Jimquisition: Perfect Pasta Sauce
- Thread starter Jimothy Sterling
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On one hand, I want to have this sent to all publishers immediately and make them watch it again and again until they get it.
On the other hand, I want to make sure no publishers see this and allow them to continue bringing about their own deaths. If they're this fucking horrible at running a business then they shouldn't be in these jobs in the first place.
On the other hand, I want to make sure no publishers see this and allow them to continue bringing about their own deaths. If they're this fucking horrible at running a business then they shouldn't be in these jobs in the first place.
Microsoft didn't do anything to Rare. Rare ruined Rare. Why do you think Nintendo was so willing to sell? Because they knew Rare was turning into shit. It astounds me how many people still don't realize this very simple fact and blame Microsoft.I.Muir said:
I've actually had an episode all about MMOs planned for a while, along those lines.Dr.Awkward said:
I've been wondering how long it's going to take before developers start thinking in terms of niche markets. I'd like more RPGs with rich characterization options like Bioware makes.
Excellent analogy, Jim. I see no need to mix in elements in a game where they don't make sense. I noticed you didn't mention anything publishers are doing to MMORPGs, so those are safe, right?
I'm equally interested in and scared of seeing a "point and click" game, made today. The plot could be taken from a good book, if it's too difficult for publishers to think of a good storyline. It could be very interesting, having all this modern tech and all. Probably AAA fans wouldn't like it very much, but still it'd be a bloody fascinating project 
Good points indeed there Jim! There's definitely a lot of other kinds of games to be made out there. Fortunately they do seem to be getting tackled by other developers, either on their own or through ventures such as Kickstarter. Hell, just look at the massive kickstarting success of Star Citizen, or the upcoming release of Stardrive. A new Freelancer and a new Master of Orion like experience? Sign me the hell up!
Support for smarter more diverse types of games have been so big that AAA companies aren't going to ignore smaller more stylised titles or forms of game-play. COD, Halo, and Battle Field are one angle that big publishers are going in, but I think they are going to considerable effort to try and captivate the middle ground. For example: support for new independent developers, more willingness to finance indie development with smaller budgets and to produce mid-level titles for themselves.
The X-Com example is a good example for this. Through" duress" when X-Com was released as a strategy game not an FPS it sounds like it was a complete fluke that something like that happened. The big publishers look at the people still buying games decided to do this. This shows growth not idiots who stumbled upon something. There will be more games like X-Com it's just takes time for larger companies to evolve to market changes.
The X-Com example is a good example for this. Through" duress" when X-Com was released as a strategy game not an FPS it sounds like it was a complete fluke that something like that happened. The big publishers look at the people still buying games decided to do this. This shows growth not idiots who stumbled upon something. There will be more games like X-Com it's just takes time for larger companies to evolve to market changes.
Great show Jim! got to say the decline & stagnation of the MMO market with all those WoW clones should of been the early warning signal for the AAA market especially after SWTOR failed.
So much focus on FPS's while the publishers forgot about the super success of XCOM, Batman Arkham City & company =/
Quoted For Awesome TruthWaaghpowa said:
So much focus on FPS's while the publishers forgot about the super success of XCOM, Batman Arkham City & company =/
TV Tropes to the rescue!ZexionSephiroth said:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScienceFantasy
Complete with Video Game samples to go and try out X3
I had a similar reaction to "Red Alert 3" and "Decent" in the same post.SirCannonFodder said:
OT: I think Jim actually helped me out here with the whole Pasta example than he realised. Thank Menoth for Jim X3
Ironically, the shooter that will eventually outsell Call of Duty will be something disruptive - something new, nothing like Call of Duty, that takes chances and redefines the genre. You'll never outsellf Call of Duty with a CoD-like game, because the CoD fans are used to it already, and like it how it is. Plus they're getting new version just as often as they want them, they definitely don't want another similar shooter when they're 'shooter slot' is filled by Call of Duty already.
... you know platformers are probably the most numerous type of game at the moment because they're the easiest for entry level designers to make, yes? And that lots of them are unique, well-received games?I.Muir said:
The reality of the current market, is that anyone working at EA or unfortunately Squeenix or similar dinosaurs ought to be sprucing up their resume and taking a little look around to see if there's any other job options available to them. As Shamus and others regularly say, the future seems to be in small and medium-small sized companies making games with budgets that are actually budgeted towards projected sales, rather than projecting sales based on how much has been spent.Sam Rothrock said:
Oh god awesome video Jim. In my opinion the industry had more variety in the 90s then it does now but I'm a bit of a retro gamer. It's good to see so many indies making great games though. What your opinion on that, was the industry better in the 90s in terms of the process of how games were made and if so what changed and why?
Okay. Try Braid, Limbo, Terraria, Cave Story (my personal favorite out of the bunch), and any games from the Basement Collection. Like I said, Cave Story is the one I recommend the most, as it feels more platformy than the others. In my opinion, of course. All of them are for PC, so go check them out.I.Muir said:
(I want 2D platformers too. I freaking love those games.)
OT- YES JIM YES. I fully agree that I'd like something new and interesting. I don't want homogenization, I want my good games. Considering I'm getting out of my zone and trying new things, I really what I'm seeing. I started Ys Origins. Fucking fantastic and a change from my days of playing TF2 and Skyrim.
Bravo man, bravo.
Guild Wars 2 is out, it's good, and it's like a love-letter to World of Warcraft and anyone who wanted to play that game but found it stupid, as they'e specifically re-engineer all the things people mock about WoW. instead of 120 skills you get 10. Instead of killing wolves to fetch hearts only to realize this wofl -has no heart- you go to areas where there are three different things t do and they all count equally towards the quest. instead of standing still in combat, tapping the number keys, the game requires dodge and maneuvering. Instead of the holy trinity of classes, the game is specifically designed so that every class is a red mage, and it's impossible to make a dedicated tank or healer. The gameworld is more unique than a cookie-cutter fantasy. The higher tier and harder to get loot is, the less of a difference in makes. You can put any skin on any armor so you don't have to choose between stats and appearance. Each level takes about the same amount of time to unlock, and you get the same experience from a level 5 zone as from a level 80 one. When you attack a monster someone else is fighting, you each get a seperate loot roll, and each get the same experience you'd get from soloing it. I don't know about WvW and PvP but I hear good things.Dr.Awkward said:
I think it's because people looked at the first game, saw a guy a guy with a gun and a third person perspective, and though "oh, this must be a third person shooter!"Sgt. Sykes said:
Of course it wasn't; it was an RPG. And so those people bitched about the shooting mechanics being janky and not skill based, which would be fair if it were a third person shooter. But it wasn't; it was an RPG.
And so Bioware were bought by EA, and EA/Bioware decided that what people wanted *wasn't* an RPG, but a third-person shooter with RPG elements. That lead them to scrapping the inventory system rather than fixing it by introducing context sensitive stacking and ordering (which is all that was needed to fix the inventory system from the first game), turned the gameplay into a third-person shooter, and turned the game into a relatively small number of linear missions.
Now I really liked ME2, but I *loved* ME1 in spite of its myriad flaws. ME3 just fell apart completely as soon as it hit London.
Activison pulled the plug on all their Crash bandicoot adventure games to focus on their COD games.
Jim is so right.
Jim is so right.
I really liked this episode. The example given at the beginning, of how every sauce was the same, and now we have variety, makes me hopeful for the day that we break out of the rut that the industry seems to be in and have a lot more choice of what we play.
Wow, insightful to say the least.
Recently you've been looking into how budgeting has been going on in the AAA companies and I believe this to be one of the conclusions of that line of thinking. Keep at it, this is what I've been wanting someone in the public eye to say for years. Not only is swinging for the moon every time bad, but it misses out on smaller opportunities. Well made inexpensive games are doing very well right now. Not just doubling or tripling investment but tearing the ROI calculator a new one. Big companies need to get their act together and realize that while they're dicking around with the AAA money they can still throw some money to these smaller games and make good or even better returns per dollar invested.
Frankly, it's a significant opportunity cost of them failing to do so.
Recently you've been looking into how budgeting has been going on in the AAA companies and I believe this to be one of the conclusions of that line of thinking. Keep at it, this is what I've been wanting someone in the public eye to say for years. Not only is swinging for the moon every time bad, but it misses out on smaller opportunities. Well made inexpensive games are doing very well right now. Not just doubling or tripling investment but tearing the ROI calculator a new one. Big companies need to get their act together and realize that while they're dicking around with the AAA money they can still throw some money to these smaller games and make good or even better returns per dollar invested.
Frankly, it's a significant opportunity cost of them failing to do so.