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Good game design dosent matter
Author
Yes it is kinda flame-bait, but I want to make an important point here:
DOES GOOD GAME DESIGN MATTER?
IMHO the answer is... Not really anymore. Sad and depressing though it may be, people buy the games that get rammed down their throats. Tell me what is ''good design'' about Daikatana? yet it has sold plenty, ditto for Tomb Raider (ok the first one was interesting but....please?)
The worst designed game I ever saw (i was embarrased to say i wasted seconds of my life on it) was Force Commander, yet that game outsold loads of games I consider great, and certainly will outsell any of the budget/shareware games I pour my heart and soul into writing.
If someone gave me $100k right now to invest in my games company, I think I would spend 50k on super cool pointless graphics effects, and 50k on advertising. I wouldnt waste a dime on game design, because the public just don''t seem to care.
Please cheer me up by telling me it aint true...
http://www.positech.co.uk
Of course it''s true !
That''s the whole thing about industry, there is just so much marketing inertia that the content barely matters, most consumers will just go for the trendy thing, and to hell if it''s dissapointing.
I mean, explain to me, what is so good in dance music, in terms of *musical* content. I don''t ignore the dancing/shagging aspect, it''s very effective at it, but in terms of creative/musical interest ?? ANd yet, it sells by the dozen...
Same for soap operas, same for tabloids ...
Now the question is, do you want to be swallowed by the tidal wave ? Or do you want, like the heroes in the Asterix comic book, resist against all odds ? Be the last of the Mohawks ?
think different ! oh, and drink Pepsi
That''s the whole thing about industry, there is just so much marketing inertia that the content barely matters, most consumers will just go for the trendy thing, and to hell if it''s dissapointing.
I mean, explain to me, what is so good in dance music, in terms of *musical* content. I don''t ignore the dancing/shagging aspect, it''s very effective at it, but in terms of creative/musical interest ?? ANd yet, it sells by the dozen...
Same for soap operas, same for tabloids ...
Now the question is, do you want to be swallowed by the tidal wave ? Or do you want, like the heroes in the Asterix comic book, resist against all odds ? Be the last of the Mohawks ?
think different ! oh, and drink Pepsi
That''s the truest bullshit I''ve ever heard! 
Oh yeah. Just sign here in blood and we''ll MARKET you into heaven! Really, we can do that!
Listen, man. If you want to manke games for money alone, good luck to you. I couldn''t live with myself knowing that I was churning out a sub-standard piece of crap so that marketing could sell a million copies and piss a million gamers off. I''m not saying it doesn''t work, I''m saying that the people who do this are scum. End of story.
Oh yeah. Just sign here in blood and we''ll MARKET you into heaven! Really, we can do that!
Listen, man. If you want to manke games for money alone, good luck to you. I couldn''t live with myself knowing that I was churning out a sub-standard piece of crap so that marketing could sell a million copies and piss a million gamers off. I''m not saying it doesn''t work, I''m saying that the people who do this are scum. End of story.
Hello!
Just alittle notice =)
They are plannig to do three Tomb Raider movies!!!!
Talk about getting every single penny out of the Tomb Raider series=)
Daniel Westerstål
http://sigmaent.cjb.net
http://lookfast.cjb.net
Just alittle notice =)
They are plannig to do three Tomb Raider movies!!!!
Talk about getting every single penny out of the Tomb Raider series=)
Daniel Westerstål
http://sigmaent.cjb.net
http://lookfast.cjb.net
Yeah, it is unfortunately true...and it is true in every other medium. Music, (as ahw said) and movies are affected as well. Books seem less effected I think. I suppose that's because the people who read books in the first place are already more likely to be able to think differently 'cause they're actually taking time to read a book rather than watch TV.
That's why I'm thinking if some games could just be played by those same type of people. Games could try to target that community.
Occasionally, an independant film maker does become popular, but it is so rare.
"NPC's are people too!" --dwarfsoft
"Nazrix is cool." --Nazrix first, then Darkmage
Edited by - Nazrix on September 6, 2000 2:59:26 PM
That's why I'm thinking if some games could just be played by those same type of people. Games could try to target that community.
Occasionally, an independant film maker does become popular, but it is so rare.
"NPC's are people too!" --dwarfsoft
"Nazrix is cool." --Nazrix first, then Darkmage
Edited by - Nazrix on September 6, 2000 2:59:26 PM
Don''t you dare tell me music and books aren''t as affected. I am a musician (that''s my REAL job) and let me tell you, there are seven major corporations that decide what you hear, and a million incredible underground bands doing amazing shit with music, and they all starve because their music isn''t Mainstream enough. Same with books. Good stuff never sells.
But that''s NO reason not to do it.
But that''s NO reason not to do it.
Actually, that last post came out wrong. I actually just meant books aren''t as affected. I don''t think books are affected as much as music or movies, do you?
"NPC's are people too!" --dwarfsoft
"Nazrix is cool." --Nazrix first, then Darkmage
"NPC's are people too!" --dwarfsoft
"Nazrix is cool." --Nazrix first, then Darkmage
Yes I do. The best-seller list is crap, because the majority of people who buy books don''t have a good sense of what will be though important in retrospect.
The artistic dillemma can be boiled down to this. Sell your soul to mass-media and make enough money live, but be spiritually vacuous OR make something truly signifigant and go unnoticed, until long after you''re dead when everyone realizes how cool you were and you become a posthumous millionaire.
The arguement that good stuff doesn''t sell was a flawed one. It sells, just way too late for the money to be any good for the person who wrote it.
The artistic dillemma can be boiled down to this. Sell your soul to mass-media and make enough money live, but be spiritually vacuous OR make something truly signifigant and go unnoticed, until long after you''re dead when everyone realizes how cool you were and you become a posthumous millionaire.
The arguement that good stuff doesn''t sell was a flawed one. It sells, just way too late for the money to be any good for the person who wrote it.
Yes, I suppose you''re right.
I cannot pin-point why that is though. Is it because the mass-public is stupid, or too lazy to try something different? They maybe don''t want to actually think? I''ve never been able to figure out why.
"NPC's are people too!" --dwarfsoft
"Nazrix is cool." --Nazrix first, then Darkmage
I cannot pin-point why that is though. Is it because the mass-public is stupid, or too lazy to try something different? They maybe don''t want to actually think? I''ve never been able to figure out why.
"NPC's are people too!" --dwarfsoft
"Nazrix is cool." --Nazrix first, then Darkmage
My theory is that the mass-public is content with the way things are. They don''t like major changes. This makes sense sociologically, because otherwise we''d have chaos.
The fact is, Orson Welles dies poor. He also made the widely acknowledged greatest movie of all time.
The fact is, Orson Welles dies poor. He also made the widely acknowledged greatest movie of all time.
This topic is closed to new replies.
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