Ok I am a game developer and I am trying to come up with some game ideas, but alas it seems the well of imagination has run a little dry, so I thought where better to get ideas that the general public would like, than the general public. So basically im just going to ask a few questions then ask for some input from you, the general public. 1.Which would you rather have? A. Awsome graphics or a new style with some "OK" graphics? B. Innovative controls or the tride and true ways of old? C. A strong single player game or a strong multiplayer experience? D. An emphasis on one type of game(Action, Rpg, etc or a mix? 2.Now give me your thoughts on these subjects. A.What are some game innovations you would like to see? B.If it were a single player game, what kind of main character(s) would you like to see? C.Describe the type of stories you would like to see. D.What do you think is missing from multiplayer experiences? E.What do you think is working for multiplayer games right now? F.What type of gameplay would you expect in the multiplayer?(Fps, rpg, a mix of a few genres?) G.Tell some of your favorite experiences from both single player and mulitplayer games. Thank you for answering this questions, now you dont have to answer them all just give some input, this will help a struggeling dare I say artist with his masterpeice. Thank you, NoOsEnCe InC.
Unfortunately we are not the general public, we are a bunch of jaded game developers who rarely buy each others games I don't think this is the best place to get answers to the questions you are looking for. If you want to know what the general public likes check out the Top 10 on real arcade. Looking at those best selling games and you will be able to answer a lot of those questions for yourself. In the mean time, I'm going to move this thread to indie basics...
I'm not the general public, but FWIW: 1. A. Some styles I like, some styles I dislike, but I don't consider the newness of a style inherently good. I like hand-pixeled SNES style graphics and dislike most polygon-based 3D stuff. 1. B. Good controls, whether they are new or old. I typically dislike games that rely on the mouse and prefer simple and streamlined keyboard controls. 1. C. I play single player almost exclusively. 1. D. I like games that take elements from different genres, so long as they maintain coherency. 2. A. Anything that attacks the weak points of the status quo. For rpgs, the weak points would be the mindnumbingly boring combat and the lack of real player influence on the outcome of the plot. 2. B. A fully clothed female character with realistic proportions. 2. C. How the story is told is more important than what the story is. Some innovation wouldn't be a bad thing (i.e. settings and situations that haven't been seen in previous games), but for some reason I still enjoy typical Tolkienesque heroic fantasy stories more than most other stories, no matter how innovative they might be.
A. Awsome graphics or a new style with some "OK" graphics? Definitely the latter. If I'm gripped, I couldn't care less about the graphics. That's why I've been playing games since the BBC Micro B. Innovative controls or the tride and true ways of old? Depends on the game. As long as I don't have to keep breaking the first half an hour of play to pop into the menu to keep shifting my key bindings because I use 'binoculars' more than 'walk' but still need to get to 'use' quite easily in case of a hurry... C. A strong single player game or a strong multiplayer experience? Single player. I have no internet. D. An emphasis on one type of game(Action, Rpg, etc or a mix? Emphasis. I'm a firm believer that simplicity is the key to 'fun' A.What are some game innovations you would like to see? Less linearity in FPS. I have no idea why noone's released a straight shooter with multiple paths like DEUS EX yet. B.If it were a single player game, what kind of main character(s) would you like to see? Three dimensional, fleshed out ones. No big breasts. No sub-Arnie action heroes. C.Describe the type of stories you would like to see. Thrillers. And something that'll actually make me feel sad when a character dies. D.What do you think is missing from multiplayer experiences? Dunno. Never play them. Still no internet. E.What do you think is working for multiplayer games right now? Dunno. Never play them. Still no internet. F.What type of gameplay would you expect in the multiplayer?(Fps, rpg, a mix of a few genres?) Dunno. Never play them. Still no internet. G.Tell some of your favorite experiences from both single player and mulitplayer games. All of HL2. Most of Max Payne 2. To be honest, the best fun I've had lately is playing my own (as yet undisclosed) game. Hope that helps, Dan
Again, not really general public here, but: 1.A. New style with some "OK" graphics 1.B. I can go either way 1.C. Single player 1.D. Doesn't matter to me as long as it's good at what it is. 2.A. More wackyness, and anything that hasn't already been done to death before. 2.B. Less emphasis on the characters and more emphasis on the game itself. 2.C. I can't stand the recent trend of story-driven games. 2.D. Lack of repetitiveness. Most multiplayer games are mindnumbingly repetitive. And in the case of FPS's, more gameplay modes than the standard variations of deathmatch and capture the flag. Rise of the Triad is a perfect example of the sort of originality in multiplayer modes I'm looking for. 2.E. Not much... 2.F. Anything that hasn't been done 100 times by the mainstream games. 2.G. Multiplayer: Rise of the Triad! I loved all of the different game modes in that. Orbz has an excellent multiplayer community. All very respectful of each other, very mature, not a troll in sight. Also, playing MotoGP on XBox live was interesting, because I found the single player extremely boring, but was very suprised to find myself addicted to the multiplayer. 2.G. Single player: Oh, man...too many to mention! Katamari Damacy, Doom 1&2, the *original* Tony Hawk on PS1, Frequency (PS2), Sonic 1 and 2 (Genesis), Startropics (NES), Super Mario 1 (NES), and Lunar: The Silver Star (Sega CD), were all "love at first play". Soon as I touched the controlls I was hooked . Feel The Magic (DS), WarioWare Touched (DS), Rez (PS2), AntiGrav (PS2), Police 911 (Arcade) were also incredible experiences.
This is really not the good place to ask these questions, game devellopers are really biased and generally they have the worst ideas about how to do a game Anyway, most of these questions can't be answered. For example, I like games with good graphics but I wouldn't mind a game with OK graphics so... You cannot really deduce the formula for a good game from an excel sheet. It's ....Magic.
Sure you can. If you add up all the finest games ever greated, you get: Sonic + Syndicate + GTA = Greatest Game Ever, surely? Simple maths. (waaaah. Just realised what that game would be like. Woah.)
AAAAAAargh. That's almost _exactly_ what I mean. Oh man. Oh hubba hubba. I had no idea someone was actually _working_ on my dream game! When's it due out?!
Hey! not true! - I've got some money set aside ready for Katsu's Journey. (Assuming you finish it before everyone on this board takes early retirment and takes up public speaking and personal development for fun...) It appeared to have ninjas in it - which was all I needed to know really!
Haha, thanks for the support fost. Despite loosing my team along the wayside of the long road that the development of Katsu, GDC re-kindeled my passion and motivation to complete this game (after a nice 3 month break from any development whatsoever).
Yeah you gotta keep the faith, Dan! Some sage advice and do what I did: Set a realistic and accomplishable goal for your game's release! For example! I've set a personal goal to have Chicken Little done before Duke Nukem Forever gets released. Amazingly I set this goal over four years ago and I'm still in position to accomplish it. It's all about smart goal setting.