Comments on: Game publishers sweat console change

More game companies may drop out of business as new consoles push up development costs.

Terrible idea

I think that alot of stuff discussed in this article is a terible idea. I want every new game I play to be unique, not a recycled pile of code. I can't honestly believe that a physics and AI engine genericaly developed would work as well on a FPS as it would a car game. And I can say that I wouldn't want a Gran Tourismo style game to handle the same as Mario Kart.

I think these companies are looking for the cheap way out. For me, a game needs to be fun. Period. I don't care about fancy graphics, because after playing for 10 minutes you forget about all that, and it is the substance of the game that realy matters.

It will be a shame to lose smaller development companies, as innovation will be exchanged for polygon count.

My 2 cents . . .

[zaz.net]

It's not that bad

The physics engine used in Gran Tarismo could easily be tweaked with a very few changes to make the game totally Mario Cart.

I've played with the physics settings of many racing games and just some small tweaks will make a world of difference. There were some real sweet tweaks that coule be made to Midtown Madness to make a car have super-glue traction for example.

They certainly won't use the AI engine from NBA Shoot out 2010 for the Grand Theft Auto title that follows it to market.

The bad news is they do already re-use a lot of code, it just isn't as structured as it needs to be so that the work can be salvaged quickly and put to use again in a new product.

Unique Games, Reused Code

Just because the code was used before doesn't mean that it's not unique. There have already been many bad examples of reused engines, but it's the game itself, not the code, that matters. Modded games can be completely different from the original. If every game had the same processing engine, but different textures, guns, etc, you might not even notice that they share the same engine.

[alek_nedic]

looking for the cheap way out

http://www.analogstereo.com/nissan_sentra_owners_manual.htm

[ajbright]

How did it come to this?

During the 16-bit generation, when half of the current crop of developers were just starting out, usually as 2 or 3 guys working from home, they used to be able to get a decent bottom line from the sale of 20-30 thousand copies of their games.

These days, for the same purchase price, were buying games that 20 or 30 developers have had a hand in.

So unless Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo want the console business to stagnate, innovation to die, as people finally get tired of the constant stream of RTS, FPS, TPS games continually flooding the market - they will have to create systems (and development kits) that every day joes can code for.

If it wasn't for the fact that systems like the Amiga or the Atari ST enabled sometimes just one person to create, in a few months, a blockbuster game, then companies like Electronic Arts would not exist.

The next generation Sid Meier or Peter Molyneux will never be seen unless the creators of these boxes make it possible.

So instead of just designing a console with the most powerful graphics system, dolby 9.1 and gigabit broadband capability - they need to worry about who can realistically (i.e. in 2 years or less) produce a game for it.

The only way for this to be possible is if development kits can be bought to run on PCs (or Macs for that matter) for under $100. Because by nature bedroom programmers do not have $1000s to spend on systems and software.

Remember that nearly every genre you love today was invented by a company that started out as a group of penniless programmers on sub $400 computer systems.

[nzamparello]

Microsoft had the best idea... GaSp!!

Really, microsoft actually had the best idea for game developing for a next gen system.. Which was the xbox incubator program.. You'd litteraly lease an xbox development system and special pc hardware and software for a 6 month time period to come up with a prototype.. If the A$$es at redmond thought it had potential, then they let you keep the stuff for another 6 months for free.. then reevaluate and if you had something good going then you'd be a game developement studio funded by M$.. That's the only smart thing they've done in response to xbox development.. Remember that iD software was once 2 guys under the thumb of appogee software doing the same thing with shareware.. :-)

Code Reuse

I'm shocked that code reuse isn't in wide practice in the gaming
industry already. Why would any developer want to write
inflexible code? I find it hard to believe that developers don't
have a toolset that gets pulled from and added to with every new
game. Is this really true?

[nzamparello]

Code Re-use

Actually code reuse is VERY common... Doom, quake, and the unreal engines have all been used very much so in the video game world... Now the GTA3 engine is currently getting passed around... The first code tool passed around was actualy by Core software which was the Core development toolset which provided a win95/98 development ide for the sega saturn.. ;-)

[zaz.net]

They already re-use code.

Take a look at the internal workings of Homeworld and the follow-on Homeworld Cataclism. Take a look at Grand Theft Auto and any Need for Speed title. There is a reason these titles have the same look and feel, it is that the game engine underneath is being used. Heck look at EA's new Burnout 3 title and compare some of the vehicle rendering in it to EA's Need for Speed Underground. There is a good reason the cars all have the same kind of metalic sparkle.

I'm a huge fan of the Command and Conqure series, and C&C, C&C2, Red Alert, and RA2 all use the same game engine with ever updated graphics and new options pasted on.

Beyond same franchise we also see Unreal Tournament game engine being used in multiple titles by other developers. It is the engine used for the US Army game "America's Army Operations" for example. The biggest asset for the new Doom 3 is the engine and they are already seeking to license it out to other first-person-shooter titles for re-use.

What you are going to start to see is more cross-licensing of portions of titles. Rockstar games could profit from competing titles like Streets of LA and Driver 3 by licensing their game engine to those titles. They could also tap the resources of those developers for improvements to the game engine and incorporate in upcoming releases that would shorten the development life cycle.

[alek_nedic]

I'm shocked

http://www.analogstereo.com/nissan_quest_owners_manual.htm

It just makes sense

I don't understand the logic in re-inventing the wheel every time a new release is rolled out. It makes sense to recycle ideas and code. Think about how many platform adventure games there were, now think about how many first person shooters. Driving games... etc. As long as things are constantly improving, why would it not make sense? There comes a point when you have to innovate to get things done. When graphics go up on an exponential scale, and the technology used to create the games stays the same, it looks to me like production will eventually come to a grinding hault.
They're not saying every game is going to be the same. It's like building a hotel along a one way train track that one train will ever go down. Once it's passed, do you go chop down all new wood?

You are missing the issue entirely!

I have been reading about this game developers woe issue for a year now. The whole industry needs a wake up call.

How long before they realize that the only way to develop games that are complex to point of insanity is to stop the one shot sale approach. Online games are not just profitable they are the future of the entertainment industry as a whole. No Artificial Intelligence will ever replace the feeling of human players competing and cooperating with each other, at least not in the next 20 years.

How can you afford to support bug fixes for a software application that has a billion lines of code? Online-based games that have monthly fees not only ensure that support is actually a profitable business model, but also allows new content to attract new game subscriptions.

How can you develop a sequel when every magazine and online review gives it bad marks when the graphics engine is not vastly superior? This reusable code concept isn't new by any measure of the word; it's been done since the inception of computer programming. The problem is that every game title has to be rendered consistent throughout, if you use a graphic from your WWII FPS in your Fantasy RPG you better believe that it will look a bit off.

The key thing here is that the online game will lengthen titles' lifespan from three months to three years. If you don't believe me check out an online game site and look at how many people are playing these titles, some of them are over three years old and have tens of thousands of people playing at any given time!

[Fray9]

Doh

Now why did you go and have to tell them that? Like we dont already have enough small fry companies slapping together games with interfaces and physics 10 years old then selling them as online games.

The online game market is getting very cutthroat and players attention spans for the games are getting shorter. The moment they feel they arent getting their 14.99 a months worth they are gone when back in the EQ days they stuck it out through the borind times as well as the fun ones.

My advice is that if you intend to make an online game you better spend some time and money on it making sure at no point in the game playing experience is it going to be boring or frustrating, dont expect it to be an instant hit and under no circumstances should you EVER let a player violating the rules off with a warning in order to preserve your cash flow. Thats a death sentence.

Theres nothing more frustrating for a online gamer than to spend 49.99 on a game then $19.99 monthly for 2 months when you realize you hate the game and all you can do with it is use it as a coaster, you cant play it again one day if you get bored without significant hassle and you cant use memory editors to modify it for fun.

If they like it theyll love your company if they dont like it they will hate you there is no middle ground - beware.

[alek_nedic]

WWII FPS

http://www.analogstereo.com/nissan_pathfinder_owners_manual.htm

Evolution

This is just like any industry, survival of the fittest. Game devopment is going in a new direction and the old dinosaurs need to evolve or go extinct. In the other hand, the physics ARE an important creative aspect. Its the difference between that Thrasher game that came out about the time as THPS 1, one of them bombed and the other went to the top. Same thing for racing games, nobody ever said "Lets go play Ridge Racer Revoloution instead of Need for speed 3!". But, be real it takes way to long to make new stuff and I have to admit games, lately anyways, are REALLY lacking in intelegent gameplay with a few exceptions, KOTR was killer, I couldn't believe they put math problems in that game. Overall, I think this is going to be a good thing, a new era a new outlook on gaming if we're lucky.