MCDOHL'S PROFILE

post=151256

post=151230
I know there's nothing wrong with discussion, and dissertation, but the more you guys try to break apart and dissect the magic ingredients of FUN like a couple of Asperger patients, the more (I hope) you realize that it's something a bit more ethereal and unseen than you're giving it credit for. Like Soli said, what makes a game fun isn't something that you can turn into a list or equate it. It's something that's very distinct, personal, and contingent.

This is the worst thing I've ever read. As someone who is trying to create something to be the best it can be, you should always be trying to figure out HOW to make it be the best it can be. Doesn't that go without saying? Isn't that the entire reason you're on this forum?

There are formulas as to what works and what doesn't. There are ideas in game creation that are seemingly great ways to improve your games, but directly in conflict with each-other. There are systems that seem to solve problems, but only create others. Our goal - your goal - is to figure out exactly what path leads to the perfect game. If you want to just shoot blindly, this is the wrong place to spend your time - and certainly the wrong place to tell others that trying to figure out how to make better games is a waste of time.

post=151242
I just get sick of people trying to break down what makes "good game" into some kind of magical "equation." Good game = gameplayx2/story^n -(graphics+sound} as if you can plug in numbers and out comes a perfect game. There is more to it than that, something beyond the mechanical or numerical or the graphical, the soul and wit and charm that really creates a memorable game. It's like what Mog said, it is something you can't put into words, much less an equation.

What you are talking about is "polish". Perhaps to an end user, a polished game will be the most memorable - but it will always have major problems, problems which the player is simply willing to ignore because the game is made with such... finesse. But while hiding a game's issues behind a wall of production value will indisputably make it more enjoyable, it will not perfect it. Giving a game this sense of style and charm is a worthwhile endeavor, but doesn't solve the game's other problems.

Final Fantasy 6 is a great game, but it has significant problems. Characters are woefully imbalanced against each-other, especially those who are obtained last in the world of ruin - they'll be missing out on 20 levels worth of stats. Normal attacks are completely useless for several characters. Armor and helmets are almost useless for the first third of the game, due to the defense formula the game uses - to say nothing of the evade bugs. The large number of unusual and interesting magic spells is rendered pointless due to the game's very low difficulty, which makes all but a few of the spells completely pointless to bother with. And yet this game - which I've named myself after - is considered one of the greatest games of all time, due to the innovations it added to the RPG genre and the baseline it created for future fantasy game plots. Imagine how much better it would be if the problems were fixed? If the gameplay were perfected by people who care about gameplay? Imagine playing it not just for the story and nostalgia, but also because the battles and customization were just as fun. Wouldn't that be better?

And if it would be better, why are you not striving for it? You're a game designer, after all. You're not being stopped by a corporate budget or a strict timeline. If your passion is making games, then make games like you're passionate about it! Start with the best game ever, locate every single problem in it, and fix them. Then find the new problems you caused, and fix those. And keep doing that, more and more and more, until no one on Earth could possibly find anything about the game that's not completely perfect.

...Or just make another FF7 ripoff with the DBS. Who am I to judge?

post=151155
You guys are determined to find some "magic formula" for how to make a "good game" when there isn't one. What makes for a "good game" is going to vary from player to player and game maker to game maker. You can't say "games absolutely have to prioritize x and y over everything else" because that isn't going to be true in every case. Almost anything can be good if it is executed well.

comment=39170
Is anyone else glad they stayed out of this?

I honestly could not read more than six lines of this without wanting to jab a steak knife into my eye socket.