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We all probably have our own views on what makes games really great. Everyone is different and unique, we all have different tastes so we all don't like the same type of games as others. So what is it that makes most games great.
As humans we like stimulation, the fast moving colours and sounds that are created in games stimulate the mind. But that isn't why they are good. Television does the same, the thing about games is that games are interactive and allow you to feel like you are in control of what is happening.
But I'm not trying to focus on why we play them. This is my opinion on what features make games great.
Firstly the idea behind the game, the story has to be a good idea and flexible enough to be able to make a game out of it that can be enjoyable. It has to be well though out and planned. A lot of the time ideas that are used have been similarly used in the past, that's why a lot of the original games at the moment seem to be quite popular as they offer a new experience. If the idea is good ad the programmers can create it into a game then there is a good chance it will make a game worth playing.
Game-play, to most is the most important feature of any game. If the game-play is good then the chances of the game being good and popular are quite high. It's hard to define exactly what game-play is, I would describe it as being how much control you have and how well the options you have are created. I.e. How large the environment you can explore and what can your character/vehicle do in this environment. Usually the more the better. Think of games like Grand Theft Auto 3, one of the best game out at the moment, the graphics are quite good but it is the gameplay that makes this game special, whether you are ripping people out of their cars or introducing your rocket launcher to a helicopter, the gameplay is so good that you almost become addicted for the sole reason that it does what all games should do and that is be fun to play and keep you entertained.
The graphics are also hugely important. With today's standards of technology the graphics that can be created are at a very high standard and in some cases very realistic. To make a great game it has to look great. A lot of the top selling games have wonderful graphics which make playing them an unbelievable experience.
The problem is the balance between game-play and graphics, only a small percentage of games get this right, these are usually very good games. The problem is if you go with really good graphics usually the game-play suffers and vice-versa. Hopefully in the future (could be a while away) developers wont have to sacrifice gameplay for graphics or vice versa just so the game fits onto the disk, when the storage reaches a level were developers need to no longer worry about this then we could see some of the best games ever imaginable.
Music is also an important feature of most games, for atmospheric games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill the eerie music adds to the whole atmosphere and improves the game. Can scare the bijesus out of you when something unexpected happens and the music adds to it by making it a lot more atmospheric. The other day my T.V wouldn't play sound, when playing GTA3 it felt like a whole part of the game was missing and it wasn't as much fun to play. Got it fixed and it made a big difference. Try it yourself, play a game with no sound and you will see it doesn't feel the same. For driving/Racing games most want a fast paced piece of music in the background. Picking music for a game is important and shouldn't be rushed. The likes of GT3 wouldn't feel the same to play if it was slow passed music used, something like "old MacDonald had a farm".
Most of the games that are really worth buying and are popular get a lot of hype before they are released. In most cases they deserve most of the hype they get although some people expect the best and get a little disappointed when they play it. Hype surrounding games is good if they deserve it. There are a lot of games that don't deserve to be hyped up. For a game to be great it has to catch the eye of a lot of people and probably will receive a lot of hype.
Loading also these days is important. People are impatient and don't want to spend ages waiting for it to load. These should be kept to a minimum. With the hardware in most of today's consoles it is possible for a console to pre-load areas into memory before they are required so that when they are required they appear immediately. In the future we may see no in game loading screens as everything loads almost instantly, certainly a good improvement to any game.
Extra modes and options are also useful. It all adds to the lifespan of the game which is important. The longer you get to play it for and still enjoy it is good. You don't want to spend all that money for something that doesn't last too long. That's why some games that differ a little each time you play them are popular. On the topic of lifespan in terms of games, usually the games that you play for longer offer you something unique each time you play it, sports games are different and games like GTA3 were you are free to play it any way you like all are different each time which adds to making them better games.
I like games to have a sense of realism in them, its not an important for all games but if developers make a certain type of game then they have to get it to suit what the gamers want. I think that if developers got involved more with the people who buy the games to find out what most would like to see then maybe we could see more high quality games. Also a lot of poor games seem to get released, developers should realise that people want high quality and try and improve it before releasing it. I think that sometime soon in the future we may see developers getting more involved with gamers and maybe using the internet to allow demos to be downloaded and tested and then get the gamers feedback before their games are released.
Gaming Engines are used in all games. Usually they are designed by separate developers then sold to the console developer to be used on its console. The better the gaming engine is then the better the finished game should be. They control just about everything and anything in the game that isn't in the users control. The physics part controls how all objects that can be moved or interacted with in some way will act if they are dropped or shot or physically used at some point in the game. The more detail that is added at these points then the more realistic the game will be. It also deals with the levels, i.e. stops you from running through walls or other characters. It works out what happens when you shoot someone in the leg or shoot them in the head. Just about anything that the console does uses the gaming engine in some way.
Well I think that's about it. There are probably a few I have missed feel free to comment on any area.
As humans we like stimulation, the fast moving colours and sounds that are created in games stimulate the mind. But that isn't why they are good. Television does the same, the thing about games is that games are interactive and allow you to feel like you are in control of what is happening.
But I'm not trying to focus on why we play them. This is my opinion on what features make games great.
Firstly the idea behind the game, the story has to be a good idea and flexible enough to be able to make a game out of it that can be enjoyable. It has to be well though out and planned. A lot of the time ideas that are used have been similarly used in the past, that's why a lot of the original games at the moment seem to be quite popular as they offer a new experience. If the idea is good ad the programmers can create it into a game then there is a good chance it will make a game worth playing.
Game-play, to most is the most important feature of any game. If the game-play is good then the chances of the game being good and popular are quite high. It's hard to define exactly what game-play is, I would describe it as being how much control you have and how well the options you have are created. I.e. How large the environment you can explore and what can your character/vehicle do in this environment. Usually the more the better. Think of games like Grand Theft Auto 3, one of the best game out at the moment, the graphics are quite good but it is the gameplay that makes this game special, whether you are ripping people out of their cars or introducing your rocket launcher to a helicopter, the gameplay is so good that you almost become addicted for the sole reason that it does what all games should do and that is be fun to play and keep you entertained.
The graphics are also hugely important. With today's standards of technology the graphics that can be created are at a very high standard and in some cases very realistic. To make a great game it has to look great. A lot of the top selling games have wonderful graphics which make playing them an unbelievable experience.
The problem is the balance between game-play and graphics, only a small percentage of games get this right, these are usually very good games. The problem is if you go with really good graphics usually the game-play suffers and vice-versa. Hopefully in the future (could be a while away) developers wont have to sacrifice gameplay for graphics or vice versa just so the game fits onto the disk, when the storage reaches a level were developers need to no longer worry about this then we could see some of the best games ever imaginable.
Music is also an important feature of most games, for atmospheric games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill the eerie music adds to the whole atmosphere and improves the game. Can scare the bijesus out of you when something unexpected happens and the music adds to it by making it a lot more atmospheric. The other day my T.V wouldn't play sound, when playing GTA3 it felt like a whole part of the game was missing and it wasn't as much fun to play. Got it fixed and it made a big difference. Try it yourself, play a game with no sound and you will see it doesn't feel the same. For driving/Racing games most want a fast paced piece of music in the background. Picking music for a game is important and shouldn't be rushed. The likes of GT3 wouldn't feel the same to play if it was slow passed music used, something like "old MacDonald had a farm".
Most of the games that are really worth buying and are popular get a lot of hype before they are released. In most cases they deserve most of the hype they get although some people expect the best and get a little disappointed when they play it. Hype surrounding games is good if they deserve it. There are a lot of games that don't deserve to be hyped up. For a game to be great it has to catch the eye of a lot of people and probably will receive a lot of hype.
Loading also these days is important. People are impatient and don't want to spend ages waiting for it to load. These should be kept to a minimum. With the hardware in most of today's consoles it is possible for a console to pre-load areas into memory before they are required so that when they are required they appear immediately. In the future we may see no in game loading screens as everything loads almost instantly, certainly a good improvement to any game.
Extra modes and options are also useful. It all adds to the lifespan of the game which is important. The longer you get to play it for and still enjoy it is good. You don't want to spend all that money for something that doesn't last too long. That's why some games that differ a little each time you play them are popular. On the topic of lifespan in terms of games, usually the games that you play for longer offer you something unique each time you play it, sports games are different and games like GTA3 were you are free to play it any way you like all are different each time which adds to making them better games.
I like games to have a sense of realism in them, its not an important for all games but if developers make a certain type of game then they have to get it to suit what the gamers want. I think that if developers got involved more with the people who buy the games to find out what most would like to see then maybe we could see more high quality games. Also a lot of poor games seem to get released, developers should realise that people want high quality and try and improve it before releasing it. I think that sometime soon in the future we may see developers getting more involved with gamers and maybe using the internet to allow demos to be downloaded and tested and then get the gamers feedback before their games are released.
Gaming Engines are used in all games. Usually they are designed by separate developers then sold to the console developer to be used on its console. The better the gaming engine is then the better the finished game should be. They control just about everything and anything in the game that isn't in the users control. The physics part controls how all objects that can be moved or interacted with in some way will act if they are dropped or shot or physically used at some point in the game. The more detail that is added at these points then the more realistic the game will be. It also deals with the levels, i.e. stops you from running through walls or other characters. It works out what happens when you shoot someone in the leg or shoot them in the head. Just about anything that the console does uses the gaming engine in some way.
Well I think that's about it. There are probably a few I have missed feel free to comment on any area.
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cheers for all the comments guys. I now have MSN, [email protected], so talk to me!
Top post Aliboy, well done on the win!
Sure thing Ali, I still think you should get MSN. Get something good like Alien Versus Predator 2 or Return To Wolfeistein, or perhaps something like ISS Pro and Silent Hill 2, either way the post was sure to win and I've just got my fingers cross about mine.
And the same thing happened to that, it was twice the length of this one and someone got about 12 replied (Half of them moaning) and if you look closely in this topic, half the people were moaning about it's length.
Well, you can't please everyone can you........ ;)
And the same thing happened to that, it was twice the length of this one and someone got about 12 replied (Half of them moaning) and if you look closely in this topic, half the people were moaning about it's length.
Well, you can't please everyone can you........ ;)
Long posts show effort if u put so much effort into writing it people should put effort into reading it i know i do, i haven't read yours yet give me a sec.
Cheers Mr Nice Guy, I guess the length probably does put people off, as long as at least one person reads it then I'm happy, even more happy when they win. Now just have to decide what game is next.
What did I say? Well done AliBoy, another GAD for the cabinet and another great post neglected cos of it's length, I kinda get de ja vu from these topics being ignored....
Congrats.
Congrats.
Nice piece... I DID actually read it, it was pretty good... a lot of the stuff has been saiud before admittedly, but that's nothing to take away from it... you're views are interesting enough...
Well Done!
Gad Luck... ;)
Game
Well Done!
Gad Luck... ;)
Game
AliBoy wrote:
> Mr Nice Guy wrote:
I'll eat my hate (As Tarrant would say).
Cheers Mr Nice Guy, what do you mean eat my hate?? Better get ready to eat it then. Don't eat anything till monday if you have a lot of hate.
*Mr Nice Guy smacks himself round the head*
Eat my hat is what I meant to say.
Ace post anyways and all true, just a shame no one else will read it....
> Mr Nice Guy wrote:
I'll eat my hate (As Tarrant would say).
Cheers Mr Nice Guy, what do you mean eat my hate?? Better get ready to eat it then. Don't eat anything till monday if you have a lot of hate.
*Mr Nice Guy smacks himself round the head*
Eat my hat is what I meant to say.
Ace post anyways and all true, just a shame no one else will read it....
I think I'll read it later, it's too long!
Mr Nice Guy wrote:
I'll eat my hate (As Tarrant would say).
Cheers Mr Nice Guy, what do you mean eat my hate?? Better get ready to eat it then. Don't eat anything till monday if you have a lot of hate. : )
I'll eat my hate (As Tarrant would say).
Cheers Mr Nice Guy, what do you mean eat my hate?? Better get ready to eat it then. Don't eat anything till monday if you have a lot of hate. : )
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