4 ms·

yeah that makes no sense. Games will go on getting visually better but Gameplay, fun, replayability has very little to do with it.

bjt 9y ago
Not just visually. Increased computing power and richer game frameworks will make for more compelling AIs. There are advances in procedural content generation that are getting past the saminess of endless variations on "kill ten rats." Open modding platforms (e.g. Minecraft) create whole communities around them, and endless supplies of content. I think we're still in the infancy of that trend. The immersivity of VR will make gaming experiences qualitatively more compelling than the screens of the past. There's a lot more going on than just increased polygon counts.
EthanHeilman 9y ago
I have spent some time going back and replaying older games that I found amazing when I originally played them. Outside of simple reflex games like Tetris or Mario, game play has not aged well. Play a strategy or RPG video game from the mid 90s and see how fast it takes you to find some exploitable feature that makes the game trivial to beat. Compare: 1. "Shogun: Total War" to "Warhammer: Total War" or 2. Civ2's city spamming to Civ5 really well designed gameplay. 3. 1993's Stronghold [0] is so easy for modern gamers to win it feels more like an interactive screensaver than a game and it was a great game when it was released. The only real exception to this rule is RTS games like Starcraft or C&C, but only in multi-player. tl;dr Gamers and game play are in a Red Queen's race with each other. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stronghold_(1993_video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stronghold_(1993_video_game)
- ouid 9y ago
  Games which were cpu limited in 1993 have improved for obvious reasons, but I'd argue that the best games between 2000 and 2008 were qualitatively better than the best games between 2008 and 2016, certainly of equal quality at least.

bjt 9y ago

Not just visually. Increased computing power and richer game frameworks will make for more compelling AIs. There are advances in procedural content generation that are getting past the saminess of endless variations on "kill ten rats." Open modding platforms (e.g. Minecraft) create whole communities around them, and endless supplies of content. I think we're still in the infancy of that trend. The immersivity of VR will make gaming experiences qualitatively more compelling than the screens of the past. There's a lot more going on than just increased polygon counts.

EthanHeilman 9y ago

I have spent some time going back and replaying older games that I found amazing when I originally played them. Outside of simple reflex games like Tetris or Mario, game play has not aged well. Play a strategy or RPG video game from the mid 90s and see how fast it takes you to find some exploitable feature that makes the game trivial to beat. Compare: 1. "Shogun: Total War" to "Warhammer: Total War" or 2. Civ2's city spamming to Civ5 really well designed gameplay. 3. 1993's Stronghold [0] is so easy for modern gamers to win it feels more like an interactive screensaver than a game and it was a great game when it was released. The only real exception to this rule is RTS games like Starcraft or C&C, but only in multi-player. tl;dr Gamers and game play are in a Red Queen's race with each other. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stronghold_(1993_video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stronghold_(1993_video_game)

ouid 9y ago
Games which were cpu limited in 1993 have improved for obvious reasons, but I'd argue that the best games between 2000 and 2008 were qualitatively better than the best games between 2008 and 2016, certainly of equal quality at least.