Quote: Original post by 2xp
about the year 1997 being old :
being in the computer industry where the chips are supposed to double their power, i think 1997 is quite old. the games nowdays cannot just be compared to (at all) to the games made 7 years ago.

I disagree; pretty much all the games we have now are very similar to ones we had then, such as first person shooters, real time strategy, first-person RPGs, MMORPGs, etc. We also had 3D acceleration, cd-rom storage, hard disks, etc. The industry has increased production values but games are fundamentally unchanged since then. Yes, maybe there are fewer 'adventure' games but that's about all.

That's very different from, say, 1992 or even 1987, when platformers and side-scrollers were far more popular, save games would usually have to go on a floppy, you had 256 colours onscreen as a maximum, and so on. That's a real difference.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking that modern developers don't care about story and game play. The fact is they care just as much as you and I, but you have to be on a visual par with games of the period and there's only so much time and money to go round. Broken Sword looked ok for a game of that type in 1997.

I got Broken Sword in a budget-bundle, so I must have played it a couple of years after it was released. Anyway, I remember it fondly, but about the graphics: they may be technologically outdated (static 640x480 backgrounds with animated sprites) but they are very well-designed outdated graphics, and thats what makes the game still playable.

To make a similar game today a developer would still need several topnotch photoshop/painter/whatever experts working for a year or something. There was a very detailed screen for each location and a lot of frames for George and each of the NPCs when they were moving.

This past week I found an old Games CD from my very first CD ROM lying around. It's got a game called Life & Death on it. Not an exceedingly long game, but very unique.

You play the part of an intern surgeon at a general hospital. You get to perform two operations on patients who are stupid enough to come to your hospital. :). I think the game was originally released in 1988, but I've still spent the better part of the last two days perfecting the operations.

It's cool. I love old games, and I was so pleased when I found this one lying around.

I definitely think there should be more new adventure games. I've recently played all the old Monkey Islands. My favourites would have to be Quest for Glory tho. I can't even remember how many times I've played these through.

:)

I just hooked my Atari 2600 up to the TV. 1997 is new-school.

As for 1997 being 'old', I disagree. Red Alert and Total Annihilation were both games from that era (1998 I think) and they can still hold their own against today's RTS games, TA especially.

Quote: Original post by 2xp
i mean, i think nowdays game designers focus too much on technical aspects of their game. they 'd say they want 500k + polygons and lens flare and everything without thinking first about the gameplay and the EXPERIENCE the game is going to give to the kid or guy playing at the other end

I totally agree, in fact we were discussing a similar thing in this thread, which is about how the hobbyist game programmer finds it difficult to compete with the professionals, even though we try to.

The difference I think now, is that games are becoming interactive movies and as a result we want more immersement from our gaming experience. This often comes from better graphics, sounds, FMV sequences. Back in the older days videogames were just that, a game you picked up and played for a while. You didn't sit down and expect to believe that you were fighting off the alien hoardes on your own in space invaders. Whereas now, we expect more for our money - we're not as easily impressed anymore. Unfortunately we're now often drawn to the graphics and not the game.

Quote: Original post by 2xp
true and false. yeah they put a lot of special effects and fancy colors in movies to attract people but behind every great movie there is always a great story. they would never invest millions in a new movie if the story wasn't original, great, breath taking or memorable as i say. this just doesn't compare to the games where i feel the scenario was made by high schoolers

I wish that was true but it's not, it's actually pretty rare to see a high budget "blockbuster" with a good original plot. Look at this summer's bunch and any years before now and you'll see what I mean.