True Gaming 2002 Article on Project Ego (Fable). Or overhyping games, a time honored tradition. |
- 2002 Article on Project Ego (Fable). Or overhyping games, a time honored tradition.
- Is winter usually used as an environment for post game?
- Reducing complex competitive games to a web of simple components
- Axiom Verge is the worst indie game I've played in a while
| 2002 Article on Project Ego (Fable). Or overhyping games, a time honored tradition. Posted: 07 Jul 2018 10:35 AM PDT I was on a bit of a nostalgia kick and went and dug up this Indepth article with Peter Molyneux on Project Ego. Project Ego eventually became the first Fable game, and while it is a solid game its far from the game detailed in the article My favorite part "I'm now going to say a bold, bold claim, which you are going to throw back in my face, time and time again. And this is a stupid thing I'm going to say, and I don't know why I'm going to say it, but I'm going to say it anyway. I reckon that Project Ego is going to be the greatest role-playing game of all time. Which is insane. I could say the second greatest, I could say quite good, I could say, hmmmm it's quite nice, but I'm going to say greatest game of all time." -- P.M. My question to you guys is do you think any game dev could hype their game like Peter Molyneaux and be taken seriously in today's gaming climate? Do you have any other examples of crazy hype gone off the rails? [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||
| Is winter usually used as an environment for post game? Posted: 07 Jul 2018 08:30 AM PDT Recently I have been playingng games that either have a DLC or post-game content with winter effects. For example, God of War 4 post game has a winter setting post game with a very understandable reason. Horizon Zero Dawn's DLC is called "The Frozen Wilds" and is very snowy. Assassin's Creed Syndicate's DLC, Jack the Ripper, has an snow effect on screen always. It seems odd to see such an effect out of nowhere, but I really like it because it shows something new on the screen. Does having a winter environment in a game symbolize anything for you? [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||
| Reducing complex competitive games to a web of simple components Posted: 07 Jul 2018 01:27 PM PDT All "complex game systems" (the game itself, and the design it uses) can be broken down to simplified games. These "simple games" will be referred to as components from now on. Each of the 4 main primary components should be represented in any competitive game. In addition to these 4, are 2 variations of primary components, and the 3rd is the variable component — simply just RNG. A solution to a system is the win (or loss) condition state. Each game system is usually unique, and has different solutions even within the same genre. Systems are also asymmetrical, and while you can "solve" individual conditions set by single components the same way between games, the win or loss state of the entire system hinges on the composition of these components, game meta and other game balances unique to each game system. The original purpose of this document, is to analyze and look at how difficult it is to design and balance games, and also how many variables are active when competitively playing games. In essence, this was to be a guide for further discussion and deeper analysis. But, enough with all that. Let's move on to the components themselves: ComponentsPrimary (predictive)
Variable (unpredictable)
Variants
Components can be used to temporary solve short term problems, that don't directly create a win or loss state for the whole system. Most often, these short term solutions are solved by the component itself, being used by other players. As an example, losing in a simple game of RPS, is most often because of the random strategy of RPS, and not because your opponent figured you out, or was faster. The more games you play against a specific opponent, the more it becomes about C&M. Components represent mechanics and strategies within a game, from intended design, all the way to metagame. Getting in to each individual component, we can see that these components can share functionality, as well as be a solution for each other. The following details each component, and systems related to them. I want to be absolutely clear on this point though: "Imperfect" does not mean "bad" or "broken". It just means it creates a special case for balance within the entire game system. Tug of WarResources & Player Endurance In addition to ingame resources, there are several concepts that exist in some form, in every game. The player's own mental, emotional and physical health is an important factor. "Player Health" in this sense, falls under the ToW category, and has a much more potent impact in certain genres over others. This is not something that should be ignored simply because it isn't designed in to game deliberately. The resource of actual Time is also important. A loss solution within a single component may set a player back a few seconds. Or even minutes. The longer this set-back, the greater the impact on the Player's Health. Some games deal with matches that have a specific Time limit, while others can go on as long as they need to. This dichotomy begins to reveal an interesting pattern we'll see throughout this analysis
There is a greater emphasis on Time loss as a resource in games without a time limit, and that having a greater impact on the players. However, games with time limits, solutions have a greater emphasis on gaining "reads" or direct insight to how your opponent plays. In basically all games, there is a loss of time whenever the player dies. However, in most competitive games there is also a resource penalty. The player uses resources to buy gear, units or upgrades. Those purchases, or the resource itself are lost on death. This is true in DOTA2, Starcraft and Counter Strike. Not all games have these additional losses, though. In League of Legends, you don't lose items or gold when you die. The loss of time in not being on the map gaining resources is quite substantial, but it is not a compounding loss like in other examples. That is the example of Imperfect Tug of War. Cat & MouseMovement, Control & Mind Games ToW isn't the only component that deals with the player's capabilities outside of the game. Player Awareness is directly related to where a player is. It's not just being too close to an opponent at an inopportune time, it's having the capability as a Player to see and assess situations. Map control is a resource, and falls under ToW. However, a player's capability to utilize that resource in positioning is very much a game of C&M. Situation Control, arises from this. Control in general, is a binary system between having or not having it, and gaining control in other areas. Failing to properly make such a trade as a competitive player leads to more and more loss solutions. A player's tactics and deception is also in the C&M component, leading to a stronger position and control. I suggest looking up countless resources on psychological "mind games" between players, and general deception and bluffing tactics. In most games, you can chalk a loss up to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, in Imperfect Cat & Mouse, a loss can come at any moment, regardless of where you are or whatever kind of positional advantages you have. Some games have single instances of giant Area of Effect abilities that can kill opponents regardless of where they are. Call of Duty killstreaks are an example of this as a core feature. Rock, Paper, ScissorsCounters RPS is a widely used and documented component. It is much more grounded within the mechanics designed within the game itself, rather than strategies outside of the game. Later, we'll talk about RPS examples as they related directly to specific games, so for now let's just quickly isolate "variants" of RPS.
Additional Examples
Variants of RPS can be used in combination with each other, to further push it's capability to solve systems. On it's own, RPS is an extremely powerful system used for solutions. While it's power is related to the math within a game, it is no more powerful than the other components when within a complex system. Imperfect RPS is where users can choose to override the standard system of balance with varying degrees of restrictions. A player can choose "paper", but when their opponent throws out "scissors", you can choose to change to "rock" at the last second. Another way to look at Imperfect RPS, is building up powerful strikes that essentially bypass Closed RPS. This is a system where Fire is never supposed to beat Water, but is capable of being charged up so high that it blasts through that balance. Dissidia uses more of a Cluster RPS system, but the Bravery System is a close example of this. TagImmediacy & Execution A player with better speed, execution or performance, will edge out win solutions against less capable players. It isn't just muscle memory to hit button combinations in a fighter, or knowing what units to build and when in an RTS. It's to utilize the same exact components or strategies your opponent has, but faster or more efficient. Tag is a Base Race in League of Legends. It's scouting in Starcraft, not dropping combos in a Fighter, and faster reactions in an FPS. As mentioned before, it is also a player's capability to resist negative changes in mental or emotional state during play. The quicker a player tilts, the more endurance they need to build up as a player. Players who train their body and mind, while being healthy and focused, will always perform better than lazy or unhealthy competition. This is the core reason esport teams hire or work with psychologists and physical trainers for their players. Tag, by nature is a real-time system. Which means that Imperfect Tag, is turn-based. In many turn-based systems the resource of time, and time limits becomes an important balancing or scoring factor. Hearthstone is an example of Imperfect Tag. However, there is no system which rewards players who play faster or more efficiently, unless we count limited use cards which effect time limits. Game ExamplesI can't just stop at talking about these concepts in vague terms. It's important to go further and analyze specific games, and how specific elements and concepts within those games affect the others. Understand that it takes you less than 10 minutes to read this, but it took me hours to write. The original version of this was written years ago, and only recently revised it over the last week. It would take an inhuman amount of time to analyze replays from a healthy amount of games to quantify the observations made here. That, or building a series of games within a sandbox with the sole purpose of collecting data to apply actual numbers to these words. While I am more than willing to do that -- simply dissenting from this concept without actually offering anything substantial or even a dissenting opinion at all, won't help anyone. It won't help players talk about balance in the games they love with the developers. It won't help developers talk about how they want to change and balance a game with their audience. It won't help new developers even begin to understand how to balance their games. Keep this in mind as we move to the final section of this piece. After a few game examples, I'll link to a google doc containing a pretty ball-of-yarn-esque chart illustrating how one minor change in one component of a game, throws everything out of whack. This is the information that I think would be important to quantify with actual data. Starcraft 2Units and Structures are lost when destroyed, being a perfect example of ToW. However, Minerals and Gas can not be lost when any structure or unit is destroyed (unless that unit is carrying the resources), which is Imperfect ToW. The importance of managing your resources (minerals, gas and food) can not be understated, simply because there is a minor example of Imperfect ToW. However, supply block being a ToW component adds to the Tag importance of player execution. That being said, SC2 gets perfect marks for each component of C&M, RPS and Tag. A player's unit positioning, poke, scouting, unit counters, base management and execution is all fully on display. The importance of ToW, and finite resources means players C&M and Tag has to be exceptional to make full use of every action. Overtime, RPS becomes a kind of second nature, and as opponents learn each other's tendencies, further emphasizes new or unexpected C&M strategies. RNG affects player starting locations (C&M) but overall isn't used more than that. Counter Strike: Global OffensiveWeapons, gear and grenades are all lost on death. Importantly, weapons and some gear (defuse kits) can be picked up by others. Instead of being completely Imperfect ToW, this trading of weapons isn't as powerful as the player gaining additional overall power. Currency to buy resources isn't lost on death, creating a varied system of Imperfect and perfect ToW. What is incredibly important however, more so than other games let alone genres, is audio. Being able to hear and react to your enemy's movements falls under C&M. Position is incredibly important, as there is no capability to teleport or transport yourself between two locations. The decisions you make in C&M components are more important in CSGO, than any other competitive game. RPS is not a defining component, only being applied to certain ranges and varying rates of fire. It can be important, but isn't game defining. Technical execution is important, but it's also worth mentioning the component of RNG as Tag, bullet spread from recoil. To be expected in a "realistic" FPS, but it's also worth mentioning that in CSGO this RNG severity is diminished as it's predictable muscle memory for players to compensate. Overall, this doesn't lower the importance of Tag by much, but does increase resource management of ToW. DOTA2 & League of LegendsWhile there are many similarities between DOTA2 and League of Legends, key differences shift the way each game works mechanically. League of Legends has Imperfect ToW, where there is no direct loss of resources (gold) on death. This lowers Tag requirements for success. DOTA2's courier can be seen as a ToW resource, while microing it increases Tag requirements for success. In League of Legends, the C&M of changing your position with Flash, Teleport or Recall is (potentially) freely available to everyone, while in DOTA2 it must be bought as a resource, further increasing ToW importance. Both games require excellent C&M from players, but the ease of repositioning yourself in League is important to keep in mind. Both games handle the component of RPS similarly, with League leaning a bit harder in to Closed RPS in regards to character matchups. Overall, both games layer the variants of RPS in terms of characters, abilities and combat stats fairly equally. In regards to Tag, both games reward player execution equally as well, in regards to targeting, skills and attacking. However due to the differences in ToW and C&M, the importance of Tag is wildly different between the two games, and drastically changes strategies teams employ for victory to accordingly focus on the most important components. Fighting GamesStreet Fighter (series), Smash (series), Mortal Kombat (series), Dragonball FighterZ, Tekken (series), Soulcalibur (series), as well as literally dozens of more.. ToW is Imperfect in most all fighting games. However, this shifts importance to C&M and Tag, while RPS is powerful on it's own. Health (ToW) is often used like a resource in any other game to get in and gain a position (C&M) advantage on the opponent. Poke, "footsies" and spacing (C&M) between you and your opponent further boost the importance of RPS and Tag. While RPS is less important in some games than C&M and Tag, it's still worth mentioning exactly what is going on with the component. Frame data, and hit/hurt boxes creates a deeply complex web of closed and open RPS. This degree of depth makes fighting games difficult to learn, but often not reliant on RPS as the only means to success. Players who are more technical (Tag) or have better "mind games" (C&M) will still being using the same RPS as everyone else, just.. better. This is why C&M and Tag edges out over RPS in fighting games. It's not that it (RPS) isn't important, or even what most people think of when talking about fighting games, it's that concepts related to execution and position are that much more important. Reacting (Tag) to your opponent sticking out the wrong normal at the wrong time, is an opportunity to punish (RPS) with the correct counter. Being at the right distance to bait opponents, or varying your attack patterns to keep the opponent guessing. Most pro players, don't have the entire game's framedata (RPS) memorized. This is why apps and tools are so frequently used to remind players of certain details in the metagame. They instead choose train and improve on their C&M and Tag dominance. These are just a few examples of complex systems. This doesn't begin to go in to the ease of C&M movement in Fortnite or Overwatch's unique map (ToW & C&M) variances among many other examples. To see more breakdown in components themselves, as well as the effects it has on a system in whole, you can see this full doc on google docs. [link] [comments]  | |||||||||||||||
| Axiom Verge is the worst indie game I've played in a while Posted: 06 Jul 2018 09:12 PM PDT The intro to Axiom Verge had my eyes rolling so far into the back of my head that I saw my brain. The game starts as every single "retro" indie game starts, a low-resolution, low screen size cutscene featuring NES reminiscent pixel art, text instead of voice acting, and a cheesy sci-fi setup. Do YOU remember the 80s? These devs sure do. Coming to you from the people who played Metroid, it's Axiom Verge! I've gone through this song and dance so many times with so many games. Main menu with UI reminiscent of Zelda NES. Intro cutscene with generic, boring plot you don't care about, tinged with an ugly 80s retro aesthetic. The start of the game is explicitly the same as Metroid. Or, not really the same, unlike Metroid there's boring, uninteresting dialog to click through that is boring and uninteresting because it's setting up a vague mystery about two characters I know nothing about. You start on an elevated platform with an upgrade to your left, like Metroid. The screen transitions are the same as Metroid. The first enemy you encounter is a less iconic zoomer. The second enemy you encounter is a wholesale ripoff of the flying creatures from 1 and Zero Mission. The third enemy you encounter is a hive from Zero Mission. These devs don't seem to have an original bone in their body. After 8 minutes, I'm completely done with the game. There's limitless potential for a new take on the idea of Metroid, even one done in the retro aesthetic. And instead of making something new, they just made Metroid with the bland stock indie game presentation thrown onto it. This game brought me back to the horrible years of indie games, where everything was just a bad remake of an NES/SNES game but with a gimmick added onto it. But as far as I can tell, Axiom Verge doesn't even have a gimmick. Why did this game get good reviews? I mean, I guess it's completely playable, which is better than most indie games on Steam, but still, it's just a worse version of what we already have. Why do people like it? [link] [comments]  |
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