Let's Discuss!

[zahraa 26]

Heya everybody!!!

I haven't made any new topics recently :o Anyway...

We're all surrounded by our "mental models" which we need to update/change time by time and since we're game developers, We need to do it more often :P So I have a few subjects about game development here for open discussion, I think every game developer has thought about them and has his/her own answers. So let's share!

How to make a threat look real? Well in every game which has an actual story there is at least one threat that player wants to stop. The question is that, How to make it seem real? How can we show that there is a real danger (When there is actually no danger XD)? In such cases, I try to think as a player, I try to guess about what's going to happen next. Now as a game developer, I know what I should NOT put in the story. Another fact that I use is that human's nature considers unknowns as dangers, So whenever I feel like the player is about to learn too much about the threat, I try to disturb him/her with something else. Though it might disappoint the player at some point so I must be careful.

Character development stereotypes, Yes or no? Almost everyone knows that characters shouldn't be too good or too bad (Mostly in story driven and third person games) But there are always some stereotypes, For example in many games the protagonist is young and attractive. Now some game developers try to break it. As a game developer I don't think it's a bad idea but as a player, It's a big problem in the game :P Seriously, I'm always less motivated to play these kind of games. It might be so silly but it's what a player thinks! So I'm not going to change these stereotypes in my game and I know many game developers don't agree- I want to hear you!

Female characters are female! No it's not a question, Just a criticism to game developers who think female characters are male characters with boobs :| Or even worse, Those games that show female characters as weak creatures (Why there is no powerful female character in GTA V?!) Seriously, Try to make female characters a bit more female! They don't have the same abilities as men. They have their own advantages. As a great example, In one of Mortal Kombat games, There is a character named Sindel, She uses her hair to damage her rivals.

Good/Bad/Real endings? I like to have more than one ending in the game, But I think it's better if they're all kinda "real" endings, Not good or bad ones. The endings should be different "possibilities" so each ending should have its own pros and cons. Not a fan of open-ended games.

 

Well those are a few subjects that I could think of. Feel free to add more subject to make the discussion more interesting!

Sorry for bad English, I tried my best ^^
 

[Ardaceus 21]

Heya everybody!!!

 

I haven't made any new topics recently :o Anyway...

 

We're all surrounded by our "mental models" which we need to update/change time by time and since we're game developers, We need to do it more often :P So I have a few subjects about game development here for open discussion, I think every game developer has thought about them and has his/her own answers. So let's share!

 

How to make a threat look real? Well in every game which has an actual story there is at least one threat that player wants to stop. The question is that, How to make it seem real? How can we show that there is a real danger (When there is actually no danger XD)? In such cases, I try to think as a player, I try to guess about what's going to happen next. Now as a game developer, I know what I should NOT put in the story. Another fact that I use is that human's nature considers unknowns as dangers, So whenever I feel like the player is about to learn too much about the threat, I try to disturb him/her with something else. Though it might disappoint the player at some point so I must be careful.

 

Character development stereotypes, Yes or no? Almost everyone knows that characters shouldn't be too good or too bad (Mostly in story driven and third person games) But there are always some stereotypes, For example in many games the protagonist is young and attractive. Now some game developers try to break it. As a game developer I don't think it's a bad idea but as a player, It's a big problem in the game :P Seriously, I'm always less motivated to play these kind of games. It might be so silly but it's what a player thinks! So I'm not going to change these stereotypes in my game and I know many game developers don't agree- I want to hear you!

 

Female characters are female! No it's not a question, Just a criticism to game developers who think female characters are male characters with boobs :| Or even worse, Those games that show female characters as weak creatures (Why there is no powerful female character in GTA V?!) Seriously, Try to make female characters a bit more female! They don't have the same abilities as men. They have their own advantages. As a great example, In one of Mortal Kombat games, There is a character named Sindel, She uses her hair to damage her rivals.

 

Good/Bad/Real endings? I like to have more than one ending in the game, But I think it's better if they're all kinda "real" endings, Not good or bad ones. The endings should be different "possibilities" so each ending should have its own pros and cons. Not a fan of open-ended games.

 

Well those are a few subjects that I could think of. Feel free to add more subject to make the discussion more interesting!

Sorry for bad English, I tried my best ^^

 

Making a threat look real: I think that to make a threat look real, you need to follow the certain guideline. I agree with you completely, but I would add a few things. When making a game, you should address the threat entirely, or at least make some mention of what the story wants to make the threat. What I mean is have an introduction to the villains at least some point in the story, and state their motives or traits of thought, or have the game mention something that may cause problems or is causing problems from at least a quarter way through the story. I also think when creating villains that there shouldn't be motives that are unbelievable compared to the world you live on is like. Like if you live on a non-fictional world, world destruction is unbelievable, wheres to a world that has ancient destructive beings like the rings of halo are great. Also, if you want to do something crazy, like a character, you could do something like Kefka, who just wants to watch the world under his own interpretation of it. When coming to making the villain, don't take cliches and have the easy way of making thee do things without reason, make something attract thee to thy actions, like greed, wrath, lust, justice, insanity, anger, religion, maybe a combination. Also, you should have a demonstration of the threat's power, like Sin from FFX who destroyed Zanarkind at the beginning of the game. You should build a villain more than the character, but not change him throughout the game. And please, stop the cliche where the villain says "I'll be bache" or "I was perfection!", just stop, they're annoying. If you are, at least make the villain do something dark or fun as he says it, like Ganon from Ocarina of Time.

 

Character Stereotypes: Well, they aren't that bad, like you can make someone have cool clothes, it's like that one person at school that always wears the most abstractive clothes that no one else does, that's my school's male music teacher. But don't overdue it, like your character lives in a poor community but dresses like a dutch. Also, don't make it so that characters join your party because they feel like it, I've never done it in my game I'm making, all join you because someone or something forces them except for three. But don't stray too far away, due to maybe making an unbelievable character. Not much for me to say about it.

 

Female Characters:  I don't think that females should be treated like they sometimes are. Make them have their own personality, and make it different between all your female characters. Like one is nerdy, one is tough, one is a rat, and another is the strawberry cake. Don't sexualize the character unless if it is part of their personality, and don't make them all weird hair coloured. The only exception is making them all servant like, I say this due to the fact that maybe it reflects upon the world's state in time. Just like in the 1800s where all women were pretty much slaves only there to serve.

 

Endings?:  I do not have an opinion of endings, you can make any ending you like. Personally, I like to give terrible endings to the people that tried to play the game the least, due to the player's personality of not caring for playing the game. I'd like to give a just ending instead of a good ending, where every one gets what they deserve, or to the people that survived. So I do like two variable endings, with a bad ending to people who didn't give care into their actions or fooled around.

 

So those are my opinions, though another thing I would think of is: Should a world always be like every city is its own? Or just have two empires that rule two halves of the world? Ardi out.

[Tigurus 8]

Making a threat look real: I think this would be depending on what the threat it and your genre. 

 

Character Stereotypes: If all characters would be stereotypes, that would be bad because the player would pretty much know how everyone would react to whatever the situation is. One or a few stereotypes are alright though as some people would/could possibly get crazy if everyone is super unique lol Who knows.

 

Female Characters: Female characters need to be unique in their own way and these days it starts to get alright really. The new Lara Croft is really nicely done and there are enough females in RPG's that are quite well done instead of being the "lady in distress".

 

Endings?:  Multiple endings aren't bad, but they do need to make sense really. A linear story with suddenly 6 endings (specially f you have to choose them) is not good in my opinion. 

 

Should a world always be like every city is its own? Or just have two empires that rule two halves of the world?:

No idea what you mean with this but. Why not stuff in between it. A country isn't just 1 city (mostly) But just have 1 world with 2 factions isn't original, nor flexible. Why wouldn't there be more cultures or nations, some allied, some neutral, some rebels. again it depends on the scope and situation though.

Edited May 28, 2015 by Tigurus