I'm not sure if this has been posted here recently, I did a search and didn't see it so here it is.
I stumbled on this article a few days ago while browsing the web to pass the time at work. After reading
Yojimbo's rant on the recent Grand Theft Auto 4 problems it made me think of this.
http://www.cracked.com/article_16196_7-commandments-all-video-games-should-obey.html
Its from cracked.com, a site which has some good satire articles, but I think this one really hit the nail on the head with some of the recent issues in the video game industry that are running wild currently. The short list is below, BUT YOU REALLY NEED TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE OVER THERE, as their explanations are spot on.
#7.Thou shalt let us play your game with real-life friends.
#6.Thou shalt not pad the length of your games.
#5.Thou shalt not force repetition on the player.
#4.Thou shalt make killing fun.
#3.Thou shalt admit when enough is enough.
#2.Thou shalt make sure your game actually works.
#1.Better graphics do not equal innovation and/or creativity.
(Now for my take and partial rant.)
A number of these have been covererd in a cblog or two before I'm sure, but I thought this list was very good and their thoughts echo what we have been asking for. Number 1 and 2, especially 2, has been a major focus recently. Remember back when games didn't have online functionality? When you couldn't patch your shit. You had to fucking make sure your game worked. You couldn't release a patch to fix it, it was broken, and would stay that way. If you give a company the option to rush a title out to make money faster and be able to fix any issues later with a patch they might do just that, and thats some shit if you ask me. When someone in my store sells a product to a customer and it doesn't work properly you had better believe the customer will be back fast as hell to find out what is going on, and will usually be very upset.
Don't give me the "oh its harder to program for systems now than it was back then" line, I'm sure it is. But is that excuse acceptable? Hell no. Just because something is hard DOESN'T MEAN ITS NOT WORTH DOING, AND DOING RIGHT. I know developers and programmers work hard and have great love for their games and for most of them it shows. But if little things like this keep poping up for years to come it will leave people very upset. If something is worth doing, its worth doing right, period.
Corak's blog
follow this blog
subscribe via RSS
send message
invite to meetup+play
The #2 Amendment needs to be tattooed on every game developer's forehead as a right of passage for creating games.
Good post.
/me agrees with Y0j1mb0
also thanks for posting the short list here as the full article gives me this at work:
[i]Your organization's Internet use policy restricts access to this web page at this time.
Reason:
The Websense category "Adult Content" is filtered.
URL: http://www.cracked.com/article_16196_7-commandments-all-video-games-should-obey. html[/i]
:-(
Nicely written, however I disagree with #4, why should killing always be fun?
It's not the only way to have fun in games.
If I browse through the dozen or so 360 games I have beside me I would only choose two of them in which I would claim the most fun aspect is the killing.
In almost all games killing is not where the fun comes from, it's the circumstances in which it happens that make it enjoyable.
The relief of mowing through ranks of aliens to escape an imminent explosion.
The exhilarating success of chasing down an escaping foe.
The well planned tactical assault on a terrorist occupied hotel.
It's achieving your goal that is the fun part, killing is just something you have to do along the way.
I would add "Thou shalt not abuse quicktime events"
Good stuff, although I like that some games totally eschew multiplayer to focus on bringing the best possible single player experience to the table.
All these can be summarized by one rule, Thou shalt not suck.
Oh, #7 the article talks the truth.
Greedy bastards just want you and your friend to buy separate copy's to play together.
I would like to add to the killing subject, it would be interesting to see a game in which killing is so brutal, so vile to the player that it makes them think twice about killing. I'm not a pacifist, but I would love to see (or make) a game where the player's morals are taken into account.
I agree about #2, but I'm torn on online functionality with regards to patching. I mean, plenty of NES games were buggy as hell, and we were stuck with the glitches. Now, at least there is the option to fix the problem should glitches arise.