Will we ever see the “perfect” Video Game?

[PKerr]

Will we?

I know there are some really great ones out there but they always have a few things about them that drive you nuts.

IMO, in this day and age every game that comes out should be damn near perfect.

Think about it.
There are reviews out the ying yang for just about every game that comes out.

There are gaming sites and tons of forums where gamers talk about there favorite games and what they like and dislike about whatever game.

There are plenty of resources the developers could use to get a pulse on the gaming community to see what they like or dislike but year after year, game after game we are promised a Lamborghini and most times we get a Corvette.
Every now and then we get a Porsche.

What happened to the Lamborghini?

Well it’s save system sucked or its graphics were last gen or it had annoying cut scenes that couldn’t be skipped.

The controls suck or the game was too short or the voice acting was horrendous.

Its A.I. was a P.O.S. or the game was too linear or the story sucked.

It’s always something.

These are super creative folks how come they can’t seem to get it right?

How hard is it to have a game that has good graphics, a good save system, a good story, a good control system, not too linear, not too short, good voice acting, good A.I. and cut scenes that can be skipped?

Why is it a game only focuses on great graphics, fantastic A.I., cool destructible environments then gives me a shitty save system and crummy story?

Are developers saying you can have one or the other but not both?
Can you not put all that great stuff into one game? Will it all not fit?

Wouldn’t it behoove them to make the perfect game?

Wouldn’t everyone in the whole wide world run out and buy 2 copies if they did?

Wouldn’t they make shiploads of money if everyone did?

So why don’t they?


Shouldn’t some of these things that are constantly screwed up in games be in a basic template you start every new game with, such as a good save system, good controls or cut scenes that can be skipped?

I don’t pretend to know how to create a video game but I do have over a thousand pages on my website and every page starts with a basic template.

Just watch the credits at the end of a game; does it take that many people to screw up a good game?

Again I ask, Will we ever see the “perfect” Video Game?




Discuss.

 

[Twilight]

The perfect video game already exists.

 

[Sephiroth]

SMB3

 

[PKerr]

Twilight, Thanks for your awesome input.

 

[Captain Ryan]

The perfect video game already exists.

You mean this game....

 

[Jax]

Never will happen, IMPOSSIBLE

 

[Arrqh]

Are developers saying you can have one or the other but not both?
Can you not put all that great stuff into one game? Will it all not fit?

Wouldn’t it behoove them to make the perfect game?

Wouldn’t everyone in the whole wide world run out and buy 2 copies if they did?

Wouldn’t they make shiploads of money if everyone did?

So why don’t they?

Games are a creative and business endeavor. They are also extremely complicated. And they have to be done on time and in budget. Technology and features move fast enough that taking large amounts of time to make a game is untenable (DNF has had three engines so far; essentially they've made a game three times and scrapped it) and managing large teams makes the whole process even more painful. At the end of the day, there are significant creative and technical challenges to making any game and they still need to turn a profit. You do the math.

 

[PKerr]

Are developers saying you can have one or the other but not both?
Can you not put all that great stuff into one game? Will it all not fit?

Wouldn’t it behoove them to make the perfect game?

Wouldn’t everyone in the whole wide world run out and buy 2 copies if they did?

Wouldn’t they make shiploads of money if everyone did?

So why don’t they?

Games are a creative and business endeavor. They are also extremely complicated. And they have to be done on time and in budget. Technology and features move fast enough that taking large amounts of time to make a game is untenable (DNF has had three engines so far; essentially they've made a game three times and scrapped it) and managing large teams makes the whole process even more painful. At the end of the day, there are significant creative and technical challenges to making any game and they still need to turn a profit. You do the math.

I understand all that.
Like I said there have to be basic templates.
Surly games can't be started completely from scratch.

Take for example the latest Star Wars game.
Great Graphics, fun gameplay but a shitty save system and non skipable cut scenes that that make you want to throw your controller across the room.
Fix those 2 very basic things and your 6.9 out of 10 game turns into an easy 8.75 game.
Better reviews, boatloads of sales and money out the ass.

 

[Arrqh]

I understand all that.
Like I said there have to be basic templates.
Surly games can't be started completely from scratch.

The rate at which game technology moves forward demands that games either be started from scratch, or by licensing a whole bunch of middleware (which isn't much different and is sometimes even worse).

But then look at a company like Blizzard. They make excellent games. Their releases are also few and far between. These are obviously related... and the reason they are able to do it is because they're sitting on a boatload of cash. And that just isn't typical for most developers.

 

[PKerr]

I understand all that.
Like I said there have to be basic templates.
Surly games can't be started completely from scratch.

The rate at which game technology moves forward demands that games either be started from scratch, or by licensing a whole bunch of middleware (which isn't much different and is sometimes even worse).

OK so you say a game is started from scratch (which I find hard to believe) but for the sake of an argument lets say,
Company "A" uses the Unreal Engine (which it seems like everyone lately is doing) aren't there templates in that engine?

Scenery templates, model templates and such.
Shouldn't you be able to take your Unreal Engine character Model A template and add your own skin to him?

And again some of these games are in development for years and still turn out shitty.

Of All the time and money invested in the "Alan Wake" game are we gonna get a perfect game?

 

[gh4chiefs]

Well I assume you're being a little creative in your use of the term "perfect" as perfect is in the eye of the beholder I would think. By that I mean, what might be perfect to me, you might not see it that way.

But I get your point because you're asking the same questions that I think about myself quite often. For example, the save systems. Most of them fall short in my estimation simply because they don't let you save at any point. I know it can be done, the Half Life games from The Orange Box allowed you save at any point. So why isn't this more common? Is it really difficult or something? I honestly don't know, but I agree with you, a lot of games could be helped immensely by simply not forcing me to endure the same cutscene, or play the same section, over and over and over.

For example, in GTA4, remember the mission "Three leafed clover" (or something like that)? You have to drive across town to pickup the brothers and then you have to drive across town to get to the bank, then you go through a bunch of cutscenese, and then FINALLY the real action begins. And it's a tough mission, and if you die, well it's back to the driving across town ad naseum. Why in the name of God, do gave developers/programmers do stupid shit like that? What can possibly be going through their brains that makes them think that's fun to drive the same long boring drive over and over and over?

So the topic might be boiled down to this question. What makes game developers do stupid shit?

 

[Arrqh]

I don't have the time or the will right now to explain how you don't understand the development process, so I'll just recommend you read some postmortems to help get a better feel for the challenges involved. Here's a link to the Bioshock one.

As for templates... no. The requirements of each game are unique. If you're talking about a sequel to a game then yes, but that's another matter entirely. But speaking of the Unreal Engine... how much custom code to you think had to be put on top of it to turn it into an RPG like Mass Effect? Do you think any Gears of War game assets, if Epic even gave them out (which I doubt) would have helped them as the visual and technical requirements of the two games are so dissimilar?

 

[PKerr]

I don't have the time or the will right now to explain how you don't understand the development process, so I'll just recommend you read some postmortems to help get a better feel for the challenges involved. Here's a link to the Bioshock one.

As for templates... no. The requirements of each game are unique. If you're talking about a sequel to a game then yes, but that's another matter entirely. But speaking of the Unreal Engine... how much custom code to you think had to be put on top of it to turn it into an RPG like Mass Effect? Do you think any Gears of War game assets, if Epic even gave them out (which I doubt) would have helped them as the visual and technical requirements of the two games are so dissimilar?

Obviously your intellect is far above us common folk to understand what I'm talking about, for such a smart fella I honestly don't understand why you can't see where I'm coming from.
I don't have the time or energy to explain it to you.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Until we can connect the experience to our sexual organs...no

Rob

 

[Arrqh]

Obviously your intellect is far above us common folk to understand what I'm talking about, for such a smart fella I honestly don't understand why you can't see where I'm coming from.
I don't have the time or energy to explain it to you.

You're the one making gross assumptions on the development process even after admitting you don't know how it works. I linked you to some reading material, either check it out or don't. No skin off my nose.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Oh..and before I'm labeled a pervert..I mean that Video Games will leap to new heights in sells the moment such sexual interaction is possible. Sex drives many innovations, hey it helped BETA!!!...

Rob

 

[Timby]

I don't have the time or the will right now to explain how you don't understand the development process, so I'll just recommend you read some postmortems to help get a better feel for the challenges involved. Here's a link to the Bioshock one.

As for templates... no. The requirements of each game are unique. If you're talking about a sequel to a game then yes, but that's another matter entirely. But speaking of the Unreal Engine... how much custom code to you think had to be put on top of it to turn it into an RPG like Mass Effect? Do you think any Gears of War game assets, if Epic even gave them out (which I doubt) would have helped them as the visual and technical requirements of the two games are so dissimilar?

Obviously your intellect is far above us common folk to understand what I'm talking about, for such a smart fella I honestly don't understand why you can't see where I'm coming from.
I don't have the time or energy to explain it to you.

You: "Why do games start from scratch? If you license an engine, don't you get maps and models and things that you can put skins on?"

Arrghman: "No, not at all, since assets are proprietary. Also, engines have to be coded and re-worked for each game. It's not a matter of 'buy engine, plug in stuff -- Presto Game-o!' Here's a pretty good explanation of just one case study that shows why your idea isn't valid."

You: " look at the high and mighty smart man i dont have to explain myself to you"

That's generally not the best way to respond in an argument when presented with valid, logical points.

 

[PKerr]

Well I assume you're being a little creative in your use of the term "perfect" as perfect is in the eye of the beholder I would think. By that I mean, what might be perfect to me, you might not see it that way.

Correct.
Of course your perfect game could be an RTS where mine might be a FPS.
Or you may love jumping type puzzles where I like finding the key to certain door type puzzles.

I am talking the basic stuff . Saves systems/check points, which BTW I'm totally with you. Why can't I save anywhere I wish?

Controls.
I realize on multi-plat games the Wii controller is Different from the 360 controller is different from the PS3 controller but one button is still fire and another button make you jump and so on.
Why is it so hard to make a character properly control?

Story or lack thereof.
How hard is it to give me a decent story?
Again I realize that what you may think is a great story I might think suck and so on but geez some of these game say "Here is gun..go shoot big ugly monster" without any kind of idea how said monster came to be.

As I said before, I watch the credits of some of these games and they are longer than the damn game, you could invade a small country with as many folks that worked on the game.
How come it takes so many people to screw a good thing up?

 

[Sephiroth]

actually, the perfect game came out in 1991, it was called "The Secret of Monkey Island"

 

[Spot's Meow]

First off, I think that "perfect" in this sense is totally subjective since different kinds of games will appeal to different people and the creative side of things means that not everyone will like what you present.

However, my perfect game already exists - Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I love this game and wouldn't change a thing. Everything about it is so perfect, from the music to the way you zoom in on enemies. It also has the perfect rising level of difficulty...every step of the way is challenging but not impossible, and over time your skill level increases greatly without you even realizing it. After finishing the game, you go back to the beginning and think, "wow I can't believe I had a hard time with this, it's so easy now!" The story is great, the characters, the interconnectedness of everything, the way you get maps and weapons, etc. I love this game, could you tell? I can't think of one negative thing about it.