Hi,

I've recently written an article on my blog regarding my observations on games I've played about the relationship between the complexity of the game mechanics and the volume of content provided by a game.

Here is the link.


Please feel free to express your opinion regarding this issue.

Thank you!

"So I guess the question is: what makes Diablo games better than Bastion?" - funds, time, team, know how... You can't really compare Blizzard, the most sophisticated gaming company on this planet, with an indie team of some starved programmer and his friend who make gfx Drawing any conclusion from such comparison is pointless.

[color=#222222][font=Georgia,]So I guess the question is: what makes Diablo games better than Bastion?[/font]
[--snip--]
[color=#222222][font=Georgia,]So why Diablo is so addicting while Bastion is boring?[/font]
[--snip--]
[/quote]
...and here I stop reading as you are making the assumption that my opinion is that Diablo is better than Bastion (which I frankly don't think). Even if I did, they are vastly different games in terms of what I get out of them. You could've at least tried to remain a bit more objective than this...

So, ehm, no. Just no.

Thank you for your replies, let me try to answer this:

"So I guess the question is: what makes Diablo games better than Bastion?" - funds, time, team, know how... You can't really compare Blizzard, the most sophisticated gaming company on this planet, with an indie team of some starved programmer and his friend who make gfx Drawing any conclusion from such comparison is pointless.

At the point of making Diablo (the first game, that is the one I was writing), Blizzard was a successful company indeed, but not remotely close what it is today. But I kind of agree with you, although that was not my point. I was just trying to identify what are the traits of successful games over a bit less successful ones, and I think that overusing even cool mechanics over too much content can ruin the game experience and make the game boring.

[color="#222222"][font="Georgia,"]So I guess the question is: what makes Diablo games better than Bastion?[/font]
[--snip--]
[color="#222222"][font="Georgia,"]So why Diablo is so addicting while Bastion is boring?[/font]
[--snip--]

...and here I stop reading as you are making the assumption that my opinion is that Diablo is better than Bastion (which I frankly don't think). Even if I did, they are vastly different games in terms of what I get out of them. You could've at least tried to remain a bit more objective than this...

So, ehm, no. Just no.
[/quote]

I have stated many times across the article that it is about me and my gaming experience, so it is a personal view of things. Anyone could pick any games they have played and try to compare them in terms of mechanics complexity and the amount of content they provide. When talking about the experience of playing games, it is always a personal and subjective opinion, but then this was not the point of the whole article. I'm sure you can identify similar games, of which some were very cool and kept you playing and some were plain boring for you because of too much content to play with too few mechanics.

So this forum post is about how much content to put in your games without making your mechanics boring, not about comparing Diablo with Bastion.