Extra Punctuation: Not All Sequels Suck

[Shannon Spencer Fox]

I actually paused a little after clicking on Post on my original comment... I guess you have a point there - the two movies were basically different genres.

I think I recall reading once the original 'Alien' was meant to be a horror movie, but in space, yes... but it also helped that it was actually something of a metaphor about, ah, forced invasion, as it were: http://www.cracked.com/article_18932_alien-film-franchise-based-entirely-rape.html

 

[swenson]

You mentioned Inform! My life is complete! I can go all whiny fangirl and snobbishly complain that TADS is far superior if you'd like, though.

Text adventures in general are awesome, though. They're much easier to put together than a graphical game, even if you use a more difficult language like TADS, so you can focus on creating good gameplay and story rather than worry about physics engines or graphics.

(for the uninitiated--Inform is more of a scripting language, while TADS is more of a complete programming language, just specifically geared toward the creation of text adventures. As the joke goes, TADS is so powerful, you could create Inform in TADS! Both are very powerful, however, and you can make complex, fascinating games in both. If you've never played a text adventure, first, I pity you. Second, check out Dreamhold [http://eblong.com/zarf/dreamhold.html] by Andrew Plotkin--it's a great introduction to the whole thing, and it's a wee bit easier to figure out than something impossible like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game.shtml]. When you're done with that, there's thousands more at the IF Archive [http://www.ifarchive.org/] (as it's rather a large place, you might be better served by looking at Baf's Guide to the IF Archive [http://www.wurb.com/if/], which categorizes and reviews many of the games in the Archive).

If you're interested in writing interactive fiction on your own, why not check out TADS, Inform, ADRIFT, or one of the other many free IF creation tools out there? If you'd like to learn about TADS, check out the official site [http://www.tads.org/], where you can download it for free and get some really great literature/tutorials [http://www.tads.org/t3doc/doc/index.htm] to introduce you to it. Inform can be found here [http://inform7.com/] and ADRIFT (another relatively simple system) is here [http://www.adrift.org.uk/cgi/new/adrift.cgi]. If you want advice on writing text adventures, there's some great articles over at The Brass Lantern [http://www.brasslantern.org/]. Enjoy!)

I'm a little obsessed with these things, can you tell?

 

[RA92]

I actually paused a little after clicking on Post on my original comment... I guess you have a point there - the two movies were basically different genres.

I think I recall reading once the original 'Alien' was meant to be a horror movie, but in space, yes... but it also helped that it was actually something of a metaphor about, ah, forced invasion, as it were: http://www.cracked.com/article_18932_alien-film-franchise-based-entirely-rape.html

Ah, a fellow Cracked reader! Yes, I'm quite... aware... of that article.

 

[Rect Pola]

I would point out Symphony of the Night and ask if it isn't better to spread out into new ideas than concentrate eternally on spinning the same straw into gold.

Really? What about that time Nintendo did experiment with a beloved franchise and tried to introduce a new tool in the form of an "asinine water pistol" said character could use for different ways to get around and as an extra game mechanic, "clean up huge piles of semi-liquid shit". Or when they eschewed heavy graphics for a more colorful aesthetic with a travel mechanic that effectively instilled the sense of a truly huge open world without rendering 800 square miles they don't care about.

Yeah, it be a pity if the raw backlash of the unpleasable left such a bad taste in their mouth it cemented the idea that fans clamoring for changes and new ideas is so much speech via highly controlled farts and all we really want is more stylish versions of what we've nostalgia'd to the point of deifying.

 

[ShakyFiend]

The Unity3D engine already does this to a certain extent, seriously, look it up if your at all interested in making games, its free as well!

 

[Jaker the Baker]

Isn't that technically how the professional game designer's job works?

"Here's my ideas, written out in excruciating detail, now game design team, I COMMAND YOU TO BRING THEM TO LIFE!"

The designer doesn't actually HAVE to know much programming

 

[EgonCom]

Create a deep, intuitive toolset designed for non-programmers that can let you create models, textures and game mechanics with dropdowns and a visual mouse-driven interface to as complex a level as the user desires, so that any lone developer, like ones who specialize more in aesthetics or story writing, can create a game that could then be sold in mainstream circles or over Steam to anyone who wants to look for it? Would that not spark the same creative renaissance in gaming that inexpensive digital cameras created in the film industry?

"You may say that I'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one..."

 

[Shannon Spencer Fox]

Ah, a fellow Cracked reader! Yes, I'm quite... aware... of that article.

Indeed! Very nice site, since it's usually both funny and very informative.

Back on-topic, I did forget to mention something else: there was always SCUMM too, or 'Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion', in case anyone's not familiar with the term. It was, naturally, what was used to make the first two Monkey Island games, the Indiana Jones games, and lots of others, though I'm not sure how complex it was, and I'm almost positive it wasn't ever released in any non-commercial fashion. Then there's the AGS, or Adventure Game Studio, which frankly I'm surprised Yahtzee didn't mention, having made a handful of games with it... assuming he even wants to remember those. Which is a shame, since, in my opinion, they were all quite good, flaws and all.

 

[TheOneandOnly]

But what if mainstream gaming took the Inform 7 approach? Create a deep, intuitive toolset designed for non-programmers that can let you create models, textures and game mechanics with dropdowns and a visual mouse-driven interface to as complex a level as the user desires, so that any lone developer, like ones who specialize more in aesthetics or story writing, can create a game that could then be sold in mainstream circles or over Steam to anyone who wants to look for it?

I actually think this is your strongest point in that entire article. I had been thinking about the same thing myself recently. All other forms of story-telling (books, movies, music) are all very easy to create. All you have to do is just pick up a pen and some paper/video camera/instrument and go at it. Video games are not at the point were they can do that (the closest thing is Game Maker, and even that needs a decent amount of technical expertise), and I think that is really hampering the medium. You hear that developers? Make a freeware program that makes creating games so stupidly simple my grandmother could do it! Get on it!

Apologies for the giant quote, but...

The "toolset designed for non-programmers" which Yahtzee describes sounds rather like the Unreal Development Kit, which I fear is destined to do more harm than good. In his Little Big Planet review, Yahtzee made the point that the average person playing the game is not a creative genius who can make a fantastic level just because they have the right tools at their disposal. Game development has long been somewhat elitist, there being relatively few people capable of making anything noteworthy out of the millions of people with access to current tools and hardware. Personally I feel this is how it should remain. Once you start making it "easy" to make games, you open the flood gates to the talentless hoards who want their five minutes of fame, and devalue the development process of all games.

In metaphorical terms, if you want to build a bridge, hire the trained engineer, not the guy with the DIY toolset who works at the scrap metal yard...

 

[BreakfastMan]

snip...

I actually think that is a bad thing. Let us look at books for example. Would it have really been good if writing books was so complicate that only a select few with years of training could write them? I think not. If that were so, we would not get amazing stories like The Umbrella Academy (written by the lead singer of My Chemical Romance), one of my favorite graphic novels of all time.

Or let us look at movies. How many film directors got there start doing very low budget indy films when they had little experience or training in directing? Make things more complicated and you loose a lot of the potential creators that are out there, simply because they cannot get into it. Would Sam Raimi have made Within the Woods if the simple act of making one took years upon years of very technical training? I think not.

I do not think making games easier to create would "open the flood gates to the talentless hoards who want their five minutes of fame" which would then "devalue the development process of all games". I mean, if that happens, then it would follow that the same happened with films and books, amirite? Yet it hasn't, so that leads me to believe that it won't.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Just because the story's good doesn't mean the game's good, of course. RPG Maker comes to mind.

Some RPG Maker games are pretty incredible.

Leo and Leah [http://rpgmaker.net/games/2324/] Incredibly thought provoking story. (Especially after chapter 4)

Sunset over Imdahl [http://freehare.com/games/detail/sunset_over_imdahl] Shows just why time travel is never a good idea...

Ara Fell [http://rpgmaker.net/games/12/] Widely hailed as the most beautiful RPG Maker game.

Exit Fate [http://site.scfworks.com/?page_id=3] Basically Suikoden

Edit: FEH! I completely inverted the point of your post. I apologize for that. RPG Maker game with a good battle system...? Well, the one that comes to mind is...

A Home Far Away [http://rpgmaker.net/games/2226/] Youtube up some gameplay videos.

 

[Axelhander]

Strongly disagree about SotN's merits, as it traded thoughtful level design and player character limitations with long boring hallways and a leveling/gear system that gives the player way too much power.

That's not to say SotN's premise is flawed, mind you. I just feel that Super Metroid and Cabe Story executed it much better.

 

[beema]

I really wish more of those early 3d-era games had taken the "leper king" approach.
The awful low-polygon count blobs that made up so many games then are a complete turnoff for me, both at the time they came out, but more especially now when I want to go back and experience some of the ones I never played.
I know people love the shit out of FF7, but for me the hopping marshmallows that were the characters on environment maps that were super detailed made the game feel absurd. I always imagine how cool it would have been if they had stuck with 2D sprites for just one more iteration, and just made them super-detailed.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

I actually think that is a bad thing. Let us look at books for example. Would it have really been good if writing books was so complicate that only a select few with years of training could write them?

Well, actually, it already is. Writing takes both talent and experience, and is much more involved than "have a good idea and then write 400 pages of your characters diong things". Very few people actually write on a level that is publishable. See: Fanfiction.

 

[cynicalsaint1]

But what if mainstream gaming took the Inform 7 approach? Create a deep, intuitive toolset designed for non-programmers that can let you create models, textures and game mechanics with dropdowns and a visual mouse-driven interface to as complex a level as the user desires, so that any lone developer, like ones who specialize more in aesthetics or story writing, can create a game that could then be sold in mainstream circles or over Steam to anyone who wants to look for it?

I actually think this is your strongest point in that entire article. I had been thinking about the same thing myself recently. All other forms of story-telling (books, movies, music) are all very easy to create. All you have to do is just pick up a pen and some paper/video camera/instrument and go at it. Video games are not at the point were they can do that (the closest thing is Game Maker, and even that needs a decent amount of technical expertise), and I think that is really hampering the medium. You hear that developers? Make a freeware program that makes creating games so stupidly simple my grandmother could do it! Get on it!

I think the problem with this is that the more you simplify the language the less control you have over what you can create with it. Making a text adventure game is one thing, but when you start talking about more complicated games its a different story. While toolsets and specialized scripting languages can help remove complexity from programming and such, they tend to be rather focused in what you can do with them. So no matter how powerful your toolset you're always going to be limited by what its capable of, and generally speaking the simpler the toolset the less powerful it is.

So sure coming up with a simple intuitive language for creating text based games is one thing, but more complex games will always require more complex tools, and more complex tools will always require more technical knowledge.

Really I think the best route is to the kind of scenario being talked about here is through modding toolsets. You can take out a lot of the complexity due to the fact that most of the guts of the game are already put together.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

That's what I've been Saying (rambling) for a LONG time now! Personally, I want Valve to release a retail version of Source that lets us Noobs make 3D FP games without any (or very little) technical knowledge.

 

[Katana314]

The one reason I'd argue against the toolset idea is that the only way for it to be simple is for the writer to not get quite as involved in the game's subtleties of its mechanics, which are usually meant to be the star piece of the set. Braid had time travel as Tim's "alternate way of viewing the world." Bioshock had you using plasmids as a demonstration of what kind of shit caused the city to collapse.

The best contribution a writer will make to a AAA game is deciding how the mechanics work, not even necessarily what the dialogue is like.

 

[Durananrananrananran]

Alien/Aliens

I would have to disagree with that. While I respect Cameroon's sequel for creating a number of popular tropes, it was largely underwhelming compared to Ridley Scott's tension-filled, well-paced narration. It's like comparing Amnesia to Dead Space.

When I was a kid it seemed everyone apart from me thought Aliens was better than Alien. I prefer Alien.

Superman 2 is better than Superman.

Nice article. If there was a game making tool that was as easy to pick up as say, Powerpoint, or even Buzz tracker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_Tracker), I'd definitely be making games...

 

[BloodSquirrel]

I definitely think it applies to traditional storytelling media like films and novels,

There are plenty of examples there too.
Terminator 2 > Terminator
The Colour of Magic is inferior to most of what came later.
Aliens is regarded as being as good or better than the original.
Star Trek went through an entire TV series and Star Trek: The Motion Picture before Wrath of Khan came out.
Army of Darkness is better than the original Evil Dead.
Lord of the Rings came from The Hobbit.

 

[Jim15]

Something about this article that felt off to me was that you pointed out how Mario and Zelda almost never really change, while praising Symphony of the Night for being one of the few platformers that encourages exploration. But that's exactly what Super Mario 64 did, and it came out a year before SOTN. Speaking of, aside from its' token story of having to save the princess and having the same characters, almost everything about that Mario game was different from the ones before.

That's all for criticism, I for the most part agree with what you had to say and am pretty much on the same page when it comes to my attitude about sequels. Even when that sequel happens to be good, there's just something that makes me want to hate them. Whether it's because it isn't very creative, makes me think the developers/publishers just want a cash cow, or maybe even because everyone is so willing to go along with them without questioning it, I'm not sure really.