I just realized something, i love bad games now!

Game Play & Game Design
#1

I have been following a video series for about 2 or 3 months now called Extra credits. Some of you might be familiar with it. They basically talks about game design and various other topics related to the games industry. Today i saw a video that made me rethink my view on bad games.

My previous way of thinking:

A good game brings me joy. It makes me disappear into another world. It teaches me various things, like how a good story should be, how to design interesting characters, how good controls should be.

Crappy games are not worth any money. However, if the studio that made the game is made up of really dedicated people, but surrounded by harsh conditions it can be bought depending on the various circumstances.

A good game made by people not dedicated to making good games, but instead dedicated to earning money, is not worth buying since the studio’s way of thinking doesn’t suit me. Exceptions can be made if the game is really good.

My new way of thinking:

A good game brings me joy. It makes me disappear into another world. It teaches me various things, like how a good story should be, how to design interesting characters, how good controls should be. (Same as above basically)

Now comes the difference:
A crappy game IS worth buying!
Why is that? Because it teaches you how things like controls, camera angles, level designs, character designs, mini-game designs should NOT be implemented.
The thing with good games is that they are hard to analyze, you are so wrapped up in the awesome experience that you don’t notice minor glitches, bugs, poorly implemented features etc, etc. A horrible game will do a lot less to hide the poorly implemented stuff, thus making it easier for you to learn.

For you wondering what i got this from, check this:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2738-Playing-Like-a-Designer-Part-2

I think im going to walk down to the game store tomorrow and buy some cheap, shitty games to play XD

Anyone wanna discuss this? :smiley:

#2

That’s a very true statement, but you might want to wait for the price to go down. :slight_smile:

#3

I visit the local game store frequently, they have some games i have seen standing there for like a year or two, i never bought em since i thought they were really crappy. They usually cost like 50-100 swedish kronor. (It’s about 5-10 euro)

#4

[quote]The thing with good games is that they are hard to analyze, you are so wrapped up in the awesome experience that you don’t notice minor glitches, bugs, poorly implemented features etc, etc. A horrible game will do a lot less to hide the poorly implemented stuff, thus making it easier for you to learn.
[/quote]
I’m on it. Also many games out there which only show their good quality of display and animation but lack on others.

#5

You can play hundreds of crappy games for free on Kong. :wink:

#6

DOOM ,QUAKE , and minecraft could be considered bad games from the graphics standpoint, but the gameplay is awesome.

#7

Can’t see anything bad about the graphics in any of those games… all fit for purpose and aesthetically pleasing, and that’s all that counts.

Cas :slight_smile:

#8

Doom and Quake both had cutting edge graphics at the time of their releases, bit unfair 18 years down the line to say the graphics are bad.

#9

Indeed, you have to get beyond a simplistic appraisal of resolution, pallette range, and polygon counts and understand the meaning and purpose of the graphics before you can say they are good or bad. Many games’ graphics on the C64 and Atari ST and Amiga are still excellent today. So excellent that rather a lot of indie developers try and copy them :slight_smile:

Cas :slight_smile:

#10

i’m not saying the graphics ARE bad, in fact i love them. i’ve had dreams in 320x200 256 bit color (don’t ask. i don’t know how either). i’m just saying that some would consider them to have bad graphics. but the gameplay is still awesome.

#11

There’s always “some” who consider everything they look at to be crappy but these I suspect are mostly just kids or big kids (we get people telling us they could write our games in Flash, heh). They are easily ignored. It riles me when a supposed critic does the same, mind. I don’t think I’ve seen a professional* game with bad graphics in the last 20 years, if I’m honest.

Cas :slight_smile:

  • literal meaning of the word.
#12

Depends on what you mean by “bad”. I think the original Worms’ graphics are much better than the ones in the more recent (e.g. XNA) members of the franchise.

#13

I don’t think you could say they were any better or worse either way; they just make full use of what technology is available. In many ways the modern graphics are considerably better technically, but probably the only significant advance over the original Amiga version is that the display zooms as well as pans.

Cas :slight_smile:

#14

Oh, they’ve got more bit depth, but IMO the look has gone from a serious game to a toy for five-year-olds.

#15

I fully agree. Also thanks for the link, some great resources.

I remember once stumbling over a copy of Moonbase (among others) on home of the underdogs and really loving the game. It was simple yet fun.

Sadly today most people only focus on the eye-candy instead of the game and basically the companies give them just that.

#16

Hm I’d sat that the latest Worms has very clear and concise graphics and icons that are superbly designed and that at it’s core it’s still exactly the same aesthetic as the original Amiga version. And they look wonderful on a great big telly with the whole family around it trying to kill each other on a PS3 :slight_smile:

Cas :slight_smile:

#17

pffft, I’m sure people have been swaying that since before DOOM came out. Not that there’s no truth in it, but ultimately good games do well for being good games.

#18

You are correct, maybe instead of ‘today’ I should have gone for the ‘in my day’. :wink:

@Good Games:
Depends on your definition of ‘good game’, and then we are back at square 1.
Usually the first criteria people go on are graphics because that is the first thing they see.
How many people would have stuck with Minecraft if they had only the Screenshots to work with?

#19

I think it is hard to say that a game has good or bad graphics. I mean what are the guidelines for “good” graphics? When I look at graphics in a game, I mostly look at it the same way as when I look at a painting. A painting by Picasso or da Vinci have qualities in their own way, and both pixelalted graphics and super realistic 3d graphics have their qualities. But I guess most people enjoy realistic paintings compare to abstract though.

#20

ZOMG ALL CRY-ENGINE GAMES HAVE TERRIBLE GRAPHICS BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT IN 3D