7 Commandments All Video Games Should Obey
05-02-08, 02:56 PM
#1
DVD Talk Hero
Thread Starter
7 Commandments All Video Games Should Obey
(make sure you read the article in the links - some funny stuff, and I agree with all of it)
# 7 - Thou shalt let us play your game with real-life friends.
# 6 - Thou shalt not pad the length of your games.
# 5 - Thou shalt not force repetition on the player.
# 4 - Thou shalt make killing fun.
# 3 - Thou shalt admit when enough is enough.
# 2 - Thou shalt make sure your game actually works.
# 1 - Better graphics do not equal innovation and/or creativity.
Thoughts?
Discuss, and feel free to add commandments of your own.
# 7 - Thou shalt let us play your game with real-life friends.
# 6 - Thou shalt not pad the length of your games.
# 5 - Thou shalt not force repetition on the player.
# 4 - Thou shalt make killing fun.
# 3 - Thou shalt admit when enough is enough.
# 2 - Thou shalt make sure your game actually works.
# 1 - Better graphics do not equal innovation and/or creativity.
Thoughts?
Discuss, and feel free to add commandments of your own.
05-02-08, 03:00 PM
#2
DVD Talk Hero
I don't see how #7 and especially #4 are requirements for a good video game.
05-02-08, 03:15 PM
#3
DVD Talk Hero
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by fujishig
I don't see how #7 and especially #4 are requirements for a good video game.
05-02-08, 04:20 PM
#4
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Originally Posted by slop101
05-02-08, 04:29 PM
#6
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Originally Posted by slop101
My reasoning was simple. I get bored playing FPS games on really easy levels, and I didn't want to have to play on a little girl setting simply because the save points were spread out so far apart.
A lot of horror games use this technique to create tension, and I'm typically OK with that. But I don't see how that logic would apply to a comic book-violence game like FarCry. I can't imagine playing for 10 minutes and having to constantly restart from the beginning everytime I died. Talk about frustration!
05-02-08, 04:37 PM
#7
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by slop101
If you read the article, you'll understand that the point is that if a game has multi-player, people should be allowed to be able to play in the same room together
05-02-08, 07:25 PM
#10
DVD Talk Godfather
This could easily be turned into a 10 Commandments because #1 isn't on there.
Thou shalt not create a game with unskippable cut scenes.
I get it the designers want us to see their hard work, but damnit when I load up a previous save or play through the game again I don't want to sit though it again. Hell sometimes the story is so unbelievably bad I don't want to sit through it the first time.
Thou shalt not create a game with unskippable cut scenes.
I get it the designers want us to see their hard work, but damnit when I load up a previous save or play through the game again I don't want to sit though it again. Hell sometimes the story is so unbelievably bad I don't want to sit through it the first time.
05-02-08, 07:34 PM
#12
DVD Talk Hero
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by Michael Corvin
This could easily be turned into a 10 Commandments because #1 isn't on there.
Thou shalt not create a game with unskippable cut scenes.
I get it the designers want us to see their hard work, but damnit when I load up a previous save or play through the game again I don't want to sit though it again. Hell sometimes the story is so unbelievably bad I don't want to sit through it the first time.
Thou shalt not create a game with unskippable cut scenes.
I get it the designers want us to see their hard work, but damnit when I load up a previous save or play through the game again I don't want to sit though it again. Hell sometimes the story is so unbelievably bad I don't want to sit through it the first time.
(did no one read the article?)
There are people who say that preventing saves adds to the "tension" of the game. Sure, in the sense that the fact that your 360 could catch on fire at any moment also adds to the tension. Face it, if the only way you can think of to add suspense to your game is to disable a feature of the hardware, then you suck at making games.
This is almost as bad as when you ...
Force us to watch cutscenes repeatedly.
This should be the law: If you've programmed your cutscene so that we can't skip it, then you should have your game programming license revoked. If you have placed your cutscene right before a spot where we're likely to die, and given us no ability to save after it, then you deserve a beating.
God of War: Chains of Olympus does this. And you'd better hope you don't die during the long-ass Bowser fight at the end of Mario Galaxy, because you've got to listen to his fucking monologue every fucking time you start over. Unskippable cutscenes killed Nights: Journey of Dreams, as sure as a bullet to the back of the skull.
This is almost as bad as when you ...
Force us to watch cutscenes repeatedly.
This should be the law: If you've programmed your cutscene so that we can't skip it, then you should have your game programming license revoked. If you have placed your cutscene right before a spot where we're likely to die, and given us no ability to save after it, then you deserve a beating.
God of War: Chains of Olympus does this. And you'd better hope you don't die during the long-ass Bowser fight at the end of Mario Galaxy, because you've got to listen to his fucking monologue every fucking time you start over. Unskippable cutscenes killed Nights: Journey of Dreams, as sure as a bullet to the back of the skull.
05-02-08, 08:26 PM
#13
DVD Talk Hero
Originally Posted by Groucho
Yeah, the "your character is captured and loses everything" plot point is pretty tired out.
05-02-08, 08:29 PM
#14
DVD Talk Godfather
Originally Posted by nickdawgy
I love stuff like that, the escape the prison missions.
05-02-08, 08:51 PM
#15
How about:
Thou shalt not make the first level not unfun and hard as hell
-Rainbow Six Vegas
The first level is by far the hardest in the game. Lame weapons, no team, in dark caves. Ugh.
-Oblivion
I have to start in a fucking prison maze when there's so much going on above.
I don't want to have to earn all the awesomeness in the later levels I want to be tossed into the action. Assassin's Creed kinda did it well by starting you off as a badass but then having you earn back your weapons and abilities. Again, I'd prefer you to start off like a badass and fight harder enemies with more unique weapons ala Gears of War and Halo 3.
Thou shalt not make the first level not unfun and hard as hell
-Rainbow Six Vegas
The first level is by far the hardest in the game. Lame weapons, no team, in dark caves. Ugh.
-Oblivion
I have to start in a fucking prison maze when there's so much going on above.
I don't want to have to earn all the awesomeness in the later levels I want to be tossed into the action. Assassin's Creed kinda did it well by starting you off as a badass but then having you earn back your weapons and abilities. Again, I'd prefer you to start off like a badass and fight harder enemies with more unique weapons ala Gears of War and Halo 3.
05-02-08, 10:25 PM
#16
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I strongly agree with #5 and #6. Padded length and repitition are my two biggest frustrations with games. #7 I consider an added feature, but not a commandment. #4 isn't broad enough in scope, not all games are about killing things. I don't know that everything in #3 is universal. #2 is obvious, but #1 doesn't seem to fit as a commandment.
05-02-08, 11:17 PM
#17
Banned
I have agreed with #1 all my gaming life. I've had more fun playing any Nintendo 64 wrestling game that all the crap that THQ has developed "with better graphics" for the PSOne, PS2 and PS3. Why is it that the corporate idiots don't understand that what makes a game stand out is the gameplay, not the fucking graphics. People pay for video games to play, not to watch the "pretty graphics". Don't believe me? Then see what happened to the Jaguar.
Another commandment should be:
If it ain't broken, don't try to fix it.
EA sports should apply this to their facination of making drastic changes on their games year after year without doing proper market research.
Another commandment should be:
If it ain't broken, don't try to fix it.
EA sports should apply this to their facination of making drastic changes on their games year after year without doing proper market research.
05-03-08, 01:15 AM
#18
Suspended
Thou shalt not make the final boss fight a thousand times harder than the rest of the game. I understand that the final boss is for all the marbles -- I should have to work harder than I had to in the rest of the game. But you have to dial it up to eleven, not eleven thousand.
05-03-08, 11:14 AM
#19
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Thou shalt only add a mine cart level or a sewer level if it makes sense in the story (or at least is done with tongue in cheek.)
I was going to say "allow me to save at least once an hour" till I read the article for number 5. A-men.
I can't tell how many times I've said this exact caption
"DAMMIT I JUST WANT TO FIND A SAVE POINT SO I CAN GET TO BED"
I've avoided playing games I want to play because I know it would take me more than 30 min-1 hour to find the next save point.
I was going to say "allow me to save at least once an hour" till I read the article for number 5. A-men.
I can't tell how many times I've said this exact caption
"DAMMIT I JUST WANT TO FIND A SAVE POINT SO I CAN GET TO BED"
I've avoided playing games I want to play because I know it would take me more than 30 min-1 hour to find the next save point.
05-03-08, 02:47 PM
#20
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Originally Posted by msdmoney
I strongly agree with #5 and #6. Padded length and repitition are my two biggest frustrations with games.
I know most people don't want super short games, but there is a nice middle ground that I think is being reached in the release of a lot of 7-10 hours games. And I much rather a game extend it's shelf life through optional things (Metal Gear's VR Missions or the Kingdom Hearts tournament you can enter), then have you back tracking or doing some other equally egregious thing to lengthen the play time.
05-03-08, 03:20 PM
#21
DVD Talk Hero
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by boredsilly
It's cliche to say it now, but after playing Portal I can't help but see where every other game I play could have been a tighter and better experience.
I know most people don't want super short games, but there is a nice middle ground that I think is being reached in the release of a lot of 7-10 hours games. And I much rather a game extend it's shelf life through optional things (Metal Gear's VR Missions or the Kingdom Hearts tournament you can enter).
I know most people don't want super short games, but there is a nice middle ground that I think is being reached in the release of a lot of 7-10 hours games. And I much rather a game extend it's shelf life through optional things (Metal Gear's VR Missions or the Kingdom Hearts tournament you can enter).
05-03-08, 04:03 PM
#22
DVD Talk Legend
While I realize that save points can be sparsely placed, I don't agree that you should be able to save any time you want. They want you to complete a mission in one go, not weasel your way through it by doing a little of it and saving over and over. It would be like using save states in an emulator. Autosaves are a good compromise here, as they allow for regular saves but don't let you control exactly when you'll save.
Then again, are they talking about just saving anywhere when you're not doing a mission, as opposed to having to go to a save point? Like in GTA, they could let you save when you're just on the street, not during a mission or when you have a wanted level? That would be fine.
Then again, are they talking about just saving anywhere when you're not doing a mission, as opposed to having to go to a save point? Like in GTA, they could let you save when you're just on the street, not during a mission or when you have a wanted level? That would be fine.
05-03-08, 04:23 PM
#23
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Thous shalt not allow poor camera angle/controls in your game especially if you're only doing it to make a section that's already difficult, downright frustrating.
Thou shalt not make your entire game so dark that it's impossible to make out things even with the character's given light source. The exception would be short sections where darkness is natural.
Thou shalt give players a choice between 1st and 3rd person views, inverting controls, Horizontal or vertical splitscreens, and other preferences.
Thou shalt balance achievement points between single player and online multiplayer so that those who don't want to go online can still get a decent amount of points and the same for those who only want to play online. (360 games only of course)
Thou shalt not make your entire game so dark that it's impossible to make out things even with the character's given light source. The exception would be short sections where darkness is natural.
Thou shalt give players a choice between 1st and 3rd person views, inverting controls, Horizontal or vertical splitscreens, and other preferences.
Thou shalt balance achievement points between single player and online multiplayer so that those who don't want to go online can still get a decent amount of points and the same for those who only want to play online. (360 games only of course)
05-04-08, 04:26 AM
#24
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Originally Posted by dtcarson
Thou shalt only add a mine cart level or a sewer level if it makes sense in the story (or at least is done with tongue in cheek.)
Ever play the PS2/Xbox version of The Bard's Tale? That game pokes fun at cliches in video games. All of a sudden in the game, a lava level just appears with no seeming purpose. The Bard comments "Hmm. This must be the obligatory lava level."
Two other things I hate in video games:
1) Finding keys to unlock doors. I hate this especially in FPS games where you have rocket launchers and BFGs. Just let us blow the mother fraking door up please.... The original Deus Ex game did let us blow up doors which I was hoping that other FPS games would adopt, but it looks like it was ignored.
2) The main character doing crazy moves in cutscenes that can't be done in the actual game by the player. This is especially true in Metal Gear. Solid Snake pulls off some insane moves in the cutscenes, but when the player gets to control him, he is more rigid than a 2x4.
05-04-08, 11:42 AM
#25
Suspended
Originally Posted by Drexl
While I realize that save points can be sparsely placed, I don't agree that you should be able to save any time you want. They want you to complete a mission in one go, not weasel your way through it by doing a little of it and saving over and over. It would be like using save states in an emulator. Autosaves are a good compromise here, as they allow for regular saves but don't let you control exactly when you'll save.
