Re: Games, games and games

[Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.net>]

Mark Collins wrote:
> 
> A question, or survey if you will...
> 
> I expect most people on these various lists use Linux in one way or another...

Yes, but what game *developers* want is not necessarily a good measure of
what the games *players* want.  (Think: Bass fishing games and Pokemon)

> What I want to know is what sort of games people would be buy for
> Linux/BSD/SOlaris/Whatever. I expect Loki's regular offerings of 'Yet Another
> FPS' isn't the sort of thing Linux users generally go in for.

Not me.  I get bored with those games very quickly.
 
> In my personal experience, Linux users tend to be into RPGs/RTS', and not
> gorefests.
> 
> Opinions?

Depth.

I want games where there is instant appeal when you open the box...then
after a couple of hours you realise that what you've been playing is only
the surface layer of a much deeper and more complex experience - and so on
in layers like an onion.

I really like Loki's port of RailRoad Tycoon II.  At first, it's buying
track, building a model train set and seeing the little trains trundle
up and down the track....then after a while, you get into the freight
hauling part where you learn what mix of trains can do what things and
that engines need maintenance and such.  Then still later, you realise
that you can actually buy factories and direct the production of goods
that your railway will subsequently deliver.  Just as that part is getting
old, you can get into the whole stockmarket thing and buy out your
competitors, sell your own railroad completely.  But even at that end
level of play, the 'trainset building' part can still play a part.  If
you have to dominate a particular mountain crossing and deny your strategic
enemies access to it, you'd better know the right kinds of locomotives to
use.

The final game is much more than you started with, and at every stage there
was fun to be had (well, if you like that *kind* of game).

This isn't genre-specific - but without those layers, all you have is
a slightly different gun to use - or a new set of texture maps to stare
at.  Quake is pretty much exactly that - it's really the same game from
start to finish and only the network play brings any kind of freshness
to it at all.  All that the game will ever be is there in the first hour.

I think the other thing we need is entire new genre's.  The game I'm
just about to start in on isn't like any other game that I'm aware of
(although it has elements of other genre's in it).

One other thing that always upsets me about current games is the
phenomenal effort that goes into designing the game engine and the
3D models - versus the relatively little thought that goes into
them.

My son is into Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast (it was down to $9.99),
the scenery is quite amazing - a huge chunk of San Francisco has
been modelled in some detail, there is some quite nice physics
modelling in there when you crash into things....but then the
game is really repetitive.  Pick someone up - drive them where
they want to go doing a few stunts along the way - get cash.

Repeat.

But think of all the other games that could *EASILY* have
been added into that mix.  Adding a road racing game would
be trivial, adding a car-chase mode would be easy...compared
to all the other effort that went into that beautiful model
it's a terrible waste.

It's suprising (to me at least) that there isn't a thriving
market in recycled models and software selling to low-budget
games companies.  I wonder how much it would cost to buy the
Crazy Taxi database?

----------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------------
HomeMail : <sjbaker1@airmail.net>   WorkMail: <sjbaker@link.com>
HomePage : http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
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           http://agtoys.sf.net   http://prettypoly.sf.net
           http://freeglut.sf.net http://toobular.sf.net


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