http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/110/game-design-drift/ Phil Steinmeyer's rumblings on the game biz, programming, and life Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:29:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/110/game-design-drift/#comment-1530 Stu Thu, 15 Jun 2006 00:15:59 +0000 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/110/game-design-drift/#comment-1530 To some extent we're betting on the same philosophy. Obviously there is no substitute for solid gameplay but polish items that bring little to the gameplay seem to be more frequent these days. The little...slaves I guess they are, in 7 Wonders are a good example. Without that touch would that game have seen the top spot on the large portals? Remember the dancing skeleton reward screen in Treasure Island? Shortly after the release of that game I read 42 Real Arcade reviews. Nineteen of them commented on the dancing skeletons. Would it have scratched the top 10 without them? What about fancy, animated loading screens and/or company logo screens like Refexive uses? A waste of time for a small developer or a solid contribution to the overall package? Particle effects? Always good I think if they fit the theme. Mini-games are harder to judge as you may not know exactly what the players were reacting to or were indifferent to. I think they bring something to the table when used to compliment a more substantial gameplay but in the case of Tropix I've been hesitant to credit their success to the fact that the game consists of eleven mini-games. Most of those mini-games are average implementations of tired old gameplay with no innovation whatsoever. Jungle Jump however, was a solid, newish, arcade game done well. Did they need the other ten games? It definitely helped them in the area of progression as you had to unlock the last few but I doubt many players spent much time actually playing them. To some extent we’re betting on the same philosophy. Obviously there is no substitute for solid gameplay but polish items that bring little to the gameplay seem to be more frequent these days. The little…slaves I guess they are, in 7 Wonders are a good example. Without that touch would that game have seen the top spot on the large portals? Remember the dancing skeleton reward screen in Treasure Island? Shortly after the release of that game I read 42 Real Arcade reviews. Nineteen of them commented on the dancing skeletons. Would it have scratched the top 10 without them? What about fancy, animated loading screens and/or company logo screens like Refexive uses? A waste of time for a small developer or a solid contribution to the overall package? Particle effects? Always good I think if they fit the theme.
Mini-games are harder to judge as you may not know exactly what the players were reacting to or were indifferent to. I think they bring something to the table when used to compliment a more substantial gameplay but in the case of Tropix I’ve been hesitant to credit their success to the fact that the game consists of eleven mini-games. Most of those mini-games are average implementations of tired old gameplay with no innovation whatsoever. Jungle Jump however, was a solid, newish, arcade game done well. Did they need the other ten games? It definitely helped them in the area of progression as you had to unlock the last few but I doubt many players spent much time actually playing them.

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