Gameplay is one of those tricky things, very hard to describe, but hopefully I can describe it for you.
To be exact gameplay is a set of rules that is enforced on a player, so that the players can have fun, why is this fact important? Since without the rules there is nothing for the players to push against for them to compete against one another.
Since I said they were rules I guess they must be definable yes? Well yes, but there’s so many rules that it would be impossible to list them all, and just because they are defined, doesn’t mean they cant change, the beauty of gameplay is that people can add and take away what they want, change existing rules slightly and so forth, all so that some variety can be added to a game and make it more fun.
But the question is do we design games, or do they just pop up in our heads, most likely the latter, so many things that we do are easily changed into games, just tells us that as animals human beings are much like otters, dolphins, apes and such. All intelligent creatures create games because they are stimulating. So as you can see its pretty important, or at least when we were walking on all limbs and went “Ug”. Nowadays, games are just for pleasure and unlikely to enhance our intellect like they did before.
So is gameplay really needed? Well it would be a boring world if it weren’t around.
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Game Design – Story and Characters
Story and Characters, something which can be found in books, tv and films, they can move us to tears, feel joy, shock and fear. You can feel any kind of emotion towards a character thanks to the story and it’s acting, so long as both are of a good quality.
When its bad, you feel removed from what is being displayed in front of you, its just a list of pictures or words, none have any emotional content, While good storytelling and acting that allows you to relate to the characters, is good storytelling/acting, for it allows you to feel any emotion that the creators want, be it joy or sadness.
By why do we feel emotions towards what is essential fictional characters, by making them as human as possible, by giving them flaws, virtues, allowing them to make sacrifices or to steal due to greed. These are what people are made up of character traits and the more traits the character has, the more likely people will relate to them.
This of course is dependant on the script, something that a character encounters in a magical fantasy setting, or the far future of Sci-Fi is harder to relate to, we have nothing to draw from, but we can still take from similar situations seen in life to conjure up the right emotions. So long as the actors display the right emotions as to the mood of the situation, it is easy to draw upon the characters emotions and our own experiences to generate the feelings that the film/books creator desires.
Appearance to me means very little, books, are all writing and so long as the tv show/film isn’t a collection of children’s drawings then I am still capable of enjoying the piece of fiction that I desired to see.
But what stories do I find irresistible? Magical fantasy and Science Fiction are my 2 great loves of fiction, for they show me experiences that are impossible to have, for magic does not exist and the Science is usually so far away that I most likely wont see it in my lifetime. And so I feel richer for adding to the collection of experiences I have seen, whether they are my own personal ones, or they are ones I have seen as a viewer.
When its bad, you feel removed from what is being displayed in front of you, its just a list of pictures or words, none have any emotional content, While good storytelling and acting that allows you to relate to the characters, is good storytelling/acting, for it allows you to feel any emotion that the creators want, be it joy or sadness.
By why do we feel emotions towards what is essential fictional characters, by making them as human as possible, by giving them flaws, virtues, allowing them to make sacrifices or to steal due to greed. These are what people are made up of character traits and the more traits the character has, the more likely people will relate to them.
This of course is dependant on the script, something that a character encounters in a magical fantasy setting, or the far future of Sci-Fi is harder to relate to, we have nothing to draw from, but we can still take from similar situations seen in life to conjure up the right emotions. So long as the actors display the right emotions as to the mood of the situation, it is easy to draw upon the characters emotions and our own experiences to generate the feelings that the film/books creator desires.
Appearance to me means very little, books, are all writing and so long as the tv show/film isn’t a collection of children’s drawings then I am still capable of enjoying the piece of fiction that I desired to see.
But what stories do I find irresistible? Magical fantasy and Science Fiction are my 2 great loves of fiction, for they show me experiences that are impossible to have, for magic does not exist and the Science is usually so far away that I most likely wont see it in my lifetime. And so I feel richer for adding to the collection of experiences I have seen, whether they are my own personal ones, or they are ones I have seen as a viewer.
Game Technology – Joysticks vs Enhanced Reality
Game technology is always advancing, some to make nicer looking games, but we always forget that the feel of the controllers and the control system that the games use are the most important part of gaming, so why in over 30 years they have only just started to change, well its time to look into it.
When most people think of games they will at some point think of the humble controller, these days the controllers are not much different than what was made in the beginning, a couple of joysticks and a bunch of buttons. The only change is that there are more buttons and joysticks and that the shape has changed to make it more comfortable to play with.
But these days we have controllers that are capable of sensing how we actually move the controller, allowing us to do real life movements to correspond with what’s on screen, plus video cameras, which allow us to use our body to play games, sans controllers. So why is it not the standard of today’s control systems? The reason is that its finicky to use at times, your movements doesn’t correspond too well with what’s happening on screen well and so the humble gamepad is still the best way to play.
Does it look like the coolest way to play? Nope, the idea that you can swing a controller and have that play out on screen, except instead of a controller your character has a sword is a lot better than pressing a button. Which is why the Wii is the future of game control systems, gamepads and joysticks are dying out and will eventually phase out of gaming, reserved for only old games or for simulator games, where having a joystick is more realistic than waving a controller around.
We will continue to move to motion control tech, till we eventually get to the point where are games are played out in cyberspace, with us jacking into the game directly through our minds, so we can be in a world which feels as real as the world outside the game, the virtual counterpart to our normal reality.
When most people think of games they will at some point think of the humble controller, these days the controllers are not much different than what was made in the beginning, a couple of joysticks and a bunch of buttons. The only change is that there are more buttons and joysticks and that the shape has changed to make it more comfortable to play with.
But these days we have controllers that are capable of sensing how we actually move the controller, allowing us to do real life movements to correspond with what’s on screen, plus video cameras, which allow us to use our body to play games, sans controllers. So why is it not the standard of today’s control systems? The reason is that its finicky to use at times, your movements doesn’t correspond too well with what’s happening on screen well and so the humble gamepad is still the best way to play.
Does it look like the coolest way to play? Nope, the idea that you can swing a controller and have that play out on screen, except instead of a controller your character has a sword is a lot better than pressing a button. Which is why the Wii is the future of game control systems, gamepads and joysticks are dying out and will eventually phase out of gaming, reserved for only old games or for simulator games, where having a joystick is more realistic than waving a controller around.
We will continue to move to motion control tech, till we eventually get to the point where are games are played out in cyberspace, with us jacking into the game directly through our minds, so we can be in a world which feels as real as the world outside the game, the virtual counterpart to our normal reality.
Game Storytelling – a requirment? Or an easy sacrifice?
Ah we come to what can be one of the most slippery of all the subjects in Game Design, the story. Does a game need it? And does it make it a better game?
Well to question 1 – No, but it depends on the game and to 2 – yes, but at the same time no.
Still here? Guess I best elaborate then!
Now on to the messy confusing bits, does a game need a story, no it doesn’t, there are a lot of games that don’t need a story, or they only need something that is loosely made, something that doesn’t jump into the players face all the time. And there are some games in which the need for story is so great, that without it would make the game a chore and more punishment than a form of pleasure.
For example games like Battlefield 2, Counterstrike Source, Team Fortress 2 are all multiplayer games that have no story and have no need for it, the players have fun by just playing it and any story behind it beyond “there’s the other team, go kill” would just get in the way. (Please note all are online games)
While games like World of Warcraft, Aion and RF online have a loose story, its there if you want it, but you don’t need it to play the game. (We’ll come back later to this, just make note that these are all MMORPG Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game)
But most games do require story, games like Fear 2, Final Fantasy 12, Nexus: The Jupiter Incident and other games need it to make it a good game, without it, it would just make the game boring as hell.
Why the difference between these games and the others? Because they are single player based, a game for a single person rather than several, yes some have multiplayer features but they are not the main part of the game, without the story in Fear 2, you have no idea why this little girl appears and scares the hell out of you, why in Final Fantasy 12 your stealing an airship and why in Nexus: TJI you are trying to rescue this ship.
Because without it, the game is boring, confusing and often frustrating, this is because the game needs the player to have a working knowledge of the world he is in to make informed decisions and without that knowledge, he has no idea what to do and what’s going on!
So why don’t the others need it? Well they are all multiplayer games, designed with more than 1 person in mind so they must tailor the game so that the experience a player has is with a group, not a single individual. But there is story in these games, where you ask? In the situations that the players get themselves into, on purpose or accident. Instead of a characters plight, the stories that the players make for themselves are often more enjoyable than those made for them.
Now onto the 2nd question does a story make a better game, this is most definitely no, there are plenty of games that have a story and yet it is what ruins the game. Enchanted Arms is a RPG for the Xbox 360, the story is based on your character having a special arm, which is capable of destroying Golems easily, his friend has been kidnapped and he is trying to save him. Simple enough, good games have similar stories to them, so this one should work?
Nope not in the least as the story written makes a complete hash at character interaction, plot development and the final ending is down right horrible. The real problem lies with the lines spoken by the characters, since the game is developed in Japan, its possible that the Japanese wouldn’t find the lines so bad, but to me a westerner, someone who has been brought up in English, knows its syntax, grammar and form better than many born English speakers, it makes me want to cry every time a character opens his or her gob.
But why does Super Mario Galaxies work, when it doesn’t have a solid plot and this doesn’t? Its because Super Mario Galaxies gameplay, is fun to the point that it makes up for the lack of plot. While Enchanted Arms is the opposite, the gameplay isn’t fun enough that you would want to play without a good story to drive you.
Well to question 1 – No, but it depends on the game and to 2 – yes, but at the same time no.
Still here? Guess I best elaborate then!
Now on to the messy confusing bits, does a game need a story, no it doesn’t, there are a lot of games that don’t need a story, or they only need something that is loosely made, something that doesn’t jump into the players face all the time. And there are some games in which the need for story is so great, that without it would make the game a chore and more punishment than a form of pleasure.
For example games like Battlefield 2, Counterstrike Source, Team Fortress 2 are all multiplayer games that have no story and have no need for it, the players have fun by just playing it and any story behind it beyond “there’s the other team, go kill” would just get in the way. (Please note all are online games)
While games like World of Warcraft, Aion and RF online have a loose story, its there if you want it, but you don’t need it to play the game. (We’ll come back later to this, just make note that these are all MMORPG Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game)
But most games do require story, games like Fear 2, Final Fantasy 12, Nexus: The Jupiter Incident and other games need it to make it a good game, without it, it would just make the game boring as hell.
Why the difference between these games and the others? Because they are single player based, a game for a single person rather than several, yes some have multiplayer features but they are not the main part of the game, without the story in Fear 2, you have no idea why this little girl appears and scares the hell out of you, why in Final Fantasy 12 your stealing an airship and why in Nexus: TJI you are trying to rescue this ship.
Because without it, the game is boring, confusing and often frustrating, this is because the game needs the player to have a working knowledge of the world he is in to make informed decisions and without that knowledge, he has no idea what to do and what’s going on!
So why don’t the others need it? Well they are all multiplayer games, designed with more than 1 person in mind so they must tailor the game so that the experience a player has is with a group, not a single individual. But there is story in these games, where you ask? In the situations that the players get themselves into, on purpose or accident. Instead of a characters plight, the stories that the players make for themselves are often more enjoyable than those made for them.
Now onto the 2nd question does a story make a better game, this is most definitely no, there are plenty of games that have a story and yet it is what ruins the game. Enchanted Arms is a RPG for the Xbox 360, the story is based on your character having a special arm, which is capable of destroying Golems easily, his friend has been kidnapped and he is trying to save him. Simple enough, good games have similar stories to them, so this one should work?
Nope not in the least as the story written makes a complete hash at character interaction, plot development and the final ending is down right horrible. The real problem lies with the lines spoken by the characters, since the game is developed in Japan, its possible that the Japanese wouldn’t find the lines so bad, but to me a westerner, someone who has been brought up in English, knows its syntax, grammar and form better than many born English speakers, it makes me want to cry every time a character opens his or her gob.
But why does Super Mario Galaxies work, when it doesn’t have a solid plot and this doesn’t? Its because Super Mario Galaxies gameplay, is fun to the point that it makes up for the lack of plot. While Enchanted Arms is the opposite, the gameplay isn’t fun enough that you would want to play without a good story to drive you.
Art Director – putting the director into art, then taking the art right out
The title Art Director is both a contradiction and a pretty good description of what he does, he most likely does very little “Art” when compared to his underlings, but he will “Direct” said underlings so that all their work looks similar, set them tasks and makes sure they complete them.
The job is very much that, a lot of not doing Art and a lot of delegating the work to others, but they also help guide their team so that the work they do fits together, they help to guide their team in developing their strengths, all that plus they have to be able to show his/her teams work to the rest of the company, to show their progress, to ask for constructive criticism and to find out what tasks they have to tackle next.
So not exactly a creative role, its more about solving problems (tasks – design a level) with the resources you have, (aka – your artistic underlings).
Of course you can swap art in the title for programmer, designer, tester and various other roles and you will find that it translates mostly the same, a lot less of what a lower employee would normally do and a lot more managerially work.
Now since the art side in games in very similar in films we should have a quick look at similarities and the differences.
Similarities – Both go through the same design process, each have to make resources which can either be used to show financers that the project is something that might make some cash, or the work is used to help others or themselves create props, settings and characters (swap settings for levels). They get their tasks from the Design team and will often have to show their work to the upper management to show their progress and any ideas that may have popped up whilst designing.
Differences – Games have a shorted time period for the art to be made, a lot more often has to be made, with a good portion not even finding it into the game (same as films, except there is a lot more of it), the range of styles that they may use for their work will be more varied than a film as well.
So not much difference, and its mostly how much is made in comparison with each other.
But what qualities might you need to become an Art Director? Well for one thing you work with a team, so you have to be able to work with them, to be able to recognize each individuals strengths and weaknesses, while to be able to develop them in each individual and to be able to delegate tasks to people according to their strengths.
Everything else you will need is already there, for you either start from the bottom and work your way up to director, or you already have enough knowledge in that subject and so start as a director.
The job is very much that, a lot of not doing Art and a lot of delegating the work to others, but they also help guide their team so that the work they do fits together, they help to guide their team in developing their strengths, all that plus they have to be able to show his/her teams work to the rest of the company, to show their progress, to ask for constructive criticism and to find out what tasks they have to tackle next.
So not exactly a creative role, its more about solving problems (tasks – design a level) with the resources you have, (aka – your artistic underlings).
Of course you can swap art in the title for programmer, designer, tester and various other roles and you will find that it translates mostly the same, a lot less of what a lower employee would normally do and a lot more managerially work.
Now since the art side in games in very similar in films we should have a quick look at similarities and the differences.
Similarities – Both go through the same design process, each have to make resources which can either be used to show financers that the project is something that might make some cash, or the work is used to help others or themselves create props, settings and characters (swap settings for levels). They get their tasks from the Design team and will often have to show their work to the upper management to show their progress and any ideas that may have popped up whilst designing.
Differences – Games have a shorted time period for the art to be made, a lot more often has to be made, with a good portion not even finding it into the game (same as films, except there is a lot more of it), the range of styles that they may use for their work will be more varied than a film as well.
So not much difference, and its mostly how much is made in comparison with each other.
But what qualities might you need to become an Art Director? Well for one thing you work with a team, so you have to be able to work with them, to be able to recognize each individuals strengths and weaknesses, while to be able to develop them in each individual and to be able to delegate tasks to people according to their strengths.
Everything else you will need is already there, for you either start from the bottom and work your way up to director, or you already have enough knowledge in that subject and so start as a director.
Game Design - I wish it was to be paid to play
Game Design is something that is a part of every games creation process, without Game Designers there would be no games, period! But what is Game Design is it about A - Gameplay, the actions the player is allowed to do, formed in a way so that it is fun? Or is it B - the story of a game? Aka the reasons why the player character is driven to slay aliens, take revenge etc.
Most people would say B, but in reality it is mostly A! Something that people like Shigeru Miyamoto, a game designer that tries to be at the cutting edge, because he realizes that Game Design is not about writing cool stories, its about making excellent and “unique” Gameplay. When you look at the Super Mario Games from the N64 onwards, you’ll see that each one has had a unique game play feature for its time.
Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64, was big worlds and relative freedom to tackle said worlds. Super Mario Sunshine for the Gamecube was to use a backpack that sprays water in different ways to combat and get around the world. And Super Mario Galaxies for the Wii puts in simulated gravity for their “worlds”, using them to create a new form of challenge not found in platformers before.
But where does all of this take place with the developer? Well right at the beginning, without a Game Design document to work from, if you don’t have a set goal to work to then your game will only wander aimlessly and it needs to be updated through the entire design process, as things change and if you don’t change it with it, then your stuck in the same problem.
But don’t worry your not alone in this; most companies have dedicated Design teams that think up new content for games all the time, some of the designers are specialized, for example in making levels, while most are usually just general designers. But of course if you are a freelance worker then you are on your own.
Now not all games require the same things in design, you tailor it to the genre that you are making it for, you know that you wont need to control vast armies in a FPS, it would just be confusing and you know that in a RTS you don’t need to put in a stealth feature like a Stealth game would. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but they are not many exceptions, as its hard to make both the FPS and the RTS sections of the game fun, thanks to you splitting your resources.
But what do I think is most important is that, the gameplay must be something that’s fun and doesn’t get stale easily, so I can do it again without it getting old and boring, otherwise the game is shelved in 30mins and I start thinking that I wasted some money.
Most people would say B, but in reality it is mostly A! Something that people like Shigeru Miyamoto, a game designer that tries to be at the cutting edge, because he realizes that Game Design is not about writing cool stories, its about making excellent and “unique” Gameplay. When you look at the Super Mario Games from the N64 onwards, you’ll see that each one has had a unique game play feature for its time.
Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64, was big worlds and relative freedom to tackle said worlds. Super Mario Sunshine for the Gamecube was to use a backpack that sprays water in different ways to combat and get around the world. And Super Mario Galaxies for the Wii puts in simulated gravity for their “worlds”, using them to create a new form of challenge not found in platformers before.
But where does all of this take place with the developer? Well right at the beginning, without a Game Design document to work from, if you don’t have a set goal to work to then your game will only wander aimlessly and it needs to be updated through the entire design process, as things change and if you don’t change it with it, then your stuck in the same problem.
But don’t worry your not alone in this; most companies have dedicated Design teams that think up new content for games all the time, some of the designers are specialized, for example in making levels, while most are usually just general designers. But of course if you are a freelance worker then you are on your own.
Now not all games require the same things in design, you tailor it to the genre that you are making it for, you know that you wont need to control vast armies in a FPS, it would just be confusing and you know that in a RTS you don’t need to put in a stealth feature like a Stealth game would. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but they are not many exceptions, as its hard to make both the FPS and the RTS sections of the game fun, thanks to you splitting your resources.
But what do I think is most important is that, the gameplay must be something that’s fun and doesn’t get stale easily, so I can do it again without it getting old and boring, otherwise the game is shelved in 30mins and I start thinking that I wasted some money.
New Games Journalism – Just what is up with it?
Games Journalism is a tricky subject, because like art, there is always room for debate and thanks to the magic of the internet, there are a large number of people to debate with, or depending on your forum, a huge flame war, with insults being flung left and right by the new age cultists of Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and the PC, foaming mouths are not optional, but a required tool of the workplace.
But I’m moving away from the subject here; Games Journalism is indeed a tricky subject, thanks to a short time table (they have to pretty do everything in a little under 3 weeks, only to start again for next month), the internet stealing the magazines customers and so perhaps a short road to being laid off, down to boring games developers being unable to exude enough charisma, so that little Bob can take his life giving quotes in exchange for a pay check, so that he may stuff his little face with life giving pies, means that Games Journalism is no piece of cake, its not just about playing games, nor a rock and roll lifestyle of going to places, being treated like a king by games developers, all so that you can give them these few golden words.
“It wasn’t bad, 7/10”
And yes that does mean Peter Monxyew is adored by the press, for the sheer fact that to them, he makes their life a damn sight easier, while for the people who actually play his games for relaxation and find the reality is not the vision that was painted for us (see every game by Lionhead), journalists praise him for the fact that he hands out quotes by the bucket loads, has enough charisma to paint a beautiful world filled with lambs and chuckling kittens and actually gets back to them, something which apparently not many developers do, or at least not in time.
But lets not say that there are no problems with Games Journalism at this moment! Oh no, I for one consider the most damning thing that anyone can do is put a bloody number to an experience (which is what a game is), and the bastards plaster em all over the damn magazines, it reeks of unfeeling, mechanical science and if we go down that route, all games should come with a endorphin filled syringe, filled to the prescribed enjoyment level and then plunged into my brain, for that is what numbers fitted to an experience is to me and if anyone does try that on me in person, I will actually work out for the sole purpose of kaber tossing you into a tree.
If anyone gets the irony in that, then you are either very smart, or very Scottish.
Of course this kind of anger can only be prescribed against those that talk about the experience of the game, but if your talking about the machanics of the game, (good camera, excellent graphics blah blah blah), then yes a number ranking system is good for it, in fact I require it for the sole purpose of glazing over it and then trying the games demo instead. Because if there are any mechanics that spoil the game, then they spoil the experience, and the other guys will tell you that.
And that is what New Games Journalism is all about, talking about the experience rather than the mechanics, to know that you will most likely feel like a kid again when you play this indy game, and you know what?
That’s good, its what my own writing is going to be like if I play a game because I can only write about my own experience and what I felt whilst playing, although most likely a tad more long winded then most journalists, it will have the same character, the joy of a guy who never did grow up fully and thinks that to be an adult all the time is stupid and boring.
But I’m not the only one, there are many people with differencing ways of telling people what’s out there, Yahtzee from The Escapist, a online community solely catered for Gaming, creates Zero Punctuation a kind of video podcast where he reviews games for a living, using simplistic characters and artwork to push forward his thoughts on the matter.
And then he swears and cracks jokes all over it, with the speed of a Lion trying to decide whether to give the Cubs tofu, or a slice of Gazelle, the Gazelle wins of course, much tastier! Not so much for the Gazelle. Thankfully Yahtzee doesn’t butcher the review with all this and actually makes sense and is funny at the same time. He is both objective and subjective, he talks enough about the problems of the game mechanics that ruin the experience, yet he always describes the experience he has had with the game, which means that it all works, because you can be only subjective and only objective in a review, as you need both sides to truly explain the whole experience
And like me, he prescribes to the same idea that number based reviewing is stupid, because we all have our own minds and can make our own decisions. Its just a shame that most people seem to be sheep and will bleat with the herd.
I of course pretty much ignore most reviews and buy and play what games I want to, even if reviewers have said its bad and even enjoy them, why does this happen? Because compared to the bleating herd, I am a Bear that sits in a cave, smoking a bubblegum pipe, occasionally heading out to hunt some mutton for lunch.
But I’m moving away from the subject here; Games Journalism is indeed a tricky subject, thanks to a short time table (they have to pretty do everything in a little under 3 weeks, only to start again for next month), the internet stealing the magazines customers and so perhaps a short road to being laid off, down to boring games developers being unable to exude enough charisma, so that little Bob can take his life giving quotes in exchange for a pay check, so that he may stuff his little face with life giving pies, means that Games Journalism is no piece of cake, its not just about playing games, nor a rock and roll lifestyle of going to places, being treated like a king by games developers, all so that you can give them these few golden words.
“It wasn’t bad, 7/10”
And yes that does mean Peter Monxyew is adored by the press, for the sheer fact that to them, he makes their life a damn sight easier, while for the people who actually play his games for relaxation and find the reality is not the vision that was painted for us (see every game by Lionhead), journalists praise him for the fact that he hands out quotes by the bucket loads, has enough charisma to paint a beautiful world filled with lambs and chuckling kittens and actually gets back to them, something which apparently not many developers do, or at least not in time.
But lets not say that there are no problems with Games Journalism at this moment! Oh no, I for one consider the most damning thing that anyone can do is put a bloody number to an experience (which is what a game is), and the bastards plaster em all over the damn magazines, it reeks of unfeeling, mechanical science and if we go down that route, all games should come with a endorphin filled syringe, filled to the prescribed enjoyment level and then plunged into my brain, for that is what numbers fitted to an experience is to me and if anyone does try that on me in person, I will actually work out for the sole purpose of kaber tossing you into a tree.
If anyone gets the irony in that, then you are either very smart, or very Scottish.
Of course this kind of anger can only be prescribed against those that talk about the experience of the game, but if your talking about the machanics of the game, (good camera, excellent graphics blah blah blah), then yes a number ranking system is good for it, in fact I require it for the sole purpose of glazing over it and then trying the games demo instead. Because if there are any mechanics that spoil the game, then they spoil the experience, and the other guys will tell you that.
And that is what New Games Journalism is all about, talking about the experience rather than the mechanics, to know that you will most likely feel like a kid again when you play this indy game, and you know what?
That’s good, its what my own writing is going to be like if I play a game because I can only write about my own experience and what I felt whilst playing, although most likely a tad more long winded then most journalists, it will have the same character, the joy of a guy who never did grow up fully and thinks that to be an adult all the time is stupid and boring.
But I’m not the only one, there are many people with differencing ways of telling people what’s out there, Yahtzee from The Escapist, a online community solely catered for Gaming, creates Zero Punctuation a kind of video podcast where he reviews games for a living, using simplistic characters and artwork to push forward his thoughts on the matter.
And then he swears and cracks jokes all over it, with the speed of a Lion trying to decide whether to give the Cubs tofu, or a slice of Gazelle, the Gazelle wins of course, much tastier! Not so much for the Gazelle. Thankfully Yahtzee doesn’t butcher the review with all this and actually makes sense and is funny at the same time. He is both objective and subjective, he talks enough about the problems of the game mechanics that ruin the experience, yet he always describes the experience he has had with the game, which means that it all works, because you can be only subjective and only objective in a review, as you need both sides to truly explain the whole experience
And like me, he prescribes to the same idea that number based reviewing is stupid, because we all have our own minds and can make our own decisions. Its just a shame that most people seem to be sheep and will bleat with the herd.
I of course pretty much ignore most reviews and buy and play what games I want to, even if reviewers have said its bad and even enjoy them, why does this happen? Because compared to the bleating herd, I am a Bear that sits in a cave, smoking a bubblegum pipe, occasionally heading out to hunt some mutton for lunch.
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