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On The Untapped Potential Of Abstract Videogames
Thanks to the IGDA for their 'Ivory Tower' column discussing why abstract graphics and gameplay are often unfairly ignored when making today's videogames. The writer notes that: "Quite a few classic board games are fairly abstract in design, including Chess, Go, Scrabble, Checkers, and so on... it's what's at the core of the game that matters." He goes on to argue that "the figuring out of a game can be made as interesting as any puzzle the appears within the game itself", and references newer titles such as Rez and Frequency as carrying on the abstract aesthetic pioneered by games like Tempest and I, Robot.
You know, now that I think about it, with few exceptions, all the women I've ever known have always been really into abstract games, while all the guys I've known have been into realistic games. (Case in potint: I just finished a marathon 20 hour session with the Lineage RPG, while my wife was playing all kinds of weird flash games all day.) It would be interesting to see if tapping the abstract game market also resulted in reaching the female demographic.
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2B1ASK1
So what are those of us who like to play a bit of Tetris in between frags? The "professor" you quote was talking nonsense. You can't categorise people like that; it never works.
Read the last paragraph of your post; you try to formulate two rules, and in each case you can immediately think of a hugely successful game that goes right against the rule you just thought up. Doesn't that suggest anything to you?
I used to play an old arcade game called Qix when I was a kid and remember thinking how different it was at the time. Or perhaps I never quite understood it. I would still say that it was both a conceptually and aesthetically abstract title.
More recently, I would agree about Rez. Though the gameplay is rather formulaic, in this case, it's how the different pieces work together; the interactivity of the music both visually, aurally and physically adds a whole different dimension to the game.
Also, I found the recent Tron game (on the PC) wonderfully abstract visually speaking. Those levels are beautiful. Minimal, abstract and stunning!
It's hard to get any less representational than nethack ... in some ways it's not all that abstract though, given all the distinct objects with clear and obvious effects, unlike the more nebulous forms of board control in Chess or Go. Abstract would be the D&D combat system. Really abstract would be ProgressQuest.
I really wish I could still get excited about roguelikes though. I had this idea a while back to make a roguelike game using unicode characters to expand the tile repitoire without having to be an artist, but I just can't imagine anyone besides myself playing it. It's not for some idea of popularity or glory, it's that I'd really like to entertain and interest people. I guess unless I come up with something that totally breaks the mold instead of advancing the art, it's just never going to fly without 10K+ man-hours in 3D art at least..
I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
I'm not sure how you can describe Black and White and SimCity as abstract. They're both fairly straightforward; SimCity is especially concrete, though much more simplistic than real city-building would be. Tetris, on the other hand, is one of the most abstract games I can think of.
BTW, that professor's theory is bunk.
Rob