Hi Teresa, Good point. You just hit upon a point I was attempting toraise in my last message that simplicity often plays a major roll in how successful and enjoyable a certain game is for a lot of people.
Take for example Pac-Man. That game is now 32 years old, a very old game in terms of video games, and yet it has historically become one of the most popular games of all time. Activision, who took over Atari after they went out of business, has repeatedly released Pac-Man to great success. A person can go into any Wal-Mart or game store and find these hand-held controllers that look like classic Atari controllers that hook up to your TV that have Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Asteroids, and various other simple Atari games available for sale. Not long ago I found out that Activision has recently released a new Atari console which has like 25 games installed on the console including Pac-Man, Centipede, Space Invaders, and other classics like that. There are free clones for Linux, for Windows, and there are some places online where someone can play those games via their web browser. The point being even though those games are very old their simplicity makes them a fan favorite for all age groups, and Activision continues to sell them in one form or another or license the game out to third-parties. As someone who enjoys a good in depth game I find the success of these simpler games a bit surprising, but it goes to show that for most people they want something that is easy to figure out and play. In most arcade games the game mechanics are easy enough to figure out without a 50 page manual, and the rewards are immediate. They can blast through four or five levels without reading any instructions where with more complex games they may have to read some strategy guides, a manual, or try and figure out the mechanics of the game before picking up and playing. On 5/14/14, Teresa Cochran <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm very interested in discussions regarding the playability of games. My > good friends used to design games and edited electronic games magazine in > the 80s. They tell me that some of the most playable games, or the ones that > people always go back to, are some of the simplest. (tetris, Space Invaders) > Initially, this surprised me, as I always thought that I'd much rather play > something intricate and challenging. I've found out about myself, at least, > that yes, the game has to have a certain amount of challenge involved, but > not too much. Of course, that kind of echoes an Aristotelian view of games: > find a median point that may be further away from your tendency than you're > comfortable with. Anyway, at some point, the game method has to become > transparent in order to make it playable and in order to build skill and > interest. So shooting games are often revisited, because the objectives and > methods are very clear, and the payoff is immediate. > > Lots of food for thought, but we do revisit this topic from time to time. > interesting stuff. > > Teresa > > "We're made of star stuff."--Carl Sagan --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. 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/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
