Most "cheats" are integrated on purpose, or else they are bugs/undocumented features. B-)
I don''t like it when I am playing a game with some friends for the first time and they insist on "showing me" how to play.
What I mean is when I am playing a game for the first time, like Final Fantasy 7 on the Playstation, and I get to a part where you have to drop barrels on the guards below to prevent them from getting someone (it''s been awhile since I played it). It was obviously something you had to figure out. No, I had to have someone SHOW me how to do it by taking the controller and basically pushing the memorized sequence of barrels...jerk.
It seriously took away from the enjoyment of the game.
Likewise with cheats, I don''t like it when I play a game and try to figure out all the different areas and all the secrets, and I have someone who has read the "cheat" guide or found the secrets outside of the game and tries to act all superior.
No, you are not a gamer. You are a wannabe gamer.
I have no problem with people who use cheats in games. I am especially ok with the people who found that alpha cheat in Unreal, since that rocked.
I have issues with people who use cheats as a way to claim they conquered some game in 3 hours or something like that. Woopdie doo.
I remember playing Super Mario 64 and finding all 120 stars in under a week or two. I told my friend this and he right away assumed I had the cheat guide, saying that it is impossible to find all the stars without one. Why would anyone make a game that requires you to get the cheat guide? How could I possibly have more fun just getting the stars by following directions out of some book? If the game itself doesn''t tell you how to play, then it is a bad game. I didn''t like Myst because of this reason. I know a lot of people did, but I found the puzzles to be kind of out of place. Why would a door require you to match up symbolic tiles in order to pass? And why don''t I have a clue as to how they are supposed to go together anyway?
Maybe it is just me, or maybe my friend never let me read the manual before letting me play.

So personally, I don''t have an issue with cheats. I just don''t like people who use them and act like they beat the game and are superior for doing it or something. I think that people like that need to learn that playing a game is more than just following directions from cheat guides or something.
Also, I don''t like games that require you to get a hint guide to play it. It shows me that the game itself is weak and poorly done.
I have no issue with people who use cheats to improve the enjoyment of the game. Goldeneye for N64 had awesome cheat codes. Seeing giant heads or having all the enemies use rocket launchers made the game more fun.

Having fun is one thing. Killing fun is another.

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(Gorgeous graphics)+(beautiful sound effects)+(symphonic music)+(no gameplay) != Good game

nobody come up with an idea for a game where the PURPOSE is to cheat

i have that one in the bag

Someone already mentioned Dark Forces, but in the sequel (Jedi Knight) there was much the same thing: a super shield (30 seconds of invulnerability) or a weapons boost (30 seconds of doubled fire rate) that were conveniently placed shortly before you encountered an hard/large threat. It managed to help the player "cheat" without suspending disbelief - very good implementation that kept in the context of the game while providing gameplay variety. Instead of 1-2 enemies, sometimes you faced hordes and impossible survival odds.

-jipe

Cheats bug up your system

My two cents:
I very rarely use cheats because I perfer the challenge. However I have friends that wouldn''t play the game if the cheats were not available. Eye Candy type cheats are funny and can add to the game. Functional cheats are also a good idea for either less talented players or people who just don''t care.

Making the player earn certain cheats can be a powerful incentive to play the game, especially if they don't know exactly what it is.

Edited by - JNewt on January 30, 2002 2:31:38 PM

quote: Original post by JNewt
Making the player earn certain cheats can be a powerful incentive to play the game...

When I found the Moogle Charm (or Bracelet, or whatever it''s called) in Final Fantasy 6, it made the game a lot easier, and certainly more fun. But in another way, it made me feel like I was cheating a bit, which slightly diminished the sense of achievement. I was mildly irritated that the game placed a ''cheat'' directly into the game play, which overlegitimized it. If that makes any sense.

(To those unfamiliar with the game: the item in question stops your party being subject to random encounters, meaning you can traverse dangerous areas without risk of being attacked. This makes some of the really hard areas quite easy. But since the game usually throws up a random encounter every 10 seconds or so, this is a significant change to the way the game plays.)

[ MSVC Fixes | STL | SDL | Game AI | Sockets | C++ Faq Lite | Boost ]

I skipped a lot of these posts, so I''m probably saying what has already been said, but some games don''t allow you to progress through the game if you use a cheat code; you''d have to beat each level the regular way. Of course that negates the entire point of cheats so it''s a bit dumb.

I feel the ideal cheat helps someone get through a particular part of the game without making it blantantly easy. In other words, it should be challenging even with the cheat, at least to some degree.

Examples of this are cheats that add ammo or give you infinite ammo. That usually won''t make it very easy, it will just be easier. Even invulnerability cheats (also called "god mode") aren''t necessarily too easy, since particulary hard parts can be difficult to do even if you can''t die... though that''s kinda rare. But sometimes death isn''t the only thing to avoid, there''s also time constraints, etc.

And then there''s so-called cheats that simply do something cool or weird, like changing the player to an animal or changing the textures to something weird or whatever.

~CGameProgrammer( );

I think if it''s not a multiplayer game you should just give the player as much control over everything as you can, including giving him/her the ability to cheat their brains out if they like. There''s no reason to exclude that option from them if they want to do it, and in many ways, it gives new light to the game for vets.

Check out NWN and Morrowind (to be released). They both allow complete control over almost everything in the game, including the ability to make yourself a complete god if you so choose. As far as single player goes I think this is where the future is.

|)0Y: l337 5p34|< 4n0ny|\/|0u5

quote: Original post by C-Junkie
nobody come up with an idea for a game where the PURPOSE is to cheat

It would have to be some sort of political simulation. "Intern Tycoon" would be a good start.



Dave Mark
Intrinsic Algorithm Development
"Reducing the world to mathematical equations!"