Entitled said:
Snip, although it's a good post.
I actually do play indie titles, and considering what I'm working on as a student, I'm definitely not sticking to the Twilight/Fifty Shades modern standards. I'm quite fond of Uplink, I used to play Minecraft with a few friends in a somewhat regular fashion, and I especially like it when small teams release things that break the mould. You've read my post while assuming I had my blinders on and couldn't see past Triple-A development, but that's not the case.
I'm just disappointed that it's come to this, if I have to try and be clearer. We've reached a point where apart for the rare chart-topping indie title, what you're likely to see on top shelves is the same recycled Triple-A material, year after year after year. I'm disappointed that bravery in designing games or interactive experiences hasn't been embraced in better a fashion than it has. I'm missing the SPIRIT of garage developers, and I'd really like to see someone with a Triple-A's budget manage to produce something that won't feel like it's being castrated by an oblivious focus group or marketing execs desperately trying to keep their company aground by producing me-too material.
I'm well aware that innovation isn't unilaterally dead and gone, I know I can reach out to what's done in small and self-published studios or even in places like Newgrounds and Armor Games. I know I still have those options.
What I've been trying to say is that I'd like the Triple-A devs to actually pay attention to what the indies are pulling off. Look at Portal 2 or Team Fortress 2. What's made them succeed isn't their marketing campaign or the fact that one of them switched to Free-to-Play. Valve titles in general tend to prove that there *is* a place for innovation and smart writing and dialogue in Triple-A development. Not every single product needs to cater to the Would-Be Thug or Dude-Bro crowd, or to sports fans who don't mind getting a slightly shinier roster update every year for a full sixty bucks.
The day the big fish do start to understand that, we won't need tie-in marketing campaigns like these. We won't need egregious sequels designed to keep the money flowing. We won't need things like Mass Effect 4 or Halo 4 or even the shift in focus Dragon Age 2 represented.
But, of course, they won't understand. Hollywood appeals to our base emotions and only considers our brains once the Oscar season rolls in. Then, its best pseudo-intellectual efforts tend to revolve around the same tired old themes and tired old tropes disguised as narrative depth, when it's really just another pandering display of profundity. The mainstream industry follows that exact pattern.
It's that divide that's frustrating me. I'd like a gaming culture when I can enjoy something that has the structural means of a summertime explosion-fest and the narrative and scenario-related capabilities of things like Journey or Passage.
LazyAza said:
I'm eagerly looking forward to the inevitable industry wide crash that happens next gen when budgets are so bloated, development so insanely time consuming and costly and the relentless greed so all encompassing the entire medium collapses on itself. Too many companies and the people running them have grown too arrogant, too money obsessed and they all need a giant reality wakeup boot to the face.
Then, of course, the cycle begins anew. The surviving companies in the midst of the Great 2020 Mass Game Extinction Event climb on top of their predecessors' corpses and establish themselves as the leading force. New consoles are spawned, new games are made, some become successful, money is made...
Fast-forward to 2055 or thereabouts, and we have ourselves a third video game crash. Ad infinitum.
