HI Dark, Agreed. Think of how many side-scrollers were created between say 1984 and 1994. The original Pitfall and Montezuma's Revenge came out at roughly the same time, similare game play elements, etc but were actually quite different when you got down to it. Montezuma's Revenge was about an explorer Panama Joe who was exploring an ancient Aztec ttemple. Pitfall is about an explorer Harry, I think his name was, who is in the Amazon jungle. Although, they are treasure hunting games they really are quite different in game play and style.
My point being is I don't think game developer should be too worried about creating tgames that are similar. Even something like DynaMan and Packman Talks are different games. DynaMan doesn't have the same sounds, music, enemies, or so on as Packman. So it would be unfair to compare DynaMan to Packman Talks. Although, the concepts for DynaMan andPackman Talks are similar. There is plenty of room to design something similar as long as it stands out as a unique product. Cheers! On 5/19/11, dark <d...@xgam.org> wrote: > Hi Jeremy. > > while I agree to an extent, this sort of comment also makes me rather > concerned that developers are narrowing their focus too much. > > If everything has to stick in that narrow band betwene too different and too > much the same, we'll just see fewer and fewer games. > > take the fps genre. > > currently we have a number of first person games like sarah that are not > shooters in the truist sense, in the shooter catagory we have audio quake, > shades of doom, technoshock and, if we stretch the deffinition a litle, gma > tank commander (first person tank driving and shooting). > > Terraformers is far more puzle based. > > suppose someone were thinking of a shooter game. > > shades of doom, while undoubtedly very much revolutionary and certainly the > game that got me playing audio games, isn't all that is possible in the > genre. > > suppose I were a developer and decided to create an fps game. Even if I > wanted to do something fps horror there are so many other options. I might > set the game on a space station you are sent to investigate, picking up > messages from the dying crew, and give you weapons like pulse rifles and > lasers. > > I might have you investigating a post apocalyptic radiation drenched area > fighting mutants. > > i might have you in fact in the dreaded zombi appocalypse, fighting through > everyday streets and shopping centers, where shotguns are rare and your > having to mow zombies down with shopping trollies. > > I could have something gothic like resident evil set in a mantion with dodgy > experiments, ---- afterall Shades is set in a high tech base deep > underground. > > I could have an ancient cave system where a bunch of investigators find some > mysterious creatures living. > > These are all different settings with their own weaponry, plot, possible > puzles etc, and all would be different from shades, yet all would be first > person shooter games. > > I'm fairly confident that if anyone created any of these, so long as it was > well made enough it would be played and enjoyed by the community, despite > being the same action and genre as shades. > > Remember, in mainstream game developement there are hundreds of games out > there, often even in the same series. > > Look at mega man or mario. Same character (or broardly the same), same basic > idea for each game, different level design, different enemies, different > weapons , and some different mechanics. > > Not to mention continuing the actual plot from game to game. > > My personal view is if developers constantly say "we need something new, but > not too new" we'll just end up cutting the amounts of games available, sinse > while I'm deffinately all for new design concepts and interesting ideas, I > don't think every single game has to be absolutely! different. > > Beware the grue! > > Dark. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
