Just a quick note: this topic was created for ideas; ie. what you would like to see in our game.
We have started to create our first game...
we have a couple names for it at the moment and havnt really decided which one to use.
its a futuristic first person shooter.
more info will be provided asap
We are going to start the coding most likly in march... so up till then we would like to see lots of ideas to
improve the game.
in a couple days i will delete this topic if there is no replies.
well we do have a theme, setting etc.
with the characters, we will have them change through out the story line (like they learn skills dependiing on what you actually do in the game). the story line also will develope with the character (so depending on what you choose to do it alters the story line.)
although we have planned out most of the game already and have plenty of ideas, i still would like to know what people would like to see in it... a few people have said they would like to see co-op in a game (most games today dont have co-op but have things like deathmatch and ctf etc)
Can't say it enough; STORYLINE is the most important thing :) Doesn't matter if your graphics are insanely awesome the thing that's going to get people playing is the storyline and how well it's written etc.. well that's my opinion anyway, I used to go get any aesthetically pleasing game that i thought *might* be cool cos of the purdy pictures but I usually ended up getting a game with a weak storyline that i just couldn't get into so I would end up being bored etc. [B)]
quote:Originally posted by insan1ty
Just a quick note: this topic was created for ideas; ie. what you would like to see in our game.We have started to create our first game...
we have a couple names for it at the moment and havnt really decided which one to use.
its a futuristic first person shooter.more info will be provided asap
We are going to start the coding most likly in march... so up till then we would like to see lots of ideas to
improve the game.in a couple days i will delete this topic if there is no replies.
//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)
Good point, more options in dialogue and actions, characters should react to eachother in certain unique ways. for example as you play as different races and gender other non player characters should react in unique ways to each seperate character.
quote:Originally posted by Jacana
As I said in the "What Female Gamers Want" topic...Interaction. Either multiplayer interaction or more interation between the player and bots and player and environment.
"Yes I Code"
As found on AGDC name tag 2002
//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)
least that's what's happening in my rpg, It's going to be hell programming but I'm up for it, I want all interactions to be unique and all charcaters have their own seperate personality traits from the way they walk to their dialogue interaction and appearance etc. I'm putting in everything I think rpgs have lacked as of late. lol me freak! :D
//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)
Storyline in the traditional sense is not the most important thing in a game by a long shot. Arguably some of the most popular and most sucessful games of all time have had no pre-written storyline, and have become successful purely on their gameplay (or sometimes other factors). So, by this we discover that GAMEPLAY is THE most important factor in the game!
Just to back up my argument with some product names...
Counter strike
Everquest
The Sims
Sim city (and 2000)
Transport tycoon (at least i think this was successful :P)
UT and UT2k3
Q3A
Some of these games have some background story, but no storyline that is unveiled/unravelled as you play.
I don't care how good a storyline is, if a game plays like crap, i'm not going to play it. If it does happen to be the greatest story ever written i guess i'll have to miss out.
So, in conclusion, with great gameplay your game can be a huge success without any storyline.
CYer, Blitz
PS. If someone could name a few titles that have been successful solely on the basis of their storyline and have had crap gameplay, i'd be interested to know...i can't think of any myself.
There are a lot of cases where a storyline is extremely important to push along a game that would otherwise be rather boring, repetitive and tedious without it. A few games that come to mind are the Resident Evils, Metal Gear Solids, and a lot of RPG's like Final Fantasy.. Metal Gear Solid VR missions is an example where the story is stripped, and you have mission after mission after mission of just gameplay. Yes, it does get boring [:)].. Ever play 100 levels of Bubble Bobble? No story there, and pure gameplay, and trust me, it gets pretty boring level after level! .. A good story would enhance something like that I reckon.. keep the audience interested.. Not that I'm saying gameplay isn't as important eitheer [:)] Mutiplayer games and building/god games don't really lend themselves much to story possibilities.. well, the with the latter, you might be able to do something there.. [:)]
B&W was a god game and had a story! :P
I think in any case where a good story is needed to "push the game along" as you say, there is obviously some sort of flaw in the gameplay. If the gameplay was good you wouldn't need a story to push it along, the story would just make the game from great to fantastic.
In fact you touch on my above point quite well when you said
" There are a lot of cases where a storyline is extremely important to push along a game that would otherwise be rather boring, repetitive and tedious without it. "
If it had good gameplay it wouldn't be boring, repetitive or tedious :)
I think the guy who wrote the game architecture and design book (Rollings?) called this "Frustrated Author Syndrome" where peopel create a crappy game to push a good story...
CYer, Blitz
I'm going to agree with the ladies and say story and interactivity. Interactivity is important for immersion, it helps you feel a part of the world. Variety in environments, choice of play style eg stealthy or guns-a-blazing. I have to say that cliche's and bad stereo-types really put me off. Daikatana pissed me off with these (on top of it being an average game), characters that talk hip etc etc. I can honestly say that I dont know anyone like this, I have seen people like this and they look stupid. Dark humour, a black comedy of a game would be great, put some of this in your game. As has already been mentioned vehicles, gun turrets etc etc.
"when it comes to angry killing machines, nothing beats the Lord Jesus!"
How come like 43.5% of Sumea people in the "what you want to see in games" poll said they wanted more story then?
I think that saying story isn't required is a little bit of a "new generation of gamers" gimmick. Story can always make the experience more enjoyable, and more motivating, even if a game is fun, something "fun" can wear thin very quickly (depending on the type of gameplay, for sure). Story can really glue a game together and give it direction and even alter the gameplay, and can also give the player extra motivation, aside from having fun - the player can also be part of an evolving/intriguing journey. To me, multi-layered experiences are always good, but it must be matched.
If there was one thing I'd love to see in a game, it would have to be better storylines. Me and my brother did a back-of-a-napkin approach a few years ago when we were coming up with a story to support this 3D engine/shooter idea, and it went like this "Aliens have invaded this mining facility on earth, as you get through to a certain point in the game, the military arrives and starts to purge the area of all witnesses and lifeforms to sterilise it (including you) and eventually after escaping all this you travel down further into the mineshafts to find the complex tunnel system from whence these aliens came and you destroy the source of the problem."
Sound familiar? Believe it or not, this was something we came up with in ten minutes just to fill in the idea of a storyline, and we'd *never* heard of or played half-life at the time. This is *not* a strong storyline, and we were basically just patching up a weak/hopeless/boring gameplay mechanic. I agree, putting in a storyline just to motivate the player is pointless, but actually sitting down and thinking about a good storyline, and good gameplay dynamics, although takes more effort cause you have to think about two things, at least you come up with a more solid product at the end of it all.
Snootchie bootchies!
Any off-topic issues send to maitrek@austarmetro.com.au
A good story dose make a good game but not a great game. A good story line will make you come back the next day and maybe the week after to keep playing the game. But I find that after you know the story it isn?t that good the 2nd time around (beside a game which let you play the story a number of ways .eg. Duse Ex)
I have been told by game designer that the main thing you aim for in a game is to make the player fell something. Eg. Happiness, scared, hero ness etc. Which I find to be a good place to start.
But I personally thing the main thing to have is interactivity. Good interactivity means good game play. If you make a game that has an easy to learn interface and a huge amount of interactivity. The play will always have something to do and try.
The MOD that I have mainly design myself has this as the base to it. Then the story came later.
Also multiplayer, adds to a games interactivity having something that the player can interact with that will be different every time you play.
Argh - that's it - I've had it with this public forum garbage.
I didn't say story was the one ****ing element in a game that counts. I said that a story adds to the effect of a game, nor did I claim to know what the major component is. I state it's an underestimated component.
I especially did NOT ****ing say that gameplay wasn't important!!!
If I was to sit here and preach that story is everything, I'd be a ****ing author and I'd write books wouldn't I?
****!!!!
Expect my future paticipation in the forums to be limited, no one gives a crap for my antiquated old-school opinions anyway.
Snootchie bootchies!
Any off-topic issues send to maitrek@austarmetro.com.au
1. Non-linearity: Probably through of AI (think Deus Ex). The days of puzzles, scripted sequences and lock-and-key devices are over; modern game design needs to provide genuine problem-solving situations.
2. Artistry: In the graphical sense. Grass...plains...steel corridors...*yawn*. Do something unique with your visual style. Go crazy over aesthetics. Too many FPSs fall between the gothic look ala Quake and the sterile sci-fi environs of Unreal Tournament. This needs to change real fucking quick.
And then there's other things...balanced weapons, decent story, solid physics model. I would leave out multiplayer for the moment. Also, be modest about your goals.
Cheers!
Well, I'm assuming you'd already have a theme in regards to where/when are set, etc, so getting a few decent ideas that can be floated around could probably be helped along by a bit more info on what you're planning on including in the design already - or at least its style and setting. =)
A couple of the biggies you always hear playing while playing shooters, though, are things like "vehicles you can use" and "character classes". Perhaps you could create a shooter where you play as different characters on different levels, each with their own abilities, weapons, and skills that need to be used to complete objectives? Variety of gameplay is what a lot of shooters currently lack (with "lots of different guns" often being used as a substitute for "variety of gameplay"). That could be worth looking into... it'd interest me, at least. =)
- Grif