If you have a moment, please check out my weblog on game design, the Expensive Planetarium. http://www.expensiveplanetarium.com Suggested reading: About the relationship between complexity in games, and challengeAbout how our culture does not respect nor have a good understanding of what games are Many more. Hope someone gets something out of these, Ive been writing them for awhile. Enjoy.

Seems like you just compare everything to Super Mario Bros...

Not really that insightful.

I can't agree with Konidias on his comment because I simply stopped reading after the 3rd paragraph of your Sims 3 "Game Review."

If you don't like a game, think it's an utter waste, or just plain hate it: insult the game, not the people that play it.

My suggestion would be to learn how to write an actual game review using a gamer's perspective, not just your own personal opinions. Yes, the Sims is a horrible set of games in my opinion and I'm bored to tears while playing it. However, in terms of content and pandering to the masses that love the game, they did rather well (at least in the others, I haven't played Sims 3 yet. However, I'm actually getting ready to go pick it up for my girlfriend.)

If you want to make games you have to be able to think like other people, not just yourself.

Hope this helps.

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from game complexity blog Most games brag about "50 weapons", or "5 distinct races", or "choose from 36 different fighters" on the backs of their boxes. The reason they do that is because that's one way to highlight for prospective players that in this game, there are enough options so that you will be able to play creatively and so that it could have long-lasting replay value. Well, that's the idea, but it only ends up being the case if the game is balanced.

It also must be engineered to support such things. The game Age of Conan boasted over 1500 pieces of clothing, but it turns out that any given player has only a handful of choices at best. Why? Dimensionality.

Maybe we decide to that a player ought to be able to choose between ten armors. But armor comes in {body, helmet, shoes, gloves, belt}=5 pieces for a set. So the ten becomes 10*5 = 50 pieces to support shopping, provided the artwork is fairly interchangeable. Then there's class-specific requirements. Maybe five classes in game, so that's 10*5*5=250 pieces of armor. And of course the armor will have level-requirement windows, so that a player trades up as time goes by. Maybe over the course of 80 levels, the character is expected to rotate through ten complete outfits.

So that's 2500 distinct pieces of armor to support the original claim of shopping between ten suits.

[Edited by - AngleWyrm on September 16, 2009 10:08:35 PM]

The game sells well. My blog isn't about the market though, it's about game design.

I would say that no one is able to really see from any perspective other than their own - but what they can do is try to come up with some basic understandings and fundamental laws about what makes things enjoyable. This is what my blog is about.

If you disagree on a specific point I make I would love to have a discussion about it. But if you just say that all I do is compare everything to Super Mario Brothers I can't really argue that. SMB is a great game. =]

Anyway, thank you for reading!~

-Keith

I hate white text on a black background. Looking at that page for more than about 2 minutes sends me into a headspin. I have to close my eyes for a few seconds before I can read normally again...

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Original post by keithburgun The game sells well. My blog isn't about the market though, it's about game design. I would say that no one is able to really see from any perspective other than their own - but what they can do is try to come up with some basic understandings and fundamental laws about what makes things enjoyable. This is what my blog is about. If you disagree on a specific point I make I would love to have a discussion about it. But if you just say that all I do is compare everything to Super Mario Brothers I can't really argue that. SMB is a great game. =] Anyway, thank you for reading!~ -Keith

I didn't mean from someone else's point of view/perspective per-se. I meant that you just plain don't like the Sims (as it is not your 'type' of game and doesn't fulfill your wants) and it shows in your "review".
A good comparison is that a Final Fantasy fan-boy would give any Final Fantasy game a good review for the simple fact that it's a Final Fantasy game. In contrast, (it seems) you'll give any of the Sims games a bad review just because its the Sims.

Beyond your comment on the interface (in a separate entry), you don't actually review the game, you just attack it (and insult anyone that plays it.)

The general term for what I'm talking about is "seeing without clouded eyes". While this just isn't possible, you need to be able to look past the fact that you absolutely love the series/hate the series/whatever and write an informative review.

If it wasn't for your comment on the music at the very end, I don't see anything that even suggests you actually PLAYED the game (which that comment isn't even actually proof, as you could have just watched a trailer.)

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I would say that no one is able to really see from any perspective other than their own - but what they can do is try to come up with some basic understandings and fundamental laws about what makes things enjoyable. This is what my blog is about.

True, but you haven't come up with some basic understandings and fundamental laws about what makes things enjoyable, you're using the perspective of what makes things enjoyable for you.

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If you disagree on a specific point I make I would love to have a discussion about it. But if you just say that all I do is compare everything to Super Mario Brothers I can't really argue that. SMB is a great game. =]

I don't actually disagree with the point(s) you were trying to make, I disagree with the form your points took. After reading the first three paragraphs, I summed up the entire thing in one line : "I hate the Sims, so the Sims 3 is utter trash."
Actually, make that two : "I hate the Sims, so the Sims 3 is utter trash. By association, anyone that plays/likes Sims is trash."

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The game sells well. My blog isn't about the market though, it's about game design.

While your blog isn't about marketing, demographic should be taken into consideration. The Sims isn't made for people who want to kill, destroy, and/or steal. Also, while your distinction between the two types of people may be correct, probably a good portion of the demographic of the Sims are early teens and as such, don't readily fall into either category.

[edit]
A small aside; unless you're planning on making one specific type of game, or just the types of games you like, targeting demographics is a big part of game design. You may hate the Sims and think it's utter trash, but, as you said, it sells well. I have no doubts that there's at least one, if not several or more, people that worked on the Sims that think the same thing you do.
[/edit]

Also, if your entry is about the game's design, don't mark it as a review. What I take from your entry isn't that you want to review the Sims anyway, it's that you want to point out it's faults (this is your perogative, I'm just making the distinction.) However, you're going to attract people that google "The Sims 3 Game Review".

As a rebuttal to your reasons as to why the Sims is a game (and, for some god forsaken reason, like an RPG; not sure where you came up with that), you already countered yourself with your second paragraph

Also, I take it that Diablo 2 isn't a real game? It doesn't have a clear threat of failure (unless you're playing hardcore obviously.) Continuing with that thought pattern, most puzzle games aren't real games as you can't technically lose (the game may end, but even if you've gained 1 point you haven't technically lost), World of Warcraft isn't technically a game, Pokemon, ...

I apologize; I'm digressing here. My point is that your review put me off from your whole site, as well as it did for the few people that I linked it to. Rereading it as less of a review and more of description of what you think is wrong with it helped, but the insult to people who play it still stands out. It honestly made me think "This guy is a complete douche."

For contrast, we have your entry on Fire Emblem; it was informative, well formed, and well laid out.

Ditto on everything Programmer16 just said. I was the first Anonymous post on that sims3 blog comment page (the one saying that the sims series is a top selling game)

I just wanted to say that if you don't feel marketing and demographic research is part of game design... well you can't really call yourself a game designer.

After all, you're designing games. The whole point of designing games is to design a game for someone to play. A particular demographic, for example. You design a game so that your players will enjoy it. It's impossible to design a game that everyone will enjoy, so you need to design a game for a targeted demographic. Sometimes this demographic is rather wide, and your game can appeal to a lot of people. Sometimes it's more narrow.

If you don't think you can see from anyone's perspective than you're own... you've got a lot to learn. Who do you think makes the cartoons that kids enjoy? Kids? No. They are made by people in their 30's-60's. Yet somehow they know what kids enjoy.

Same goes for pop music. Most boy bands and pop singers and pop songs are created by men in their 40's and 50's. What do they know about what teen girls like to listen to? Apparently a lot. Do those men making these pop singers famous actually like the music that is made? They probably can't stand it. But they make it, because it sells.

Those are just two examples. But the same thing applies to games.

Your blog clearly shows that you're not thinking so much about good game design, as you are thinking about what you like personally in games. The clearest indicator of this is the fact that you're saying a game that is played by millions (sims 3) is badly designed. If it were badly designed, millions of people wouldn't be enjoying it.

I don't personally enjoy the sims games. I don't enjoy World of Warcraft. But there is no denying that these games are designed well and know how to target their audience through clever game design and marketing.

Wait, so Hanna Montana sells lots of CDs...thus makeing her a GOOD musician?

What is Good or Bad game design/music/film/TV is SUBJECTIVE. Period.

Total number of sales != good game design
Total number of sales != bad game design

Total number of sales = total number of sales. Everything else is a subjective interpolation drawn from a factual numerical value. Means nothing.

The whole point of game design is the same as the point of music...Some view it as artistic expression, others see only product. It varies, greatly.

Bloggers are only an authority on thier own personal subjectivity. Its opinions people, and it is all relative, deal with it.

Now why is a thread in the Game design forum concerning the self promotion of the OPs blog allowed? Isn't there a better forum for showing off your work? Or does the subject of the promoted blog trump spamming rules? And why do posters who wish to take the blogger's views to task post here, instead of over there on the bloggers own site?