First of all, hi! Beeing new to this community i thought i should introduce myself. I am a wannabe game designer at the mere age of 16. Well, anyway, I am thinking of a game design that would include no or perhaps just a small portion of violence. I thought I should start a discussion here about the future of non-violent games (not including puzzles, sports games etc), in this time of multiplayer FPS fragging that we currently live in. What do you guys think? Richard "one68" Olsson genoism_maxed@hotmail.com

Welcome to gamedev. As for your idea, the "games and violence" issue has been discussed extensively in the past, I´m sure if you use this forums search feature you´ll find a lot of helpful material.
As for your aspiration of becoming a game designer I´d suggest that you start specialising early, either learn to code or go down the art lane. There are numerous articles and references available here, or elsewhere on the net to help you get started (assuming that you haven´t already).

And if you are looking for specific help, try searching for it here or on google first, people around here don´t react very well to questions which can be answered by a five-second google query.

best of luck

[edited by - Hase on May 25, 2002 12:53:08 PM]

Thanks for advices but I feel I''m pretty well prepared with my 100+ hours of game design article reading (Especially the great Ernest Adams) and lots of discussing in the IGDA game design forums.

And actually I''m one of those lame question haters myself =) Just that if i go down the forum i will find discussions already "finished" and I was kind of looking forward to participate in one of these discussions.



Richard "one68" Olsson
genoism_maxed@hotmail.com

quote: Original post by one68
Thanks for advices but I feel I''m pretty well prepared with my 100+ hours of game design article reading (Especially the great Ernest Adams) and lots of discussing in the IGDA game design forums.

I don''t think that he was saying that you''re not prepared, more of just informing you of the reality of making a game. From my own experience: There are always people who want to be designers who have great ideas and are probably fully capable of designing, who post in the help wanted forum, but no one ever wants to start a project with them. If you want to be involved in making a game, you will have much better success if you are a programmer or artist.

Re-reading my post I realise that I might sound a bit harsch/inpolite and that is really not a good way to start on this forum. Im sorry.

I am going to study advanced programming in C++ 3rd year at high school so that will be my main knowledge but i do love design more. Well anyway, anyone that could start the discussion here? I tend to be good at anwsering but not starting discussions =)

Richard "one68" Olsson
genoism_maxed@hotmail.com

Hey one68, as you can already see, threads go off topic VERY quickly around here. I''m pretty tired of the thrill to kill games myself. Usually I only enjoy the kill when strategy is involved... then I fell I''ve actually accomplished something. Even multiplayer deathmatches are getting old... although they ARE fun, I get bored of hand-eye coordinating and would rather out-think my opponent. What did you have in mind for non-violent games? Puzzles? Trading? Hmmm, here''s a new one: non-violent RPG''s. You play the role of a character... and just for sh!ts and giggles you allow them to kill other players but the game awards the peaceful players. Playing peacefully can be MUCH harder than the quickly gratifying kill.

About the other stuff... these guys aren''t berating you. What they say is just from experience in the forums and should be heeded. =) But OT, man. OT =)

- Jay


Get Tranced!

NON VIOLENCE - I just don''t see why you don''t want violence. I mean, there''s no problem with it as long as it isn''t aggrivated violence or revenge. Say you were a secret agent (after just playing agent under fire) and you countering a group of terrorists or something. That is not bad. Or say it was in self-defense? Anyway, that''s what I have to say about the violence part.

STARTING DESIGN AT AN EARLY AGE - Hey, I have no problem with that. I mean, I''m even younger. If you have the storytelling abbility and the imagination, don''t let anything stop you. And always remember to make games the way you want them. Don''t think about what will sell. Think about your own interests first. (Not my quote. Mr. Miyamoto''s)

I hate to disillusion anyone, but I think Mr. Miyamoto has a level of freedom that not many in the game dev business have. I mean even Will Wright spent years trying to sell people on the concept of The Sims, even though he had several other successes.

-=Lohrno

I remember the old coin op game NARC. It had a lot of violence in it along with great animation, for the time, but you actually scored better if you arrested the thugs instead of shooting them.

I jokingly replied to several people (mostly women) who complained of games being about violence of one sort or another, and told them I would design a game where you''re just running around popping bubbles or something. Literally because no other real game designs came to mind, and I hadn''t really given it much thought.

I suppose quests in a tomb or ancient temple could involve something other than violence, or exploration stories that focus heavily on lore.

I''m all for a game that has no violence to it, as long as it''s entertaining and has replayability along a number of different dimensions (secrets, deep story that could be non-linear, etc.). I honestly wouldn''t mind seeing a game come out that teaches the value of religion other than just providing your priest with bonus spells to cast or giving you the power to destroy your enemies.

Let''s all go play Barney instead, and sing happy songs of love and peace and smoke weed....