Visiting the Village: Episode 42
We make a triumphant return to the world of podcasting after some of the dust from the Frozen Synapse Beta launch settles! This week, Ian and I talk about non-programmers designing games, imagination, Mortal Kombat, Red Dead Redemption and MOAR! Enjoy it with your disgusting brain.
Check out links from the show on our official Google Reader page.
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6 Responses to “Visiting the Village: Episode 42”
§ June 14th, 2010 at 10:59 am
Great to FINALLY have vtv back! BIG COMMENT HEREIN.
As far as telltale goes, I’ve played the first of the new monkey island chapters and really enjoyed it. It feels a lot more like a continuation than re-imagining, and feels a lot more in tune with the series than the 3d in-house lucasarts effort of a few years past. Cant wait for the dvd of the rest to arrive!
I totally totally love RDR, way more than GTA. It has a lot more ‘texture’ than GTA imo, and i mean that in the vein of a bethesda game. Between killing in GTA I never really felt like you’ve got much downtime because of the way the game universe is so foreboding, and in RDR I feel the dynamic pacing of the game is a lot more rewarding to play. It’s quite easy to go from intense firefights to plodding along looking at the sky and then herding some cows. I have been playing RDR any chance i’ve had this week, and I still havent even finished GTA IV – it just works far, far better for me, and definitely makes me want to put my time into it more. The weapon’s impact also feel a lot meatier and the tweaks to the gunfighting/generative reactions make the shooting ten times better. I also prefer horses to cars. I have a car now in real life and i’m bored of it. I like RDR loads is the conclusion here.
I think Ian is not really considering the role playing element of character design in character creation. If you start and are only able to edit a nose in the context of a face that you wont end up with, it’s going to look silly. A lot of people do want to hit the random button, but in games like fallout and oblivion, where I know i’m going to be stuck with this character for a huge amount of hours I DO want to make it look reasonably good as after 60 hours having a mario face will probably be a bit grating, and also detract from the RPG experience. I will say due to the awkwardness of many creators this gen, it is a chore, and in stuff like mass effect i definitely opt for the pre-designed commander shepard.
As a COMMITTED wii cynic, i totally think this goldeneye remake idea is absurd. Not only is the technology involved not good enough to make a substantial enough leap from goldeneye to merit a remake, but the situation of nintendo just spinning off sequels to long running series to make most of their hardcore titles coupled with the fact that there’s only been ONE successful bond game makes this seem a really cheap move to me. I DO NOT think there is a place for a goldeneye remake yet, even if it were pc, ps3 or 360, let alone the wii.
I agree about the depth of content thing. Being able to fill in the gaps has always been vital imo, as when i remember games in my head and look back at them now i’m astonished at how much worse they look and feel in the world of REALITY.
Um that’s all. BYE.
§ June 14th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Good to be back.
- That actually made me want to play RDR.
- I think ACTUALLY, that a lot of people do behave like you with regards character generation. I am of the “what’s the worst thing I could do here” school – you should see the first Mii I made – it was a thing of unspeakable Lovecraftian horror.
- Goldeneye – I think we now just need to play it to discern whether or not it is a Good Thing. I say that after just having talked a lot about whether it is a Good Thing. Personally, I think it’s nice that a lot of gamers WANT something and then it happens to make commercial sense – they just have to not fuck it up.
§ June 16th, 2010 at 7:26 am
- if you can’t program, you need to be really good at communication skills. That’s the only way how you can translate your idea to the actual guys implementing the game.
I think what Peter meant is that programmers should not be left alone to make the game mechanics. Other people should be involved, describe their desired experience in as many details as possible, then have programmers implement that experience.
- adventure games? What is an adventure game, a game that has a pretty good story? Does STALKER count as an adventure game?
Does the visual style matter all that much? Is TF2 an adventure game?
What I’m trying to say here is that almost all games can be counted as adventure games.
- guitar hero and dj hero: I was not bashing the game because it is not like holding a guitar. I simply think that both games are dumb. It could be that I’m not seeing myself as somebody making such games.
- liked Ian’s take on permadeath.
- game magazines: unfortunately I think that all paper-based magazines/newspapers are doomed. Information transport at its best is the Internet.
@Paul’s question: there are sites that present their information as magazines, where you do turn pages, with the right animation. I don’t have an URL, but I know that it is possible, I’ve seen it in a project done by my former employer.
One question for next: what’s your take on Activision’s indie game competition? More precisely, on the terms for the mentioned competition?
§ June 16th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
I think that Ian was wrong about the need for programming knowledge to design a game. To actually design a game so that it is ready to be built, yes, but in terms of an initial idea – “we should make a game where different block shapes fall and you have to try and build complete rows with them”, I think that having someone not restricted in their thinking by knowledge of game mechanics could produce interesting results.
§ June 17th, 2010 at 9:29 am
@Herr_Alien
Welcome back, sir!
- Non-programmers designing
You certainly do need to be a good communicator if you’re involved with design, and it’s not just you doing it!
- Adventure games
That just seems like annoying semantic wrangling, frankly.
- Guitar Hero etc.
Ha, well I suppose they are “dumb” in a way. They’re not exactly the most sophisticated form of gameplay. The thing is, they’re fun, but not particularly in a traditional gaming sort of way.
We were mostly talking about how DJ Hero would work for a mainstream audience, and I’m personally pleased to see it do well. I notice that none of the IDIOTIC articles that were published a month after it was released saying that it was a “flop” have been retracted.
- Magazines
Are they? ALL magazines are doomed? If you mean by this that they will all completely disappear within 20 years, I’m not completely convinced of that. I think special “bookazines” could stick around in some form for quite a long time, if only as expensive coffee-table type objects.
However, if you mean the bottom will fall out of the market in any useful sense, then I think you’re probably correct.
I’m just not sure what the final nail in the coffin will be. iPad 2? There is still something missing from all of the e-book readers / tablets out there. Maybe proper “e-paper” will be it.
We shall tackle your question next time!
§ January 17th, 2012 at 9:27 am
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