How do we categorise games like dear ester, gone home and depression quest?
- Thread starter Sneezeguard
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Well the Stanley Parable is no different from Dear Esther in terms of interaction. It just has different goals. So it would just be in the same category as Dear Esther.DizzyChuggernaut said:
Well the interaction between the narration and the player's actions as well as the multiple endings and easter eggs make it a lot different from Dear Esther (though it's the difference between walking from point A to point B and walking from point A to a choice of destinations).thanatos388 said:
Experimental. That is the go to category for atypical games.
But...
Considering there have been a few variations of Dear Esther, Stanley Parable and Gone Home type games it could be considered a genre of its own, and I've accepted "exploration game" as good catch all for that type of game. That is, after all, the appeal of those games... exploring. It's through the exploration the narrative unravels, if a narrative is even present that is.
Depression quest is a text based adventure game. There are plenty of those around and though it's an antiquated genre, the systems that define those games are well understood. DQ was made with a specific type of social commentary in mind and with contemporary setting. Other then that it's no different then Zork mechanically.
But...
Considering there have been a few variations of Dear Esther, Stanley Parable and Gone Home type games it could be considered a genre of its own, and I've accepted "exploration game" as good catch all for that type of game. That is, after all, the appeal of those games... exploring. It's through the exploration the narrative unravels, if a narrative is even present that is.
Depression quest is a text based adventure game. There are plenty of those around and though it's an antiquated genre, the systems that define those games are well understood. DQ was made with a specific type of social commentary in mind and with contemporary setting. Other then that it's no different then Zork mechanically.
Dear Ester and Gone Home are adventure games. Theres just barely anything to interact with, so they're occasionally called "Walking Simulators", as walking is the only action you can take. They're both bare bone adventure games. I suppose "Interactive Story" is what they want to be as adventure games. The "Adventure" genre has lost it's meaning over years, but I believe it ment taking the player for an adventure, so telling a story in game-like format should cover that label.Sneezeguard said:
Why these games are under such a heavy scrutiny is mostly because the uninformed praise they recieved. Dear Ester started as source mod, trying to push the source engine to its limits on graphical performance. And Gone Home is critically well recieved in the press for being something new and brave. Which makes no sense because its just another adventure game, with what many gamers consider as poor and uninteresting story. Not many gamers are interested about 1st world problems of some pink haired army dyke.
Depression Quest as I've heard, was never questioned IF its a game. Its really badly written and unhonest visual novel, coded in HTML. The game was then praised by many journalist and marketed by these same journalists, bullying depressed community. Most people don't like it for those reasons, or for what such PR strategies will do to Steam if this continues. If Steam doesn't hold any kind of quality control on what they allow through, Steam will end up like AppleStore.
It just means it easier to understand a game and what's going to be like and whether or not an individual may like it.Zachary Amaranth said:
You tell me a game is a JRPG or RTS I'm going to instantly understand roughly what that game is going to be like
Categories are just useful
I think this thread is a pretty good example of how fast categories can break down. At the same time, I'd point to the number of different ways people tend to categorise even broad categories like JRPGs.Sneezeguard said:It just means it easier to understand a game and what's going to be like and whether or not an individual may like it.Zachary Amaranth said:
You tell me a game is a JRPG or RTS I'm going to instantly understand roughly what that game is going to be like
Categories are just useful
I would personally categorize them as simulation/exploration games. You're simulating the feelings of depression in Depression Quest, and are exploring the environment in Dear Ester and Gone Home.
Gone Home and Dear Esther are essentially are galleries. They are a visual and auditory experience, but the "gameplay" is barely more interactive than pressing play on a tv remote. The fact that they are interactive has no bearing on the experience and they would have the exact same amount of emotional impact in a non-interactive medium. So they are absolutely not games.
Depression Quest isn't even an art gallery. It's an internet poll. The interactivity is a joke at best and an insult at worst. The closest category it could be in is a visual novel without any visuals or decent amount of text.
So "Non-visual short story" would fit it best.
Depression Quest isn't even an art gallery. It's an internet poll. The interactivity is a joke at best and an insult at worst. The closest category it could be in is a visual novel without any visuals or decent amount of text.
So "Non-visual short story" would fit it best.
Question: A 2D visual novel style of game with a branching story, skill points, skill checks and a relationship system, that has fail states and death but is only advanced through dialogue choices and training skills strategically - would that be an RPG, a visual novel or both?
Could you just call it an RPG? (after all you are playing a role even though features that are considered common for RPGs such as inventory management, combat (more than skill checks) and visual character customisation are not there)
Could you just call it an RPG? (after all you are playing a role even though features that are considered common for RPGs such as inventory management, combat (more than skill checks) and visual character customisation are not there)
Dude screw you, I came into this thread just to make that joke and skimmed through everything to make sure nobody had said it already, and you posted it in that time. I was going to say garbage, and it would've been funnier in the way I was planning on saying it.inu-kun said:
But from a practical standpoint, they should be categorized with point and click games, even if they aren't, since the presentation of the narrative is in a similar style.
Adventure game, adventure game, sim game. We already have names for games where you look around and explore they are the poorly named adventure game genre. Depression quest is something of a sim game for depression. It's actually rather gamey even.