So the question I''ve been asking myself for the last several weeks is whatever happened to all those strange games that innundated my local software retailer''s shelves? You know, the ones with really weird interfaces, abstract goals or surreal worlds.. video games, y''know? With games being produced with >= a million dollars and massive teams of 30+ people it seems that companies can''t afford to screw up and make weird little games that scintillate the imagination. The industry has learned to peg the male 16-25 crowd as the market for gaming and so along with that prejudice they assume the usual teenage themes of science fiction and violence. So what do people like us who want to get in to the industry try to do in our nestling state but create things that we think the prospective employers will want from us should we get hired. Is that why everyone''s trying to quake-this or warcraft-that? Or is it simply that gamers (of whom I would hope game designers can be accounted for) do not want mysterious and bizarre programs running on their computers and game systems? So what''s my question? I just want to know what you think; is there still hope of strange and new worlds or are we doomed to RTS/FPS/WannaBeLikeRealLife games forever?

There are always possibility and room for new things. Remember, 20 years ago there were no such thing as FPS or RTS.

quote: So what do people like us who want to get in to the industry try to do in our nestling state but create things that we think the prospective employers will want from us should we get hired. Is that why everyone''s trying to quake-this or warcraft-that?

Or is it simply that gamers (of whom I would hope game designers can be accounted for) do not want mysterious and bizarre programs running on their computers and game systems?

Both arguments have some truth in them and I can''t give you a simple yes or no answer.

Yes, the industry is mainly driven by money and profit rather than creating new things. There''s no doubt about it. And the people that ignores this with the holier than thou attitude and only fistful of un-tested ideas have a very high chance of failure even when they do manage to make the game. Game developement is a business; you don''t go around throwing 100 darts valued at 1 mil per dart aimming for the 1 mm bulleye blindfolded then hopes one of the 100 ideas would hit the mark and score big with the market.

All I can say is give it more time. Eventually the FPS/RTS will reach a saturation point and people would get tired of playing the same old games. (Just like your post.) And if there''s enough people out there growing at an expoential rate and expanding the target''s bulleye by 1 mm per year, eventually it will draw the publisher''s attention and they will purchase more darts (fund more independent games) in attempt to shoot for the bulleye.

While I think that the industry has in general moved towards the business side of the equation, and I think that Mooglez has a point about game making being a business, I think it''s really too hard to judge what an audience will want.

I think that is what is really stifling creativity...the unwillingness to take chances and create clone after clone of games. But the sad fact is, if you want the development money you need to sell your idea, and it''s easier to sell an idea that''s tried and true than something that is an unknown.

So the cycle gets broken when someone takes a chance and everyone loves the game...then all the business jump on the bandwagon and clone that game to death. It used to be that garage designers could come up with stuff, but with today''s standards the games really would (very likely) look very amateurish which would put off gamers. Unfortunately PC games don''t make the same kinds of profits that say for example movies make, so I think that''s why you don''t see as many "indy" type games as movies. I wish there was an easy answer but there isn''t.

Me personally, I''ll make the amateur looking game that is my own idea At least I''ll have gotten it out of my system and it will be a proof of concept for others to see.

Just wait for the Next Big Thing. Before Diablo was released, RPGs were dead, dead, dead, and were always going to be...(if you listened to the "common wisdom)