Hi Charles and all, Yes and no. Certainly it helps to have a large team of developers, lots of money for bigger and better games, etc but that's not really what Darren and I are getting at all. It has more to do with specific features and standards that have already been set by mainstream games similar to the one in which you intend to create. Even simple games have standards already set by mainstream developers that should attempt to be met when and where possible. Here is a clear cut example of what I mean.
For instance, I'm going to compare the game Pull to a mainstream game similar to it, and hopefully shed some constructive criticism how Pull could be better if just a few features were added that is common in mainstream arcade games. Now, I am fully aware it was the developers first release, the developer is totally new programmer, and so on but the fact still remains it has a ways to go to compare to a similar mainstream game. At the moment the closest thing that comes to mind is Duck Hunt for the classic NES. In Pull someone launches clay pigeons from the left, they pass in front of you, and you must load your shotgun and shoot them. In Duck Hunt Ducks will appear from the left or the right and pass in front of you, and you must shoot them down. As I said its a similar concept, but that's where the similarities begin and end as Duck Hunt is in many respects a more complex game. First, is the matter of difficulty or challenge. In Pull the speed of the pigeons doesn't seem to change from round to round so you can litterally keep shooting them and the game doesn't seem to get any harder. In Duck Hunt every round or level gets a bit faster making it harder and harder to shoot the ducks because the speed increases as you rack up the rounds. Second, is alternative directions. In Pull the pigeons always start from the left side and fly right. In Duck Hunt ducks can start from either the left or right, and it seems to be pretty random. So that can throw you off as you never know which side the target will be coming from. Third, is multiple targets. In Pull there only seems to be a maximum of one pigeon at a time. In Duck Hunt, depending on difficulty, you might have one, two, and sometimes three ducks on screen at once making it much more challenging to get them all before they fly off screen. Fourth, two-player mode. In Pull there is only a single player mode. In Duck Hunt, like most classic arcade games, it allowed you to set the game up for single-player or two-player mode so you and a friend could compete for the highest score. Finally, the ability to actually aim your gun. In Pull the shotgun is fixed dead center in the screen and won't allow you to move the gun around. In Duck Hunt there was a NES controller, a gun that plugged into the console, that allowed you to move the gun around on the screen, site ducks, and shoot them down. You weren't just fixed in one place. As I said all of these points are raised in the hopes that they will be taken as constructive criticism, and more over what I am suggesting here isn't all that difficult for a single developer to add. It is not necessarily comparing grapes to grapefruit, because I'm comparing two games that are similar enough to each other to share the same kinds of features, same type of game play, but don't have the same features or quality because the developer probably didn't think those features were necessary. Its simply that there are standards that have been set by companies like Nintendo, even for a simple game like Duck Hunt, and anything less than similar features and game play is below what I and many mainstream gamers would see as par for that type of game. Many of these improvements don't have to be particularly major, but it would help if the developer would do his or her best to meet some kind of mainstream standards like that when and where possible. The game doesn't have to be the next Shades of Doom or Mysteries of the Ancients to be mainstream quality. It just requires researching what similar games have and try to add those kinds of features to their own game if at all possible. Cheers! On 7/31/11, Charles Rivard <[email protected]> wrote: > Then again, if you were working for a company that produces mainstream > games, there would be a whole group of co-workers. In our community, there > are not. There would be a huge budget from which to draw, and in our > community, there is not. You would make a very good salary doing what you > do, and in our community, you are not. To me, unless I'm seeing it wrongly, > you are comparing grapes to grapefruit. > > --- > "Security is not the absence of danger. It is the presence of the Lord." --- 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].
