Game Design

[WarHampster]

For a forum dedicated to game development this is something that we don't talk about nearly enough. I'll start off the discussion with a few questions that I'm interested in:

1. Has every every possible game type already been developed? Or is there still room for innovation?

2. Are graphics more important than gameplay? It it possible for amazing graphics to hide bad gameplay (and the other way around)? What do the majority of gamers think about this?

3. Can a video game tell a story as well as other mediums?

4. Are video games an art form? If so, will they ever be accepted as such?

[Xiphos]

Graphics can definitely hide gameplay but I don't believe it goes both ways...

[WarHampster]

Interesting. So you're saying that great gameplay can't make up for bad graphics? Or basically that graphics are more important than gameplay?

[Gnome]

I believe graphics are extra... to a point. I wouldn't play a game that was really ugly or hurt my eyes. Great graphics definitely cannot hide bad gameplay.

[Xiphos]

Well if you had amazing gameplay [glb]IN MY OPINION[/glb] the game still wouldn't be good if you had really crappy graphics. If your gameplay is really really bad than graphics can't hide it. But i'd rather play a bad game with good graphics making it average than a good game with bad graphics making it bad (by my book). Basically graphics and gameplay count for 50% of the game quality each. But in different people's perspectives that ratio changes.

[Gan]

For a forum dedicated to game development this is something that we don't talk about nearly enough. I'll start off the discussion with a few questions that I'm interested in:

1. Has every every possible game type already been developed? Or is there still room for innovation?

2. Are graphics more important than gameplay? It it possible for amazing graphics to hide bad gameplay (and the other way around)? What do the majority of gamers think about this?

3. Can a video game tell a story as well as other mediums?

4. Are video games an art form? If so, will they ever be accepted as such?

(1) No, the possibilities are endless. We just need to think of them.
(2) No. Graphics can hide gameplay and gameplay can hide graphics.
(3) Yes.
(4) They are a form of art. Just as nearly anything can be a form of art, music, clothes, or even how you sort your homework in your bag. Will games be viewed as art? It's a possibility.


-Gandolf

[WarHampster]

I agree with Gnome.  

But i'd rather play a bad game with good graphics

Wow, I completely disagree. What about older games? For example, Panzer Dragoon Saga (my favorite game) is on the Sega Saturn and thus has 3d graphics that are totally crappy by today's standards, but at the same time has a really interesting and deep story and really cinematic and fun battles.  

(1) No, the possibilities are endless. We just need to think of them.

I kind of disagree with this as well. I think there are only so many possible genres of games to create (FPS, RPG, RTS, SHUMP, ect). This is similar to movies and books, where its pretty accepted that there are a only a few basic stories that can be told, and all works are based on those stories. I think that innovation in games has to come with the design and story, not gameplay.

For example, take a game like Final Fantasy VII. It has the exact same gameplay as every other JRPG, and yet it is still held as one of the greatest games of all time. This isn't because it does anything differently from other turn-based RPGs, it's because the game has a great story and timelessly awesome characters.

[Silverwind]

1: The well of ideas certainly hasn't run dry, but most games share the same cores as the classics that have been around for thousands of years. Graphics help disguise that.

[WarHampster]

Agreed, thats what I was getting at.

[EqwanoX]

i would compare games to movies, they have story, characters and so on. you have to have DECENT graphics, the game takes place in the players imagination, and you need to have graphics that stimulate what they imagine

[Xiphos]

Especially with all the other games available today with amazing graphics because game graphics have progressed so far. Playing a modern game with great graphics then going back and playing an old game with bad graphics can be fun but only if game play = 100. So I guess sometimes depending on your life and taste a game with Bad Graphics can still be fun. Like pokemon and megaman! I still play those on my GameBoy Advanced!