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In the ever-changing world of gaming, there is one factor that is constantly ignored - defying the laws of physics. What if you could float around the levels? What if when you pulled something, it flew forwards? This would be one of the most interesting features in recent memory, but what doors will it open? I'm not saying that games developers should go out and milk it for all it's worth, but I'd like to see a developer have a damn good try at this feature. It would be a challenge for even the cream-of-the-crop developers, as it would involve creating an entirely new physics engine, which would be hard to make coherent, along with an entirely new universe (which would need to be presentable on a 2D screen) and a system, which the player could comprehend. I think that many game developers would love to have a go with this type of thing, but are scared of two things.
a) Money – money is all that matters nowadays in the gaming industry, which is a big shame. Sure, I can understand game companies not wanting to spend too much on a game, but they probably are scared that a game of this type would not pull in enough revenue. I’m sure that many people would buy it for the novelty factor – not that they can rely on that for their entire sales though, or it will be dismal at best. It’s a sad fact that game companies won’t be a little daring, or a little experimental, as the gaming market would be a lot more interesting and pull in a lot more potential buyers if it was. Of course, it is completely understandable that they are not more experimental, because money doesn’t grow on trees. In a perfect world – it would.
b) Popularity – If Final Fantasy was unpopular – do you think they’d be a series of 9? They wouldn’t do it out of sense, and because they simply wouldn’t make the money back that they spent on making it. If a company made a game with a healthy budget, but it was unpopular, all the hard work of programming new engines etc will be wasted, so they need to be sure that the general public are ready for it, by presenting a demo to an audience and asking them on their opinion, in the form of a vote etc. It also depends on genre, in that certain genres are more popular than others. Luck is a factor, because you need to release a game at the right time to get the right audience. You need to wait until the market is practically dead/dying before releasing a game if you want the highest audience possible, but that’s not to say to wait months because of a busy market.
There are already elements of defying gravity in games left and right. Take Star Wars games – the force powers and the unbelievable weapons that do impossible things are a good example. Also Half Life has a command line cheat, enabling you to float along the ceiling, but it is a little touch-and-go, in the aspect that it’s impossible to get back onto the ground without de-activating the cheat. There’s an add-on for HL called “Peaces Like Us”, which is absolutely surreal, but gamers have taken to it very well! Offices rotate on their sides and you can walk upside down on the ceiling! The Matrix is being developed for the PS2, and I’m quite sure that many out-of-this-world effects will be implemented, ensuring for spectacular viewing. Imagine the helicopter smashing into the building and creating a ripple effect – bliss for gamers. Imagine chasing after a stray item, when an invisible force tears your arm off, turns you inside out and removes you from existence.
There doesn’t need to be all complicated variables or new engines if you want just the basics of a politically incorrect game – just create a space FPS game! All you have to do is grab any Quake, Unreal or Wolfenstein game, add a little code and voila – you have floating characters and weapons that drift away from you – sorted! To create a more advanced game of this genre, you would have to insert so many different variables that you may just have to sit content with a space FPS game – because it’s just not worth the bother. The demand for this sort of game is dangerously small, and so developers are unlikely to listen to the avid few – unfortunately for them. It is very complicated, and would take years to make an entirely new engine and would it be new anyway? Would it just be the opposite of the current physical laws we now have enforced upon us?
What if the laws of physics didn’t apply?
::Floats up into air::
a) Money – money is all that matters nowadays in the gaming industry, which is a big shame. Sure, I can understand game companies not wanting to spend too much on a game, but they probably are scared that a game of this type would not pull in enough revenue. I’m sure that many people would buy it for the novelty factor – not that they can rely on that for their entire sales though, or it will be dismal at best. It’s a sad fact that game companies won’t be a little daring, or a little experimental, as the gaming market would be a lot more interesting and pull in a lot more potential buyers if it was. Of course, it is completely understandable that they are not more experimental, because money doesn’t grow on trees. In a perfect world – it would.
b) Popularity – If Final Fantasy was unpopular – do you think they’d be a series of 9? They wouldn’t do it out of sense, and because they simply wouldn’t make the money back that they spent on making it. If a company made a game with a healthy budget, but it was unpopular, all the hard work of programming new engines etc will be wasted, so they need to be sure that the general public are ready for it, by presenting a demo to an audience and asking them on their opinion, in the form of a vote etc. It also depends on genre, in that certain genres are more popular than others. Luck is a factor, because you need to release a game at the right time to get the right audience. You need to wait until the market is practically dead/dying before releasing a game if you want the highest audience possible, but that’s not to say to wait months because of a busy market.
There are already elements of defying gravity in games left and right. Take Star Wars games – the force powers and the unbelievable weapons that do impossible things are a good example. Also Half Life has a command line cheat, enabling you to float along the ceiling, but it is a little touch-and-go, in the aspect that it’s impossible to get back onto the ground without de-activating the cheat. There’s an add-on for HL called “Peaces Like Us”, which is absolutely surreal, but gamers have taken to it very well! Offices rotate on their sides and you can walk upside down on the ceiling! The Matrix is being developed for the PS2, and I’m quite sure that many out-of-this-world effects will be implemented, ensuring for spectacular viewing. Imagine the helicopter smashing into the building and creating a ripple effect – bliss for gamers. Imagine chasing after a stray item, when an invisible force tears your arm off, turns you inside out and removes you from existence.
There doesn’t need to be all complicated variables or new engines if you want just the basics of a politically incorrect game – just create a space FPS game! All you have to do is grab any Quake, Unreal or Wolfenstein game, add a little code and voila – you have floating characters and weapons that drift away from you – sorted! To create a more advanced game of this genre, you would have to insert so many different variables that you may just have to sit content with a space FPS game – because it’s just not worth the bother. The demand for this sort of game is dangerously small, and so developers are unlikely to listen to the avid few – unfortunately for them. It is very complicated, and would take years to make an entirely new engine and would it be new anyway? Would it just be the opposite of the current physical laws we now have enforced upon us?
What if the laws of physics didn’t apply?
::Floats up into air::
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Anouther great post there, I think it would be a cool idea to float around in games as it may make it harder.
Dan2K1 wrote:
> I think we've found the poster of the year. There's no stopping this one!
I totally agree , Mark you seem to have some seriously good writing talent, and no lack of ideas...you just keep coming up with new topics to write about - Very good topic.It Would make the games more challenging , and add a bit more action to some first person shooters , they enemies would be a lot harder to hit if they were floating a long the dark corridoors. Some games as you said do have a bit of this already in them , like in Avp the aliens can crawl along the walls and ceiling above the marines. This gives the game more depth and more challenge for you , as they can attack you from a lot more different angles.
Would like to see this in games in the future , just hope the game producers make the games like that. Looking forward to The Matrix on PS2 , sounds very good.
> I think we've found the poster of the year. There's no stopping this one!
I totally agree , Mark you seem to have some seriously good writing talent, and no lack of ideas...you just keep coming up with new topics to write about - Very good topic.It Would make the games more challenging , and add a bit more action to some first person shooters , they enemies would be a lot harder to hit if they were floating a long the dark corridoors. Some games as you said do have a bit of this already in them , like in Avp the aliens can crawl along the walls and ceiling above the marines. This gives the game more depth and more challenge for you , as they can attack you from a lot more different angles.
Would like to see this in games in the future , just hope the game producers make the games like that. Looking forward to The Matrix on PS2 , sounds very good.
another good post again from salevaa. i think he has wrote more words then any one else already!!!
This is all too much for my limited brain capacity.
Well, Ali, all you need to do is change come constants in the program...
So where it says, "acceleration of gravity = 9.8", change it to "1"... meaning you can jump higher!
However, I think the original post was about making a COMPLETELY new physics theory... not just changing the forces... so maybe there would be no gravity or mass, but objects would use light energy as an attractive force etc etc... very weird concept!
Sonic
So where it says, "acceleration of gravity = 9.8", change it to "1"... meaning you can jump higher!
However, I think the original post was about making a COMPLETELY new physics theory... not just changing the forces... so maybe there would be no gravity or mass, but objects would use light energy as an attractive force etc etc... very weird concept!
Sonic
Think monkey_man nailed this one on the head in his reply. Everything outwith the users control that controls something in the game is usualy part of the gaming engine. Physics is a big part of this, how things behave under various circumstances. All that would really be required is a change to the gaming engine and new information added. But I don't think it is as easy as all that. I think it is extrelmely complicated to calculate the numerous equations and information required for games that take things a step forward.
No doubt someone will have a go in the future and we could see something quite impressive, or something that is just plain pants.
No doubt someone will have a go in the future and we could see something quite impressive, or something that is just plain pants.
It's a great idea, but as you say, very few publishers will actually go out of their way to support such a game.
Even slightly wacky games like Jet Set Radio and Space Channel 5 have failed, os how could they expect something out of the ordinary that uses new laws of physics to do well?
Sonic
Even slightly wacky games like Jet Set Radio and Space Channel 5 have failed, os how could they expect something out of the ordinary that uses new laws of physics to do well?
Sonic
POP!
Cool.
But it would be a bit un-controlable floating arond evrywhere.
if they could sort the floatiness out it'd be great.
*walks up the wall*
But it would be a bit un-controlable floating arond evrywhere.
if they could sort the floatiness out it'd be great.
*walks up the wall*
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