Making a game and wanted to ask people here a question...

[ExtraWildGames]

Do you, as people of the general public, and as a gamer, really care about "buzzword" design tropes for games? My point being when someone says "this game is a soulslike." I don't really like this one-note sorta offhand denotion of a game. Do you care if an up and coming game is a "Soulslike" or "DMC style" action game? Do those keywords in articles, and sometimes even steam pages themselves, entice you to play the game more?

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I find that they're useful descriptors to get across what the game generally plays like in a single word. I would even say that it tends to describe a game better than the genre that the game is in.

Like a Souls game is at its base an action RPG, but "action RPG" can describe any number of games, including something like The Witcher or Fable. Telling me that something is a souls-like lets me know way more about the game than saying it's an action RPG. If someone doesn't like Souls-likes they can immediately know that it's a game they probably won't like and don't need to look into further.

I wouldn't say that the words entice me to play a game more, but they could get me to look into it further to see if I'll like something about it beyond the descriptor, or it can have the opposite effect and let me know that a game isn't going to play in a way that I enjoy, and I can therefore ignore it.

For example, the only reason I looked into Remnant from the Ashes is because it was described to be as a third person shooter souls-like which seemed interesting conceptually. I would likely have overlooked the game if it was described in a different way.

 

[laggyteabag]

I don't think you need to go too in-depth when it comes to the basics of the game - ie, I can figure out pretty easily if it is an FPS or a platformer.

But labeling the sub-genre - soulslike, roguelike/roguelite, metroidvania, etc - is pretty important, because trailers or screenshots might not be able to convey that so easily, and they're usually pretty make or break for some people. Though I understand that it can sometimes be pretty difficult to fit some games into a label.

 

[Drathnoxis]

If I hear the word Roguelike describing a game, my interest is immediately roused.

 

[ExtraWildGames]

I don't think you need to go too in-depth when it comes to the basics of the game - ie, I can figure out pretty easily if it is an FPS or a platformer.

But labeling the sub-genre - soulslike, roguelike/roguelite, metroidvania, etc - is pretty important, because trailers or screenshots might not be able to convey that so easily, and they're usually pretty make or break for some people. Though I understand that it can sometimes be pretty difficult to fit some games into a label.

screenshots can definitely be hard to tell, but I think gameplay wise, the game should be clear on how it is played based on non-cinematic trailers.

 

[Ezekiel]

Depends on what it means. If it's more R3 lock-on where you can't move sideways and backwards without a target because the button is so uncomfortable to hold, can't circle around a target while moving the camera and the whole system is built around invincibility rolling through seeking attacks rather than finding your spacing and the best position a la Streets of Rage by just moving, then, eh, not interested anymore.

Tired of this. She dodged in time and was still hit. Typical.

If it's the Souls kind of world progression, then it could appeal to me. Maybe.

 

[ExtraWildGames]

If I hear the word Roguelike describing a game, my interest is immediately roused.

In your opinion, what do you define as a "roguelike?" I hear that term more like a sort of different level and progression level design philosophy than a defined genre.

 

[ExtraWildGames]

Depends on what it means. If it's more R3 lock-on where you can't move sideways and backwards without a target because the button is so uncomfortable to hold, can't circle around a target while moving the camera and the whole system is built around invincibility rolling through seeking attacks rather than finding your spacing and the best position a la Streets of Rage by just moving, then, eh, not interested anymore.

Tired of this. She dodged in time and was still hit. Typical.

If it's the Souls kind of world progression, then it could appeal to me. Maybe.

My game is definitely going for that Yakuza/Devil May Cry/Madworld kinda feel. I do like the feel of those 3 games.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

My game is definitely going for that Yakuza/Devil May Cry/Madworld kinda feel. I do like the feel of those 3 games.

Yakuza, Devil May Cry, and Madworld are very different games that play and feel very differently.

 

[laggyteabag]

In your opinion, what do you define as a "roguelike?" I hear that term more like a sort of different level and progression level design philosophy than a defined genre.

Not OP, but a Roguelike is definitely a sub-genre, and not a genre in and of itself. As you say, it mostly determines how progression works, and not necessarily the type of game.

The strictest definition for what a Roguelike is, is it is "like Rogue", which was a 1985 top-down dungeon crawler with permadeath, a randomly generated map, enemy placement, and loot:

In modern terms though, a Roguelike is agnostic of overall genre, but they usually retain a lot of the other elements from the original Rogue, namely the permadeath and random generation.

Roguelites on the other hand are more or less the same as Roguelikes, but there is usually some kind of meta progression to make the game easier. So you might be able to permanently upgrade your health or damage, that is persistent between each run.

 

[Drathnoxis]

In your opinion, what do you define as a "roguelike?" I hear that term more like a sort of different level and progression level design philosophy than a defined genre.

@laggyteabag pretty much already answered for me. Permadeath, procedurally generated world, and randomized enemy placement and loot. Those are pretty much the essentials, though I also think that runs need to feel distinct from each other to maintain the spirit of a roguelike. Meta-progression makes it a rogue-lite. People have muddied the terms through unclear use, but that's what I think of as a roguelike.

 

[Dreiko]

It's just descriptive words at the end of the day, to give you and idea of what the game is trying to do. It doesn't need to have them. I see them the same way I see genres. Like sometimes I feel like playing a fighting game for high speed intense action, and sometimes I feel like playing an RPG for a more slow, immersive experience where I get lost in some new world full of fantasy.

You don't need them but they don't hurt, and unless you yourself have the desire to make a game with that description as your aim you don't have to be wed to those terms either.