerful of all engines - human imagination. That's where the atmosphere (and, basically, fun) is 'generated' - not in the game code.

That's the main reason why books will never be put out of business by any visual media: they rely on the enormous possibilities of imagination, which can put to shame any most advanced visuals. It's programming, but not for machines, for people's imagination.

I'd say, a lot of these modern overbloated visuals must go to make room for what games are all about in the first place. They (visuals) steal focus from things which are much more essential to the game. (the success of several indie - and even abandonware - titles more than proves this point).
All that chase to beat the reality in terms of realism is just another typical western ouroboros. Gotta snap out of it.

If you want to innovate, then concentrate more on the 'client-side processing' - something very powerful that lies (slumbering and hungry) deep inside of every player\reader, which can build those images for him\her much brighter and impressive than you actually can hope to.

Just give'em seeds to grow.

In other words: if you want to make a great game, program imaginations, not computers.

If you want to innovate, then concentrate more on the 'client-side processing' - something very powerful that lies (slumbering and hungry) deep inside of every player\reader, which can build those images for him\her much brighter and impressive than you actually can hope to.

I think it's a serious misconception that the typical gamer - hardcore or otherwise - plays games like he reads books - or that he expects to use his imagination for the same purpose.

There is a reason people can be fans of books, movies, and games all at the same time.

While not every game needs high caliber visual aesthetics - there are games for which precisely that kind of quality is absolutely essential.

But anyway, I'd argue that if you must focus on a single aspect when making a game - then focus on the one aspect that stands out as unique to games, which would be interaction - which basically translates to gameplay.