Ten New Years Resolutions for the Game Industry

from GalCiv2 Forums

Over on partner site, Neowin.net, I wrote 10 resolutions for the PC industry.  Below are 10 resolutions for the game industry.

  1. Stop with the obnoxious DRM. If people are going to pirate your game, they're going to pirate it. Reward the people who buy your games. Make it more convenient to be a customer than to be a thief.
  2. Don't release games until they're finished. People will forgive you for moving a date back for quality, they don't forgive you for rushing out an unfinished game.
  3. Don't forget that not everyone has brand-new hardware. Make sure your games will work on the hardware that people have today.
  4. Fun trumps graphics. Nintendo is doing well because they remember that games are supposed to be fun. The latest blood spatter particle effect won't beat out a fun game.
  5. Expansion packs should not be glorified patches. This is like #2. If your game does have bugs, fix them in an update, don't charge for them in the form of an expansion pack.
  6. Help Jack Thompson find a real hobby.
  7. Please make a sequel to Planetscape: Torment.
  8. Make better user manuals.
  9. We don't need every movie to have a game tie-in.
  10. Don't make me be on-line to play your game if it's a single player game.

Happy New Year!

43,359 views 56 replies
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Please make a sequel to Planescape: Torment.

So true. There was an article floating around a while back that had the entirety of the P:T design document in it. The thing was absolutely hilarious and an interesting look into the reasoning for various design choices in the game.
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Fun trumps graphics. Nintendo is doing well because they remember that games are supposed to be fun. The latest blood spatter particle effect won't beat out a fun game.
End of quote


Yay. Praise for Nintendo!

Please make a sequel to Planetscape: Torment.
End of quote


I'm hoping extra hard for #7.
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I never heard of it. Whats it like?

Don't make me be on-line to play your game if it's a single player game.
End of quote


I definitely agree with number 10. I hate having to go online to play games.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm still forever rooting for #1.
Supreme Commander was going for that route too. Then the expansion came and suddenly I need a cd to play again....
1 step forward, 2 steps back.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
So true. There was an article floating around a while back that had the entirety of the P:T design document in it. The thing was absolutely hilarious and an interesting look into the reasoning for various design choices in the game.
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I did some searching, and I think I found it.

WWW Link

Scroll down untill you see the following text. There should be a clickable link there.

Clearly, you should read the whole thing.
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Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I agree with everything but 7, Planescape was the worst of the Infinity engine games. I don't care how good its plot may have been, the actual gameplay was atrocious.

If you really enjoy reading a novel in the guise of playing a game, I hear Mass Effect has the same excess of dialogue.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I did some searching, and I think I found it.

WWW Link
End of quote

Yeah. That's the one. Kieron Gillen is absolutely amazing (as is the rest of Rock, Paper, Shotgun).
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I like #6
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I agree with all, but especially NUMBER 7! But then again, sequels are rarely as good as the real original...It had better to the likes of Godfather II.

I like dialogue in games. Some people don't, but that's okay. I think Planescape: Torment was the best of the infinity engine games. :) And I've played them all.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'm a firm believer in #8... Poorly documented games, or games where it's the accepted norm to learn about gameplay elements onlines are a big pet peeve of mine. One of my biggest gripes about GalCiv2 actually...
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Just keep believing and it will come! Heck, if Blizzard can come to their senses and make a StarCraft 2 then anything is possible. My heart is with turn-based strat games (GalCiv2 and the Warlords series being my favorite) but StarCraft sure is fun.

Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
c'mon this is a gal civ community! Forget P:T where's my Star Control 3!!!
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
agree with all, but especially NUMBER 7! But then again, sequels are rarely as good as the real original...It had better to the likes of Godfather II.

I like dialogue in games. Some people don't, but that's okay. I think Planescape: Torment was the best of the infinity engine games.
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Perhaps not a sequel to the first, but at LEAST another game in the Planescape setting itself. I was quite happy with the way Planescape: Torment ended and wouldn't want to see them somehow get the story rolling again from that, which would ruin it's ending.
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
  • Don't forget that not everyone has brand-new hardware. Make sure your games will work on the hardware that people have today.
    • End of quote


    ... or ever so slightly later!
    Gotta be an amazing magician to predict these issues. :)
    Try keeping pace with HW manufacturing/engineering corporations and i'll give you a number of warehouses full of junk which really isn't (or, wasn't for awhile).

    Upgrading a PC is an issue, true. But when it comes to a gaming dedicated gear, i doubt many people would stack X (oh, say, just a relatively small 15% increase of annualized growth) amount of ca$h just to maintain a high-end machine which will, inevitably, become almost obsolete in less than a year or so.

    Lesson being that today's standards can be extremely & rapidly changed.

    As the Blue-Ray/HighDef DVDs market ongoing ferocious competition should teach us all.

    - Zyxpsilon.
    Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
    I can only agree to nearly all point (I don't get 6 and I don't care about 7).
    Point 1, 2 and 8 are the most important one for me.
    Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
    6. Help Jack Thompson find a real hobby.
    End of quote


    I laughed. A lot.
    Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
    I would add:

    11. Don't make horrible flash-only websites that demand to type your age every time you open them.
    12. Don't host patches on crappy third-party websites which require you to register, watch twenty ads, and wait in queue for 10 minutes.

    ...

    IMO, Torment doesn't need a sequel. And I say that as a big admirer of Torment. In fact, I say that because I'm a big admirer of Torment.

    What's with the love for sequels anyway? I mean, a sequel to a strategy game is one thing, but a good story-centric game is always a complete, finished experience. Adding more and more stuff to it is rarely a good idea.

    ...

    Oh, and I'm not sure whether you already know about it, but Planescape: Trilogy is at works right now.

    www.planescapetrilogy.com

    Can't say I'm amazed by the stuff I've seen, but at least it doesn't look like vaporware.
    Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
    A-men to #3, brotha! Who is Jack Thompson? I don't game nearly enough to get that joke. Regarding #4, why can't games ever have both? I'm a big Homeworld 2 fan for that reason...good graphics and (for me) it is fun to play. Anyway, that's just my four half-pence worth.  :D 
    Reply #19 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
    My wish is: please sell your Add-Ons in Germany too. I`ve got Dread Lords and I want to play Dark Avatar and Twilight of the Arnor!!! I want to play with the Krynn and to destroy Sol-Systems with the Terrorstar, also please Stardock sell all your Add-Ons in Germany, here are a lot of players who wanted to play them!!!
    Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
    Amen!
    Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
    Too bad most new year resolutions don't last more than a few weeks...
    Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
    Will someone PLEASE make Brad the King of all that is software development or something. Why out of all of the game making companies in the world, do so few hold my ideals? Ive been a supporter of Stardock for many years, and I am constantly amazed at the customer focus that oozes out of every cubicle there.

    Even the drastic transition they made with total gaming dot net when they went from a subscription gives you everything to a tokens format was handled in such a way that I honestly couldn't believe how generous the transition package was for those of us that had annual memberships.

    No company is perfect, but I can't think of another company that I feel tries as hard as Stardock.

    (/fanboy rant)
    Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
    I'm still forever rooting for #1.
    Supreme Commander was going for that route too. Then the expansion came and suddenly I need a cd to play again....
    1 step forward, 2 steps back.
    End of quote


    SC and its sequel both ship with cd protection, but they patch it out within the first month. I find this tolerable.
    Reply #24 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
    I like them all, but special praise is deserved for #3. If only everyone in the industry understood....

    - Wyndstar
    Reply #25 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
    For those wondering, if you download the latest patch for Forged Alliance you do not require the CD to play the game.

    I think this list is great. My favourite points were #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #8 and #10. :)