More people have said that and been killed than there are thorium decay products.
If only programming weren't so overwhelming, I might be more inclined to work on making a nice game. But, I realize that creating a game is actually a lot of work.
More people have said that and been killed than there are thorium decay products.
Bluh, I am a westerner with nothing to add to the shmup genre anyway. I also wouldn't dare try and make a competent shmupper-game without understanding how to build a game engine, and I don't. I refuse to contribute to further saturating the shmups genre with a mediocre offering. If it doesn't look and feel like soul-rending, tripped-out, heart-pounding, cathartic SEX, I will refuse to call my pile of garbage a shmup.
More people have said that and been killed than there are thorium decay products.
^^ But even still, it implies "killing things repeatedly to improve skills instead of using your mind," which Miko just couldn't really make, even if it was smooth and easy, maybe even especially so. It would feel too much like empty padding.
More people have said that and been killed than there are thorium decay products.
The reason I am most interested in shmups is that I like the emotional intensity and puzzling designs and nuanced mechanics, all combined into a beautiful, kinetic piece of expression that can be simply watched and fully enjoyed in less than an hour, but has many layers of challenge and depth for people who want to play the game seriously. It is the only kind of game I am very interested in making, I think.
hmm, if I were bored enough, I might make a bizarre, provocative RPG kusoge or something with RPG Maker.
^^ But even still, it implies "killing things repeatedly to improve skills instead of using your mind," which Miko just couldn't really make, even if it was smooth and easy, maybe even especially so. It would feel too much like empty padding.
My Project 1's focused on analysis of the omnipresence of violence as a gameplay mechanic. Kind of like Bioshock's take on railroading, except with a third act that hopefully doesn't suck. Doesn't necessarily nullify the grinding problem, but it gives it context and meaning rather than just shoving it in a player's face and saying "do this or you don't get the rest of your game".
My Project 2's still pretty heavy, but it's less about becoming strictly stronger than your opponent and more about knowing how to use the skills, items and spells available to you to overcome your foes. It's based on Magic, which is by definition a game of strategy over mindless smashing (even if some decks use strategy to facilitate smashing), so that's kind of mandatory.
There's a lot of room for creativity in the genre if you're willing to get dirty and dig within yourself.
More people have said that and been killed than there are thorium decay products.
The challenging Final Fantasy X comes to mind, in which even the grinding required a little bit of thought, and the very tough scripted battles were very focused on strategy over raw stats (the sphere grid system taking the place of exp. and levels further emphasizes this). That game embraced what traditional jRPG gameplay is really about... although 50% of the game is cut scenes. :v In my opinion, FFX is the pinnacle of that grindy gameplay model.
Depending on the game is a pretty heavy factor here. For a game like Fable, the cutscenes absolutely killed the momentum. I think FFX struck a fair balance because, well, it's not a game about exploration or freedom or nonlinearity.
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
ideally, RPGs would not use cutscenes, but would express everything in the display mechanics of the rest of the game -- sprites, rendered polygons, or whatever.
at least, reserve cutscenes for those really, really rare and dramatic moments that are really, really special.
the reason is because, every time you change the display medium, that is a reminder to all of us to stop being immersed and remember that this is just a game.
the best RPGs of the "golden age" had no specially-animated cutscenes. FFIV, FFV, FFVI, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Terranigma...
well, the couldn't, but that's beside the point. what did FFVII do with its cutscenes? It made the game feel like shuttling characters between pieces of a movie. it was like watching a movie but having to advance the story by going between places and battling things. it divorced gameplay from story.
contrast with, say, FFVI -- where the "cutscenes" can play out almost anywhere -- in a town, in a dungeon, even in the middle of a battle screen. have Terra use magic that battle with Locke and Edgar and suddenly the battle...music keeps going while the action stops and Locke and Edgar go nuts over it.
it does not beat you over the head with "HEY, IT'S A BIG DRAMATIC THING HAPPENING, BRACE YOURSELVES." instead, it just makes you think it's a standard boss battle and then suddenly it's more than just that.
There are some things you just can't show well in a game's native interface. Imagine, say, panning around Dracula's castle at the beginning of Symphony of the Night, in on-the-spot-rendered 3D. There's really no point to doing that cutscene in the game's interface system, because it's dramatically separated (by a fade-to-black) from the gameplay anyway. The point of it was to set a stage for the action.
I like to point to CvSotN for its FMV cutscene usage. Its cutscenes weren't exactly the best -- it was still the early days of 3D animation and it shows. But the dramatic placement of its four FMVs -- at the beginning, after the prologue, at the climax in the middle, and after the end -- is very effective. They're used not to display character interactions with the game world -- they're used to illustrate the setting, and to show how it changes.
I guess what I'm saying is, I don't mind a little cinematics in my video games. I like the use of cutscenes in, say, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, in which they're very much cinematic. I feel it sets the mood nicely.
Likewise Rayman 3, in which they're actually referred to as 'cinematics'.
Comments
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
let's see if this breaks the formatting
This is why you should always pay for games rather than pirating them
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
the best RPGs are the ones that don't make you grind, or otherwise disguise it in a way that you don't really notice
hmm, if I were bored enough, I might make a bizarre, provocative RPG kusoge or something with RPG Maker.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
at least, reserve cutscenes for those really, really rare and dramatic moments that are really, really special.
the reason is because, every time you change the display medium, that is a reminder to all of us to stop being immersed and remember that this is just a game.
well, the couldn't, but that's beside the point. what did FFVII do with its cutscenes? It made the game feel like shuttling characters between pieces of a movie. it was like watching a movie but having to advance the story by going between places and battling things. it divorced gameplay from story.
it does not beat you over the head with "HEY, IT'S A BIG DRAMATIC THING HAPPENING, BRACE YOURSELVES."
instead, it just makes you think it's a standard boss battle and then suddenly it's more than just that.
The best game design embraces and fully uses its interface.
This means using an interface that people are familiar with to introduce novel thoughts, ideas, plotlines, and more.
This is a bad opinion. I don't care.
Cutscenes have their place, in my opinion.
There are some things you just can't show well in a game's native interface. Imagine, say, panning around Dracula's castle at the beginning of Symphony of the Night, in on-the-spot-rendered 3D. There's really no point to doing that cutscene in the game's interface system, because it's dramatically separated (by a fade-to-black) from the gameplay anyway. The point of it was to set a stage for the action.
I like to point to CvSotN for its FMV cutscene usage. Its cutscenes weren't exactly the best -- it was still the early days of 3D animation and it shows. But the dramatic placement of its four FMVs -- at the beginning, after the prologue, at the climax in the middle, and after the end -- is very effective. They're used not to display character interactions with the game world -- they're used to illustrate the setting, and to show how it changes.
I guess what I'm saying is, I don't mind a little cinematics in my video games. I like the use of cutscenes in, say, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, in which they're very much cinematic. I feel it sets the mood nicely.
Likewise Rayman 3, in which they're actually referred to as 'cinematics'.