Differentiation - Middle gen?

[zoombapup]

I've been thinking about what excites me about making games. In terms of what I want to see in the games I play and how that would convert to making games for a specific audience.

I find that what I'm looking for is uniqueness in what I'm playing, but familiarity too. Those sound like opposites and in many ways they are. I want to feel like what I'm playing is truly unique and created with passion, but I want to feel familiar with the basic mechanics of the thing.

So I've been thinking about how I could differentiate myself from the crowd and it strikes me that somewhere in the morass of games. There is a certain level of game that stretches the boundaries between "Next gen" which is unfeasable for me to produce and "Casual" which doesnt really excite me. In fact, lets revise that casual to incorporate "normal indie" too.

What excites me is stylistically new, but mechanically familiar games, that are created with passion and have a strong character.

So I'm going to coin the term "Middle gen", because its not next gen, but its not current gen either.

What I'm saying, is that I think somewhere in the world of next gen graphics techniques, there is a nice little set of technologies that if applied with taste, could offer a unique aesthetic that would fit with a strong core mechanic I already like, to create a very individual game.

So question is, are other people taking that track. Using the technology available, to create a strong impression?

[jcottier]

What I'm saying, is that I think somewhere in the world of next gen graphics techniques, there is a nice little set of technologies that if applied with taste, could offer a unique aesthetic that would fit with a strong core mechanic I already like, to create a very individual game.

So question is, are other people taking that track. Using the technology available, to create a strong impression?

If you haven't got an artist (to bring you a coherant and atmospherique visual), you will struggle to archieve anything. I will say the technology is irrelevant. You could do a beautifull game using DirectX7 tech today but taking into account that you have "infinite" amount of texture and CPU (compare to DX7 days).

JC

[Bad Sector]

My other computer that works is a 100MHz Pentium 1 laptop. The only thing i made that works there is this raycasting engine (http://www.slashstone.com/gimme/ametest1.zip), but i can't think anything to make with it, except a dungeon crawel :-P.

So keep developing my more advanced 3D engine :-)

[Bombinator]

I think there are people out there doing this successfully (which should just encourage you). A lot of interesting titles with strong musical elements are using interesting graphics and effects dictated by the music. A game like Every Extend is interesting in that it combines very simple 3D graphics to create its effects.

I think any cel shaded game falls in the category as well. Something like TF2 has a very strong artistic style that does not scream next-gen graphics. As mentioned above it does require a real artist to create something like TF2.

[Jesse Hopkins]

I think there are people out there doing this successfully (which should just encourage you). A lot of interesting titles with strong musical elements are using interesting graphics and effects dictated by the music.

That sounds very interesting. Could you list some of the games so I can check them out?

[Bombinator]

That sounds very interesting. Could you list some of the games so I can check them out?

I had a list here somewhere but can't seem to find it. The only one that sticks in my head that is new or recent is Everday Shooter (http://www.everydayshooter.com/). There is video and an explanation on the site that is better than what I would write so check it out.