First off, forgive my spelling and grammer mistakes. I''m not very good when it comes to quick typing. Anywho, I''m sure that this question has appered many times before many of us. Will 3D polygons take over our traditional 2D hand drawn sprites. Most games on the market seem to be games that require a very large video card to run their huge maps and advanced character animations. Sure, there are a few games that still have that aspect of 2D to them (Capcom vs SNK2 ect.). but for the most part besides the Gameboy Advance, there dosen''t seem much of a market for 2D sidescrollers (and I''m sure it won''t be long before even the GBA goes 3D). So my question is; will there still be a market for 2D games at all in the near future? "Do a barrel roll!" -Eternal words of wisdom from Falco Lombardi

they were going five years ago.. now they are most definitely gone (except for the gba).

"and I''m sure it won''t be long before even the GBA goes 3D"

That ain''t happening. The gba is specifically designed for 2d effects in alot of ways - mode 7 graphics (zero wing) are about at close as its going to get (and all thats really needed).

Hmm.. They''re mostly gone now.. sob...
But the good stuf is that there still always will be 3d games, played in 2d! Like sidescrollers with really neat graphics and stuff, but still the gameplay is in 2d! Imagine Super Mario 1, the same game, all the same, but realtime rendered in 3d!!
I belive therell always be programmers which haven''t got time for 3d, induviduals i mean, that will do 3d graphics as it gets easier, but program the game in 2d coordinates and stuff because of the simplicity!
Long live 2d gameplay!
hurray!
hurray!

Now 2d side scrollers may not be completely mainstream anymore but they will still be around. You will always have the retro gaming element, and we still deal with os''s that have small memory constraints. I still believe there is alot more that can be done with that genre, one of my favorite games has to be the psx Castlevania game. Alot of cool elements with story and presentation can be done in 2d still. I guess what I am trying to say is that I don''t think the 2d side scrollers are going to go the way of the text adventure games.

-Just when you think things are starting to look up, life grabs you by the jaws makes you open up wide and sh*ts down your throat.

If your game is addictive and extremely fun to play and the graphics look nice then I suspect you could get it published even if it were a 2D sidescroller. Of course I don''t know if you really could as I have never actually tried to publish something, but I hope so as this is the kind of game I would like to make. Still I suspect that quality sells.

I agree with Jippi_programming.
The ''2D'' games will be rendered in 3D (for fancy fog/lightning/and-so-on effects, and for better characters animations,and because the people needs to be appealed by graphics...), but the ''2D gameplay'' will still exist. One of the reasons , I think, is because the ''camera'' in side-scrollers is much more external to the scene than in 3D gameplay (where the camera often represents what the character can actually see, or a little more). So there are gameplay tricks that can be achieved in 2D that are much more difficult to design in 3D (for example planning a jump over ennemies that are not directly seen by the character, because they are ''hidden'' by a platform).
So 2D gameplay will always be interesting, for doing stuff that are not possible to do in 3D gameplay.

The industry is a bit spoiled. Your platformer would have to feature realtime fractal generation and LENSFLARE, or whatever insane unexplored 2d graphics elements to catch any noticed. Hoever, it is an excellent opportunity to get creative and show of some increadible artistic muscle. Oh, and addictive gameplay, yes can''t forget that.

If you want, associate black and white movies at a lucasfilm digital theater with 2d games. Its an artform that you have to do very carefully, but it can be done.

-> Will Bubel
-> Machine wash cold, tumble dry.

I believe that 2D gaming will still be around, but not so mainstream. This was brought to my attension today when I was exploring a flash site. I think that as long as there are slower mediums of gaming (Flash and java off the net, GBA, ect.) and as long as there are aspiring game designers with a talnted team of 2D artists but not enough time nor money to make a solid 3D game. I believe that 2D gaming will not take the market away from 3D gaming, but it is most definatly not dead yet.

"Do a barrel roll!"
-Eternal words of wisdom from Falco Lombardi

2D games will be around for a while mostly on the internet using technologies such as Macromedia Flash and Shockwave.
I think these games would be designed for casual players who visited a website, and not for hardcore gamers.

e.g.
http://www.lego.com/build/junkbot/junkbot.asp

People at GameLab (http://www.gmlb.com/) are making interesting things in 2D. see also the game ''Loop''.