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GDC Europe: Samyn On Why Indies Will Help 'Failed' European Biz
by Mike Rose [Indie, Design]
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August 16, 2011
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"Video games are ready to become a real medium," suggested Tale of Tales Michael Samyn (The Path), "but the only thing that is a little bit awkward is that we always seem to be doing the same thing over and over."
Belgian developer Samyn (pictured, left) was talking as the compere during an intentionally provocative panel discussion concluding the Indie Games Summit at GDC Europe in Cologne, during which the participants covered a wide range of topics on how to push games "beyond fun."
Samyn suggested that while video games are capable of presenting all kinds of emotions and feelings to players, many developers are not yet fully exploring the possibilities properly.
He did, however, note that he felt indie developers in Europe were moving towards this more quickly than other regions, putting it down to his claim that Europe has "failed as a commercial [games] industry."
Thomas Grip of Frictional Games (Amnesia: The Dark Descent), also part of the panel, followed Samyn, discussing the relationship between games being fun, and being seen as simply toys.
When video games first came about, they were essentially in toy form, utilizing game cartridges and the like, argued Grip. Hence, publishers were forced to market games in the same way as toys.
However, even though games are now far more expressive and cheaper, the toy mindset is still there for publishers, he said. He used bulletpoints on the back of a video game box as an example -- publishers use bulletpoints to show the value of a game, with these points usually showing quantities and the like, rather than what the game is actually about.
You wouldn't see these kinds of bulletpoints on the back of the latest 'Die Hard' film, such as "10 more weapons than the last film", he mused, suggesting that there should be a way to move beyond that and describe the intent of the game.
However, when Thatgamecompany's Kellee Santiago asked Grip during the Q&A session what single first step he would take to change the relationship between the press, developers and publishers, he agreed that it was difficult to find a singular starting point - other than changing the entire paradigm.
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This has always bothered me! I get so frustrated when I see games brag about "100 levels!!" or "10 new characters!" because that is really meaningless and arbitrary, and the 'value' of that changes from game to game. It would be interesting to do a study similar to that analysis of boys vs girls toys, to see how the marketing language of games compares to that of movies.
Racing games is another example. They all pretty much play the same, what differs is what cars they have, what tracks, etc
In Die Hard, you aren't using those weapons, so it doesn't matter.
The analogy is flawed to begin with.
Our racing games shouldn't just be about different cars, our shooters shouldn't just be different guns. The complacency surrounding this is the issue, not guns and cars necessarily.
@Dave
I completely agree, games should be a shorter better experience.
To compare it to movies, it's like what Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon did to martial arts movies in the US. For a brief time it sparked a fad in artsy wuxia movies. But it was short lived and we're back to regular stuff...
Seriously, it's not that they are a fad. It's that they are riskier because they are harder to make especially if you want to reach a billion dollars in box office/dvd/merchandising revenues