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Gwely Mernans
from 23rd century entertainment (Canada) on 2006-04-23 01:20 [#01885229]
Points: 9856 Status: Lurker
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Finally my prayers for realism have been answered.
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qrter
from the future, and it works (Netherlands, The) on 2006-04-23 01:27 [#01885230]
Points: 47414 Status: Moderator
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I don't know.. I don't really see how this will make the playing of a game 'next gen' - sure, it'll make it look better, but in gameplay..?
I wish 'next gen' would mean getting good writers, surely that is where computer games have been kept at an infantile level since the beginning.
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Gwely Mernans
from 23rd century entertainment (Canada) on 2006-04-23 01:34 [#01885232]
Points: 9856 Status: Lurker | Followup to qrter: #01885230
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It's a leap forward :)
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weatheredstoner
from same shit babes. (United States) on 2006-04-23 01:36 [#01885234]
Points: 12585 Status: Lurker | Followup to Gwely Mernans: #01885229
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I was hoping the xbox360 good news would be something like: xbox360 now comes with a nintendo ds with every purchase.
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Gwely Mernans
from 23rd century entertainment (Canada) on 2006-04-23 01:36 [#01885235]
Points: 9856 Status: Lurker | Followup to qrter: #01885230
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I wish 'next gen' would mean getting good writers, surely
that is where computer games have been kept at an infantile
level since the beginning.
I agree, once the physics and gameplay have been perfected to an extent, the story, pacing, plots, and characters will need alot of work. Eye candy is only half the package.
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2006-04-23 01:45 [#01885238]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Show recordbag
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There was a PC hack and slash game that used a simplified version of this sort of system about 5 years ago. I forget the name, but basically there were just "realistic" skeletons for each character and these were used to work out the animation on the fly.
Personally, I want damage to be realistic. In a Soul Calibur game, you get hit on the torso with a sword, your top is ripped. Hit in the face hard and your nose breaks and bleeds. At the end of each fight, your character would be patched up to some degree, but the scars would still be there; the top would be stitched back up, but you could see where it had been fixed. Your nose is no longer bleeding, but your character now has an unsightly hook nose. I think this sort of thing would work well in RPGs too.
Proper deformable terrain needs to be done too; not just pre-scripted bits of fragile wall that you can knock through. I understand that this may make writing the script/plot a bit more difficult, but sod it. If after 20 minutes of searching for a keycard to a warehouse, I can't find it, I want to be able to steal a truck and crash it through the wall. Naturally, you could punish the player for taking the easy option; perhaps the bad guys wouldn't know you're there if you used a key card, whereas if you crash through the wall, they know you're there.
For all the fun of the open-endedness of GTA:SA, I still think a slightly more scripted game like Resident Evil 4 makes for a more involving experience; whilst the writing and voice acting was still cheese on toast, it was a lot better than previous games and consequently the whole thing was more believable and scary to play. That sort of emotional involvement is very rare in games and I think that needs to be developed too.
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2006-04-23 01:55 [#01885239]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to Ceri JC: #01885238 | Show recordbag
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I also think that as games become more mature in theme (in the sense of maturity, rather than "tits and gore") I don't want them to shirk away from unpleasent things to appease the sensor's. Punisher's torture feature made an average/poor game good. Imagine if it was in a game that was already good (for example, Max Payne 2) and just accepted as part of the game rather than a gimmick?
Control systems also need sorting. I'm not talking wacky Nintendo Revolution style gimmicks; I mean ones that give a greater degree of control and responsiveness. IE mouse and keyboard for FPS on consoles. Also, and I cannot believe that this hasn't been done already; A realistically sized force feedback steering wheel, stick shift gearbox and pedal (including clutch) set for driving games. I also don't want this to be a specialist one off thing where you pay £300 and it works with one game. It should would be on a format that has a future (like Xbox/Playstation) and a guarantee that it will work with the next generation (Xbox 3/PS4) too. It should also include converters/cables to allow it to be used on multiple formats (IE PC, xbox and playstation with one device). It should also be fully compatible with the vast majority of driving games that come out for the console. If I could play GT5, Colin McRae 2007, Project Gotham 4 and Burnout 5 on such a device and I knew it was futureproof, I'd happily pay £300 for it.
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qrter
from the future, and it works (Netherlands, The) on 2006-04-23 02:14 [#01885242]
Points: 47414 Status: Moderator | Followup to Ceri JC: #01885239
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yeah, but that torture feature pretty much falls squarely in the "gore" department, doesn't it?
I agree on that games should be more mature, but much more on storylevel, not just another nasty feature you can use on your enemies - which to me still keeps games at an infantile level ("look, I can also do this to him, hur hur hur").
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2006-04-23 02:37 [#01885246]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to qrter: #01885242 | Show recordbag
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That's my whole point. I want it to just be "another tool in your toolbox" (if you'll excuse the pun), as opposed to; The main basis of the game, Something that is done regularly, Or even something that has to be done at all. I don't want developers to not give me the option to torture someone, for example, if someone insists on sending me on a sub-quest before they'll give me info or an item I need, I just want the option of getting it through intimidation or torture.
Coming back to the point I made about the truck/warehouse; rather than Easy, Medium or Hard settings, I'd rather have one difficulty, but lots of occassions where you can take the easy way out. Naturally, taking responsibility for your character's actions should come into it. For example, you play a dirty harry type cop a police game and you torture a criminal into revealing some information. Come the end of the level, your boss gives you a bollocking as the criminal is pressing charges against the police and/or the prosecution's case has fallen through. As a result, you don't get promoted or unlock a new weapon/vehicle. Perhaps to complete the game 100% you need to play all the missions and do them "by the book"? Resort to underhanded tricks too often throughout the game and your boss has enough and kicks you off the force; Game over. You could have a "warning" cut scene where they say, "look anymore of your crap and you're fired." You can re-earn the right to be a bit of a renegade by doing a few missions by the book. The boss could convey this by saying, "Look, the heat on you has died down. Do whatever's neccessary to nail this perp."
As to "look, I can also do this to him, hur hur hur", I'd say that says far more about the player and their level of mental development than the programmers or gamers like me. You'll get people who shoot innocents and dead bodies for 10 minutes without getting bored whatever sort of game it is.
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Indeksical
from Phobiazero Damage Control (United Kingdom) on 2006-04-23 05:25 [#01885295]
Points: 10671 Status: Regular | Show recordbag
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the article was stupid. it started of saying that all we've really seen of next-gen games is nice graphics and no gameplay then goes on to talk about procedural animation as if its anything other then a visual tool.
ceri - fully deformable terrain will never happen in a game that has any kind of linear structure (except maybe RTSs). it makes a linear game like RE4 impossible to write.
youre second post about steering wheels is an interesting one. theres so many people out there that want this kind of thing but in recent years peripherals have been hit (eyetoy) and miss (that crazy two handed gyroscope controller that lets you "really punch" the bad guys) so people are iffy about investing a lot of money in them. developers also know that somewhere like GAME (hiss boo) isnt going to stock a massive thing like that.
your ideas about adaptive difficulty (one difficulty level that changes depending on what the player does) have tried to be implemented before and are a big talking point for next-gen games. good things to come in that area.
punisher is wank.
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QRDL
from Poland on 2006-04-23 05:50 [#01885300]
Points: 2838 Status: Lurker | Followup to Ceri JC: #01885238
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"Die by the Sword"? Now that was a hardcore game.
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Ceri JC
from Jefferson City (United States) on 2006-04-23 06:05 [#01885306]
Points: 23533 Status: Moderator | Followup to QRDL: #01885300 | Show recordbag
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That's the monkey. :D
Indeksical: RE fully deformable terrain. I'd say it would make the scripting harder; not impossible. Imagine in the warehouse situation I was talking about, the only way it'd really severely alter the course of the game storyline-wise would be you may inadvertantly kill the person you're trying to rescue, or the bad guy you're trying to catch. Either of which a branching storyline (nothing new) with a bit of imagination could cover up. You could also, for example, make the "key character" be in a basement, that even if you levelled the whole building, would still be accessible.
RE Peripherals; my whole point is that no one really wants gimmicks like eye toy, but they do want something that can be used for several years, on many different games. Driving games are one of the most popular sorts of games for the 20-30 bracket (who would be the ones most likely to fork out £300 for a decent steering wheel) and also the sort of game that would most benefit from it. We've hit a plateaux of realism of handling with car and bike games. You can add better graphics, more vehicles and real world locales, but it's not going to get significantly better till we sort the UI. Dual analogue sticks on a pad is about as good as we'll get with pads. You need a proper steering wheel and gear stick to advance the level of realism any more.
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