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| ~ ~ ~ Notes from Paper Lane: a GNE weblog | |
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| ~ ~ ~ Notes from Paper Lane: a GNE weblog | |
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A Specter is Haunting Gaming. Interesting article by Greg Costikyan about the Game Developers Conference and what he sees as the general decline of the games industry (via BoingBoing)
Year by year, budgets increase. Year by year, sales increase less. And year by year, the publishers become more conservative; at $3m a pop and a 3 year dev cycle, it’s too risky to invest in any game that’s—risky. Thus only sequels and licensed drivel get funded.Never mind the self-evident fact that the industry’s real hits have always been innovative, always been out of left field—SimCity, Balance of Power, Command & Conquer, Deer Hunter, Roller Coaster Tycoon, The Sims.
Could GNE be the kick in the pants that the industry apparently needs? We can only hope…
GNE encapsulates the best attributes of all the games I have ever played, and mixes them with fresh and fun features. I don’t think it will ever get boring, because by nature the game is ever changing, encouraging imagination and exploration. Right now, there appears to be no outer limit. I know I’m not alone in being convinced this one is a winner. Yay, devs!
It’s good to be a supporter of GNE, but all we know right now about the real game is what the devs have told us (not that they’d lie, but that we don’t have firsthand experience playing it yet). Supposedly it’ll be much different than the prototype right? Admit it, even the prototype got boring. It could be repetitive, just like any other game: making the same things, going to the same hubs (there was only exploring initially and if new hubs were created). The players were the source of the imagination, as they should be in any game. And how was the prototype everchanging, other than devs creating new objects, items to make, or hubs?
I have no doubts the real game will be bigger and better, and I think the prototype was great, but we shouldn’t let our admiration of the style of this game and of the devs get in the way of a little honest reflection. ;) Gathering a million white papers to create one purple…? ;)
Great point Meer! I hope we haven’t become too complacent.
We should probably continue to do all we can to egg the devs on into creating a game that’s truly flexible, fun, and non-repetitive.
*shrug* I think, by nature, I’m just mildly recalcitrant. Doesn’t mean anything. I just get suspicious and find sycophantism where it may not exist. ;)
The recent posts, though, concerning religions, actual technicalities of creating new objects, etc., give me more hope though. The protopype had a simple structure, and hence, was more what you made of it. The more complex the real game gets, the higher the risk. It could outright wow us all over, or bog us all down in mundane details. I hope it’s the former. :) If you disagree, please, feel free.