Is gaming development in a pickle?

lorax · Post by **lorax** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 5:50 pm

Who can tell the future? Let’s leave this question unanswered for a moment. Let’s focus in on the past trends in gaming and the corporate suits who made the decisions. Has the steady march of progress been ahead, or rather in reverse?

Take space simulation games, for example. Once upon a time there was Wing Commander, this title stared down upon the gaming landscape with a widely stretched smile. There was no equal. Then, there were countless sequels of increasing quality. And finally, the masterpiece, Freespace and its single offspring. 1999. And then what? Exactly.

Space simulation games. Stagnation is preferable to walking in reverse. Case #1.

The role-playing genre. There was, a long time ago, the masterful Dungeons and Dragons clone - Wizardry. This was the first true “computer game”. It was original and packed in oodles of gameplay. Oodles. Followed by the Ultimas (including Underworld, a long-since defunct artful development of 3d motion and adventuring). Followed by the spectacular Bioware products released unbeknownst on the most skeptical of gamers. And then what? Exactly.

RPG games. Walking in reverse, case #2.

Corporate suits: <latest news of merger> <consolified title> <defunct development> Duke Nukem Forever, Ghost Recon 2, and so on.

Case #3. And don’t forget the RTS genre. Defunct.

So, there you have it, the steady march of progress in reverse. And, as you peer into the crystal ball, do you see a future with more of the same? Or, with reference to the decades-old movie – will gaming development travel Back to the Future? You decide.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 5:54 pm

This kid's in a pickle.

EDIT: I'm going for pithy.

CeeKay · Post by **CeeKay** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 6:00 pm

YES!!! WE HAVE PICKLES!!!! LORAX HAS RETURNED TO HIS ROOTS!!!! CAN YOU SAY HALLELUJAH!!!!!!

Scanner · Post by **Scanner** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 6:31 pm

lorax wrote:And finally, the masterpiece, Freespace and its single offspring. 1999. And then what?

I-War, I-War 2, X:BTF, X2

Followed by the spectacular Bioware products released unbeknownst on the most skeptical of gamers. And then what?

NWN, Morrowind, KOTOR

Case #3. And don't forget the RTS genre. Defunct.

Total War, Rise of Nations, Kohan.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 6:54 pm

As I peer into my crystal ball, I see defunct pickles. Pithy defunct pickles. They are our future.

I, for one, welcome our pithy defunct pickle overlords.

CeeKay · Post by **CeeKay** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:00 pm

beware the lone gherkin who walks..er...well, alone.......

The Mad Hatter · Post by **The Mad Hatter** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:06 pm

lorax wrote: Take space simulation games, for example. Once upon a time there was Wing Commander, this title stared down upon the gaming landscape with a widely stretched smile. There was no equal.

Wing Commander sucked in comparison to TIE Fighter, and the franchise steadily got worse as the FMV content grew.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:29 pm

Wing Commander sucked in comparison to TIE Fighter, and the franchise steadily got worse as the FMV content grew.

Disagree. Never got into X-Wing / TIE-Fighter / Alliance as much as I would like to have. They are FAR too puzzle-heavy and requires almost constant energy management. Don't forget the respawning enemies.

WC has got, for the most part, the right mix of combat and ancillary activities, at least for this gamer.

Ripstar · Post by **Ripstar** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:21 pm

Have to agree with Kasey.

WC had "Esprit de Corps" Tie Fighter didn't.

The Meal · Post by **The Meal** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 9:12 am

Blackhawk wrote:As I peer into my crystal ball, I see defunct pickles. Pithy defunct pickles. They are our future.

I, for one, welcome our pithy defunct pickle overlords.

Well I, for one, welcome our gherkin-wearing pithy defunct pickle overlords.

Neener x3.

~Neal

Two Sheds · Post by **Two Sheds** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 9:24 am

Quit saying "defunct." I beg you.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 9:37 am

First thing I did was check the date on this thread to make sure it isn't past its freshness. Don't we do The Death of PC Gaming every week or two?

Yes yes yes, PC gaming is circling the drain, killed by big budgets and blockbuster sales. Indies will save the day for quality-conscious hobbyists, and the Great Unwashed will keep buying any slick crap the publishers package.

Next thread, please.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 10:01 am

It's very easy to look at the past through rose-colored glasses.

Yes, there have been some great games in the past. But there are some great games now. And the great games now have much better graphics.

About the only real trend in PC gaming I don't care for is the console/PC crossover. I don't like that console feel in my PC games, period. If I want to play an Xbox game I'll play an Xbox game, and that should be the end of it. On the other hand, the ability for developers to develop cross-platform titles probably means we get to see some PC games we wouldn't otherwise see, so I guess there's some good and bad about it.

Corporations exist to make money. They're going to develop games that make money. If we, as consumers, don't like the games they're dishing out, then we have nobody to blame but ourselves.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 11:32 am

Ironrod wrote:Don't we do The Death of PC Gaming every week or two?

We?

The Mad Hatter · Post by **The Mad Hatter** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 12:27 pm

Kasey Chang wrote:
Wing Commander sucked in comparison to TIE Fighter, and the franchise steadily got worse as the FMV content grew.
Disagree. Never got into X-Wing / TIE-Fighter / Alliance as much as I would like to have. They are FAR too puzzle-heavy and requires almost constant energy management. Don't forget the respawning enemies.

WC has got, for the most part, the right mix of combat and ancillary activities, at least for this gamer.

WC had repetitive, simplistic missions(go to waypoint A, go to waypoint B and kill 6 kilrathi in two waves, go to waypoint C, go home), mediocre controls and especially in the later games they tended to grind my system down. I only played the last ones because the story was decent enough to make me curious, but the actual gameplay was just filler.

Dogstar · Post by **Dogstar** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 2:56 pm

Sorry to for the slight derail, but the mention of the Wing Commander series prompted this question: Does anyone else think the Battlestar Galactica story would have translated well to a Wing Commander-like game? The FMV, the type of missions, some of the desperation...

Suitably Ironic Moniker · Tue Apr 19, 2005 3:09 pm

Ironrod wrote:
Don't we do The Death of PC Gaming every week or two?

We?

First there was TSS, who begat lorax. lorax saw the glass as half-empty and It Was Good.

CeeKay · Post by **CeeKay** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 5:40 pm

AndyM wrote:Sorry to for the slight derail, but the mention of the Wing Commander series prompted this question: Does anyone else think the Battlestar Galactica story would have translated well to a Wing Commander-like game? The FMV, the type of missions, some of the desperation...

well there is a Battlestar Galactica game for the consoles that came out last year. I'm not sure how good it was though.

Scanner · Post by **Scanner** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 6:48 pm

Starshatter has a Battlestar Galactica mod; try starshattercentral.com for more details.

ChrisGrenard · Post by **ChrisGrenard** » Tue Apr 19, 2005 8:52 pm

Oh, this thread reminds me. On an image board I post on, they have this thing called "sage." Basically, if you put the word sage in the e-mail field when posting, it doesn't bump the post. If a thread gets enough sages, it can no longer be bumped at all. When I learned of this, I thought, "Wow, that's pretty defunct, maybe it would work well for pithy."

What do you guys think? Can our BB software be rigged with such a feature?

Octopus Overlords

Is gaming development in a pickle?

Is gaming development in a pickle?

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