Name things/ideas about how to improve the game development
polycounter lvl 17
Whether it is some cool technique you've read or heard about, or something games used to do and are not doing anymore...
what is your idea on how to improve game development?
I wish we would sit down more with pen and papers more into the early stages of making a game, and then dive in the 3d stuff. that and naps : )
share your thoughts!
what is your idea on how to improve game development?
I wish we would sit down more with pen and papers more into the early stages of making a game, and then dive in the 3d stuff. that and naps : )
share your thoughts!
Replies
On a serious note, definitely more attention to pre-production and gameplay. A lot of teams I have worked on in the past do not have a clear heading on their final design for major key elements contributing to game play and it definitely hinders fun factor and results in a so-so game. Nothing ground breaking, but enough to get by normally, banking on IP. I mean, people buy it and the overall reception is decent, so the same tread seems to continue... But time after time, a game idea's true potential is squashed. Obviously this is why a lot of devs go indie, but even then the tread seems to arise sooner or later as they realize money is key. It sucks, and it definitely one of those things that will always exist I have a feeling.
Just because your a talented artist who has been in the industry a while doesn't mean you will be an effective lead.
Of course this isn't a great business model since you're rolling the dice every time you start a new project, but if it suits the company it can work.
More devs in suits.
if we're talking devs dressing up rather than having the same t-shirt for a week, then sure
Seriously though, agree with most of the content of this thread so far. Interesting to hear what people are thinking.
Especially agree that there needs to be more careful and effective management, more thought and a strong foothold on an idea before heading into development, and naps.
I really wish more game companies would be just as creative about how they implement a mature work environment as they are creative with their art. Why copy all the mistakes that make non gaming professionals whine about their office jobs? I think we should embrace that we're different and use it as strength rather than transforming creative studios into your average boring office job. I think a lot of creativity gets lost that way.
Noooooo....
No more plot. Games have enough plot. More story.
Have you guys seen the destiny trailer? It's 2 minutes of straight plot: the darkness is coming, old battle, you must fight, etc etc etc.
The story (character reaction and emotion), amounts to a single sentence: "what can I do?"
Laziest writing I've ever seen.
Game writers seriously do not understand the importance of story beats, of plot vs story, action vs reaction, and why action beats are soooo soooo soooo much less important that reaction beats.
Also if you want females to play more games, more story, less plot.
I know what you mean, but I'd go as far as saying that if you want to draw in any other market component other than 'core gamers', actual story would help a great deal. Seriously, it's a huge limiting factor. For people who don't already play a gazillion games, it stands out like a sore thumb.
If you're going to have this huge dependance on Linear Storytelling, at least make it good.
Right now games are written for the upper end of the autisms spectrum bar - all plot, no emotion, no reaction, by writers who don't know any better.
It's a sad state.
If your company is working on multiple game projects have an easy way that all the teams can share tools and info to avoid work being done twice.
Have an ergonomics specialist come by the office and teach everyone about proper posture and how to avoid injury while working.
A great artist doesn't necessarily make a great leader, give people newly appointed to a leadership position some kind of management training.
I believe writers have to struggle with the same things as everyone else in the games industry: lots of accommodation to budget and other aspects of game development, especially when writers have to jump in and write stories to games already thought out.
But yeah, I'd put characters, emotions or feelings over plot most of the time since any plot can be simplified and still be fantastic.
implementing story and characters into the gameplay is something I want to see more of, such as: dwarf fortress or the sims
2. Know you what the strengths of your game are and cater to them.
3. Take more risks on new IPs.
4. Put people in upper management that actually understand the game making process ( not just the business side).
5. Smaller games for cheaper. I would love to see some mid sized titles come out that cost like $30.
6. More exploration. Less hand holding. What I mean by this is let the player figure things out more instead of smacking all of the answers right in their face all of the time.
7. More visual story telling. I hate that a lot of games throw a wall of text or dialogue at you to tell the story. I want to see the story happen now read it or hear it.
If I had more than one word, I probably wouldn't bother elaborating, it's pretty obvious.
another point too, communicating more directly inside a studio might help, emails can so easily be a source of miscommunication.
Follow that by innovation. Stop doing what the other guy is doing, because their game sells well. Build a game, as if no other games exist. Make what YOU think is fun. If you enjoy playing the game, then most likely, gamers will too.
This. More gameplay. More experimentation. But I don't think it is possible, except for indie games.
I disagree, market trends are deceptive, plenty of games have been made that fall in line with market trends and have nose dived, because people already have that experience, but then there's games like papers please, Stanley parable or surgeon simulator, where there's little to compare to and prior the market data would say these games don't have a chance.
I say be original, if you know what makes a good game (you-tube series like extra credits can help with a deeper understanding) then go off and be original, a game you enjoy making is fundamentally easier to produce.
Know thy game, Know thyself.
Hey! How come it's expected that indie studios have to risk their jobs on experimental games but big studios don't have too just because their big. Why can't people just expect us to make smaller game experiences instead of expecting something completely crazy and out there. That's what I want too see fixed
It comes down to the gameplay, and if you have a story, make it a damn good one because at the end of the day, we wanna have fun with gameplay. Games don't need to be this vein in the mainstream that needs to capture people with pretty grafix and explosions.
The building blocks for great games have been around since Atari was making games outta bloody fat pixels. Gameplay, a style, and if you got a story, have it be worth something.
Games that strive to be something real and immersive fall flat and age worse than stale bread. There's a reason why the classics still both look and play good.
Probably because big companies want to stick to their IP. Call of Duty 9 and Halo 13 and Fifa 2084, and what not. Meanwhile, indie groups do not have the capability to make AAA games, nor do they want to make the same stupid games guys in suits tell them to.
an old facebook post of mine from last month: within a studio production environment, during pre and mid production, i've thought for some time that creating and maintaining a diorama for groups of characters would be beneficial on a directorial level by helping harmonize a group of characters together as well as associated environment set pieces with themed stages and lighting for each game biome.
Sorry but I don't understand your point. Indie games have publishers too
Not really,
Anyway I don't want to derail a thread here, it's just something I'd like to see changed. The perception of indie games that is
Also less money = Can take more risks. Plus, making a bland indie game will make you stay poor as fuck if you make "just a game" in my opinion.
They don't all have to be weird and experimental though. Think about your favourite games from the past, Your 2d platformers, your adventure games. The big studios don't bother with these genres any more. It would be a shame for entire genres of games to just disappear.
Take Mega man for example, capcom we're never going to make a new one, not enough money in it I suppose. So along came an indie studio and now their making the fantastic might number 9.
In my opinion this is were indie gaming is at its best, when it's filling the void left by the big budget games. Broken age is another fantastic example of this as well.
These aren't risky underground games. These are just small games that people love to play. And that's what indie means to me
Marketing doesn't have to be mass marketing.
Regardless of what game you're making, it's always a good idea to cover your financial bases before you just assume that there's a niche out there willing to play your game. You don't have to test completely against what came before.
If I'm building a 1st person diving simulator, where you control the character QWOP style, then I'd better ensure that there's at least a likelihood that a large enough number of people would buy my title to cover my costs, before I even think of hiring 5 more artists and a coder to add that one boss fight with the Cookiemonster.
I agree that mass marketing is often a problem. But I think that checking for whether your niche exists is something that could mean the difference between life and death for a company.
Dev-wise I'd ask for better documentation of certain tools and more WYSIWYG from 3D apps to final product. And less half-assed features (I'm looking at you MB's rigging system).
There's different kind of publishing, there's "you'll develop OUR game" and "we'll publish YOUR game".
In one of these the developer stays independent.
Indie-developers are also mostly developing non-original games, this is what pays the bills and it's what fills the app-market, it's mainly just the visible tip of the indie iceberg that works on the new experimental experiences.
also smaller teams with less focus on technical prowess. ps2/gamecube/wii/xbox games look plenty good enough when running at 1080.
if we're gonna have to do AAAA huge productions, then we need a way larger focus on tools and automation. honestly i feel like half the tasks involved in making an asset for a game should be automated by now.
If you have action game, in my experience, they usually have rather badly developed story, and even then it's rather cliche. Not always, but many times.
Make story with lots of twists, with interesting character, and maybe for once don't make main guy a hero who's going to save galaxy from evil.
Also, what i would like to see, is type of MMO that would be more along what minecraft was; you can still have pvp, but it wouldn't really be all about actions, but more about coop, about exploring, and creating stuff in games(again, MC). Make more focus on creativity and exploration together with other people, rather then just going out shooting things with them, in MMOs.