With all the talent on this thread I reckon we could knock one out that would blow some heads, do you guys and girls ever think about that ?
I've been here about 10 years and the "lets make a game" thread has popped up now and then, it never goes anywhere.
I actively try to limit my gameplay time, there's way too many good games out, there's typically 1 or 2 life destroying games that hit me each year, looking at my steam list the most recent few are:
Time. Time is an issue. Plus when everything AAA is almost a verbatim cookie cutter experience...Well that just drains away my interest. I'll be honest though, I do buy tons of used games just to check out the art and to see what's current or consistent with design trends. I never play them all the way through; just enough to understand the mechanics or the style [Castlevania Lord of Shadows is the exception since that game looks so NICE]. But the games I play for actual enjoyment?
Fighting games and multiplayer modes where I can jump in and actually play a game and not engage in an "interactive" movie is where it's at these days. I play games that don't involve story or narrative at all because chances are they are terribly written and poorly conceived and I am not going to put in the effort to watch cut scenes about a story i don't care about. Open world games are also more interesting than any other big budget game only because they allow me to forget the story altogether and instead opt to engage in the game systems and do crazy buggy shit that's more fun to me [GTA I'm lookin at you].
I kinda feel that way, when I graduated High School I just stopped playing games. I think ones i move out (soon) and get a real life and get outdoors more I will. I just feel like I waste my time when I play them personally, even if it is fun, or get caught up in the art or some bullshit or see something lazy and just quit.
Feels kinda bad.
i think they should stop trying to turn video games in to interactive films. i want to be in charge all the time, not play a bit , wait for the fmv to finish , press another button. gameplay should tell the story first and foremost, fmv should be at the end of a long difficult setion of gameplay.
also where the fuck are pc games now. both asda and tesco have no games at all these days, surely there must be people who still play games on the pc.
i still love playing games aged 44, but just am more picky
I think games are better now then back when I was a kid, just not most of the AAA big budget stuff you see in commercials and such. But there's so much great choice on PC, I think I play more now than I did when I was a kid probably (would probably get more personal work done otherwise...)
Ruz -- yeah it's probably wise to get with the program, steam and the apstore have set such a standard for delivery that I wouldn't be surprised much if the next line of consoles don't even HAVE retail aspects.
Around 4 years ago Id play a game until the break of dawn Or buy a game and do a speed run on my first play through. Id avoid friends and forget to eat just to maximize play time as school and homework dictated my childhood time. Games use to be my drug, now they're just my pass time.
Games now seem to be missing something that kept me interested. I have a pile of games collecting dust with about 2 or so hours of play time. There's still a few I have 70+ hours in Like Dark Souls I'm on NG++ and I still put it in often to play or help someone out.
I'm not getting any younger and have to make smart choices with my time. Movies, games and books all take time away from studying, practicing and growing as an artist. And I still have analog responsibilities that I can't and won't neglect. Just can't watch, play, read or listen to it all, but I do think it's important to know what is going on this industry. Therefore, I try to play the tent-pole, best-of-class, top-tier games of the major genres and I almost always have a good time when I do. But, I have to force myself to actually play a game, because I have so many other things I want to do with limited time. I feel the same way about movies (see maybe 10 to 15 movies a year and only 3 or so in the theater and I watch no TV). It's weird that I think of something fun, like playing a game as work, but that's what it has become. I have to schedule and budget for it like I would for software or a class.
I think I agree with you guys, the one thing that keeps me from getting completely immersed is the outside responsibility aspect of things. I have things nagging at the periphery of my thought now and pulls me out of a game like Skyrim after a few hours. When you're younger days seem infinite so why not blow your whole weekend playing morrowind? Still, I would say the potential is there.
And yes, the indie movement is injecting so much freshness into the medium. Not only in indie games themselves, but they're also acting as a proving ground for big biz studios so show that there's demand for game-play that was considered dead in the past.
Who the hell thought a turnbased game like XCom would be such a big hit in 2012? Back when Realtime became a possibility, everyone declared the death of turn based. Same happened with 3d, and now 2d games are coming back in a wonderful way. If anything I'd say we're entering a really good time for games, especially if you're an old school gamer.
I will say this, retirement is gonna be a hell of a lot more fun for the gamer generation. Looking forward to my gran-dad trolling days.
I was not really interested in video games when i was 6-12, just playing around with Atari STE, NES or SNES with school friends. I used to play like others kids : football, school fighting (haha), balls, riding bike, play with friends...
The more I got older, the more I felt like Video games were something amazing with a true potential glare. Maybe "The lawnmower man" & "TRON" movie have profoundly changed my mind, maybe I'm just a techno-addict, maybe the fact I have a brother who shared with me his passion of computers (the great Apple time with PowerMac), maybe. I think video games are a glimpse of the future and I love playing games which deserve my spare time, between my professionnal life and my married one.
Most of my friends play games, even my (amazing) mother play Layton & Skyrim.
It is not a matter of age, it is not a matter of maturity. The true question is : do you play video games because you enjoy human creativity or to fill an emotional gap ? Most of video games players hide behind their society problems and, when they get older, like most of us here, they just stop playing thanks to a girl who accepted them, for example.
My life is technologic, video games are the future.
Ive been getting old games I shouldve played like Hitman: Blood Money. Some recentish games I've been playing that I love are Metro 2033, Dead Space 2, and Heavy Rain(which is fricken amazing). But yes games in general these days have lost a certain charm they used to have. I hope to bring that back with the game I'm making.
Maybe you could try serious games? I tried to find some that are fun but this is all I could find? they might float your boat if you are into reading as you say you are.
P.S. I know what you mean about games these days, they have all become quite the same.
I put it down to poor A.I. I say this as I was playing Call of Duty the other day (fantastic game) and I noticed the enemies were either on or off, they spot or hear you and they start shooting.
What happened to the old days of Metal Gear Solid/Golden Eye N64 type games where the A.I. would walk up to the sound effect and check it out?
Anyone else got any ideas for games for old farts? "GFOFs" its a new market, you saw it here on Polycount first - GFOFs :poly121:
I only play less because I have less time, and more things to do with my developed skills. But I still play video games, and I love them. If you feel you're too old for video games, you're never too old for anything. You've just moved on, or your tastes have changed.
Or you've become opinionated and snobbish about the new generation of games.
You've just moved on, or your tastes have changed.
Or you've become opinionated and snobbish about the new generation of games.
Snobbish maybe, I do like Don Perion these days and like to fly business class if I can
As for opinionated - No, moved on -No, tastes have changed -No I still like Simulations, Turn-based strategy, Real-time strategy, First-person shooters, Third-person shooters, Role-playing games and so on but I think some games are two much the same these days. When I started making games back in 1997 "sound like and old fart now " the first point the art directors would push on a re-release would be it has to have at least 40% new game play functions. I just don't see that any more, but maybe I am expecting to much? as the graphics in games like Gears of War is out standing and it looks like 343 Industries has turned Halo around, maybe for me to point a finger and say it needs 40% new game play on each new release is asking to much as the aesthetic of these games is just sublime and on another level but deep down I wish wish the A.I. matched the artwork?
I don't think I would ever get tires of video games, considering it's what I want to have a career in. Far as just playing games and not doing it as a career, then yea it would kind of die out.
I have gaming phases, about 2-3 times a year game will grab me and not let go til I am done, otherwise I sink 0-2 hours a week in games. My free time these days is spent with my son and girlfriend, on art, learning German, or the occasional book/movie/tv show.
Like most I have a bloated list of games on Steam which are mostly untouched, and I also backed a lot of indie Kickstarter games and Humble Bundles lately which I probably will never play enough to fully appreciate.
I do not consider myself "too old" for them, I certainly wish I had the spare time for them.
I think I like making art/going out more than I like playing most games.
If I do find a game I like more than those things, then I'm all over it. I think the problem as an aging gamer are the variety of big title games isn't really diverse, and hasn't evolved all that much over 10 years.
The indy game scene is way more exciting, but I still think it has a ways to go for me to get super excited about it just yet.
Maybe VR tech (head sets), and things like Steam's Big Picture will really give new life to the gaming scene overall.
I did honestly just play the shiiet out of mech warrior online for the last few months, and am trying out wow for the first time right now. Seems for all the woes I might have about things to play, I find myself spending way more time than I expect playing games.
What I do these days are either just Minecraft, or any indie game, or any anime-themed game (I don't care if its grindy!), because after all, I'm after for the arts too.
Many may not convince me to play those modern shooting games, as in when there are two kids talked to me on what games I play, well, I answered Minecraft, and mentioned other RPGs that aren't Final Fantasy. They tried asking me if I played any COD, I said "No", and they trolled, "Dude, you're missin' out!", and I rebutted, "Nope, I'm not missing anything".
Maybe you just fixed your priorities? I used to play all the time too, but that was time in the toilet. It's better as a hobby, meaning playing every once in a while, not as the obsession it is for so many people.
as everyone else says, jaded about AAA games, and mostly playing indie games nowadays.
Far Cry 3 was a complete bore, waste of money. it was far too easy.
however, i immensely enjoyed FTL, Xcom was good, and unity of command was good.
these are all games that instead of holding your hand throughout the experience, and trying to make you feel "badass", instead have a high difficulty curve, giving you
many hard choices. and if you make a wrong move, you're dead.
and funnily enough, they're all turn based.
If I play, I do binges because between work and my own stuff, there is no free time. I bought Resident Evil: Revelations when it came out last year. Put about 1 hour between then and 2 weeks ago. Then Last weekend I just sat and grinded. Mass Effect 3 was a week.
If I don't focus on a title, I will never finish it. I have over 200+iOS games and finished only one(that Walking Dead squad-shooter).
Never too old to play, in my opinion. Being a developer takes the magic out (hardly surprised anymore because you just "know" what will happen for the most), and I do buy Steam games for art. Lately with the indie games being so short, I can get my fix in and feel like I made progress.
That's just normal, but doesn't mean that you should not study or have a career in this field, there will always be younger generations playing games, So i encourage everyone in this industry to go ahead cuz i'am quite sure that this is just the beginning of an exiting future.
the amount of AAA titles i play is very few and the amount of titles i finish per year can probably be counted on one finger
that said... i play a fair amount of indie games that seem better suited to our/my generation... shorter more interesting and varied and more fun less stress.
I still play and enjoy games, but WAY less than I did before. Apparently I get the same level of satisfaction by making or playing them, so I'd rather make them! And when I have some free time, I like to go outside for a change.
I guess that growing up means you have way less free time, so gotta be more selective with what you spend it with. I only play REALLY good games, got no time for the average ones!
I still play and enjoy games, but WAY less than I did before. Apparently I get the same level of satisfaction by making or playing them, so I'd rather make them! And when I have some free time, I like to go outside for a change.
I guess that growing up means you have way less free time, so gotta be more selective with what you spend it with. I only play REALLY good games, got no time for the average ones!
If you are not playing games how do you know whats at the forefront? as a games developer do you not think its a duty to spend a proportion of you time dissecting and disseminating or you will just end up making homages from a bygone era rather then remediating the deficiencies in current gen games?
Bay Raitt told me at FMX that he spends much of his time with games set to easy so he can fly through them and get the feel for them and then move on. If there is a level that has interesting game play features change the settings enjoy/study and then move on.
I think it's maybe a bit of an unfair complaint of many of you to say that games these days are more shallow. It's hard to deny that AAA FPS games aren't at the forefront of innovation, depth, complexity, difficulty or any other good things, but that's not the place where you should be looking for those things, even if that may have been the case fifteen years ago. Complaining about Darksiders being underwhelming is like buying all of Lady Gaga's CDs in the hope that one day she'll have a nice counterpoint piece with basso continuo*... you're better off looking for that elsewhere.
The problem that I'm having is that I don't even get engrossed in games that I understand are good. I've played such gems as SpaceChem and Frozen Synapse, but gave up as soon as they became difficult (After 14 and 8 hours respectively, if Steam isn't being a total liar again.) I played Planescape Torment for the first time in 2011 and thought it was 'okay'. Just this November I played Pathologic Pathologic! and thought it was sort of interesting, but not really worth writing home about. I'm also pretty sure I'd have enjoyed Crusader Kings II if I'd gotten my hands on it ten years ago, but it downright bored me in 2012.
I've also played a handful of board games to see how they'd hold up; The Lord of the Rings, Colonists of Catan, Galaxy Trucker and Dominion. And while I realise the rules behind them are very clever (much more so than video games; if you want to spend time with your family and play games, get a board game), I'm not engrossed by them. Furthermore, there is a handful of video games that I used to replay every year of half year, but haven't touched in years now.
All this while being more enthusiastic about music and books than ever.
But I'm glad to be the only one or in a small minority here. If I hadn't switched careers three years ago, I'd have been in trouble now...
*Gross generalisation. I've never even played Darksiders and I'm so unaware of current music that I just attribute everything to Lady Gaga.
If you are not playing games how do you know whats at the forefront? as a games developer do you not think its a duty to spend a proportion of you time dissecting and disseminating or you will just end up making homages from a bygone era rather then remediating the deficiencies in current gen games?
Bay Raitt told me at FMX that he spends much of his time with games set to easy so he can fly through them and get the feel for them and then move on. If there is a level that has interesting game play features change the settings enjoy/study and then move on.
Just some food for thought
Oh I still play games, and still play quite a lot. But just not as much as I did when I was in high school and such. Where I would pour tons of hours into a game, do almost all missions possible and if the game had a good multiplayer, spend hundreds of hours playing that.
I play games to completion still, to experience the entire game, get everything out of it I can art and fun wise, but I no long spend all those extra hours doing all the side quests and such unless I find a game so fun and enjoyable that I want to as there are other things I would like to do, like more art and going out with friends.
The quote I quoted said "I still play games, but WAY less than I did before" So its not that I dont play games, just less.
The older I've gotten, it's become more of a time issue than not wanting to. I love games, would play them day in/out if I could. It's a part of who I am. I never want to NOT want to play games.
+1
Have too much other responsiblities. Now I'd rather save the time from playing games to sleep more.
I'm not really an artist by nature, but thanks to video games I learned to appreciate art and then got into 3d. It was my passion for games that motivated me to work in the industry. So now no matter how busy I am, I try to find time to play games. Not only because I enjoy doing so, but also it's a way of giving it back because I owe it to them for the opportunity I have now. :poly121:
If you are not playing games how do you know whats at the forefront? as a games developer do you not think its a duty to spend a proportion of you time dissecting and disseminating or you will just end up making homages from a bygone era rather then remediating the deficiencies in current gen games?
Bay Raitt told me at FMX that he spends much of his time with games set to easy so he can fly through them and get the feel for them and then move on. If there is a level that has interesting game play features change the settings enjoy/study and then move on.
Just some food for thought
That might be more true for designers who specialize in game play mechanics?
Environment artists, character artists and animators don't always need to play the games to get a sense of the art direction, the technical limitations or how the characters move. You can extract a lot of info from screenshots and game play footage.
Typically when I play games I'm much more of a tourist than an active participant.
Once you see the same modular sets being recycled you can move on to other sights. I don't need to watch the same jump animation through 30 levels to get the info I'm after. That doesn't mean I hate games and never play them, I'm just very picky about which ones eat up my time. They can be fun and creatively draining at the same time.
I will only stick around if its fun, I'm not in it grind and unlock achievements and measure my e-dick against other gamers. Gamers shouldn't fool themselves into thinking that a high gamer score makes them well suited to be an artists in the industry. They are two sides of the same coin true but they are different.
You don't always need to play games to stay on top of current trends. At some point you do have to stop copying other games and blaze some new trails. Often the new ideas come from doing something totally unrelated instead of marinating in the same tried and true tropes that other people came up with 2-3-4 years ago.
Lastly, because Feng Zhu makes a pretty convincing case for building up your visual library with things that gamers haven't seen before.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnflBERf2zM"]EPISODE 52 - Visual Library - YouTube[/ame]
I am 29 years old and still play games for some hours or one hour. I like games so much that I cannot leave them. I have to have play game every day no matter what the game is but I just want to and like to.
I still game all the time. Definitely not too old for it. What I am too old for is voice chat within the game (prick ass 10 year olds running their mouth) and the gaming communiity in general. There is a huge sense of entitlement that is so bloody annoying. Especially on all the game forums (for specific games. not game art
You don't always need to play games to stay on top of current trends. At some point you do have to stop copying other games and blaze some new trails. Often the new ideas come from doing something totally unrelated instead of marinating in the same tried and true tropes that other people came up with 2-3-4 years ago.
Great reply, good call :thumbup: I love what ever Feng Zhu says
What you say above is what I said - you need to "remediate the deficiencies in current gen games."
anyway back to the topic, has anyone got any good games ideas for old farts?
You know what I would like? a really hard version of an Advance Wars type game, maybe with only 8 maps but with a range of difficulties from stupid up to a level that even Kasparov would find hard to play.
^ Try Arel Wars 1/2 on mobilephones. except is real time.
On DS there is a lot of fantasy based TBS like FF tacticsA2, fire emblem, except that you're not really building your army.
I haven't found a Advance Wars "clone" except for some doujin games, which is not really good. namely Gadget Trial, This game is blatant Advance Wars ripoff
^ Try Arel Wars 1/2 on mobilephones. except is real time.
On DS there is a lot of fantasy based TBS like FF tacticsA2, fire emblem, except that you're not really building your army.
I haven't found a Advance Wars "clone" except for some doujin games, which is not really good. namely Gadget Trial, This game is blatant Advance Wars ripoff , not really recommend it.
Forgot to mention Arel wars is good except for the part when you keep going it's gonna be really difficult to the point you have to spend real money..
Try Age of Darkness.. . free ads hassle great war games on mobilephone. It's not really a defense game despite the title.
But advance wars is manga style lol.. my all time favorite turn base war game is hetoes of might n magic 3. Also xcom ufo defense.. haven't got a chance to play the latest xcom series..
You know what I would like? a really hard version of an Advance Wars type game, maybe with only 8 maps but with a range of difficulties from stupid up to a level that even Kasparov would find hard to play.
I loved advanced wars, such a great series, tons of fun. I've been playing Battle Nations (iOS game) since it came out and its kind of similar in a lot of ways. The biggest difference is it's turned based combat a bit like an RPG.
It's free to play and I've never had to buy "nanopods" (their in game currency) I have bought some just to support them, but you don't need them. They also update the game constantly.
Uni-War is another great game, which is a lot more like Advanced Wars but on a hex grid.
I think its also on Android and Kindle, I prefer it on Kindle because of the bigger screen. It has a very limited story mode which is basically a tutorial, then you fight it out against other people on their network.
Replies
I've been here about 10 years and the "lets make a game" thread has popped up now and then, it never goes anywhere.
I actively try to limit my gameplay time, there's way too many good games out, there's typically 1 or 2 life destroying games that hit me each year, looking at my steam list the most recent few are:
Skyrim: 79 hours
Borderlands: 50 hours
Borderlands 2: 66 hours
XCOM Enemy Unknown: 34 hours
STALKER Call of Pripyat: 26 hours
APB: 60 hours (WTF!?)
That just blew my mind. So true...
Fighting games and multiplayer modes where I can jump in and actually play a game and not engage in an "interactive" movie is where it's at these days. I play games that don't involve story or narrative at all because chances are they are terribly written and poorly conceived and I am not going to put in the effort to watch cut scenes about a story i don't care about. Open world games are also more interesting than any other big budget game only because they allow me to forget the story altogether and instead opt to engage in the game systems and do crazy buggy shit that's more fun to me [GTA I'm lookin at you].
Feels kinda bad.
also where the fuck are pc games now. both asda and tesco have no games at all these days, surely there must be people who still play games on the pc.
i still love playing games aged 44, but just am more picky
Seriously? http://store.steampowered.com (or GOG, etc.)
I think games are better now then back when I was a kid, just not most of the AAA big budget stuff you see in commercials and such. But there's so much great choice on PC, I think I play more now than I did when I was a kid probably (would probably get more personal work done otherwise...)
can't play anything for more than 20 minutes nowadays
Games now seem to be missing something that kept me interested. I have a pile of games collecting dust with about 2 or so hours of play time. There's still a few I have 70+ hours in Like Dark Souls I'm on NG++ and I still put it in often to play or help someone out.
And yes, the indie movement is injecting so much freshness into the medium. Not only in indie games themselves, but they're also acting as a proving ground for big biz studios so show that there's demand for game-play that was considered dead in the past.
Who the hell thought a turnbased game like XCom would be such a big hit in 2012? Back when Realtime became a possibility, everyone declared the death of turn based. Same happened with 3d, and now 2d games are coming back in a wonderful way. If anything I'd say we're entering a really good time for games, especially if you're an old school gamer.
I will say this, retirement is gonna be a hell of a lot more fun for the gamer generation. Looking forward to my gran-dad trolling days.
I was not really interested in video games when i was 6-12, just playing around with Atari STE, NES or SNES with school friends. I used to play like others kids : football, school fighting (haha), balls, riding bike, play with friends...
The more I got older, the more I felt like Video games were something amazing with a true potential glare. Maybe "The lawnmower man" & "TRON" movie have profoundly changed my mind, maybe I'm just a techno-addict, maybe the fact I have a brother who shared with me his passion of computers (the great Apple time with PowerMac), maybe. I think video games are a glimpse of the future and I love playing games which deserve my spare time, between my professionnal life and my married one.
Most of my friends play games, even my (amazing) mother play Layton & Skyrim.
It is not a matter of age, it is not a matter of maturity. The true question is : do you play video games because you enjoy human creativity or to fill an emotional gap ? Most of video games players hide behind their society problems and, when they get older, like most of us here, they just stop playing thanks to a girl who accepted them, for example.
My life is technologic, video games are the future.
[ame="
Ive been getting old games I shouldve played like Hitman: Blood Money. Some recentish games I've been playing that I love are Metro 2033, Dead Space 2, and Heavy Rain(which is fricken amazing). But yes games in general these days have lost a certain charm they used to have. I hope to bring that back with the game I'm making.
Solar System for iPad in HD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbGGe7B77VQ
The Elements ebook for iPad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHiEqf5wb3g
Maybe God games might be what you need?
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/22cans/project-godus
[ame="
Or a flight simulator?
[ame="
P.S. I know what you mean about games these days, they have all become quite the same.
I put it down to poor A.I. I say this as I was playing Call of Duty the other day (fantastic game) and I noticed the enemies were either on or off, they spot or hear you and they start shooting.
What happened to the old days of Metal Gear Solid/Golden Eye N64 type games where the A.I. would walk up to the sound effect and check it out?
Anyone else got any ideas for games for old farts? "GFOFs" its a new market, you saw it here on Polycount first - GFOFs :poly121:
Or you've become opinionated and snobbish about the new generation of games.
Snobbish maybe, I do like Don Perion these days and like to fly business class if I can
As for opinionated - No, moved on -No, tastes have changed -No I still like Simulations, Turn-based strategy, Real-time strategy, First-person shooters, Third-person shooters, Role-playing games and so on but I think some games are two much the same these days. When I started making games back in 1997 "sound like and old fart now
Back on subject, these games are cool.
Machinarium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwZBdWRSBRs
Limbo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY7pxauPUBs
hmmm? I am going to put some thought into this?
Like most I have a bloated list of games on Steam which are mostly untouched, and I also backed a lot of indie Kickstarter games and Humble Bundles lately which I probably will never play enough to fully appreciate.
I do not consider myself "too old" for them, I certainly wish I had the spare time for them.
If I do find a game I like more than those things, then I'm all over it. I think the problem as an aging gamer are the variety of big title games isn't really diverse, and hasn't evolved all that much over 10 years.
The indy game scene is way more exciting, but I still think it has a ways to go for me to get super excited about it just yet.
Maybe VR tech (head sets), and things like Steam's Big Picture will really give new life to the gaming scene overall.
I did honestly just play the shiiet out of mech warrior online for the last few months, and am trying out wow for the first time right now. Seems for all the woes I might have about things to play, I find myself spending way more time than I expect playing games.
Many may not convince me to play those modern shooting games, as in when there are two kids talked to me on what games I play, well, I answered Minecraft, and mentioned other RPGs that aren't Final Fantasy. They tried asking me if I played any COD, I said "No", and they trolled, "Dude, you're missin' out!", and I rebutted, "Nope, I'm not missing anything".
I don't think i'm too old for games.. it' just most today games cater to younger audience.
Far Cry 3 was a complete bore, waste of money. it was far too easy.
however, i immensely enjoyed FTL, Xcom was good, and unity of command was good.
these are all games that instead of holding your hand throughout the experience, and trying to make you feel "badass", instead have a high difficulty curve, giving you
many hard choices. and if you make a wrong move, you're dead.
and funnily enough, they're all turn based.
If I don't focus on a title, I will never finish it. I have over 200+iOS games and finished only one(that Walking Dead squad-shooter).
Never too old to play, in my opinion. Being a developer takes the magic out (hardly surprised anymore because you just "know" what will happen for the most), and I do buy Steam games for art. Lately with the indie games being so short, I can get my fix in and feel like I made progress.
that said... i play a fair amount of indie games that seem better suited to our/my generation... shorter more interesting and varied and more fun less stress.
My exact thoughts too!
If you are not playing games how do you know whats at the forefront? as a games developer do you not think its a duty to spend a proportion of you time dissecting and disseminating or you will just end up making homages from a bygone era rather then remediating the deficiencies in current gen games?
Bay Raitt told me at FMX that he spends much of his time with games set to easy so he can fly through them and get the feel for them and then move on. If there is a level that has interesting game play features change the settings enjoy/study and then move on.
Just some food for thought
I think it's maybe a bit of an unfair complaint of many of you to say that games these days are more shallow. It's hard to deny that AAA FPS games aren't at the forefront of innovation, depth, complexity, difficulty or any other good things, but that's not the place where you should be looking for those things, even if that may have been the case fifteen years ago. Complaining about Darksiders being underwhelming is like buying all of Lady Gaga's CDs in the hope that one day she'll have a nice counterpoint piece with basso continuo*... you're better off looking for that elsewhere.
The problem that I'm having is that I don't even get engrossed in games that I understand are good. I've played such gems as SpaceChem and Frozen Synapse, but gave up as soon as they became difficult (After 14 and 8 hours respectively, if Steam isn't being a total liar again.) I played Planescape Torment for the first time in 2011 and thought it was 'okay'. Just this November I played Pathologic Pathologic! and thought it was sort of interesting, but not really worth writing home about. I'm also pretty sure I'd have enjoyed Crusader Kings II if I'd gotten my hands on it ten years ago, but it downright bored me in 2012.
I've also played a handful of board games to see how they'd hold up; The Lord of the Rings, Colonists of Catan, Galaxy Trucker and Dominion. And while I realise the rules behind them are very clever (much more so than video games; if you want to spend time with your family and play games, get a board game), I'm not engrossed by them. Furthermore, there is a handful of video games that I used to replay every year of half year, but haven't touched in years now.
All this while being more enthusiastic about music and books than ever.
But I'm glad to be the only one or in a small minority here. If I hadn't switched careers three years ago, I'd have been in trouble now...
*Gross generalisation. I've never even played Darksiders and I'm so unaware of current music that I just attribute everything to Lady Gaga.
Oh I still play games, and still play quite a lot. But just not as much as I did when I was in high school and such. Where I would pour tons of hours into a game, do almost all missions possible and if the game had a good multiplayer, spend hundreds of hours playing that.
I play games to completion still, to experience the entire game, get everything out of it I can art and fun wise, but I no long spend all those extra hours doing all the side quests and such unless I find a game so fun and enjoyable that I want to as there are other things I would like to do, like more art and going out with friends.
The quote I quoted said "I still play games, but WAY less than I did before" So its not that I dont play games, just less.
Have too much other responsiblities. Now I'd rather save the time from playing games to sleep more.
Environment artists, character artists and animators don't always need to play the games to get a sense of the art direction, the technical limitations or how the characters move. You can extract a lot of info from screenshots and game play footage.
Typically when I play games I'm much more of a tourist than an active participant.
Once you see the same modular sets being recycled you can move on to other sights. I don't need to watch the same jump animation through 30 levels to get the info I'm after. That doesn't mean I hate games and never play them, I'm just very picky about which ones eat up my time. They can be fun and creatively draining at the same time.
I will only stick around if its fun, I'm not in it grind and unlock achievements and measure my e-dick against other gamers. Gamers shouldn't fool themselves into thinking that a high gamer score makes them well suited to be an artists in the industry. They are two sides of the same coin true but they are different.
You don't always need to play games to stay on top of current trends. At some point you do have to stop copying other games and blaze some new trails. Often the new ideas come from doing something totally unrelated instead of marinating in the same tried and true tropes that other people came up with 2-3-4 years ago.
Lastly, because Feng Zhu makes a pretty convincing case for building up your visual library with things that gamers haven't seen before.
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Great reply, good call :thumbup: I love what ever Feng Zhu says
What you say above is what I said - you need to "remediate the deficiencies in current gen games."
You know what I would like? a really hard version of an Advance Wars type game, maybe with only 8 maps but with a range of difficulties from stupid up to a level that even Kasparov would find hard to play.
On DS there is a lot of fantasy based TBS like FF tacticsA2, fire emblem, except that you're not really building your army.
I haven't found a Advance Wars "clone" except for some doujin games, which is not really good. namely Gadget Trial, This game is blatant Advance Wars ripoff
http://blog.eternicity.net/2009/09/14/war-is-better-when-its-moe-gadget-trial/
On DS there is a lot of fantasy based TBS like FF tacticsA2, fire emblem, except that you're not really building your army.
I haven't found a Advance Wars "clone" except for some doujin games, which is not really good. namely Gadget Trial, This game is blatant Advance Wars ripoff
http://blog.eternicity.net/2009/09/14/war-is-better-when-its-moe-gadget-trial/
Forgot to mention Arel wars is good except for the part when you keep going it's gonna be really difficult to the point you have to spend real money..
Try Age of Darkness.. . free ads hassle great war games on mobilephone. It's not really a defense game despite the title.
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It's free to play and I've never had to buy "nanopods" (their in game currency) I have bought some just to support them, but you don't need them. They also update the game constantly.
Uni-War is another great game, which is a lot more like Advanced Wars but on a hex grid.
I think its also on Android and Kindle, I prefer it on Kindle because of the bigger screen. It has a very limited story mode which is basically a tutorial, then you fight it out against other people on their network.