Hi guys,

I've got a question more for the players under you :
How to get this atmosphere in my game : ) ?

So what I mean with atmosphere is what makes the difference between this good old games, everybody loved and the new sucking(I'm sorry for that) games like "Call of Duty - Ghosts", ...

I don't wanna say they are really bad, I mean they are playable, but they don't have this magical something, what makes we love them. This warm feeling, when playing them and the feeling to be part of something, maybe even to be in a place for a special time ?

So my game, I'm working on is about a really complicated, realistic and hard space MMO. But WITHOUT any kinds of DLCs, ingame buys, buy to win and all of that new "inovations".

So what I want is to implement the good atmosphere from games like this :

http://media.moddb.com/images/downloads/1/69/68747/swjkaspd_1.jpg

http://i1-games.softpedia-static.com/screenshots/Star-Wars-Jedi-Knight-Jedi-Academy_13.jpg

and so on ..

so and that are the new ones with bad atmosphere :
http://gearnuke.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/cod-Advanced-Soldier.jpg

http://static4.gamespot.com/uploads/screen_kubrick/1365/13658182/2622075-callofduty_advancedwarfare_multiplayer_cod_aw_riot_slam+dunk.jpg

http://www.vgamerz.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/call-of-duty-advanced-warfare-3.jpg

Need your help.

I'm not really sure you even know what you're asking. You should try to hone in what you mean by "good atmosphere". Are you sure you're not just referring to the nostalgia of the games you enjoyed in the past as opposed to how you feel about newer games now that the ideas are no longer new and no longer invoke the same kind of excitement that you used to feel?

Being a teenager and saving the world before y2k is not going to be the sort experience or feelings that a teenager might have today.

Knowing your audience, what's on their mind, what their experiences are would help. If you've already saved the world 20 times and killed Dracula 30 then these things don't have the same appeal to someone that hasn't done these things yet.

I also think that when you can break a game's elements down into simple things like dps, cool-down, tanks, glass cannons, & healers you start to loose some of that sense of immersion.

I would make two lists, one for the good games and one for the bad games, then compare them.

Questions for each list:

What is the setting?

What is the emotional tone?

Are the colors bright, grayish, brownish, or what?

What is the main job/career/destiny of your character within the game?

What does death mean in the game?

What are the politics and philosophy in the game?

What are the personalities of the important characters in the story?

Etc.

So what I mean with atmosphere is what makes the difference between this good old games, everybody loved and the new sucking(I'm sorry for that) games like "Call of Duty - Ghosts",

If you think ALL old games were good, and ALL new games are bad, then you're stuck. Obviously you can't go into the past and make your game.

Or, maybe the difference isn't directly decided by what time period the game was developed in. If so, you're in luck.

I don't wanna say they are really bad, I mean they are playable, but they don't have this magical something, what makes we love them. This warm feeling, when playing them and the feeling to be part of something, maybe even to be in a place for a special time ?

If you think ALL the games you played when you were young are "good" (and not just because you were experiencing them for the first time), and ALL games you've played as an adult are "bad", well, the good news is that there is a new generation for who that "magic" isn't yet lost. The bad news is, you can't go into the past and be a kid again, so you'll never experience that magic again.

Or, maybe the difference isn't directly decided by what age you were when you played the game. If so, you're in luck.

So my game, I'm working on is about a really complicated, realistic and hard space MMO. But WITHOUT any kinds of DLCs, ingame buys, buy to win and all of that new "inovations".

If you think that the monetization scheme games use are what makes them "good" or "bad", then you're out of business. Are "insert another coin to play for 30 more seconds" arcade machine, "Pay $10 for an hour of online time" multi-user dungeons, "Pay a recurring fee of $15" MMOs, "Pay $500 for a console, and $100 for each game and just replay the same game over and over" consoles, really the defining quality of what makes a good game? After all, that's how they used to do it. And apparently, old = good.

Or, maybe the difference isn't directly decided by how the game makes money. If so, you're in luck.

http://media.moddb.com/images/downloads/1/69/68747/swjkaspd_1.jpg
http://i1-games.softpedia-static.com/screenshots/Star-Wars-Jedi-Knight-Jedi-Academy_13.jpg
and so on ..

so and that are the new ones with bad atmosphere :
http://gearnuke.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/cod-Advanced-Soldier.jpg
http://static4.gamespot.com/uploads/screen_kubrick/1365/13658182/2622075-callofduty_advancedwarfare_multiplayer_cod_aw_riot_slam+dunk.jpg
http://www.vgamerz.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/call-of-duty-advanced-warfare-3.jpg

If you think all single-player 3rd-person semi-popular Star Wars action games are good, and all multi-player first-person mainstream modern-day semi-futuristic military first-person shooter games are bad, then you're out of luck, because you can't license the Star Wars franchise for your game - EA has an exclusive contract for Star Wars games, for the next ten years.

Or, maybe the difference isn't directly decided by the [number of active players], [camera perspective], [popularity], [setting and franchise], and [gameplay genre]. If so, you're in luck.

If you are wanting an answer to the "magic", you'll have to look deeper than merely bashing games you don't like (but millions do), and praising games you have happened to enjoy.

As a designer, you'll want to be able to play and examine the good parts of games, even if you don't like the game. I don't mean make yourself blind to the flaws - rather, I mean attune your eyes to see the strengths hidden admist the flaws. My favorite games, and yours also, are very flawed.

To cut through your own biases, you could make a list of what about Jedi Academy you enjoyed, and what about Jedi Academy you didn't enjoy. (Or was Jedi Academy 100% perfect in every way? If the answer to that is 'Yes', then your emotions are still fogging up your game designer lenses)

Next, make a list of what about Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare you don't like, and what about Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare you do like. (Or was Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare 100% bad in every way? If the answer to that is 'Yes', then your emotions are still fogging up your game designer lenses)

Then, find another Call of Duty game that you do like (or as close a game as possible that you enjoy), and contrast it with Call of Duty, making a list of what you like and what you didn't like.

Similarly, find another Starwars action game that you don't like (or as close a game to Jedi Academy as possible that you don't like), and contrast it with Jedi Academy, making a list of what you like and don't like. For example, The Forced Unleashed (I'm assuming you dislike that game - if not, find one that you don't like). Comparing what you like (and dislike) about Jedi Academy with what you dislike (and like) about The Forced Unleashed would be an excellent design excessive. Have you played the game called Outcast (not the starwars one)? What parts of Outcast do you find yourself enjoying, and what parts do you dislike? How's that compare and line up with Jedi Academy?

Also, seeing as it's related, I posted some of my thoughts (two years ago) about what I think strengthens game atmosphere in this journal entry. Obviously it's subjective, but how would you reorder those attributes that compose the atmosphere, and which would you add to, or remove from, that list?

Ok thank you all for the posts.

Now I will just start somewhere at the top with awnsering, because this will take loads of time.

@axefrog

I think that your right. Maybe its nostalgia. Now that would mean, that I don't even have to inovate something new, right ? I could just make another game, with old structure and the unexperienced players would have the magic ?

Good thought at all.

@kseh

Now asking the community, what they want is over all a good idea. I tried this. The problem is, that loads of people want so different stuff. I even got mails long as a book.

I like the idea of working with and not against the community, thats my basic prociple. It's difficult.

@sunandshadow

Actually a really good one !

I'm going to do this today. I think that that is a really important point for a game. Even though the graphics of new games are really good, the old ones looked a kind of "warmer" for me. Maybe its the lighting, the color scheme and this things.

@Servant of the Lord

I seriosly don' think all old games are good and all new games are bad. I'm talking of the majority, the most liked games.

I think it's possible that the time doesn't decide if a game is good. Maybe it's me because, I played a game where I had to kill, search, hide, sneak, ... before. Maybe the teenagers today feel like we couple of years ago ?

I have to figure that out, but how ? :D

I'm thinking of doing something new .. in the game. I don't know what.

Now I stangly hate the system of DLC's and this stuff.

I think, when you buy a game for more than 30 bucks(you say this in america, right ?), you shouldn't have to play anything to get a complete. What DLC's actually do is cutting a game in pieces. The biggest part is sold as game, the remain is sold as DLC. Also this monthly paiment is not good at all. I mean .. you bought it !

And the preorder thing is what I like on this. When you preorder, you get something special to the game. Thats good, I think. Nothing, what makes it unfair for other players, but something what gives you maybe "a better looking" or more comfortably.

So yeah .. I just bought Advanced Warfare some minutes ago, just to get the list complete.

I think it's possible that the time doesn't decide if a game is good. Maybe it's me because, I played a game where I had to kill, search, hide, sneak, ... before. Maybe the teenagers today feel like we couple of years ago ?
I have to figure that out, but how ?

SunAndShadows and myself suggested how in our previous posts.

Now I stangly hate the system of DLC's and this stuff.

I think, when you buy a game for more than 30 bucks(you say this in america, right ?), you shouldn't have to play anything to get a complete. What DLC's actually do is cutting a game in pieces. The biggest part is sold as game, the remain is sold as DLC.

Yes, new games cost $60 bucks in the United States, for most major consoles.

DLC can be abused, but so can other forms of monetization.

Not all DLC is bad. In the days of yore, we called DLC "expansions", and they were popular. For example, Age of Empires was famous for their expansions. Expansions are only large DLCs with a different name came on discs.

It's not the method used, but how the methods are used. What content is being delivered? And at what price?

Also this monthly paiment is not good at all. I mean .. you bought it !

Certainly, I wasn't say it was good, I was merely pointing out monthly payments (and even hourly payments!) is something they used to do alot. I'm saying it's not modern payment schemes that are bad just because they are modern, and old payment schemes that are good just because they are old - rather, it's whether or not the payment scheme is "abusive" (subjective), and whether the game itself is "worth" it (even more subjective).

For example, I spent hundreds of hours (>250 hours) playing cooperative Dungeon Defenders on Steam. The game cost me $20, I think. I don't normally buy DLC (most of the time, my personal opinion is the DLC is crap), but I bought DLC for this game to buy additional content for something that had already proved its worth. Very few games have I spent 250 hours on (maybe six or seven games total in my life were that enjoyable). Ofcourse, it helps that it was cooperative.

Hm .. I don't like DLC's anyway. 1 time bought for ever bought. I will do it like this. Because I hate EA and it's commercial system. It's against humanity.

And mothly/ hourly payment is, in my eyes, a perversity.

So thanks this thread is ready to be closed.

So what I mean with atmosphere is what makes the difference between this good old games, everybody loved and the new sucking(I'm sorry for that) games like "Call of Duty - Ghosts", ...

(if you don't believe, go and play the old games now and tell your impressions - excluding nostalgia, pure gameplay :))

So what I mean with atmosphere is what makes the difference between this good old games, everybody loved and the new sucking(I'm sorry for that) games like "Call of Duty - Ghosts", ...

We loved the good old games because we were younger back then and not so grumpy and complainful You can't compete with the past, everything is always more colourful and tastier in our memories.

(if you don't believe, go and play the old games now and tell your impressions - excluding nostalgia, pure gameplay )

Yeah thats true :|. Unfortunately it's true ...

I just want to know if anybody tryed to smoke and play an old game Maybe it's the old feeling, what makes the life fancy. (In the general not only games).

Don't take it to serios !