283: Introducing The Escapist's Genre Wheel

[Russ Pitts]

Introducing The Escapist's Genre Wheel

The Escapist breaks games down to their basics and devises a genre classification system that covers all (ok, almost all) of the bases.

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[Socius]

Very interesting read, might hold onto that one.
Also very lovely colours on the wheel, I myself like to keep to the blue.
the RPG would be my favourite genre.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

Wow, that was really well thought out. I hope you guys plan on doing a panel about this at an upcoming convention. Like, say, PAX East.

 

[Nightfalke]

That is really cool. It's a lot of new ideas to process, which may frighten some people, but I think this if a very good step towards figuring out what people want in games and being able to determine what is best for your wallet.

 

[Rawle Lucas]

I like it; it looks like it would be a valuable tool for determining a game's genre.

Oddly enough, the game Sakura Wars occupies two spaces on the wheel: SC (turn-based strategy) and SE (adventure). Can we just place it under the broad umbrella of "strategy?" Nah, that'd be too general.

 

[Steve Butts]

I like it; it looks like it would be a valuable tool for determining a game's genre.

Oddly enough, the game Sakura Wars occupies two spaces on the wheel: SC (turn-based strategy) and SE (adventure). Can we just place it under the broad umbrella of "strategy?" Nah, that'd be too general.

Yeah, there are some odd cases here and there, especially with the interesting genre blends. In the case of a hybrids, I think we have to be rigorous in determining which type of gameplay is the primary focus of a game. In other words, is it mostly conflict with a bit of exploration, or is it mostly exploration with a bit of conflict? In the case of games like Dragon Age or Grand Theft Auto, the balance is pretty even.

I think the usefulness of the chart is in creating a framework for interpretation of a game's fundamental identity. We've been kicking it around for several weeks now and it's been very useful in providing context for our arguments.

 

[JEBWrench]

Fans of Civilization are now wondering why their favourite game is now an RPG according to yonder wheel.

 

[The Cheezy One]

Seems fairly smooth, with a few inconsistencies that would only fit on some weird 3D graph.
So this going to be incorporated into reviews? Would give people an idea of what kind of game they are looking at, before they watch the vid. Just a small diagram at the top, with he appropriate section marked

 

[MadTinkerer]

Problem is: Action-RPGs

Link and Adol (Ys series) laugh at your wheel for their games encompass the entirety of it! Puny other-genres!

 

[Formica Archonis]

Is it wrong that the title of this article had me expecting something more like the Animaniacs' Wheel of Morality, something to spin and have output a pithy response with no bearing on the topic at hand?

 

[Rawle Lucas]

I like it; it looks like it would be a valuable tool for determining a game's genre.

Oddly enough, the game Sakura Wars occupies two spaces on the wheel: SC (turn-based strategy) and SE (adventure). Can we just place it under the broad umbrella of "strategy?" Nah, that'd be too general.

Yeah, there are some odd cases here and there, especially with the interesting genre blends. In the case of a hybrids, I think we have to be rigorous in determining which type of gameplay is the primary focus of a game. In other words, is it mostly conflict with a bit of exploration, or is it mostly exploration with a bit of conflict? In the case of games like Dragon Age or Grand Theft Auto, the balance is pretty even.

I think the usefulness of the chart is in creating a framework for interpretation of a game's fundamental identity. We've been kicking it around for several weeks now and it's been very useful in providing context for our arguments.

In that case, I'd place Sakura Wars under SE, since your strength in the combat sections depends on how you behave during the adventure sections, and the adventure sections themselves take up a large part of the gameplay. However, the final levels of the game are loaded with battles, whereas before it was mostly one battle per level.

 

[coolguy5678]

The issue with forcing games to occupy points on the edge of a circle is that in order to make the A/S distinction more extreme, you are forced to make the E/C distinction less so, and vice versa. For example, this makes the Action RPG impossible to classify. Allowing games to occupy any point on a "genre plane" would make the system more expressive (albeit more complicated). Perhaps a simpler alternative would be to keep the 8 categories, but also add "ASCE" which resides in the centre of the wheel.

(I'm also not sure why you put music games where you did. Take Guitar Hero - ignoring Star Power, it's entirely devoid of strategy. The game literally tells you what the optimum set of input is.)

That said, I definitely agree that classifying games based on external form is far too simplistic and not particularly useful.

 

[Tempest13]

I approve of the Genre Wheel, and move to promote its use on the intrawebz

 

[Mullahgrrl]

This got me thinking, why don't you guys ever review any grand-strategy titles?

 

[Halo Fanboy]

It's easier just to use a tree diagram. It looks more natural and imitates the actual evolutionary history of video games ( like how Rouge evolved out of dungeon crawlers.)

 

[econael]

What's the difference between a Brawler and a Fighter?

Also what do you define as Grand Strategy?
Something like Rome:Total War? But that should be in between turn based and real time.

 

[Delusibeta]

The issue with forcing games to occupy points on the edge of a circle is that in order to make the A/S distinction more extreme, you are forced to make the E/C distinction less so, and vice versa. For example, this makes the Action RPG impossible to classify. Allowing games to occupy any point on a "genre plane" would make the system more expressive (albeit more complicated). Perhaps a simpler alternative would be to keep the 8 categories, but also add "ASCE" which resides in the centre of the wheel.

In the case of Zelda, you can probably make an argument for it being in Action/Combat/Exploration. Something along the lines of Knights of the Old Republic, however, I do think there's a discrepancy, and yeah I would agree with putting it into an "all of the above" category in the center of the wheel.

(I'm also not sure why you put music games where you did. Take Guitar Hero - ignoring Star Power, it's entirely devoid of strategy. The game literally tells you what the optimum set of input is.)

I don't follow. Music games are in Action/Exploration, which seems fair.

Also, I see the Rules have changed. Remember folks, the password is above the box.

 

[Crimson_Dragoon]

What's the difference between a Brawler and a Fighter?

Also what do you define as Grand Strategy?
Something like Rome:Total War? But that should be in between turn based and real time.

A brawler would be something along the lines of Final Fight or Streets of Rage (or you could argue for something like Devil May Cry). Fighters are like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat.

Don't know about Grand Strategies, though. I'm not familiar with that term.