From: gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Gregory R Block)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Game content Re: PCheads go *thud* Re: Amigan-whalloping Re: An Amigan does it *again*
Date: 25 Jan 1993 06:38:55 GMT
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
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In article <1993Jan25.012226.4568@usl.edu>, Stephenson Daniel A (das9674@ucs.usl.edu) wrote:
: Umm, I don't know about you, but I loved Dungeon Master, and the
: Lord Chaos bit hardly factored into anything.  

Alright, I can see I'm being vague again.  When I say "story", I mean the
game itself.  If you dropped the graphics to CGA level, would you still play
the game?  If graphics weren't a concern, would you?  That's what I mean
when I say "story".  It's more than the background, it's more than the
goal.  It's also the way the game works, the way the game feels.  It's the
way you have to do things, as well as the way the game is set up.

The "story" of a game is the beginning, the ending, and everything inbetween
that isn't graphics/audio/etc.  Because, in the end, every game ends up
telling a story.

Super Mario Bros. told a really dumb story, as an example.  :)

: Hell, I'd buy something like Ultima Underworld with NO PLOT, just a 
: environment-builder to play in.

That environment-builder, for me, would get maybe a week's use, and then it
would sit there and do nothing.  Eventually, Ultima Underworld will reach
the point where one feels there is no point in playinng it any more.  That
point comes when you're tired of the graphics.

: But as it is, it is great fun to miss a long jump and fall into a bunch
: of fire elemental throwing fireballs at you, or swim around the underground
: lake and find an 'island' with neat stuff, y'know?

But that will become old hat fast, see?  WHY play?  Just because the
graphics are neat?

No thanks.  "...I need something more sub-sta-sta-sta-stantial...", as REM
would say.

: WHAT?!  You think the graphics in UU are 'flash'? Please tell me you haven't 
: played it so that you have hope of ignorance.

It's flash, and I played it till I got bored.

: UU is all about role-playing, first person, going around and solving
: puzzles and tricks in the best 3D-environment I've seen for *any* game.
: It is where *you*, as the player, exists.  These are not repetitious screen
: shots like Sierra games. No way.  God, I hope Greg Greene comes down on you
: for this,

DungeonMaster wore on me too.  While the game was good, it became old hat,
just as UU did.  But the simplicity of DungeonMaster worked to its
advantage.  UU didn't keep me interested.

U4 did.  U5 kind of did, but it got on my nerves, for many reasons.  U6 bit,
and it's been downhill from there.

Now don't go getting the idea that I don't like good graphics--I do.  I
simply want good graphics and MORE.

: too.  You really, really haven't a clue if you call UU a 'flashy' games whose
: graphics are temporary or unsubstantial.

Then I guess that after a week of playing, I have no clue.

: You have some wierd standards, friend.  Calling Ultima Underworld a flashy-
: graphics games that  isn't played after the effect 'wear' off is a
: solitary opinion.

I don't think so.  It seems to be a collective opinion on campus, and around
quite a few people I know closely.  Now, I'll agree, it's not exactly a big
slice of the market, but...

The market has proven that flash sells.  You don't even need a good game
behind it, flash sells.  Origin has proven it, Sierra has proven it.
Dynamix is well on its way to proving it.  Though Stellar 7 is still a
gnarly game.  :)  Various people under Psygnosis have proven it, others have
shown oppositely.

I wouldn't dream of saying games like UU won't sell.  The market proves that
it will.

Then again, the market loves Nintendo games that take zero brain capacity,
and are more an excercise in frustration than they are an excercise in
enjoyment.  Would you have me plause UU, a game that is, at ground zero,
little more than a first-perspective Super Mario/DungeonMaster combination?

I'm just saying there's more to a game than just innovative graphics
engines.

Greg

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