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Molyneux On Future Of Game Design
Thanks to GameSpy for its interview with Lionhead boss and Populous creator Peter Molyneux, part of a talk held at the DICE Conference in Las Vegas. While admitting that "this industry tends to bumble through innovation", Molyneux noted freeform games could be less interesting than they looked, lamenting that "he always dreamed about making games that give people total freedom, but what he discovered is that complete freedom in a game world is boring after about ten minutes." He concluded by suggesting alternatives to the 'sandbox' approach, arguing: "People like to have challenges, goals, and something to struggle toward."
B&W was nowhere near any of what he said was going to be in it. This was my point, that it was disappointing not that it didnt sell well. My other point was that b&w was dull in term of gameplay too.
Remember the incredible zooming options where you start from planet level and zoom in until you see the apple the peasant is holding in his hand fullscreen and there's a worm in it?
What about the fact that the peasants were supposed to have their own life and you kinda try to influence them? They in fact were nothing more than bots.
As a matter of fact, you're right, it was more a Theme b&w than a godlike game. Same for dungeon keeper, we were expecting at that time a kind of dark dungeon simulation, kind of what neverwinter is but even more free AND centered around the dungeon. Nothing near what was delivered, another repetitive simulation were you have to find how to beat the level with a few options.
Some people did like the gameplay they found in b&w, and some people did like the gameplay they found in dungeon keeper(I know one personnaly). But most people were disappointed to death because they did bite his speeches and didnt find what was promised, advertised actually.
Well, I did bite the dungeon keeper speeches and I did bite the b&w speeches and I don't anymore.
Molyneux? No thanks, there is a worm in the apple...
It depends on the Zelda game, and what aspect of it you're looking at it.
The first Zelda had a "recommended" order of dungeon completion, offered to the played in the form of those level numbers, 1-9, but overall the player could enter any dungeon at any time, and even complete some of them. Player equipment got in the way of some of that, but in places, if you were good enough, you could penetrate deep enough into a dungeon to get an item early. People have discovered the Magic Key in Level 8 in the first quest is like that, which could be considered a cheat since it makes finding any other keys for the rest of the quest moot.
The second game, however was very linear. There are sequence breaks for it, but they don't seem as sponsored by the designers themselves as in the first Zelda.
Once in the dark world in Link to the Past, the player became able to play and complete some levels out of order. And Ocarina of Time does have a nod to that type of non-linearity -- although the game points you to Death Mountain after completing the Forest Temple, you can actually complete the Water Temple first. (I believe -- going from memory here, it's been years since I've played it.) And of course all the Zelda games (except maybe II) have had little things like extra equipment and heart pieces scattered around to find outside the "main" sequence.
The problem with non-linearity in Zelda games is striking that mix between letting the player do whatever he wants, and hand-holding players who get confused about what to do next. I greatly prefer the former approach, and loved just getting lost in Wind Waker exploring the ocean, but I've coached someone through the whole of that game, who couldn't handle the non-linearity of it. Judging from the sales of hint books, there's a lot of people like that.
I think, in the future, we may end up with more approaches like in the new Metroid, which *appears* to have a strict exploration structure but actually turns out to be EXTREMELY non-linear, almost like the original game. People have written over at GameFAQs that you only really need nine, of the hundred items in the game, to win, that you can beat Ridley before Kraid, that you can skip the Speed Booster, Screw Attack, High-Jump Boots, and so on. It turns out that much of this sequence breaking seems implicitly included by the designers, with the routes that break the "intended" order with less equipment being more difficult to find, and requiring "un-supported," yet still present, moves such as the bomb jump and the wall-kick. It still seems to be impossible to make the player utterly trapped anywhere, and there are special ending pictures for winning with 15% of the items in the game or less.
Get the spells called "mark" and "recall" from the Temple in Balmora, or from various other spots throughout the land.
In your main "home" or wherever it is that the person you are running the errand or task for is, use the mark spell. It marks that spot as your designated spot to teleport back to. And then once you go and get the item they wanted, or you finish the task, just hit "recall" and you go back to it.
I also use this feature as a safety net. If I ever was swamped with enemies and near death, I used my recall spell and went back to my house. :)
Also with the stilt riders and boats, and you can use the teleport device in any mages guild, and the mark and recal spells, you are right, the game does not really contain that much runnin/walking, unless you choose to explore, or are seeking an item or location that is off the normal path in the middle of nowhere.
Here's the thing about Black & White that most of the people who don't like it completely miss.
It's not a game, it's a sim.
I know, it was advertised as a game. I know, it sort of kind of feels like a game because there are all these little challenges in it that you can succeed or fail at. But when it boils down to it, it's not a game.
The key failings of B&W were the interface (grabbing the ground and pulling is ridiculous. You couldn't play the thing well with just the mouse anyway as you needed shortcuts to move from place to place quickly, why not bite the bullet and give it movement keys like a flight-sim, or any FPS with "fly" on), and the incredibly long tutorial that, while it overemphasized all the little problems with the controls, completely negated to tell people how to manage their worshippers.
The key to managing the little worshippers is simply not to micro-manage them. It's hard to do because we're so used to "Demand-Response" interaction in games as being the route to success, not "Demand-Ignore". Those little guys really do learn. If they learn that when they cry "We need food," some mystical force shows up and gives it to them.. guess what they're going to do next time they're hungry? On the other hand, if a couple starve, they soon figure out that if they need food, they'd best go get it.
That Jesus Christ guy is getting some terrible lag... it took him 3 days to respawn! -NJ CoolBreeze