The great piracy debate has been around for years. I was forwarded an interesting link to a blog where a developer had questioned a bunch of pirates as to what makes them do it:
http://www.positech.co.uk/talkingtopirates.html
Personally I used to pirate the odd game on the Amiga when I was a wee lad. I wouldn't ever pirate a game now - the biggest reason being that it's pissing in my own pond. Being a game developer you have to set a good example to your audience.
The reason why I pirated was simply price and it was so easy to do - like making a copy of a tape. When I were a lad I didn't have much money, so copying off your friend was an easy thing to do - all it required was a (pirated) copy of XCopy (how ironic). These days it's a little trickier (for consoles at least). It requires dedicated hardware to create discs, chip modifications or weird work arounds to get things running. The business of piracy makes some serious money for those involved. It certainly doesn't have the same "romantic" vision of the bedroom copying days.
As a member of the industry I do find it hard to justify the price of modern console games. Even I struggle to be able to afford them. If they were cheaper then I would most certainly buy more of them - it's as simple as that. When a game costs £50 a pop, you have to be damn sure that you are going to get your money's worth out of it (and I don't just mean in terms of number of hours - I mean quality of experience).
The excuse for these high prices is often the level of piracy that occurs forces them to hike costs, but this is a vicious circle. This ends up pushing more people to pirate games.
This has also caused the rapid growth of the second hand market, to the point where you can only make a £5 saving on a used game. This is ridiculous - and extremely bad for the whole industry. Developers and publishers are quick to blame retailers for this problem, but does it actually lie with publishers pushing for such high retail prices? It certainly fosters a market. If you only made a saving of £1 or £2 on a second hand game, then why would I buy the used copy over the new one?
Perhaps the industry needs to look hard at pricing and think about ways to get the costs of the products down (without increasing shovelware). I truly believe if we managed to get a game to the cost of a DVD - maybe a blueray (about £20), we'd get a lot more customers that pirate or buy second hand to "opt in" and buy the brand new copy, in the end giving us the developers and the publishers more profit.
Who jumps first?
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Top Ten Games
Top Ten Lists - everyone's favorite pastime. Well, I thought I may as well do it myself (well if it's good enough for Warren Spector on his blog (http://junctionpoint.wordpress.com/2008/02/) then I think its probably good enough for me).
So - the list:
1. Half-Life Series
Bit of a cheat to begin with. I can't decide between Half-Life 1 or 2. The first was the game that really got me into game design by giving me the chance to edit my own levels in a real fashion - it eventually led to me getting a job in the games industry. The sequel however took everything in the first game and turned it up to 11. A beautiful and consistent world - a compelling story and believable, likeable characters. I particularly like the dystopian, Orwellian themes going on throughout City17, the wonderful character and audio design of the striders, and the incredibly well made set pieces that encourage emergent play within constained areas.
If it is purely on the game alone, it would have to be Half-Life 2, but I owe so much to the first game that it will always have a special place in my heart. If I'm really cheating I'd have to add deathmatch and Counter-Strike in with these as well. The joy of first entering the games industry really hits home on your first lunchtime, where you realise you have a large LAN and a room full of avid gamers. The number of deathmatch and CS sessions in the early days boggles belief!
And for a final cheat I'd also throw in Portal. In-fact - I should probably rename this Valve. Without a doubt in my mind they are the finest developers in our industry.
2. Civilization
If the award were to go to the game which has sucked up the most hours of my life, then Civilization would be the hands down winner. I have literally played civ for 20 hours straight some days (ah the joys of being a student). This game has really reached its peak with Civ IV, a really well crafted and balanced revision of the original.
This is a game to appeal to the power freak in us, it isn't for everyone. It's not high action, it's not frantically paced. Instead it sucks up hours as you micro-manage cities and carefully build your empire. I'm so power mad I have to play it on the easiest setting with the largest world. For me this game is not about the challenge, it is about constructing my perfect empire. I like to play the waiting game, building a massive powerful empire, then when my tech is so far advanced from my neighbours (i.e. tanks vs catapults) then it's time to crush them.
3. Syndicate
Playing this for the first time on the Amiga blew me away. A superb dystopian future world, realtime strategy gameplay and cyborgs with guns - does it get much better than this?
For me the persuadatron was the real gem of the game. I liked nothing more than attempting to persuade every single person on the map - thus resulting in an army of devotees following you around and a wall of machinegun fire everytime you pressed a button.
4. Dune 2
Another RTS, but probably the godfather of the genre. Again this is a megolmaniac's dream. The perfectionist in me relished the opportunity to build the most awesome defensive spectacle of a base I could - no matter that the way to win the game was to amass units.
Sure, there have been better RTS's since, but nothing has quite captured the same element of magic as the original in my eyes.
5. Legend
This is a bit of an obscure one - an RPG for the Amiga. Basically it had four characters: assassin, mage, troubadour and berserker, each with their own skills. The dungeons were designed to use interplay between each of the four character's skills. Some of the puzzles were particularly devious.
What was really fascinating was the magic system, which allowed you to construct your own spells out of runes. Through a simple system of basic mechanics you could create some complex behaviour - fantastically done.
6. Final Fantasy VII
The one everyone quotes and with good reason. The thing about FFVII for me though is the Materia system. I couldn't give a shite about the story, the characters or really the world itself for that matter (though I did well up a bit at the famous death). It's the purity of the battle system and the way the Materia system works that really sells the game for me. They haven't achieved as good a system since - at least not one that I have played.
It was the first and so far, last JRPG that I've gotten into and played to completion. I've played a few others since, but the mechanics haven't really gripped me in the same fashion.
7. Resident Evil
I was tempted to put Resident Evil 4 in place of the original, but I can't quite bring myself to do it. The original was truly great. It brought the element of horror and the first genuine jump moment for me into a game. Sure the acting was utterly terrible and the dialog worse, but it didn't mar the atmosphere of the game.
The fourth incarnation is by far a more polished and enjoyable experience, but the original has a special place in my heart - a fond memory of playing through the game with my flatmates at the time, lights down and eyes glued to the screen. Good times!
8. Call Of Duty 4
This is the most recent addition to the list, and I was initially tempted not to put it on. These "all time" lists tend to make it feel that you have to put older experiences in place of newer ones. However, COD4 is such an amazingly polished rollercoaster ride, so far beyond any "war" experience I've had before, it fully deserves to take its place in the top ten. In fact, I suspect it may climb higher in the years to come.
It succeeds so well at created scripted sequences that you believe in - particularly the fantastic "All Guillied Up" mission. There are so many lessons to learn from this game, that for the first time I'm inclined to play through the whole game again at home with my design anaylsis hat on. And I'm looking forwards to doing so!
9. Battlefield 1942 (Desert Combat Mod)
My earlier comment about the games industry and the realisation of a LAN and avid gamers most certainly applies to this entry. The Desert Combat Mod became a regular lunchtime and afterwork fixture.
This game has more frantic, laugh out loud moments than any other. It's particularly poingnaint for me as my wife started playing this game when we worked together as well. I could hear her laughter from the other side of the room during lunchtime sessions, and there was always a good post match discussion down in the smoking area on completion. Just a fantastic, fun game in the right scenario.
10. Wipeout 2097
This really crystalises the games becoming cool moment for me. Up until the orginal wipeout games still had a geeky vibe. All of a sudden Sony come out with this ultra cool looking game, with Designer's Republic designs and thumping tracks and slapped me in the face. I felt at this point the games industry had turned to a new direction and would soon become an industry to be reckoned with.
However, the original Wipeout had its issues. It was unforgivingly hard. A tiny tap of the edge of the circuit resulted in an immediate stop. It took the second revision - 2097 - to make it really playable and give it that real mass-market appeal. I can still look at 2097 and appreciate its asthetics now - and they still haven't managed to better the experience in the series since (though they did get a lot closer with Pure and Pulse).
So - the list:
1. Half-Life Series
Bit of a cheat to begin with. I can't decide between Half-Life 1 or 2. The first was the game that really got me into game design by giving me the chance to edit my own levels in a real fashion - it eventually led to me getting a job in the games industry. The sequel however took everything in the first game and turned it up to 11. A beautiful and consistent world - a compelling story and believable, likeable characters. I particularly like the dystopian, Orwellian themes going on throughout City17, the wonderful character and audio design of the striders, and the incredibly well made set pieces that encourage emergent play within constained areas.
If it is purely on the game alone, it would have to be Half-Life 2, but I owe so much to the first game that it will always have a special place in my heart. If I'm really cheating I'd have to add deathmatch and Counter-Strike in with these as well. The joy of first entering the games industry really hits home on your first lunchtime, where you realise you have a large LAN and a room full of avid gamers. The number of deathmatch and CS sessions in the early days boggles belief!
And for a final cheat I'd also throw in Portal. In-fact - I should probably rename this Valve. Without a doubt in my mind they are the finest developers in our industry.
2. Civilization
If the award were to go to the game which has sucked up the most hours of my life, then Civilization would be the hands down winner. I have literally played civ for 20 hours straight some days (ah the joys of being a student). This game has really reached its peak with Civ IV, a really well crafted and balanced revision of the original.
This is a game to appeal to the power freak in us, it isn't for everyone. It's not high action, it's not frantically paced. Instead it sucks up hours as you micro-manage cities and carefully build your empire. I'm so power mad I have to play it on the easiest setting with the largest world. For me this game is not about the challenge, it is about constructing my perfect empire. I like to play the waiting game, building a massive powerful empire, then when my tech is so far advanced from my neighbours (i.e. tanks vs catapults) then it's time to crush them.
3. Syndicate
Playing this for the first time on the Amiga blew me away. A superb dystopian future world, realtime strategy gameplay and cyborgs with guns - does it get much better than this?
For me the persuadatron was the real gem of the game. I liked nothing more than attempting to persuade every single person on the map - thus resulting in an army of devotees following you around and a wall of machinegun fire everytime you pressed a button.
4. Dune 2
Another RTS, but probably the godfather of the genre. Again this is a megolmaniac's dream. The perfectionist in me relished the opportunity to build the most awesome defensive spectacle of a base I could - no matter that the way to win the game was to amass units.
Sure, there have been better RTS's since, but nothing has quite captured the same element of magic as the original in my eyes.
5. Legend
This is a bit of an obscure one - an RPG for the Amiga. Basically it had four characters: assassin, mage, troubadour and berserker, each with their own skills. The dungeons were designed to use interplay between each of the four character's skills. Some of the puzzles were particularly devious.
What was really fascinating was the magic system, which allowed you to construct your own spells out of runes. Through a simple system of basic mechanics you could create some complex behaviour - fantastically done.
6. Final Fantasy VII
The one everyone quotes and with good reason. The thing about FFVII for me though is the Materia system. I couldn't give a shite about the story, the characters or really the world itself for that matter (though I did well up a bit at the famous death). It's the purity of the battle system and the way the Materia system works that really sells the game for me. They haven't achieved as good a system since - at least not one that I have played.
It was the first and so far, last JRPG that I've gotten into and played to completion. I've played a few others since, but the mechanics haven't really gripped me in the same fashion.
7. Resident Evil
I was tempted to put Resident Evil 4 in place of the original, but I can't quite bring myself to do it. The original was truly great. It brought the element of horror and the first genuine jump moment for me into a game. Sure the acting was utterly terrible and the dialog worse, but it didn't mar the atmosphere of the game.
The fourth incarnation is by far a more polished and enjoyable experience, but the original has a special place in my heart - a fond memory of playing through the game with my flatmates at the time, lights down and eyes glued to the screen. Good times!
8. Call Of Duty 4
This is the most recent addition to the list, and I was initially tempted not to put it on. These "all time" lists tend to make it feel that you have to put older experiences in place of newer ones. However, COD4 is such an amazingly polished rollercoaster ride, so far beyond any "war" experience I've had before, it fully deserves to take its place in the top ten. In fact, I suspect it may climb higher in the years to come.
It succeeds so well at created scripted sequences that you believe in - particularly the fantastic "All Guillied Up" mission. There are so many lessons to learn from this game, that for the first time I'm inclined to play through the whole game again at home with my design anaylsis hat on. And I'm looking forwards to doing so!
9. Battlefield 1942 (Desert Combat Mod)
My earlier comment about the games industry and the realisation of a LAN and avid gamers most certainly applies to this entry. The Desert Combat Mod became a regular lunchtime and afterwork fixture.
This game has more frantic, laugh out loud moments than any other. It's particularly poingnaint for me as my wife started playing this game when we worked together as well. I could hear her laughter from the other side of the room during lunchtime sessions, and there was always a good post match discussion down in the smoking area on completion. Just a fantastic, fun game in the right scenario.
10. Wipeout 2097
This really crystalises the games becoming cool moment for me. Up until the orginal wipeout games still had a geeky vibe. All of a sudden Sony come out with this ultra cool looking game, with Designer's Republic designs and thumping tracks and slapped me in the face. I felt at this point the games industry had turned to a new direction and would soon become an industry to be reckoned with.
However, the original Wipeout had its issues. It was unforgivingly hard. A tiny tap of the edge of the circuit resulted in an immediate stop. It took the second revision - 2097 - to make it really playable and give it that real mass-market appeal. I can still look at 2097 and appreciate its asthetics now - and they still haven't managed to better the experience in the series since (though they did get a lot closer with Pure and Pulse).
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Evolution, Innovation or Revolution?
I hear the word Innovation bandied around a lot in games of late. Innovation is held up as the ideal for every new game mechanic or feature. I'd suggest that most things are actually evolutionary not innovative.
Now I've always defined Innovation as the introduction of something completely new, but I've been told that this is revolution. Is it? Many have said the Wii remote is a revolution. I would say it is an innovation.
Revolution is the complete change of a paradigm to something new. So something I would consider that the Wii remote has completely changed the interface for one console, but the other consoles haven't yet thrown out the traditional pad, and I presume aren't necessarily likely to immediately. Therefore the Wii has had a large impact as an innovation but it is not a revolution. 3D would be classed a revolution, but motion sensing isn't quite there yet.
Personally I believe innovation has its place in games, but evolution is the main driving force of development. People take other ideas and improve upon them. The best ideas survive and carry through into other games - survival of the fittest just as Charles Darwin described.
Innovation shouldn't be held with such ridiculous esteem. Many innovative ideas aren't actually going to survive. Those great ideas that do (the Wii-mote) will enter the next cycle of evolution and again the fittest will survive.
Now I've always defined Innovation as the introduction of something completely new, but I've been told that this is revolution. Is it? Many have said the Wii remote is a revolution. I would say it is an innovation.
Revolution is the complete change of a paradigm to something new. So something I would consider that the Wii remote has completely changed the interface for one console, but the other consoles haven't yet thrown out the traditional pad, and I presume aren't necessarily likely to immediately. Therefore the Wii has had a large impact as an innovation but it is not a revolution. 3D would be classed a revolution, but motion sensing isn't quite there yet.
Personally I believe innovation has its place in games, but evolution is the main driving force of development. People take other ideas and improve upon them. The best ideas survive and carry through into other games - survival of the fittest just as Charles Darwin described.
Innovation shouldn't be held with such ridiculous esteem. Many innovative ideas aren't actually going to survive. Those great ideas that do (the Wii-mote) will enter the next cycle of evolution and again the fittest will survive.
Monday, 28 July 2008
Sunday, 27 July 2008
The Importance of Playtesting
Playtesting is an emerging discipline in games design that should hopefully become a required part of the production pipeline. Its value is often underplayed by many companies, even sometimes derided by designers, but it is quite simply the only way that you can properly guage how well you are building your game, and will result in you producing a better game if you approach it in the right way.
By far the leaders in this field are Microsoft. Their Games User Research department is just astounding.
http://mgsuserresearch.com/default.htm?MSID=8934bfd6814e40afb5835315db01c453&c00=1
Their site has a lot of links to talks that various members of the group have given at different games conferences. Having seen Ramon's talk at GDC this year, I was astounded to the level of depth they are now able to analyse games. However, not all of us have these facilities at our disposal.
However, we can attempt to replicate certain elements of their work on a tighter budget:
1. Provide Instrumentation
Having your game dump data as a player uses the game will allow you to collate much more information than user feedback or observation alone. Crunching the data can be tricky, so carefully plan out what data you want to watch beforehand - don't dump absolutely every scrap of information - only what you really need. For example, you might want to know what combos people are using in a fighting game, positions where people are dying often, or the times people are achieving in time trials.
2. Question your Subject
Asking for feedback from your test subject is vital. They should be encouraged to talk as much as possible about how they are feeling and what they are thinking as they are playing. This will provide vital information - sometimes people see things in a completely unexpected way. Also use questionaires to seek out answers to certain questions you may have - explore how they feel about certain aspects - and importantly whether they are enjoying the game experience.
3. Observe
There is nothing quite like watching someone play your game to understand the problems that people may encounter. It is vital however not to be tempted to give advice or show them solutions to problems (unless they are completely stuck for a protracted period of time and you want to press on with the testing).
By far the leaders in this field are Microsoft. Their Games User Research department is just astounding.
http://mgsuserresearch.com/default.htm?MSID=8934bfd6814e40afb5835315db01c453&c00=1
Their site has a lot of links to talks that various members of the group have given at different games conferences. Having seen Ramon's talk at GDC this year, I was astounded to the level of depth they are now able to analyse games. However, not all of us have these facilities at our disposal.
However, we can attempt to replicate certain elements of their work on a tighter budget:
1. Provide Instrumentation
Having your game dump data as a player uses the game will allow you to collate much more information than user feedback or observation alone. Crunching the data can be tricky, so carefully plan out what data you want to watch beforehand - don't dump absolutely every scrap of information - only what you really need. For example, you might want to know what combos people are using in a fighting game, positions where people are dying often, or the times people are achieving in time trials.
2. Question your Subject
Asking for feedback from your test subject is vital. They should be encouraged to talk as much as possible about how they are feeling and what they are thinking as they are playing. This will provide vital information - sometimes people see things in a completely unexpected way. Also use questionaires to seek out answers to certain questions you may have - explore how they feel about certain aspects - and importantly whether they are enjoying the game experience.
3. Observe
There is nothing quite like watching someone play your game to understand the problems that people may encounter. It is vital however not to be tempted to give advice or show them solutions to problems (unless they are completely stuck for a protracted period of time and you want to press on with the testing).
Monday, 14 July 2008
Why I should have paid attention in school
I was thinking the other day of how many subjects are useful for the field of game design and I came to the realisation that pretty much every single subject has some sort of use for a game designer.
There's the obvious subjects such as Maths, English and Science, but even more obscure subjects hold some useful information.
There's the obvious subjects such as Maths, English and Science, but even more obscure subjects hold some useful information.
- Maths -for programmers it's an essential, but a designer definately needs a knowledge of mathematics. It helps when devising rules for mechanics and plays a hand in analysing playtesting data. It allows the designer to calculate desired angles and distances when building geometry, calculating the speed of elements and plays all sorts of other roles.
- English - a designer is a communicator. Thus english plays a vital role in defining how well a designer can communicate with others, both in the written word and verbally. Also english literature is a vital skill. Knowing stories, tales and the structure of writing will help enormously when working on narrative driven games. I'm not saying the designer should be writing the story, but they should definately have the knowledge of what works and what doesn't.
- Science - all the sciences hold a great deal of knowledge that is rich pickings for a designer. Chemistry and its compounds and formulas, Physics with its modelling of the real world, and Biology with its analysis of life - all these give the designer a starting point for simulation and ideas for twisting known science to produce something new (science fiction).
- Geography - the knowledge of geology, population, migration, peoples & culture is also essential to a designer. They need to know how real world populations develop to make their own worlds believable, they need to know how various strutures are formed so they can be twisted into something even more impressive.
- History - the knowldege of the past, events that shaped our culture and people that affected human development - all of these are vital to creating more believable worlds. They also provide immense inspiration.
- Design and Technology - this has pretty obvious translation to game design - the crafting of a product and the design process itself.
- Art - again art has a pretty obvious application in design.
- Religious Education - the study of other cultures is extremely useful to a designer, being able to understand these differences and imbue their own worlds with such details again will increase believability. Tackling the subject of real world religions in games does however is still a bit of a hot potato.
- Physical Education - this one I struggled with for a bit, but there is still plenty that applies to game design. Firstly the rules of team sports can have a direct correlation. But further elements such as muscle structure, movement and other aspects of physicality can also be applied.
In short, I didn't realise how useful this stuff was at the time. If you're wanting to be a game designer and you're still at school - pay attention - it will all be useful some day.
Friday, 4 July 2008
Is this how you look playing games?
http://www.mrtoledano.com/frame_videogamers.php
If I look like these lot whilst playing games I may have to quit...
If I look like these lot whilst playing games I may have to quit...
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