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On Licenses That Should Be Made Into Games
Ant writes "GameSpy has an article discussing their favorite ideas for licenses that should be made into games, but haven't made the transition yet." The piece, thankfully, notes that we "often get slammed with hideously inappropriate or just badly implemented and misbegotten licensed creations", but also argues: "For every Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Pirates of the Caribbean, or Superman for the N64, we'll occasionally get a Tron 2.0, or Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic", before picking The Road Warrior, Lone Wolf and Cub, and Ender's Game, among others, as licenses they'd like to see made into games. Which licenses do you think could survive the transition to games intact?
When I first read this I was thinking, you want to make psychological torture a game? (then I remembered daikatana) but seriously, I was thinking that while Ender's game is probably one of the best science fiction books I am trying to think how one would make it a game that needs to be made
1. The initall battle seens at battle school never really were about the battle but about Ender being tested to see just how much they could push him before he broke. ie Could they push him more than the enemy could and of course we find out (at least I think so) that "we" pushed him much harder than any space-faring alien race could, and it made much about our nature and what we will do achieve them
2. I was thinking about the space seens but I tell you, they were always abstract in the book , and I think the closest thing I can think of, is HomeWorld2, again a game that's already been made and made well
anyway, would care to hear your thoughs
Sigs are dangerous coy things
I must have played every single Dune related game ever made, I am quite the Dune fan. But no game has even begun to capture the slightest glimpse of the amazing work of Frank Herbert. I would really like to see Black Isle (makers of Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment) make a Dune RPG, and at least try to decently cover the story of the first book instead of making up idiotic deviations. If not them, then someone with the slightest bit of a clue.
I still think the best Dune game so far was the first, made by Cryo back in 1991. The CD version was particularly nice, but now Cryo is dead so I guess it's about time someone gave it another shot. The new Sci-Fi channel mini-series have been drawing attention to the "Duniverse" so it seems like a good time to get something like this off the ground.
THE GPL!
If they're ever going to develop an Ender's Game, uh, game, I sure hope that the developers doesn't read this Penny Arcade strip.
Let me preface all this by saying I'm only talking about console games, my data come from sales figures tallied by NPD, which is a commercial reporting service and I define commercial success as sell-through of over 250,000 units.
90% of all videogames launching new properties are commercial failures. This is well above the overall failure rate of 78%. The sad truth is that most gamers stick with familiar themes and simple concepts. The quirky, unusual, original games you and I like (over 20 of the PS2 games on my shelf sold under 100,000 units) just do not pay the bills.
Therefore it behooves us to think about how to make games that we can enjoy but which will also speak to the mass market. My personal opinion is that the real inventiveness is best served in gameplay mechanics and control. Use the licensed theme as a base to build from. The game market is coming close to maturity. It grew and grew through the 80s and early 90s and now it's near a plateau in terms of userbase. One sign of this is the gamer's average age increasing year on year.
Right now there are plenty of relatively new gamers for whom simple action-shooter, driving and hack-slash gameplay is appealing. They'll quickly grow into more sophisticated play concepts, just as today's hardcore gamers did in years past. The people who figure out how to keep that large pool of gamers interested will be the people who succeed in the industry.
Graham
I have all ways wanted a Zombie MMOG. People get to play survivors, group into clans to defend buildings from the hordes of undead. The great thing about this is it gets rid of camping because the MOBs come to you.
"I'm not high, just stupid" --JY
Space Balls the first person shooter! Space Balls the real time strategy! Space Balls the turn based strategy! Space Balls the massively multiplayer online roleplaying game! Space Balls the role playing game! Space Balls the fighting game! Space Balls the racing game! Space Balls the kart racing game! Space Balls the platformer! Space Balls the flight sim! Space Balls the vehicular combat game! Space Balls the stealth espionage action game! Space Balls the point and click adventure game! Moichandizing! Moichandizing! where the real money from the video game is made.
I've met Card and had the chance to talk with him. (I worked at a sci-fi/fantasy bookstore where he held a signing - unfortunately the bookstore eventually collapsed under the weight of Borders' and Barnes and Noble's competition, but that's another story...) You are definitely right, in that Card is a very religious socially conservative man. He is, for religious reasons (he's a practicing Mormon), firmly against the very idea of homosexuality. His non-fiction writing (such as the essay linked to on this thread) as well as some of his fiction writing (the Homecoming series, Folk of the Fringe) show his feelings. And let me preface the rest of this post by saying I firmly disagree with his anti-homosexual and (in my opinion) women-as-second-class-citizens attitudes.
I don't think his idelogies negate the fiction he has written. Ender's Game and - to a lesser extent - the rest of the Ender-related books he has written are excellent science fiction. They are not the height of literature in the 20th Century, but are extremely enjoyable books that I have read again and again.
Even though I disagree with some of Card's social ideas in the very core of my being.
When I worked in the sci-fi/fantasy bookstore we (fellow employees and the owner) had a long discussion before Card came about his politics. Everyone at the store was liberal and had trouble reconciling Card's fiction with his ideology. If you can get your hands on it, read "Magic Mirror" by Card (do an Amazon or Google search for "Magic Mirror" and "orsonn scott card"). It's a fairy tale, but with very blunt social commentary. The family it concerns has fallen into dispair as the 'King' (dad) works too much, the 'Queen' (mom) isn't with the children enough, the 'Princess' (daughter) is out partying and the 'Prince' (son) is playing videogames. In the end the 'Queen' is in the kitchen (where she 'should be') the 'Prince' has left videogames for more 'appropriate' activities, the 'Princess' had left her goth ways to become a prim-and-propper teen blond (the most controversial change, as two of the women working at the bookstore were quite goth), and (in the only change we all agreed with) the 'King' cut back on work and spent more time with the family. While other books Card has written show some facets of his politics, this seemed to sum them all up in one little package, complete with disgustingly bright illustrations.
So what do to about Card's ideologies? While none of us were perfectly happy with it, we all were able to hold a dual view of Card: pleased with (most of) his writing, and disagreeing with (most of) his political and social views. It's not a very satisfying sollution, but I do think Card is an amazing author (some of his older short story collections are a real treat if all you've read is Ender's Game and Co.) and it would be a shame to miss out on his writings because you disagree with his philosophies.
In a more extreme case (that I hope won't allienate those of you who stuck with me thus far...) I'm able to enjoy "Battlefield Earth" as trashy sci-fi even though L. Ron Hubbard had his head shoved so far up his ass that it came back out his mouth.
The writings of Card that I have enjoyed the most (mainly Ender's Game and Co. and his short story collections) were not religious or social commentaries. While I could enjoy them as fiction (mainly because I got used copies dirt cheap while at the bookstore) I did not care as much for his more commentating endeavors.
I realize this post has been kind of rambling and offtopic, so I'll bring it back home: I think it is entirely possible to enjoy Card's writing and not feel guilty supporting the man, even though I think his views on (among other things) homosexuality are entirely and completely wrong.
-Trillian