Hi Teresa.
One thing to remember about a lot of the games from the 80's, is that though
the concept might have been simple, the execution was far more complex due
to the physix of the engine.
Take space invaders for example. The audio versions we've seen, the invaders
mostly don't move from side to side much, and the gun moves fluidly and
fires instantly, meaning it's entirely a challenge of reaction. In the
original game the invaders were lined up vertically on the screen with the
player's gun at the bottom. The player would therefore need to judge the
relative speed of her/his shots vs the invaders position on screen, the
position of the invaders bullets, and the over all movement of the invaders
which speed up as time went on.
this practically meant each shot was a different set of judgements carried
out by the player, judgements which would improve over time.
The creator of the devastatingly difficult but highly addictive mega man
platform series, Keajee inafune (who's name I'm probably horribly mangling
the spelling of), once said he designed the games so that each time the
player would get a little further.
This is very much how the best games have been. Not merely a reaction test,
but a set of complex judgements which vary over time which players must keep
making, at which players can improve.
It's sort of the difference between playing table tennis, constantly having
to keep your mind on the ball, judging it's speed and reacting accordingly,
and playing whackamole, just hitting as soon as possible.
This is one reason I think Shades of doom became so popular, sinse in the
first person environment, players can hear an enemy's position, make a quick
judgement and learn to react appropriately.
I'm also beginning to think the same is true for rpgs, sinse certainly those
games which just require the player to hit attack and hope for the random
result, (even if they have done a lot of stat balancing first), ae not half
as entertaining as those few where you fight a reactive enemy, and need to
respond to what they do by using your own attacks and characters
apropriately.
Then of course, there is atmosphere and exploration, which indeed for
someone like me is a huge factor in many games. Indeed I suspect part of the
reason I do not enjoy racing games is that you spend most of your time
racing around a limited number of tracks and measuring yourself only against
those tracks.
Beware the grue!
Dark.
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