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So what makes a game a true classic.
After trying to work out what the secret was for so long, I've finally realised.
There's no "secret", it's a combination of "secret's" (plural)!
Apart from the obviousness of smooth Gameplay, Good Graphics, Good Music and Sound Effects, there's a few other less obvious ingredients to the magic formula.
One is IMPACT.
You know what hype does. You continuously hear how wonderful a games is, it builds a fantastic picture in your head, one the game will never live up to.
Disappointment follows.
There's more to impact than just low key hype though.
Originality plays a large part too.
True classics invent or re-invent a genre.
Take Goldeneye.
The first Person Shooter was an old genre but look what this game did to it.
PC's owned the FPS market, yet this game put all the PC games released at that time to shame.
How did Goldeneye make an impact?
The Sniper Rifle, the stealth, the four player splitscreen, the realistic AI and animations, the mission objective layout, the imaginative levels.
It brought a new way of aiming and introduced rewards for shooting weakpoints. Goldeneye introduced the headshot.
Reloading also brought new tactics into the game.
It was this originality, and the fact that most never saw it coming that made it a huge hit.
Another part to the formula is CHARACTER.
If a game lacks character then it'll never stand out from the crowd - it defines the game.
Character is very hard to build. The music, looks, level design and gameplay has to syncronise perfectly.
The game needs to build the correct atmosphere and put you in the right mood for playing.
Goldeneye's character?
Well look at the "front end". The player files look like secret agent "files" (no pun intended).
The music is a calm version of the bond theme tune.
The levels are illustrated by "Recon Photos".
The level briefing is done in pages of these files - like a real secret agents.
You choose multiplayer characters by selecting their photo.
And that's just the front end.
You get into the game and the secret agent characterisation of the game continues.
Each weapon has it's own special use.
Sniping, Sneaking or simple shooting.
You play a variety of ways including sneaking around, and shooting cameras or just taking all enemies head on.
The music suits the feeling of the game whether is be quiet and tense while your sneaking around or fast and desperate as the alarm goes off.
It also reproduced the popular films set pieces and environments superbly. Authenticy played a huge part in its character.
The third part of the magic formula is GAME PACE.
This includes the learning curve.
It has to be fun, interesting and tutoring to new players yet intense and challenging for advanced ones.
This determines the Games lifespan.
This is one thing Goldeneye did very well.
Agent mode was nice and easy going and simple enough to be accessable to even the most inexperienced player.
There was an auto aim, you didn't die very easily, there weren't many complex mission objectives and you were free to mess around, Sniping, Exploring, Blowing up scenery and little touches like the toilets and shooting hats allowed you to take it easy and generally having a laugh.
It was fun and interesting while you learnt the levels.
A bit tricky in places but nothing seriously hard.
By 00 Agent there was no more auto aim. Enemies rarely went down unless you shot them in the head - manual aiming and headshots were important.
The mission objectives were complex and the set pieces were furious.
On this difficulty setting, it was intense and fustrating yet challenging and long lasting and very rewarding when you finally pulled through.
It also stayed interesting all the way through.
Every mission had something different to do.
Saving hostages, holding programmers at gun point in order to get help hacking into the computer, shooting out security devices like camera's and alarms, rescuing hostages, finding casualty lists, calling for help, protecting Natalia, or using the watch laser to get out of an exploding train.
The game was packed with ideas that kept it interesting and fun and challenging at the same time.
The learning curve was judged perfectly!
The final secret is Reward and Punishment.
A game must be punishing to give you a sense of danger and build tension. I truly adds to the emotion and atmosphere in the game.
You want to be rewarded for your efforts though and nothing do this better than new secrets and levels to play around with.
Goldeneye brought Reward and Punishment in good balance.
The game was broken into 20 missions, each one leaving you fresh for the next in terms of ammunition and health.
If you succeeded, you got access to the next mission.
If you died, you had to start that mission.
This was great. It allowed you to choose which mission you wanted to play on whenever you felt like it - it was rewarding and gave the game great replay value.
It also demanded disciplined play.
Shoot innocent people or destroy inportant objects and you fail. Should you fail or die (which would happen many times as you played the game), you'd have to start the mission again - the punishment was enough to keep the player challenged, but not enough to make the game horribly unplayable. It was balanced.
It also rewarded mastering missions.
Earning all of the cheatmodes by beating the levels in certain times was hard and PUNISHING.
But unlocking these cheats and beating these time were even more REWARDING as a result.
There was huge satisfaction in completing this game.
Add these ingredients to graphical and playable perfection and you have a classic game which will rock the world and be remembered for years to come as the best of its kind.
I have one such idea.
It is original in that it's full of new ideas, but uses tried and tested techniques to enhance it.
It's realistic in every way that suits it but throws away the limitations of realism in order to keep things fun and interesting.
It'll be stacked full of rewards and secrets for players to slave over finding.
The challenge will be immense to test the most hardcore gamers but beginners will get into is like a breeze.
It'll be easy to start playing with simple controls which can be put together in such a complex way that it'll take months to master.
The game will ooze with so much character that people will recognise its theme tune from just hearing one line.
And all it is, is a game about various Teddy Bears, fighting around my house.
It sounds stupid and it's impossible to explain how this scenario would become a game, but if you could see into my mind and read every detail and every image of it then you'd see its potential of breaking and then remaking every genre it combines.
You might think that I'm living in Cloud Cukoo Land and you'd be right. But in Cloud Cukoo Land this is the greatest game ever.
It came out of nowhere and hit everyone in the face.
It's the worlds best seller and people everywhere are wildly anticipating a sequel.
Will it get a "real world" releae date?
Possibly. Heaven knows what turns my life will take, and even if I do become a proffessional programmer working for big companies like Nintendo/Rare/Swordspines, would I be able to put this grand idea into a real game?
Would the market accept it?
Would the expectations of gaming still be at the same boundaries that makes this game look revolutionary?
Look how much game styles have changed over the last 10 years.
It might well be a further 10 years before I reach the status of games designer.
But I will try.
My main obstacle?
That damn Gamecube!
If I fail my AS's because of some damn stupid playschool brick....
After trying to work out what the secret was for so long, I've finally realised.
There's no "secret", it's a combination of "secret's" (plural)!
Apart from the obviousness of smooth Gameplay, Good Graphics, Good Music and Sound Effects, there's a few other less obvious ingredients to the magic formula.
One is IMPACT.
You know what hype does. You continuously hear how wonderful a games is, it builds a fantastic picture in your head, one the game will never live up to.
Disappointment follows.
There's more to impact than just low key hype though.
Originality plays a large part too.
True classics invent or re-invent a genre.
Take Goldeneye.
The first Person Shooter was an old genre but look what this game did to it.
PC's owned the FPS market, yet this game put all the PC games released at that time to shame.
How did Goldeneye make an impact?
The Sniper Rifle, the stealth, the four player splitscreen, the realistic AI and animations, the mission objective layout, the imaginative levels.
It brought a new way of aiming and introduced rewards for shooting weakpoints. Goldeneye introduced the headshot.
Reloading also brought new tactics into the game.
It was this originality, and the fact that most never saw it coming that made it a huge hit.
Another part to the formula is CHARACTER.
If a game lacks character then it'll never stand out from the crowd - it defines the game.
Character is very hard to build. The music, looks, level design and gameplay has to syncronise perfectly.
The game needs to build the correct atmosphere and put you in the right mood for playing.
Goldeneye's character?
Well look at the "front end". The player files look like secret agent "files" (no pun intended).
The music is a calm version of the bond theme tune.
The levels are illustrated by "Recon Photos".
The level briefing is done in pages of these files - like a real secret agents.
You choose multiplayer characters by selecting their photo.
And that's just the front end.
You get into the game and the secret agent characterisation of the game continues.
Each weapon has it's own special use.
Sniping, Sneaking or simple shooting.
You play a variety of ways including sneaking around, and shooting cameras or just taking all enemies head on.
The music suits the feeling of the game whether is be quiet and tense while your sneaking around or fast and desperate as the alarm goes off.
It also reproduced the popular films set pieces and environments superbly. Authenticy played a huge part in its character.
The third part of the magic formula is GAME PACE.
This includes the learning curve.
It has to be fun, interesting and tutoring to new players yet intense and challenging for advanced ones.
This determines the Games lifespan.
This is one thing Goldeneye did very well.
Agent mode was nice and easy going and simple enough to be accessable to even the most inexperienced player.
There was an auto aim, you didn't die very easily, there weren't many complex mission objectives and you were free to mess around, Sniping, Exploring, Blowing up scenery and little touches like the toilets and shooting hats allowed you to take it easy and generally having a laugh.
It was fun and interesting while you learnt the levels.
A bit tricky in places but nothing seriously hard.
By 00 Agent there was no more auto aim. Enemies rarely went down unless you shot them in the head - manual aiming and headshots were important.
The mission objectives were complex and the set pieces were furious.
On this difficulty setting, it was intense and fustrating yet challenging and long lasting and very rewarding when you finally pulled through.
It also stayed interesting all the way through.
Every mission had something different to do.
Saving hostages, holding programmers at gun point in order to get help hacking into the computer, shooting out security devices like camera's and alarms, rescuing hostages, finding casualty lists, calling for help, protecting Natalia, or using the watch laser to get out of an exploding train.
The game was packed with ideas that kept it interesting and fun and challenging at the same time.
The learning curve was judged perfectly!
The final secret is Reward and Punishment.
A game must be punishing to give you a sense of danger and build tension. I truly adds to the emotion and atmosphere in the game.
You want to be rewarded for your efforts though and nothing do this better than new secrets and levels to play around with.
Goldeneye brought Reward and Punishment in good balance.
The game was broken into 20 missions, each one leaving you fresh for the next in terms of ammunition and health.
If you succeeded, you got access to the next mission.
If you died, you had to start that mission.
This was great. It allowed you to choose which mission you wanted to play on whenever you felt like it - it was rewarding and gave the game great replay value.
It also demanded disciplined play.
Shoot innocent people or destroy inportant objects and you fail. Should you fail or die (which would happen many times as you played the game), you'd have to start the mission again - the punishment was enough to keep the player challenged, but not enough to make the game horribly unplayable. It was balanced.
It also rewarded mastering missions.
Earning all of the cheatmodes by beating the levels in certain times was hard and PUNISHING.
But unlocking these cheats and beating these time were even more REWARDING as a result.
There was huge satisfaction in completing this game.
Add these ingredients to graphical and playable perfection and you have a classic game which will rock the world and be remembered for years to come as the best of its kind.
I have one such idea.
It is original in that it's full of new ideas, but uses tried and tested techniques to enhance it.
It's realistic in every way that suits it but throws away the limitations of realism in order to keep things fun and interesting.
It'll be stacked full of rewards and secrets for players to slave over finding.
The challenge will be immense to test the most hardcore gamers but beginners will get into is like a breeze.
It'll be easy to start playing with simple controls which can be put together in such a complex way that it'll take months to master.
The game will ooze with so much character that people will recognise its theme tune from just hearing one line.
And all it is, is a game about various Teddy Bears, fighting around my house.
It sounds stupid and it's impossible to explain how this scenario would become a game, but if you could see into my mind and read every detail and every image of it then you'd see its potential of breaking and then remaking every genre it combines.
You might think that I'm living in Cloud Cukoo Land and you'd be right. But in Cloud Cukoo Land this is the greatest game ever.
It came out of nowhere and hit everyone in the face.
It's the worlds best seller and people everywhere are wildly anticipating a sequel.
Will it get a "real world" releae date?
Possibly. Heaven knows what turns my life will take, and even if I do become a proffessional programmer working for big companies like Nintendo/Rare/Swordspines, would I be able to put this grand idea into a real game?
Would the market accept it?
Would the expectations of gaming still be at the same boundaries that makes this game look revolutionary?
Look how much game styles have changed over the last 10 years.
It might well be a further 10 years before I reach the status of games designer.
But I will try.
My main obstacle?
That damn Gamecube!
If I fail my AS's because of some damn stupid playschool brick....
Page:
Popping for Logan to read.
Hopefully he'll stay awake through it.
:-D
Hopefully he'll stay awake through it.
:-D
What, you mean those words above that gap? Yep, I dozed off there.
:)
:)
Lol.
By the way, did either of you have any thoughts on the actual topic, or did you fall asleep while reading it?
;-D
By the way, did either of you have any thoughts on the actual topic, or did you fall asleep while reading it?
;-D
Just you wait... it'll be blood and guts in a few years time for you.
Strafex wrote:
> Grix has got 5 Gamecube games arriving just before his A2's.
Good luck with
> the exams Grix! ;-)
I've got 6 GC games arriving just before my... Spring term begins :-D
> Grix has got 5 Gamecube games arriving just before his A2's.
Good luck with
> the exams Grix! ;-)
I've got 6 GC games arriving just before my... Spring term begins :-D
Grix has got 5 Gamecube games arriving just before his A2's.
Good luck with the exams Grix! ;-)
Good luck with the exams Grix! ;-)
Mind you, I reckon buying a Gamecube wouldn't hamper your AS exam success... as long as you don't buy any games for it.
Sounds similar to my website...
lol.
It doesn't matter how self disciplined you are.
Put a Gamecube by your TV during April and May then time will fly and revision will become something you "mean't" to do, ;-D
It doesn't matter how self disciplined you are.
Put a Gamecube by your TV during April and May then time will fly and revision will become something you "mean't" to do, ;-D
Your last sentence sums up my doubts about the Gamecube.
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