The Art of Downloadable Game Development 32
The Guardian's Games Blog looks at how the development of downloadable games has shifted over the past several years. As an example, they point to Capcom, its recent reinvention of the Mega Man franchise, and an upcoming game called Flock. Quoting:
"[CEO Paddy Sinclair said], 'The first thing we realised was, it wouldn't be as easy as we thought. Luckily we're funded privately so we had the luxury of getting it wrong. It was very... educational. We learned very quickly that, no, you can't write a game in three months. We also realized we'd need a bigger team than just two or three.' 'The XBLA market has really evolved,' continues business development head, Chris Wright. 'If you look at the very early games they were simple ports — single-player, retro emulation titles, and you can kick those out very quickly. That market is disappearing. If you're going to do retro remakes you have to extend it, you have to add multiplayer. If you're going to do something new, it has to be bigger. We've got a team of 10-12 people working on this title. If you look back, it's what we would have had on PS1, and the game is probably of the same sort of size. It's not the huge budgets of a retail title, but it's not a trivial undertaking, either.'"
Game Storyline (Score:1)
Would a good game plot, overcome a lack of great graphics and features?
(i.e. Would yesteryear's Sierra and LucasArts games overcome today's market demands?)
Re:Game Storyline (Score:5, Interesting)
Telltale is running their whole business on adventure games and so far they seem to be doing quite fine.
Re:good Gameplay more important (Score:2, Interesting)
Would a good game plot, overcome a lack of great graphics and features?
I'm not sure about a good storyline, but good gameplay can win out over limited graphics and features.
Probably the best example I can think of is The Kingdom of Loathing - http://www.kingdomofloathing.com/ [kingdomofloathing.com] - This needs way to many clicks to play and has stick figure graphics but the complex interaction of the various features make gameplay addictive.
This, and the humor in the game, has attracted a large loyal following.
Really? (Score:1, Insightful)
From what I see most XBLA titles are dual-analog shooters or stuff like that and while the effects and such get more and more advanced the core gameplay just gets clunky. Then again I've only played the demos of most and those rarely get much past the tutorial. Seems to me like this upmarket trend here is just adding superficialities and needless complication.
Re:Really? (Score:5, Interesting)
Wii Retro (Score:3, Insightful)
I think that Nintendo sold us short on that (rather than the idea that they the left it that way for the purists). I'd rather play DKC on a nintendo but the difference is massive and stays in line with my impression of the Wii. Which is, that it is a console dominated by mediocre exploitation of the mainstream crowd it has sucked in. The amount of truly horrendous (and non functional) software out there for the Wii is staggering. Once upon a time, you couldn't put a game out if Nintendo didn't think it was up to scratch.
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
The Wii got this generation's share of crap games, cheap marketing gimmicks, and general crap. It shares that with the DS.
Last generation, it was the PS2 that had most of the crappy games, sharing the spot with the GBA.
Prior to that, the PS1 had vast amounts of shovelware.
Way back in the day, we had the NES. Pick any twenty NES games at random, and only one of them will be remotely playable. NES games were, by and large, absolutely terrible, even for the day.
That's about as far back as my memory goes. Basic
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The difference is that the PS2 also got tons of awesome games too, the Wii on the other side not so much. With the DS situation looks quite a bit better, but not exactly all roses either.
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
The Wii has plenty of great games. Not nearly as stellar a lineup as the PS2, but that's to be expected.
PCs have even more shovelware (Score:2)
Basically, whichever console is the most popular tends to attract developers looking for a way to cash-in quickly on that system's popularity.
The most popular platform capable of running video games is an x86-based personal computer running a Windows operating system, sometimes called "the PC". And your observation still holds here: the PC has an even bigger "problem" with shovelware than the consoles because non-corporate developers can develop for it, unlike the consoles.
Re: (Score:2)
I think that Nintendo sold us short on that (rather than the idea that they the left it that way for the purists).
I think that is more a marketing excuse than a reason. I'm sure they realize that most people don't even know such nice filters exist. Meh.
Re: (Score:1)
The smoothing only looks nice for a while, after that you realize that the filtering is ruining the look of the game by making shading harder (banding) and such. I've set all my emulators to use the original image instead of any filters because the game graphics tend to be designed for the regular output and get messed up by filters.
You still can't put a game out if Nintendo thinks it's not up to scratch, the hurdle is just that it has to be technically fine (doesn't crash much and doesn't damage the hardwa
The "problem" of retro game development (Score:3, Interesting)
Most "retro" games have found a new home as flash games. It's pretty much logical that this technology would be used for it. Modern machines can easily handle that overhead (because what they have to "run" requires essentially the fraction of a percent of a current machine's power), downloading a game that had to fit into the very limited capacities of early consoles or early home computers takes only a few seconds, and for controls, well, many people are happy with keyboard input.
So I dunno, is there actually a market that you could sell real "retro" games to?
Keyboard has no 2 player (Score:2)
and for controls, well, many people are happy with keyboard input.
A lot of the classic games, such as Contra, are meant to be played by two people looking at one screen. That can't be done comfortably in SWF unless you think all your players can follow your instructions on how to install JoyToKey.
The too many keys beep (Score:2)
Doesn't SWF have "key down" and "key up" events? If you have those, then you can easily allow two people to share a keyboard.
Without at least one person using JoyToKey, all I get is beep, beep, beep, beep when two players start pressing multiple keys.
Re: (Score:2)
You can get that experience by introducing network ability. If the split-screen experience is actually adding to your enjoyment instead of taking away from it (as it was usually for me), nobody keeps you from showing your opponent's side of the screen, too.
Re: (Score:2)
You can get that experience by introducing network ability.
Which changes "System requirements: 1 PC" to "System requirements: 2 PCs". Doesn't that significantly limit the market?
Re: (Score:2)
Well, it also offers the option of "system requirement for multiplayer: 1 PC + Internet connection". Which might expand the market to people without friends. :)
Re: (Score:2)
it also offers the option of "system requirement for multiplayer: 1 PC + Internet connection".
In that case, what do two siblings who live in the same house and share a PC do when they want to play together?
Re: (Score:2)
Appear on The Supernanny [wikipedia.org], what else?
Re: (Score:2)
"So I dunno, is there actually a market that you could sell real "retro" games to?"
Yes depending on what kind of titles you mean by "retro". If someone developed a real sequel to Chrono Trigger I'm certain their is a market for that. Just as there was a market for remakes of older final fantasy titles. The fact is, if you're going to do "retro" development you have to develop something new or you should get hired to do an update of classics, but you ultimately have to do market research. The problem wit
Re: (Score:1, Interesting)
Market? No. Maybe you have not noticed the retro revival. It seems the whole industry is playing down or underestimating the tide of retro gaming. There are no "problems" with this activity. Only if you view it as a "market". But it doesn't apply to the demographic of young gamers that the industry follows, it applies to the generation that industry is losing, those who play casual games on handhelds and netbooks on the morning train to work.
PC gaming has fragmented because of the high demands for graphics
Re: (Score:1)
Of course there's no meaningful way to appeal to someone who refuses new games on the grounds that they are new (you mention authenticity, that sounds like nostalgia to me) but that doesn't mean the design principles of the old games are lost forever. Some say the Wii is the revival of the arcade-era game design, at very least it did abandon the focus on better graphics. Kinda hard to say how it will pan out, even after 2-3 years this batch of consoles still seems to be in its infancy. Meh, if in doubt, get
Portables? (Score:1)
Seems that a lot of them would still have a market under portables. Playing a good ol' game of Bubble Bobble or even Pacman as part of a "classics collection" is still a fun way to pass excess time while taking transit etc.
If they add basic networking capabilities to allow the multi-player stuff to work (just enough to connect and allow for two controllers and a shared screen) it should work rather well.
Not surprising (Score:2)
When 'indie' company tries to competes at the field dominated by larger studios hey become more corporate and less 'indie'.
Real indie developers code for the PC and rarely even cooperate.
Downloadable Games != "Games for the Impatient" (Score:2)