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"now there's going to be movies out of that studio, if Lorne Lanning is to be believed.
This may appear oddly self-serving, but I really like pieces like this and hope they continue. Ted Price is the head of a studio, so I'm not sure how involved he is in the actual making-of-games anymore; all the same, I'd love to see more coverage on the directors of games.
This argument has been made before, but I truly believe gaming needs a face, or faces, in order to become a popular medium. That might be putting the cart before the horse, but this has to start sooner or later, and I like seeing it. Thanks Bit"
Thursday, July 02, 2009
"m a design perspective, I love the idea of a sound indicating when the player has completed an objective (be that killing an enemy, solving a puzzle, etc.). Games that use audio touches like this rarely get praise for it, but it's one of the more subtle things that good games do ([i]Gears of War[/i]) and not-so-good games don't ([i]Army of Two[/i]).
I'd disagree on a more superficial level in that I don't think the piercing sound dehumanizes the combine at all. On the contrary, it reminds me of a flat-lining heart-rate monitor, and the realization that, inside, these guys are actually humans. That point is furthered by the fact that one of the first combine you meet actually turns out to be a friend -- these are real dudes behind the masks.
For me, that sound showed the humanity of my enemies and partly got me to empathize with them. Though, isn't the beauty of art that it can be taken in many different"
Thursday, July 02, 2009
"the most part, I completely agree with you. The movie comparison is excellent, and certainly something the gaming industry should aim for. However, there are things that are better left said at GDCs or behind the curtain, and of those developers need to be wary.
Just a couple examples:
Almost every game in history has had content that, because of timeline, budget, or simple scope issues, has had to be scrapped. Imagine if the general public got a hold of that. How much worse would BioShock's ending be if you knew Levine scripted it to be 10x better but they ran out of time? How frustrated would you be if you found out that GTAIV was supposed to be 10 hours shorter, but marketing made them extend it?
Also (and this is something I might write my own blog post about, but come on, it's Sunday night) there is the issue of auto-adjusting difficulty levels. Personally, I think this concept is brilliant, but once exposed it leaves the player feeling dejected, as he didn't "beat" the game, it just sort of laid down and took it. If only that part remained hidden, then the feeling of triumph would still be there.
Again, though, I agree for the most part. There are plenty of things that could be shown, but are not. But let's not rush into things too head first, e"
Sunday, May 10, 2009
