Slashdot Mirror
Indie Game Jam 2004 Recounted
scishop writes "While most of the gaming world has been focused on the dazzling smoke and mirrors special effects of E3, Gamasutra has published an interesting article on a different game convention: Indie Game Jam '04 where two dozen game developers spent four days creating a variety of games built around the same engine in an effort to encourage innovation. The results included apps centered around boxing, yoga and flaming hamsters." Our earlier story over at Slashdot Games has more links and information.
There are lots of games out there which don't fit into the classic categories, but the company that I think make the biggest effort with new game play rather than better graphics is Nintendo. Games like Lougie's Mansion, Pikmin and to be titles like Jungle Beat are (will) be great fun to play, because they're different. I'm not saying Halo 2 or Doom 3 will be bad, just that it's more of the same. Think of how they could be made more original, see what Nintendo did to beat 'em ups with Smash Brothers. That is still the most fun I've had with friends in front of any kind of computer.
...and it's really rather fun. Think of a cross between Lemmings and Frozen Bubble. Recommended.
Stund hamsters is about the only one of these you can actually play, as they were designed for a hacked-up PS2 controller. Most of the games, you can't even start them or move about.
I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
Look, hear, point, click, sigh, repeat again.
I use to love spending hours playing games, but in the end I realised the psyology is the same for every game. So I got bored. Sure the same principal can apply to other mediums but gaming as it is has wasted to much of my time.
I'm guessing the next evolution will be virtual gaming in ever "sense".
This year's theme strikes a particular chord. You see, we get loads of games using Havok physics. But it's all eye candy!
Yet when we criticised the underuse of physics in Max Payne 2, our comments system was overloaded with people complaining "look at the pretty ragdolls! the boxes FALL OVER!"
People don't seem to realise that so much more is possible with Havok technology - and as long as they don't realise, game developers will continue to be lazy
Gamers Europe - Gaming News. Reviews.
I play a lot of Medal of Honor and the player damage isn't very realistic, although there are some mods that claim to increase it.
.30-06 sniper rifle kills a guy with one shot, but a .30 BAR round which is virtually identical to the the round used in the sniper rifle takes numerous hits to kill someone.
What really makes the game unrealistic is the lack of deformable environments. You can duck behind a plaster wall and have two guys open up with a BAR and an RPG and you're totally safe. A group of enemies will take cover in a building that gets hit with a ton of RPGs and grenades and they're never threatened.
The buildings should totally fall apart; they should have holes blown in them, stairs fall apart, fires started. You should get shot through walls and floors. And so on.
They've done an OK job with the weapons out of the box, although I still think that the sniper rifle is far too easy. Having actually fired numerous scoped weapons hunting, it's NEVER that easy, and the kill zone on a deer is a lot bigger than the kill zone on a man. And then there's the question of why a