Hi Thomas, In answer to your first question, I haven't tried your game yet for the simple reason I'm abit hesitant when it comes to trying out beta's. I have played a few side scrolers in the passed such as the sonic games, double dragon and the like, and once you have memorised where things are then you are playing on auto pilot. I never actually completed sonic partly because of that and partly because some of the elements I just couldn't see thus making it difficult. Although I did enjoy the games until they lost their value.
As for what makes a game replayable for me, well it really depends on the style of game. Take wing commander for example. That game or that series of games had quite a good story line from what I can remember. Some parts of the game you couldn't deviate from although there were parts of it where by you could come at a particular problem or mission in more than 1 way. For example. In wc4. for a while you get to either choose to stay with what you first thought was the right and royal confederation until you find out or choose to believe that it's not the right way to go at all. Instead you join with the aliens and the border worlders. You get a couple choices to join up and you can refuse a couple of times if memory serves. When you do refuse to cross over you get to fight your old wingman. Otherwise known as maniac whilst on a mission. The story plots and movie cut seens are written very well. Whilst in the end you have to join with the border worlders because the character does as part of the story, there are a number of ways to accomplish the same thing but you can still do it differently. Now, take another game that I play from time to time. I've probably mentioned it before. The x-beyond the frontier games. Now x-beyond, x2 and now x3 all have a story line that you can either follow or drop out of at any given time. With in reason. If you decide to take on a specific part of the story line then obviously you have to complete that segment. But whilst doing what ever you need to do for the story, you can also make plenty of credits, build factories, purchase ships, in essence, build up your own empire to support you in the story ahead. Or you can go ahead and play the story line alone. Those games are truly open ended in that you can choose your path, you can choose not to even get involved with the story should you wish to, you can choose to be a pirate, build yourself up in the outer sectors of space. In essence, you can create your own problems or strongholds where ever and however you wish. Some people have said that the developers of the x series of games have made it so open ended and non linier that there is to much choice. Well the only thing I can say to that is with a game like that you are only limited to your imagination. If you wish to go around and blow up all the races in the universe including installations thus causing mass extermination of everything in the game bar your and your own installations, then you can do that even as well. So I guess my idea of a game that is open ended and random based on what I have described above is something that I can come back to, that: 1. can be completed in more than 1 way if there's a story line to complete. 2. you have freedom of choice within the game. 3. you have the ability to drop in and out of the story line or the ability to ignore it all together. 4. the game doesn't end as soon as the story has finished. You get to continue playing the game even after the story has been completed should there be one. 5. you are able to set your own goals and limits or lack of them with in the game universe. I hope that this is a helpful and descriptive explanation. I look forward to trying your game when it comes out. If it's anything like final conflict in terms of sound quality and overall quality then I will be impressed. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Thomas Ward Sent: 24 October 2007 18:09 To: Gamers Discussion list Subject: Re: [Audyssey] The next issue of Audyssey Hi Darren, I have a couple of questions for you as well as a couple observations/comments. First, I was wondering on a skale of 1 to 10 how does Montezuma's Revenge rate in the replayability catagory? I know it is a side-scroller,but I have done quite allot to try and give it better than average replay value. Second, in your opinion what sorts of things in a game qualify as open ended and allows you to do different things? As for static verses random elements this tends to be a hot topic among game developers/companies. Many very popular games, even sighted games, such as Tomb Raider the items are not randomly located. You know for example if you look under a certain staircase or behind a certain block there is a medipack or ammo for the weapon you are carrying. I never saw that that detracted from the fun and adventure for the game, but some might find it boring always finding secret items in the same exact location. I can see that issue from both sides of the debate. On the one hand you might want to find things in different locations, but on the other hand as a developer is it greatly multiplies the difficulty of developing and testing the game. Random elements, too many of them at once, can cause for some rather nasty bugs like items getting placed in locations where the player can't collect the items. As far as Side-Scrollers I think the style of game play can be made very replayable if the design is a well thought out design. For example, Megaman is very old game wize, but it is still incredibly popular with classic NES fans. Even when I could see beating the game was tough and challenging. Also I think story is half the battle as well. One reason TR fans come back to the games over and over again is the story itself behind the games is gripping and some of us love Lara Croft. <Grin> If you can get a gripping story, and have decent game play there is a good chanse allot of players will play it. Replay then becomes relative to not only challenge but story. Darren Harris wrote: > No I must admit unless a game has any form of replayability then I > wouldn't bother with paying for it either. If you can put a game down, > leave it for a good while and then ccome back to it, then it has > replayability. Otherwise it doesn't does it. That's why I don't play > so many side scrolers any more. I like building type games where by > you can do things differently each time. I like open ended stuff. > --- 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] -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.8/1089 - Release Date: 23/10/2007 19:39 --- 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. 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