26 replies to this topic

[Mango]

"20 things gamers want from the seventh generation of game consoles"

http://www.pointless.../manifesto.html

One of my favourites:

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Instant-Failure Stealth Levels. Ack. This brings back horrible memories of a Goldeneye level where if you tripped an alarm, an infinite number of bad guys poured forth. We knew a man who failed that level 37 times, then got the Infinite Health cheat for it and came back. He intentionally tripped the alarm, the guards rushed out. Laughing maniacally, he proceeded to shoot those f*ckers for four hours, killing 1,183 of them - 682 with groin shots - before his thumbs cramped up. Your game should not create this kind of bitterness.

[Lt.Page]

man, this guy is SO RIGHT.

[DaveyJJ]

There's so much right and funny and painful in this guys rant.

Loved it.

[WSTE_M]

Damn good article, and I agree wih every single point.

W

[Malus121]

Loved it.
So, so, True

[Quicksilver]

I loved the part about the instant-failure stealth missions.  I almost laughed until I cried!  For those of you who don't feel like reading the whole article again, this it what I'm talking about:

"Instant-Failure Stealth Levels. Ack. This brings back horrible memories of a Goldeneye level where if you tripped an alarm, an infinite number of bad guys poured forth. We knew a man who failed that level 37 times, then got the Infinite Health cheat for it and came back. He intentionally tripped the alarm, the guards rushed out. Laughing maniacally, he proceeded to shoot those f-ers for four hours, killing 1,183 of them - 682 with groin shots - before his thumbs cramped up. Your game should not create this kind of bitterness.


EDIT:  LOL!  I discovered another auto-edit feature of IMG.com!  When I copied and pasted that passage, f-er was replaced with "fire trucker"!  Way to go IMG!  

[The iMac Man]

That article is okay, until you realize, that based on his annoying use of language and cussing, it is obviously written by some kid that has no idea what goes into developing games.

That being said, he did have a few good points, but boy does he need to learn how to present himself better.

[musicdisciple]

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Developers will be shocked one day when they notice that the world is full of women. It's true! More than half of your potential customer base are penisless. They have money. They like doing fun things. And yet, how do you think they feel when they play a game where the heroine looks like this: Yeah, that's what she wears into battle. Thong-length kimono, no bra for those flopping DDD breasts. And this is years after analysts told developers that women would happily play games if they didn't feel so objectified by them, and several decades past the point where they should have even needed to be told that. Have you guys ever met a woman? Then why don't you try making just a few games that don't play off of a 14 year-old male's idea of womanhood on the apparent hope that he'll play the game one-handed?

Along with that, it'd be really nice if the game stopped calling me sir. From the SCVs in Starcraft right up to now games keep calling me sir. It gets annoying.

[Hippieman]

Wow, that is a horribly written manifesto full of assumptions and little to no research.

While I could go by each point he makes and point out a game that does just what he wants, I'll save that time of my life for something else.  But seriously this guy just chooses to ignore any games that do what he wants.  

Also anyone who uses Superman 64 as an example should be shot on sight for stupidity.

[zapranoth]

Absolutely not being a game developer, or even a programmer, myself... I can see how a game developer or a programmer would take offense to what is mainly intended as humor IMHO.

There are points he makes, though, that are purely points of style, and with most of those, I agree 100%.

Like the save point that is one tough hallway before attempt #63 on the big boss...  I know it may sound petty, but I have a friend who never played through Oni because the save points totally pissed him off.   I played through, but there were times when I was tempted to hurl the game, for sure.

The insta-death stealth level instance...

The poor AI complaint...

Many of his complaints about distractions from immersion are valid, IMHO, although the difficulty of implementing those suggestions/changes is further-reaching than he recognizes.  But one of the things that really cheesed me off about KOTOR was my jedi WHO CAN JUMP FIFTEEN METERS to strike down an enemy couldn't jump over the little lip of a terrace that separates areas.  I found that to be particularly jarring, and this "jarring-ness" is a reasonable thing to bring up as a detractor from games.

Now, the "no jumping puzzles in FPS" part I disagree with 100%.  I liked "Colony Ship for Sale, Cheap."  

[Koshchi]

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Along with that, it'd be really nice if the game stopped calling me sir.

In Star Trek (except for the original series), all female officers are called sir. I guess the game industry is a couple hundred years ahead of the rest of the world  

Quote

Wow, that is a horribly written manifesto full of assumptions and little to no research.

While I could go by each point he makes and point out a game that does just what he wants, I'll save that time of my life for something else. But seriously this guy just chooses to ignore any games that do what he wants.

I have worked in the gaming industry and agree with almost everything that he said. Although you could find games that "do what he wants", the vast majority of major games do have the problems that he points out. Besides, it is a "manifesto", not an unbiased essay.

[Mango]

zapranoth, on May 31st 2005, 09:03 AM, said:

Now, the "no jumping puzzles in FPS" part I disagree with 100%.  I liked "Colony Ship for Sale, Cheap."   

I don't mind jumping puzzles so much, but I really hate swimming puzzles in FPS. The swimming in NOLF and especially in Rune really got on my nerves.

[The iMac Man]

Mango, on May 31st 2005, 12:10 PM, said:

The swimming in NOLF... really got on my nerves.

I don't even remember having to swim in NOLF....  

[Mango]

The iMac Man, on May 31st 2005, 09:42 AM, said:

I don't even remember having to swim in NOLF....   

Remember the sunken freighter? It's only one level, but it bugged me. But maybe that's because I'm a lousy swimmer  

[WSTE_M]

I wish he had added a point of realism in war games.

I hate these FPS (MOHAA and expansion) where you, one guy, is sent deep into Germany to sink a u-boot, and then have to fight your way out.
Or when you are handling a 88mm and basicly kill the entire german tank force like its old arcade game.
Some military training would really hit the spot for game developers.

W

[The_O]

musicdisciple, on May 31st 2005, 08:18 AM, said:

Along with that, it'd be really nice if the game stopped calling me sir. From the SCVs in Starcraft right up to now games keep calling me sir. It gets annoying.

Superior officers are addressed as "sir".  Gender does not matter.

[G4Jedi]

That guy is my hero. It's time the gaming industry gets innovative. If all I seem to care about is playing WoW, then that's got to be pretty bad....

[Peripherus]

Mango, on May 31st 2005, 01:48 PM, said:

Remember the sunken freighter? It's only one level, but it bugged me. But maybe that's because I'm a lousy swimmer   

You're kidding, right? I thought that was fun.

[Peripherus]

musicdisciple, on May 31st 2005, 11:18 AM, said:

Along with that, it'd be really nice if the game stopped calling me sir. From the SCVs in Starcraft right up to now games keep calling me sir. It gets annoying.

Think of it as a Marcie/Peppermint Patty thing  

[Eric5h5]

zapranoth, on May 31st 2005, 12:03 PM, said:

Now, the "no jumping puzzles in FPS" part I disagree with 100%.  I liked "Colony Ship for Sale, Cheap."   

I don't mind jumping puzzles in FPS, but I do wonder why you can't see your feet.  Why are you always invisible to yourself?  This is especially amusing in Unreal, with the reflective floors...you can look down and see a reflection of yourself, but not your body.  If I look down in real life, I can see myself, so why not in games?  It's not like it's a gameplay issue or anything, as far as I can tell....

--Eric