Maybe we expect too much too soon, like gamers have pushed for better visuals the whole time - without stopping to mention the need for diverse gameplay. If AI had developed at the same rate as graphics technology, then we'd all be telling this to our forum assistant bots, who'd do the actual work of posting, and editing out spelling, and stuff, ohh, and grammar too.
We got the graphics, we're getting the physics, but what advances are we seeing in AI? - none!
Seriously, we see as good AI here as we do in most commercial games. Sorry to bring it up again, but Oblivion has aparantly got some killer AI, yeah...
But anyone who's played Oblivion will tell you how rediculous it is sometimes. Personally I think it's modern game programmers and designers - they spend too much time on the wrong aspects. If I shoot someone in the head, the guy standing 10ft away should notice. This is a major gripe of mine, it just seems lazy that they can't bring themselves to think like a normal gamer and consider what is actually important.
Now speak to an oblivion designer, and they'll get all misty eyed and emotional about how an NPC can drink, and live a life, and dislike or like you. Wow, but can it detect when there's an arrow sticking out of it's eye?
I think it's good to vent, Sorry Indi but I'd probably score low in your books too, because I can rant like a crazy person over the slightest annoyance. But this attitude is good, this is all stuff I hate, and it's all stuff I'll avoid in my own projects and ideas. If I can make one aspect better than a commercial game, then that's like gold to me - that's like giving Bill Gates a chinese burn.
I find writing games is less rewarding than most people think, but there's a ton of kudos waiting on little guys like us sticking it to the man (so to speak). I trully have more respect for what people do here than any amount of cool graphics that 50 people can produce together, one guy making a good game, selling it, getting it featured in cool places, that's stuff worth shouting about.
A game made by 50 indi developers, now I'd like to see that - maybe something like GTA, but split the developers up, so 1 team owns vehicle handling, one team owns player control and animation, one team is on level design, etc etc - treating each aspect as a bragging point between teams, so they all try to get the best they can from the engine. A game like that would be well worth checking out, imagine the best features of the best games, but handled with some respect for once. The problem with GTA, is that it's not anything really, it's not driving, it's not a puzzle game, it's not a shoot em up - it's in it's own bracket. As good as GTA is, it's never gonna have better driving than actual driving games, it'll never have the shooting action we see in modern FPS games, it doesn't affect you as much, because all these features are kinda watered down. It's for the best, if GTA was perfect in every aspect, we wouldn't need another game, ever.
Anyhoo, it appears Lego SWII is out on DS, so I might not feel too much like ranting for now, I might have to shut up and just play the darn game
.
''Stick that in your text and scroll it!.''
