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Developers have many tasks to complete when making a game, the biggest being game openings and endings. To me, this is the most important factor that we have in gaming. Many people complain that we have bad openings in games, but if we really think about it is it just all in our head? I bet I have confused you with that, but let me explain.
When a game starts up, we can have many first impressions of the games. It is up to the developers if we think ìcool!î or ìand this cost me £40?î A game opening has to make sure that it tells us loads about the game, but at the same time not revealing the story line too much. This sounds complicated just thinking about it, so letís feel sorry for the people that actually have to complete this task successfully.
To me, a good opening will include the following things: It must, somehow, tell you what the aim of the game is and what the quest is, to have (in a shooting game for instance) the variety of gunís that you can equip, and last but not least introduce us to some of the games main characters.
With a lot of games, introductions to the game are not one bit important, most probably because people know what to expect with these types of games. When you play a football game or a fighting game the chances are you know what the game is going to be like before you actually play it so the introductions will not be important. See where I am going with this
Some openings give you an insight and show how the game is actually in progress - sports games' start-ups have improved immensely with exciting FIFA, NBA and Extreme Sports beginnings! With most sport games what you see in the opening of the game is often what you are going to get throughout the game, this is not the case with Role-Playing Games for example.
Also the game may be a sequel therefor it simply must remind you of what happened in itís original game. This is really important because if you were new to the game the last thing you want is to me totally baffled from start to finish wondering what the game is all about. So, another job developers have to consider.
Sometimes however, I feel that game developers make the introductions completely rubbish - just so the game looks better! Anyone who's played Soul Calibur has to agree that the introduction is pretty unspectacular - but then the game is awesome! Even today, a two-year-old fighting game still holds its crown. So donít judge a book by itís cover, and donít judge a game by itís opening.
With technology getting better and better, we are beginning to see some changes in game openings. Today openings in games are often seen in FMV format. You are watching this mini film often with your jaw dropped to the floor but when you actually get to play the game your thoughts are often ìHuh, what happened to all the good graphics?î Yes, FMV does not always represent what the actual in game graphics will be like.
I think that the one game that really had a great opening was Shenmue. We were amazed by the starting intro - the Graphics were AMAZING, the music listen-able and the acting penetration-able - OK so it lasted about 15 minutes - but the most amazing thing? The in-game graphics were the same! How I was delirious that day.
Openings are often very useful for developers because they can give you a briefing of the plot. This is also useful for the person who is playing game because he or she will come to grips with the game much more quickly. All kind of things are shown in openingsí most often we get to meet the characters and get to learn a little about them. The best example of this was in Donkey Kong 64 when you saw every character do a groovy dance and a little rap too.
We will get a strong taste for the game as well. We will quickly discover of the game is violent, friendly, sport game, football game and so on.
Introductions are never essential to a game but a lot of people feel "cheated" if the game does not have an introduction.
Developers have many tasks to complete when making a game, the biggest being game openings and endings. To me, this is the most important factor that we have in gaming. Many people complain that we have bad openings in games, but if we really think about it is it just all in our head? I bet I have confused you with that, but let me explain.
When a game starts up, we can have many first impressions of the games. It is up to the developers if we think ìcool!î or ìand this cost me £40?î A game opening has to make sure that it tells us loads about the game, but at the same time not revealing the story line too much. This sounds complicated just thinking about it, so letís feel sorry for the people that actually have to complete this task successfully.
To me, a good opening will include the following things: It must, somehow, tell you what the aim of the game is and what the quest is, to have (in a shooting game for instance) the variety of gunís that you can equip, and last but not least introduce us to some of the games main characters.
With a lot of games, introductions to the game are not one bit important, most probably because people know what to expect with these types of games. When you play a football game or a fighting game the chances are you know what the game is going to be like before you actually play it so the introductions will not be important. See where I am going with this
Some openings give you an insight and show how the game is actually in progress - sports games' start-ups have improved immensely with exciting FIFA, NBA and Extreme Sports beginnings! With most sport games what you see in the opening of the game is often what you are going to get throughout the game, this is not the case with Role-Playing Games for example.
Also the game may be a sequel therefor it simply must remind you of what happened in itís original game. This is really important because if you were new to the game the last thing you want is to me totally baffled from start to finish wondering what the game is all about. So, another job developers have to consider.
Sometimes however, I feel that game developers make the introductions completely rubbish - just so the game looks better! Anyone who's played Soul Calibur has to agree that the introduction is pretty unspectacular - but then the game is awesome! Even today, a two-year-old fighting game still holds its crown. So donít judge a book by itís cover, and donít judge a game by itís opening.
With technology getting better and better, we are beginning to see some changes in game openings. Today openings in games are often seen in FMV format. You are watching this mini film often with your jaw dropped to the floor but when you actually get to play the game your thoughts are often ìHuh, what happened to all the good graphics?î Yes, FMV does not always represent what the actual in game graphics will be like.
I think that the one game that really had a great opening was Shenmue. We were amazed by the starting intro - the Graphics were AMAZING, the music listen-able and the acting penetration-able - OK so it lasted about 15 minutes - but the most amazing thing? The in-game graphics were the same! How I was delirious that day.
Openings are often very useful for developers because they can give you a briefing of the plot. This is also useful for the person who is playing game because he or she will come to grips with the game much more quickly. All kind of things are shown in openingsí most often we get to meet the characters and get to learn a little about them. The best example of this was in Donkey Kong 64 when you saw every character do a groovy dance and a little rap too.
We will get a strong taste for the game as well. We will quickly discover of the game is violent, friendly, sport game, football game and so on.
Introductions are never essential to a game but a lot of people feel "cheated" if the game does not have an introduction.