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Ten games every designer should play

Started by March 10, 2005 04:41 PM
224 comments, last by Ronnie Mado Solbakken 12 years, 9 months ago
Don't know if anyone's mentioned it or not, but the greatest sports game of all time ....

TECMO BOWL!!!!

Honorable mention to Baseball Simulator 3000 (NES) and Speedball (Amiga) - again those three games were and are more fun than the all the current EA Sports Roster Update 200x garbage and as another poster mentioned proves that sports games don't have to be realistic to be fun.
Wow, so many posts, and so many games, I find it hard to store even the summary in my head!

I can't easily limit the list of games I think a designer should play to ten, but I'll try to summarise some ideas that may have been left out from those already inlcuded in the summary (glad to see the original Prince of Persia is in there already!). Plus I'll also throw in a few games with problems that need to be analysed as well. These aren't necessarily my favourites, but ones that have interesting game elements in them. I'll build up this list over the course of several days, so it will be quite long, so apologies in advance.

In no particular order:

1. Magic Carpet (and to a lesser extent its sequel)

(+positive: gameplay) I don't think this has been listed yet, but this is one of my most favourite games I've ever played. Wizards on magic carpet compete by fighting monsters (and themselves0 with magic spells, and collecting mana resources they drop when defeated. A great mix of strategy and action from a first point perspective which I haven't seen emulated (closest that has gotten to it that I've seen was Sacrifice, and that wasn't really that close...). I've really got to make a spiritual sequel to this someday...

2. TIE Fighter

(+positive: story) Been listed before, but I want to emphasise that this is one of the rare games that I've played did playing the minion of the bad guys right. You're a TIE Fighter pilot working for the Empire, you know that you are working for the bad guys, yet the game doesn't present you as such, but as a loyal minion of the Empire doing his best to preserve peace in the galaxy.

(+positive: music) Also of note: the dynamic music system, also present in all of Lucasarts' (then Lucasfilm's) games of the time. It added a lot to their games.

3. Fallout/Fallout II

(+positive: gameplay) This RPG has my favourite character specification/building system and combat system that I have played to date. It's a rare RPG that has a combat system that is strategic and fun.

4. Black and White

(-negative: game design) In my opinion, this is a game is like a 'what not to do in game design' primer. It felt like the designers took several great ideas for game design from different genres, then bolted them together to make a kludgey, buggy mess. An example of how overambitious design can be harmful to a game.

5. The Legend of Zelda series (pretty much all of them)

(+positive: everyting) My favourite series, so I have to include it. I love the way every version that I play introduces enough new stuff to keep the old gameplay dynamics from becoming stale. Plus Link is left-handed, which is a plus for me; put more lefties in games!

6. Little Big Adventure I & II, also known as Relentless and Twinsen's Odyssey

(+positive: gameplay) A few people have already mentioned these, but I want to plug these games again. These games are what Zelda would be if it was on the PC and French. Charming and classic. Also see Beyond Good and Evil, for a more modern variant of this gameplay style.

7. Final Fantasy VI

(???: gameplay/story) This is the only 'true' Final Fantasy I've played (also played Crystal Chronicles, but I take it this isn't considered 'canon' or something), mainly because so many people say how great it is. I found the gameplay/combat to be dull (random encounters got on my nerves, enemies were either way too easy or way too hard), and the plot was uninspiring (the bad guys didn't really have a good motivation in my opinion). However, most people seem to love it, so it's an interesting game to study for those elements that sold it to them. By the way, I did think that the music in this game was truly great, and worth playing almost for that alone.

8. Chrono Trigger

(+positive: everything) On the other hand, I've also played Chrono Trigger, and it solved pretty much all the problems I had with Final Fantasy VI. I was inspired by the way they made the console RPG style combat so much fun, and the way that even though the plot is mostly linear, you always want to do the thing you have to do anyway. The music and art/animation is also superb.

9. Super Smash Brothers (and Super Smash Brothers Melee)

(+positive: gameplay, branding) Probably my favourite fighting game (even though it's a fighting hybrid). Easy to learn, hard to master. Has the advantage that every character has the same set of controls, so you don't have to master only one character (unlike most fighting games). Also a perfect example of using character branding to it's full potential.

10. Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures & Yoda Stories

(+positive: gameplay) Finally, just for something different, you should play one of these. These are simple games where you have to do the usual fighting, object fetching and puzzle solving, but the structure is built dynamically. It's also designed for a quick office break, so games rarely last more than fifteen minutes. Also, the puzzle structure is built dynamically, to present a different game every time.

Gee, is that ten games already? Maybe I'll have to post some more later...
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Adventure:

Outcast
The Dig
Phantasmagoria
Beyond Good & Evil
Diablo II

Action:

D&D: Shadow Over Mystara (Arcade)
Devil May Cry (PS2)

Roleplaying:

Darklands
Arx Fatalis
Gothic II (for better or worse, mostly better)

Real-time Strategy:

Age of Empires II (the game that defined the genre)
Darwinia
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War

Turn-based Strategy:

Stars!
Alpha Centauri (or any Sid Meier game, for that matter)

Simulation:

Europa 1400 (the genre-breaking champion)
SimCity 2000
Dungeon Keeper
Startopia

Platform:

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSX)
Lego Star Wars
Ragnarok Battle Offline
Super Mario World (SNES)

Shooter:

Halo (XBox)
System Shock 2
Star Wars: Republic Commando
Serious Sam

Spaceflight:

Freespace 2
Freelancer

Puzzle:

Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo (Arcade/PSX)

Best atmosphere:

Undying
Nosferatu: Wrath of Malachi
The Suffering
Far Cry

Seek both advantages and flaws in all of the above. You will find them.

I'm a fierce advocate of cooperative play. If your engine is network-capable and you don't support cooperative play, you're wasting a tremendous opportunity. If your engine is not network-capable, you're missing an even greater opportunity. However, support for multiple players on one machine (generally in the form of split-screen) is acceptable in my book.

[Edited by - Tom on July 26, 2005 1:22:16 PM]

GDNet+. It's only $5 a month. You know you want it.

Man i'm still confused on why X-Com: UFO Defense hasn't been put on the main list yet. It is definitely a game all designers must play.

XCOM
XCOM
XCOM
XCOM

[Edited by - HAM on July 27, 2005 4:30:23 AM]
Wait...GBGames...you -liked- ET?

*laughs* I still have my 2600 cartridge. I mean, granted, I loved playing it as a kid, but at that age any game where you mindlessly fall into pits that don't exist on the overworld map is fun.

Oh, and FBI agents that seem to catch you within five minutes of beginning the game.

Yup...crying shame they paved over those unsold copies in the Arizona deserts.

:P Oh well, not -too- terrible for a one-man development team on a three-week (I think) schedule before the Christmas rush.
Quote:
Original post by Anonymous Poster
Quazatron/Rana Rama (Spectrum/C64)
Quake (PC)
Warcraft II (PC)
Elite (C64)
Worms/Lemmings (PC)
Street Fighter II (Coin-op)
Heretic (PC - awesome sound!)

Note that my choice of versions for Quake and Warcraft is very deliberate. Designers should play the other versions and of those games (along with Starcraft and C&C:Red Alert) and try to understand why they're not as good as Quake I and Warcraft II.


Starcraft is better than WC2 in every way (unless you just like fantasy style). :P
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Action

Q2 3wave CTF : This was the version with the grappling hook & the runes. Rocked, especially e3m2.

Action Quake 2 : Best fps mod I've ever played, by the team behind CounterStrike. Really great, well-balaned weapon choices. Each player could choose 1 weapon, and 2 items. Most chose a machinegun, a bulletproof vest, and a grenade. I would choose the vest, 10 poisoned throwing knives, and the silent slippers that let you run silently, rather than just walk quietly.

Severance : Blade of Darkess I'm probably the only person on the planet who has played through this game 8 times. Twice with each of the 4 characters... so far! Great levels. The gameplay has some issues ( I never use the lock-on feature ), but overally it just works for me. Really fun to explore the first time. Great sounds & music throughout.

OUT OF THIS WORLD like many french games, it was beautiful, too hard, and too short. I played this continually until I finished it. Wow, what atmosphere this game had. I played the sequel a bit on emulation, but it didn't work for me.

Die by the Sword I actually loved the idea for the controls, but hated the way they worked. I was surprised I didn't like them. But, the levels were cool, and a good use of physics - nice feel. Played through multiple times with different characters.

RPG

WASTELAND If you can find a copy of this, check it out. Played this in glorious 16 color EGA graphics back in the day. A bard's tale style of game set in post-apocolyptic future. It had a great skill system, as well as a super upgrade jones. Just as all of your party members had a certain weapon class ( say pistols ), you killed the boss of an area, and got a cool new gun for only one dude - now you wanted all your dudes to have the .45/uzi/ak47, etc. Also possible to skip areas and still win ( although harder ). Some cool sidequests too, like Finster's Brain.

SSI Gold Box D&D Games These were great. The DragonLance games in particular were very cool. Good turn-based tactical combat.

Dark Sun I & II 1 was better, but both were fun. Cool alternate D&D setting, very good atmosphere. Nice tactical combat with some exploration, too.

Fighting

Street Fighter 2 Chapionship Edition This is what I failed out of school for ( that and my GF! ). So addictive, well balanced fighting game. I'm a Dhalsim player, btw.

Toshinden Possible to win with any character. I liked the slow french dude with the sword for some reason.

DOA3 God we used to play this at NVIDIA all the time. I was mainly a Leon dude, but my Christie and Hitomi were good too. Fun rock/paper/scissors style fighting with attacks/throws/counters.
1. Half-life/CounterStrike - I've probably played these two games more than all others combined, perfect examples of FPS multiplayer goodness, and "The best game of all time".

2. GTA: Vice City - Gangsta' freedom, with an 80's theme...can't go wrong.

3. Age of Empires (Series) - Multiplayer against your brother on the home LAN for 15 hours at a time, enough said. This is why I love RTS games.

4. Half-life 2 - It's gotta be on here somewhere.

5. Commander Keen (Series) - Probably one of the first games I ever played, deserves a spot on then list.

6. Sim City 2000 - Openendedness at it's finest.

7. Max Payne/Max Payne 2 - I think these games are very cool, and everyone should play at least one of them. First game to use "Bullet time"? I think that was actually on the back of the box? ;-)

8. Gangsters: Organized Crime - Personal favorite, check it out there are some good ideas in there somewhere ;-)

9. Rainbow 6: I seem to recall their planning/action stages to be very unique at the time. Also one of the first games I reaaaaally got into, so it deserves a spot.

10. Doom - I remember playing it at a friends house, and realizing how cool computer games really are. Plus making maps for the Doom was the first step I
ever took into game development. I was 11 or 12 years old at the time.

[EDIT] Oh shit, I forgot about Mortal Kombat ;-)

Ok this turned into a "Games I think rock" list, but oh well.

- Dan

I can't believe you don't have Lengend of Zelda, Metroid, Mario, or any of the greatest games Nintendo ever made! Every game they make combines both new technology and awesome design to make the best games ever. Almost every game on your list has been influenced by, or used technology developed for these games. Don't be stupid. Include these games!

My opinion, no apologies.
Disclaimer: The contents of this post do not necessarily reflect the opinion of any sane person, and may in fact, contradict such views. Deal with it. ;)
The list is a joke. Look at the entire TBS section for instance: Alpha Centauri and Civilization (1, 2 and 3). All Sid Meier games, and all based on the same basic model.

What about Jagged Alliance? Master of Orion? Not to mention any of the excellent turn-based wargames out there..

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