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.
well simulators tend to be pretty restricted since they never go far outside the raising of humans/creatures to maturity. no one apparently thought to add functionality since simulating things is interesting enough (for the first 10 minutes).
it would be different if you could, say, dress your Sims up like Vikings and have them storm old-style villages killing everyone..kkrieger called and wants to let Juju and Cesque know that they're both wrong.
That's procedurally generated, not randomly generated. The difference is important. Also, I'd like to reiterate my issue is with structuring a story - kkrieger doesn't have a story anyway.
I thought the first page was talking about procedural generation and why it isn't being used.
And it has multiple triggers, so without the file size constraint I'm pretty sure it could be made into a story of some sorts.I don't remember this blog being about procedural generation. But it's cool stuff. If I remember, it was ether Juju or Nobody that went and made a pretty good procedural map generation tool (or talked about it anyway).
Other than that, I honestly have no idea where this topic's gone.http://64digits.com/games/index.php?cmd=view_game&id=1246
That's my world generator.Off the top of my head, Diablo is the only game that has mixed randomisation with good gameplay and a good storyline. However, some areas were hard coded for particular boss fights or events and the randomisation used pre-designed pieces and slotted them together.Diablo is the one game i could play endlessly, it's random enough for me.
Leave it to Blizzard to make good games.
We need more games on the fun level of Unreal Tournament 2004. Cliffy Didn't do so good with UT3.
I feel that Square-Enix is dominating the fantasy RPG's lately. I love the FF series, but I wish there were more fantasy games at their level with the huge storylines that come with each FF game.
@kilin I love Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne. I'm so happy that Blizzard made it. Despite the graphics being out of date, the gameplay is so much fun. The only game I know of that's like it is Age of Empires. Between those two games, I don't know of any others that can compete in the RTS category.