[off-topic] Sony releases PS Vita SDK

[Sean Kelly]

On Apr 19, 2012, at 3:40 PM, Matt Soucy wrote:

> On 04/19/2012 06:31 PM, Sean Kelly wrote:
>> On Apr 19, 2012, at 3:20 PM, Nick Sabalausky wrote:
>> 
>>> "H. S. Teoh"<hsteoh at quickfur.ath.cx>  wrote in message
>>> news:mailman.1939.1334865913.4860.digitalmars-d at puremagic.com...
>>> 
>>>> But IMAO, indie gaming is where it's at these days. True creativity has
>>>> left commercial games since id's DOOM days.
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> Yea, pretty much. With a few exceptions (Splinter Cell 1 though...3 or 4,
>>> and some Japanese stuff), I see the mainstream industry as mostly a
>>> "Pixar-wannabe high-def-animation factory" these days. They don't care about
>>> gameplay anymore, just storytelling, animation and emulating Hollywood.
>> 
>> I've switched from calling those games to calling them interactive cinematic experiences.  Some are actually enjoyable from a story perspective, but overall I think they're an evolutionary dead end for the game industry.
> My personal favorite is the new Jurassic Park game, where most of the content is a quicktime event. Honestly? I love a good story, and I like my games to have a plot that keeps me interested in it, but it also has to have GAMEPLAY that keeps me interested.
> I agree, I don't see that type of game going much further.

I think it's going to take some time for studios to realize both that gamers don't want movies, and more importantly that the techniques for telling an effective story within a game are different from those within a movie because games provide choice to the player.

Alan Wake, for example, uses classic cinematic techniques for scaring the player, and to make sure they're experienced, railroads the player through the predetermined route, even if the rational choice would be to do something else.  In movies this technique is effective because seeing the protagonist do something stupid creates a sense of tension as the viewer anticipates the Bad Thing that is sure to happen.  In a game, the player just has the choice that should be provided to them taken away, creating a sense of frustration at not being able to do something sensible.  What follows is a tedious plod towards the inevitable Scary Moment, which still relies on the player walking along the correct path so the event is triggered from the intended position.

All of this is aside from the fact that the game industry seems to be making all the same mistakes the movie industry made in the 80s and 90s.