What is the perfect game?
Have you got any ideas on it? I posted this on the 3DAction Forum a while back, and as I think about it, it still applies. I think it speaks to my game design attitudes so I'll offer it here, for your consideration.
The ideal FPS shooter will be full of stuff we've never seen before, it'll incorporate elements from the best of past games, but it will not rehash, it will do it differently. And it wont be overly scripted, but rather create an immersive environment to interact with, the AI will be intelligent. You'll have AI buddies on your side, and they will not shoot you in the back.
You'll have AI villains and bosses who will think(how that's done is my little secret), there will be rpg elements, short and to the point cinematics, comprehensive ingame dialogue structures, randomization, multiple paths, leading to inextricably linked final outcomes. You'll have the ability to engage in 3rd person hand to hand combat. It will set up goals with secondary sub missions, it will have smart, humourous dialogue, written by people with literary experience, and will be imbued with subtext and character arcs. It will be the ultimate experience, it will be a 3 gig monster, and it will collect dust, and put both the developer and publisher into the poor house, unless its done right.
GAME Creation: There's nothing I can teach you that you don't already know. You either have something inside you, that you want to share with the world, or you don't! What I can offer is information to help focus your ideas and aspirations.
Put aside the business considerations for making a game temporarily, though you need to know about them. The single most important requirement is a good idea, which triggers a design document. It is what makes a game gel into reality. Think of it as the screenplay for a game. It tells you what will happen, what it will look like and how you as the player will feel through the process.
You need an idea. You actually need alot more. Its a funny thing. people play a game and think: "I can do that". I could make one of these. And so they start. And soon realize, it is a lot of hard work.
MORE THAN ANYTHING, YOU NEED PRESEVERENCE!
The most difficult thing is to stare at a blank canvas or page.
What I Believe when it comes to game design.
1.I believe gamers want to think
2.I believe gamers need to be challenged.
3.I believe non-linear storytelling is possible, even if the powers that be can't figure it out.
4.I believe exploration and discovery is a core human endevour.
5.I believe that there is a visceral rush in violence and action.
6.I believe that the concept of "sex and violence" sells, and is a reality of our culture, and therefore causes people to do strange things.
7.I believe that making a game is more than just technical advancement.
8.First and foremost a game must be fun.
9.Second it must challenge both manual dexterity and cerebral dexterity.
10.Third, there must be no bug to take away from the immersion and suspension of belief.
11.Fourth, and game must be unique, if not in play than atleast in story and concept.
12.I believe that identification with the character and replacement is participation.
13.I believe that a great game happens in the idea first, then the execution.
14. Creating an immersive world on a systemic scale, makes games easier to understand and play.
Mission Oriented, objective driven, interactive maps.
I think that is what gamers want to play. They want to think, they want to use emmergent strategies. They want to influence and interact their environment and they want their accomplishments in game to mean something. So how do you do that? What can make the map making process fulfill these needs, and make a suprerior gaming experience?
Some Multiplayer map ideas?
I've got a few. But I'll have to get back to this at a later date.