As game developers (what of us are left anyway), we try to please our audience with a fun, entertaining game. Originality doesn't seem to matter. Fantasy RPGs have been overdone, and Final Fantasy still goes on.
But the games that really stir people up are innovative and free of cliches (which in actuality is near impossible. Proper use of liches can actually determine the success of your game).So I noticed something lately. Everywhere you look, we have fantasy RPGs (or RPGs in general), WWII/future FPSs, more recently retro games, etc. They're getting old. E3 put this into perspective for me when 90% of Sony's announcements were generic FPSs.Juju mentioned something similar with having a grassy area for level one.Also, being the Touhou addict I am (put aside the fact that I downloaded several more games), I looked up the guy who does the franchise. Turns out, he wanted to make a fighter. But fighters were very common back then. And just around that time, shoot-em-ups were becoming more popular, so he hitched a ride on that train and became very successful. VERY successful for an indie.And on top of that, he decided there was an underused game theme: Shrine maidens. Instead of generic "spaceship shoots bullets at other spaceship," he tried something new, and got a large fanbase not only in Japan, but in the Western hemisphere too.So I ask you this.What themes are underused in games?What game genres are underused?What settings are underused in games?Which of these combinations seems the most unique?Feel free to answer for yourselves, but I didn't come here without asking myself that. I've seen some people say that pirate themes are underdone, as are ninjas, and vampires as well. Steampunk/cyberpunk are pretty rare, as are contemporary games.So as (former) game designers, or those who feel they have the right to be extremely critical of games, let's hear your ideas on this.If you need a format, answer any or all of the questions, and explain your reasoning.Examples:Team Fortress 2 - Using cartoon graphics contrasts with every other FPS, and it's set in a more or less fictional setting, though based around a dystopic world in something about the technological level of the Vietnam War (not sure, later than WWII, at least).Touhou - Already explained it. Based around Japanese folklore, and opens up a wide variety of characters who aren't mechanical.NeoSteam - Some MMO that scrapped the fantasy idea and went steampunk.Mother/Earthbound - A modern day sci-fi RPG. Not nearly as common as fantasy ones. Instead of carrying swords, you use baseball bats and pretty much whatever else you can get your hands on. "Spells" are replaced by psionics and psychokinesis.Creatures - How many life simulation games have you played? Okay, now in how many of those were you taking care of only little microscopic creatures? Sure there's the Sims, but they're so goddamned stupid. Creatures has you taking care of several intelligent, evolving species, and maintaining the world that they live in. The unique thing is that, unlike the Sims, they can actually survive by themselves and won't forget to eat.Those are just a few. I'm sure you all could come up with better examples.
Story issues? Really?
Can you imagine a procedural generator that doesn't generate symmetrical, vertically/diagonally arranged areas, that makes random levels look like realistic cities or castles or forest paths, that doesn't make objects clip through one another, and that doesn't "cheat" by using predefined settings large enough to look like it's just randomly connecting premade areas? Oh yes, and it should be fully navigatable in 3d with no collision problems and cut-off paths requiring the player to destroy or modify anything in the environment.That being said, I'm looking forward to Diablo 3, though it's not an FPS.I'd love a decent steampunk game. I suppose Bioshock could be considered coming close, but the style has a lot of flexibility in what it could be used for, and it is oh so nice.
Bioshock I believe is considered steampunk. But I've also never played it.
For all you (still) game designers, use these comments as inspiration or something.thanks Kilin, cause i was looking in the 64mural blog for inspiration this whole time :P
on topic though, it really isn't that hard to identify the most overused themes in certain genres (ie shoot-em-ups and RPGs) and shift the plot and setting around. but if you want something actually innovative, i would look to real life for inspiration rather than other games.go work on that Cyrus.
I wouldn't say shoot-em-ups are done nearly as much as FPSs, and rarely do I play shoot-em-ups anyway (okay, there's Touhou), but Ikaruga had a pretty innovative idea. One of the biggest shoot-em-ups out there today.
And your mention of looking to real life for game ideas confuses me. If we're still talking about genre, then know that there probably isn't a genre left that we haven't invented and that would do well on the market.But I was looking for underused themes and genres. Stick them together and your game is more or less unique. The shrine maiden example I gave was overall effective, and the guy took it right from his own country's customs.But we Americans are boring and have no cool customs. If you think of any, let me know.Seriously, throw me a genre and a theme and I'll make a game out of it. That would be a fun challenge. Let's make it a competition someday.I think that point about cool customs is pretty relative.
Taking an everyday object, setting, or idea and morphing it into a playable environment always intrigued me. I can't think of too many examples, but there's a flash animation called Animation vs. Animator that is similar to what I mean.
I want to see an evolution simulation game using genetic AI where your creatures have to evolve constantly to not die out, inside an ever evolving ecosystem.