Jon Hare on the Endumbening of Videogamers

[Darren Dirt]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz1zOO0oz2I *

PS: Who is Jon Hare? THIS guy. And he "hates" Tiny Wings. 




*apparently the interview was super-SUPER-long, veteran gamedesigner had lots to say.
later parts:
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRNN-0BuFyA
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJxnXyBwXYw
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CTulV5u1-M
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmgKtZ65ilw

[Mr. Analog]

Jon seems to blame the trend of 3D gaming as being a large factor in killing his creativity (or rather the funding behind his creativity). I had only heard about 3 of the games he's made before (and even then the only one of those I've played was <i>Sensible Soccer</i> a very long time ago).

I didn't watch the whole interview (TL,DW?) but it sounded a lot like whining for the most part, (to use the euphemism early in the interview) like an experimental musician wondering why their music gets no industry backing when safe, predictable pop music does (it's bankable to those with the cash).

We live in a world where millions of dollars can be thrown down a hole called Duke Nukem for a decade and a half and produce ultimately nothing where games with more variety get the cold shoulder, to me this sounds obvious I guess but maybe Jon is just pointing out the obvious.

Also I think the last 5 years have been very kind to independent video games, even moreso than the 80s (self distribution is old hat, but WORLDWIDE self distribution is new).

[Darren Dirt]

Jon seems to blame the trend of 3D gaming as being a large factor in killing his creativity (or rather the funding behind his creativity). I had only heard about 3 of the games he's made before (and even then the only one of those I've played was <i>Sensible Soccer</i> a very long time ago).

lol definitely TL;DW but if you're in the mood to hear a voice from someone who's been there since the days of 16 bit machines and PCs (the Amiga vs. Atari ST "battle" era) then it's a good use of time imo.

He really nails it when he talks about how the improved "power" of the machines resulted in higher expectations for graphics/processing which inevitably led to high budgets by most gaming companies which (here's the key) required "proven profit potential" in game design... hence all the "same game, different setting" staleness, and all the new-each-year franchises etc. and the overall "endumbening" (other than "casual gaming", which I think is what he was saying he "hates" via Tiny Wings -- imo he's wrong there, since this is a whole new sub-niche of the VG market that had never really been addressed).

PS: One of this games I used to really love is "Wizball", very fun game (Atari ST is what I played it on) and it was a combination of a simple but very unique idea for gameplay (a few of them, actually) plus smart level design -- which it's really hard to deny is what is lacking in most (non-indie) game releases the last 10+ years. Only so many ways you can make an FPS drastically different from what the masses expect. Even seems to be that way for RTS and RPG genre for the most part.

But I think Mr. Hare (in this video anyway) is focusing mostly on what the big production companies released and continue to produce, the unoriginality of it all, ignoring the fact that the industry is a mishmash of various size entities, including solo geniuses and creative games that aren't just rehashing of what has been profitable in the past.

So I'm gonna sit through the other parts later in the week just to get a fuller feel for his perspective on some other issues in the industry -- keeping an open mind since sometimes the voice of the elders is not wisdom, but perhaps just simple denial of the new and very different reality

[Mr. Analog]

Well I think the big change was that in the late 80s / 90s people who invest in media realized that video gaming was a virtually untapped opportunity with very few leaders.

I see parallels with the film industry, a lot of smaller independent studios existed up to the 20s. Movies became big business very quickly and some studios rose to power, out-competing or absorbing smaller studios (think EA and other big players). This lead to the rise of the studio system (think "Steam") and of course made it impossible for small studios to compete directly with the big 8.

We were in a transition period for some time from the mid-90s to the mid-00s as 3D technology went through its growing pains, just as "talkies" did in the 30s, but now it's getting to the point where 3D is just another tool in the artists' box.

But then there's the undeniable success of games like CUBE where THE FUN CANNOT BE HALTED:
http://youtu.be/4aGDCE6Nrz0

[Darren Dirt]

this URL says it all...
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2011/08/08/video-games-with-unlimited-detail-graphics/

one of the commenters linked to this: http://atomontage.com/?id=dev_blog "The Future Is Volumetric, Atom-Based"



imo focus less on getting tons of "detail", and more on getting tons of FUN". please.

[Mr. Analog]

Or, y'know, BOTH!

[Darren Dirt]

Ideally, YES! It is possible to have "more detail" and still be FUN. It requires some effort. though.

But tell that to the suits -- that it isn't just automatically more fun if there's more "detail" (whatever aspect of the game you choose to have "more" in).