I just finished reading the latest PC Gamer and it had Warren Spector commenting on Deus Ex 2 (whoohoo!!) and Thief III (double whoohoo!!). He described them and not having an affiliation with any specific genre. What do you think? What makes a genreless game? Is it a personal preference? ============================== "Need more eeenput..." - #5, "Short Circuit" ==============================

I didn't read these, but you beat me to the punch on this one!

Let me say that I'm really, really, really trying to figure this one out myself.

What is Thief? I'd call it a medieval fantasy thief simulation, but that's not exactly right. It's certainly not a first person shooter, though it has those elements. The sneaking and hiding is what defines the the game. But there are action and RPG elements, too.

I've got it! Here's my answer: A genreless game stays true to the form of whatever it's trying to represent. It incorporates each and every element it needs in order to be complete, without respect to whether or not the element traditionally belongs to another genre. If it works, captures the necessary flavor and makes the game fun, it gets included, tradition be damned.

How's that?

Example: COPS! Beat Cop game. You drive around, handle crime, arrest people, go on foot chases, car chases, and interact with people (hostage negotiation, talking someone out of suicide, etc.)

To be genreless, COPS! would have to ignore traditional boundaries. FPS gamers might only want to shoot stuff. Driving fans might want to drive all the time. RPG players... well, don't get me started.

So the point would be that the genreless game would take the risk of offending in order be true to form. In doing so, it would hopefully capture a kind of gameplay that players have been looking for in other games, but have either not found, or have found incomplete.

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Just waiting for the mothership...


Edited by - Wavinator on June 24, 2001 1:45:14 AM

quote:Original post by Impossible
Read Next Level 3 for my thoughts on the subject.

404ing on me.

Is it just me?

[EDIT]
Maybe
http://www.badcontent.net/articles/nextlevel/badnext3.html
?
[/EDIT]

Good points in the article, btw.


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Just waiting for the mothership...


Edited by - Wavinator on June 24, 2001 2:42:39 AM

Found it here

I love the idea of genre-free games. Mmmm. And definitely don't get ME started on what RPG freaks want . Leave the classifications for the stores to decide... They can choose to stick it where they want it.. Or otherwise they may need a new "Best Sellers" stall (Hmm, they already have this ). A game is a game if it has all the elements it needs to fulfill its required tasks... so there really should be NO genres, but they are helpful for sales pitches.

Bah... Damn sales... I just want good games goddamnit

-Chris Bennett of Dwarfsoft - The future of RPGs Thanks to all the goblins in the GDCorner niche

Edited by - dwarfsoft on June 24, 2001 4:15:14 AM

I personally think the term "genreless" is misleading.
Just because you can''t fit a game into any single genre doesn''t mean it doesn''t belong to a genre.
The term I would you is "multigenre" Since it uses elements from different genres. Deus Ex for example has some FPS elements, some RPG elements, some adventure elements.
The key is to take the classic genres and combine them in a new way.
Just my 0.03 €...

- Sleepwalker

"I", Said the first voice in my head, "was born to code."
"Well, what if", replied the second voice, "it is the other way ''round?"
"Maybe," it continued, "I was coded to be born."

Heh, just the other day I was ranting at Gamedeveloper.net about the fact the genres should die in hell .I personally believe that we should think of each game as a unique work of art (good or bad) and not put it in some category.Putting things into categories in easy but it''s an oversimplification.Every game is unique, so at least when we''re designing it we shouldn''t design it with a certain genre in mind.

Just my 2 drachmas.

Runemaster

"Coding is like building a house with molecules instead of bricks!" - Wavinator
"Damn, and I thought you were a cannibal..." -Selkrank, to dwarfsoft
"Romania, a quite large but totally unimportant country just outside Europe. Soccer, beer, no vampires." -Diodor

Yep. I totally agree.



...A CRPG in development...

Need help? Well, go FAQ yourself.


Edited by - nazrix on June 24, 2001 7:58:28 AM

Thanks for all your thoughts, and I agree most with Wavinator. As Warren Spector put it in the article by PC Gamer "We just make games". He meant they don''t decide first what genre to do, they just make the games and pull from many genres to get the right feel to it.

Personally, I think that the use if genres is just the games industry trying to be scientific

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"Need more eeenput..."
- #5, "Short Circuit"
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