A Swift Kick in the Pants
Woo! I finally get to chime in again. My apologies for the lack of attention. This marks the end of the second week now that I've been swamped with preparations for a nice work trip to Jacksonville this past weekend... I made it out intact, but have one mean sinus infection to show for it. It was a pretty nice trip except for the work obligations and the sinusitis, but I'm back now, rejuvenated, and plan to get back on track quickly.
On my trip I read an article in this month's EGM that my girlfriend got me, the subject of which was "The Future of Videogames". While most of it covered areas such as thought-sensing, photo-realistic graphics, and full-immersion technology, one of the things that was mentioned as being prime future territory was user-created content. Also mentioned was that a new genre, completely unpredictable at this point, would be the next big thing, of course, but what caught my eye was the foresight that one of the next big things would be a blending of old genres in ways that has never been seen. This fact, combined with the user-created angle (XNA was noted in the article) really piqued my interest, because this game that I'm intent on making is just that... a blending of old and current genres put together in new ways. In doing so, you can take the best aspects that each genre has - customization, connection, exploration, control, competition, accomplishment, etc. - and mold them into a single overwhelming whole.
Here's a brief run-down of what genres I've enjoyed and what aspects I think would compliment a larger design.
PLATFORMING - The genre that started it all... for me anyways. While the original Mario really perfected it and took it to new levels, it was probably Jumpman that did it for me. That was an intense experience back in the day. That game didn't really deal much in exploration, but in maneuverability. Exploration and maneuvering is what must be taken, honed, and incorporated, because the platforming integrates well with 2D, and 2D must be used for...
FIGHTING - The genre that I always enjoyed, but never really delved into until recently has a lot to offer: intensity and control. But developers have tried to expand on the formula mostly unsuccessfully. Soul Calibur 3 came out and I was itching to get at the character development aspects. They were cool, sure, but the focus on that did little for the rest of the game... in fact it seemed that the important factors, the gameplay, and all the characters we knew and loved, got less attention because of the increased focus on customization. It's a shame, but I can see how it can be a very difficult thing to do. Taking advantage of fighting control, the exploration and maneuverability of platforming, you can find your customization and connection with your character in...
RPG - The genre that once I encountered it, I never looked back. As I said before this really started with Pool of Radience on C64, but has expanded to pretty much every RPG on Super Nintendo, and countless others on PSX, PS2, PC, and everything else since. A community-based environment where you can create your own character from scratch, develop him or her, control them in many different ways (to find your style and perfect your style), maneuver them (in varying and expanding ways, to explore more and more), and break out of the mold of being cornered into a cookie-cutter RPG experience... that's where the real enjoyment can be... where the real enjoyment will be.
I apologize for the lack of coherence, I am still medicated... didn't make it into work today cause my head is still on fire. But hopefully I've provided enough of a glance to pique the curiosity once again. I suppose writing from home could be a good thing afterall though, cause now I can post some content from what I've worked on. Here's a picture of Happy Gandhi, as I called him, the little test sprite I'm using as a player model temporarily. Enjoy!
Happy, huh?
On my trip I read an article in this month's EGM that my girlfriend got me, the subject of which was "The Future of Videogames". While most of it covered areas such as thought-sensing, photo-realistic graphics, and full-immersion technology, one of the things that was mentioned as being prime future territory was user-created content. Also mentioned was that a new genre, completely unpredictable at this point, would be the next big thing, of course, but what caught my eye was the foresight that one of the next big things would be a blending of old genres in ways that has never been seen. This fact, combined with the user-created angle (XNA was noted in the article) really piqued my interest, because this game that I'm intent on making is just that... a blending of old and current genres put together in new ways. In doing so, you can take the best aspects that each genre has - customization, connection, exploration, control, competition, accomplishment, etc. - and mold them into a single overwhelming whole.
Here's a brief run-down of what genres I've enjoyed and what aspects I think would compliment a larger design.
PLATFORMING - The genre that started it all... for me anyways. While the original Mario really perfected it and took it to new levels, it was probably Jumpman that did it for me. That was an intense experience back in the day. That game didn't really deal much in exploration, but in maneuverability. Exploration and maneuvering is what must be taken, honed, and incorporated, because the platforming integrates well with 2D, and 2D must be used for...
FIGHTING - The genre that I always enjoyed, but never really delved into until recently has a lot to offer: intensity and control. But developers have tried to expand on the formula mostly unsuccessfully. Soul Calibur 3 came out and I was itching to get at the character development aspects. They were cool, sure, but the focus on that did little for the rest of the game... in fact it seemed that the important factors, the gameplay, and all the characters we knew and loved, got less attention because of the increased focus on customization. It's a shame, but I can see how it can be a very difficult thing to do. Taking advantage of fighting control, the exploration and maneuverability of platforming, you can find your customization and connection with your character in...
RPG - The genre that once I encountered it, I never looked back. As I said before this really started with Pool of Radience on C64, but has expanded to pretty much every RPG on Super Nintendo, and countless others on PSX, PS2, PC, and everything else since. A community-based environment where you can create your own character from scratch, develop him or her, control them in many different ways (to find your style and perfect your style), maneuver them (in varying and expanding ways, to explore more and more), and break out of the mold of being cornered into a cookie-cutter RPG experience... that's where the real enjoyment can be... where the real enjoyment will be.
I apologize for the lack of coherence, I am still medicated... didn't make it into work today cause my head is still on fire. But hopefully I've provided enough of a glance to pique the curiosity once again. I suppose writing from home could be a good thing afterall though, cause now I can post some content from what I've worked on. Here's a picture of Happy Gandhi, as I called him, the little test sprite I'm using as a player model temporarily. Enjoy!
Happy, huh?posted by Liege at
11:31 AM
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