lack of fresh development ideas

[moora101]

This is a little bit related to gp32, but here's my thoughts on development ideas...

Recently I've been playing old games on various GP32 emulators and it's made me come to the conclusion that there seems to be very little "imagination" when it comes to games these days...

But I'm not talking about large production games for the major platforms as I believe that in general games design has been stagnant for a good number of years now... what I'm talking about is on homebrew development on platforms such as the GP32.

If you look at games design and production on 8 bit computers (such as the Spectrum and C64) it was very much a homebrew development. Most games were made by 2-3 people max and a lot of excellent games were developed by one guy alone. What these games lacked in production value they more than made up for in fresh ideas.

I could rattle of a huge list of games that had taken obscure or abstract ideas and turned them into fantastic games, but that would take up too much time!

But compare them to the homebrew games that are made now, how many Tetris clones, or bomberman, or space invaders (well, you know what I mean!!)games are there now? It seems that every game (especially on the GP32) is an "update" of a previously tested formula. Rarely do I see a game that looks like it's taken an original idea on paper and turned it into a promising and fun game (even if the gfx are poor! )

Maybe it's because developers are now more concerned with how to program than the creative side of games. (People prefering to play in the orchestra instead of being composers... B) ) If this is the case then it definitely reflects on large production games...

We still see homebrew being the saving grace of future games and consoles but (especially handheld stuff), as these developers are the games designers of the future. But personally I think it looks a lot bleaker.... are we doomed to no creativity (outside Nintendo!!) and only updates of John Madden??? :lol:

(And this isn't a rant against developers for the GP32, I just sometimes wish that people would get together to discuss games ideas instead of jumping into a tetris styled game.. again!!! )

 

[dad]

What most people don't understand is that computer and non-computer games almost always are based on previous games. Some are done better, some are developed more, some have unexpected twists, but almost every game around today, or yesterday can be linked to similar games that have been used for decades. Doom is nothing more than kids running around with wooden guns, sure it looks better but the game play is still the same. You don't have to be a programmer to come up with an original idea for a game, so try it for yourself, and find a programmer to build it into your GP32.

 

[VirtuaLeech]

Maybe it's because developers are now more concerned with how to program than the creative side of games.

Developers are meant to be concerned with how to program. That is their first priority.

The creative side of things doesn't even have to be the developers part of the project. Most of the time the creative part can be done by non technical people.

So it doesn't matter if you can program or not. Just shout out your creative ideas. If the idea is good enough someone able to realize it will pick it up.

So what I mean is, instead of complaining let us here some of your ideas

 

[rcx21000]

I have a good idea for a game that is pretty original (takes a bit out of the RTS idea). You have money to build buildings (start with mabye 200.) The buildings cost money and so do people. You build a house to make room for 5 people then you can buy people which pay you taxes (1.5 money per min?) And as the time advances new buildings become avalable Now the whole point of the game is to survive (keep the 'grand house' alive as long as possible) when you are on a beach, with waves hitting your buildings, weaking them and things like that Here are some thimgs that I thought about:

Moat: Can only stand 3-4 hits, but very effective at blocking
Wall: Can stand 20-30 hits, and effective at blocking
Tree: Can stand 1-100 hits (the longer it stays alive, it 'grows' and gets stronger), but isn't so good at blocking water
House: Already know
Rescue/hospital: If a house gets destroyes, half of its inhabitants are 'rescued' and you get the money needed to rebuild them. Stands 10 hits
Laser wall: VERY effective at blocking, can stand infinity hits on laser beam, but costs 20 money per miniute per laser for the power and the transmitter will die instantly if it is hit.
Lots of other stuff

Only prob is that I am too lazy to program that Will someone else do it??

 

[Rico]

rcx: your idea seems quite simple i might be interested if you can flesh out the idea a little.

 

[NiN^_^NiN]

Well look at the house opf the dead i dea i had for the gp32.

I have ripped all the graphics needed for the games only thing i really need is a programmer. Problem is programmers dont want to start the game or they wont be interested enough in it to continue it.

The fact is programmers would like to do something they like this way they will continue to build up on that idea and keep programming.

I think if the programmer likes the idea he will build it and make it the best he can if he doesnt he will either stop work on it or quickly code it and it wont be as good. What use is it if the programmer who does all the work doesnt like it.

h34r:

 

[woogal]

I have a good idea for a game.......

Well bugger me! Someone has had an idea for the gp32 thats actually possible! (and quite good). I never thought I'd see the day

I thought we were doomed to an endless cycle of gba and keyboard suggestions

 

[Octavius]

Some guy was going to do a ninja game a while back that looked awesome from the screen shots.. i totally forgot who that was but it looked so badass... wish he could continue it..

was it Rico? man.. i forgot.

Tailzone is doing some good homemade stuff.. GiriGiri Walker looks fun!

 

[vf10a]

Rcx's idea is very similar to the maul custom games from warcraft 3. This involves rounds of monsters trying to reach a ship at the bottom of the screen while the players build towers that attack them. Each kill gets you gold to buy more and better towers. Some towers have special abilities like slowing or poison effects.

Something like this would be great even with pants graphics and if it could be RF supported...

Anyway just an idea.

 

[NiN^_^NiN]

Yeah this was rico's samurai game it was orignally a ninja game but its a samurai game now i think?

Rico how's the game going?

h34r:

 

[taras]

moora101 I completely agree with you. Nobody would make games like "Revenge of the Mutant Camels" nowadays...

 

[woogal]

except Yak

 

[Rico]

Thanks for the interest guys... game's on hold due to annoying bugs, but I'll revisit it soon.