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Mechanics That Changed Gameplay Forever

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the gotta-love-bosses dept.

grammar fascist writes "A feature at 1up.com explores the various gameplay devices that revolutionized videogaming, and you might not believe how simple they are: life bars, power-ups, bosses, and combos make the list. From the article: 'As good as these ideas may sound on paper, they don't always work in execution. Sometimes they don't even make sense. But every once in a while, a game designer comes up with a fantastic concept that engages the player -- and influences the work of other designers.'"

16 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. They missed a biggie by systemic+chaos · · Score: 4, Informative

    Where does "computer-generated breasts on cover" fall into this list? Hey, I mean, it moves packages...

    1. Re:They missed a biggie by Hannah+E.+Davis · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The concept of a static image of boobs (particularly fake boobs) as a marketing tool is not limited to gaming, so I don't know if it would qualify as a gameplay mechanic. Boob physics, however... that's an interesting one. It took a long time for the game industry to come up with character models that jiggled in the right places, and I'm actually surprised that they didn't do it earlier. It's not quite as surprising how many... uhm... packages it moved when it was finally implemented, though.

    2. Re:They missed a biggie by RsG · · Score: 4, Funny

      Indeed. The modern advances in tata-rendering, textured bump mapping and inverse nippomatics are truely a driving force in the industry :-P

      Actually, I wonder how they'd do motion capture for this sort of thing? "Here, wear these patches and bounce"? Who gets the privlege of helping the motion capture subject with her equipment?

      --
      Erotic is when you use a feather. Exotic is when you use the whole chicken.
  2. Saving beats all of that.... by MagicDude · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'll tell you what changed games - Saving

    Lets face it, nobody would have ever finished the original Zelda if you had to start from the beginning everytime. Saving is what made games evolve from 3-6 hours of maximum gameplay to the massive sprawling indepth masterpieces we know today. Playing a game over and over and over so that you're perfectly adept at every nook and cranny is for the kids who have hours to spend on it, and is frustrating as hell (Ninja Gaiden I through III, I'm looking in your direction). The older crowd doesn't have the patience or the time for that kind of thing. Saving has made replayability an option, rather than a requirement.

    The same argument also applies the natural extension of saving, which is unlimited continues.

    1. Re:Saving beats all of that.... by Ankou · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Game saving also got rid of all those uber players. If you met a guy who finished all of those Ninja Gaiden games in one sitting he was one BAD dude at video games. I think the most frustrating was Contra III. Even WITH the 99 men cheat it was ficken impossible.

    2. Re:Saving beats all of that.... by happyemoticon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Generally speaking I'm in favor of saving, and when not available, emulator state saving and loading. Of course, I do feel like kind of a hack when arbitrary saving and loading allows me to essentially have infinite lives and ammo, since I can ensure, with scientific accuracy, that each encounter goes perfectly.

      It sort of makes me wonder when the innovation of multiplying the actual length of the game by several times came about. You know, like when you get to the end of one of those really hard, old-school platformers and it tells you, "Actually, you need to play the whole game again - except now you have to finish the whole thing without getting hit once, and in this certain amount of time." This is frequently in those games on the other end of the spectrum - you know, the ones with no saving at all. I prefer a middle-ground myself. I mean, sure, I love RPGs and those rare platform-style games that allow you to save your progress, but back when I was younger, I was really freaking good at Mario.

      These days I actually crave a hard game. When I get my new apartment, I'm planning on buying an Xbox specifically for Ninja Gaiden.

    3. Re:Saving beats all of that.... by RsG · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Eh, not really. I got my start on the Sega Genesis and arcade machines back in the day, and have since gone over into PC gaming exclusively. I've had it both ways.

      Not saving typically meant either A) you spent alot of quarters in the arcade or B) you learned to make the most of your lives/continues/whatever. It didn't really make you "uber".

      Nowadays, games have more depth and skill involved. They're longer and typically harder to finish. Yes, you can reload save games to keep your progress, but the tradeoff is that reloading is neccesary. Beating an old side scroller without saving was difficult, but not impossible, for an average player; beating a modern FPS of any respectable length without saving is damn near impossible for even an expert player. There are no extra lives, no continues, and no slot to put in more quarters - you either save or start over all the way from the beginning. And the time it takes to get to the end is so much longer as well.

      And the games that do let you respawn are often the ones in which dying is taken for granted, and thus the game is corrospandingly more frustrating. MMOs like WoW are a good example of this - you might die a dozen times in a dungeon instance, but actually beating the fights is hard. Multiplayer FPS games are another example - you spawn, you're fragged, you respawn, you hope to god you'll get a kill - nope, fragged again. This is somehow easier than falling into a spike pit in Sonic the Hedgehog?

      --
      Erotic is when you use a feather. Exotic is when you use the whole chicken.
  3. Mario! by Neoncow · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh wait, they said mechanics...

  4. Disappointing by Dr.+Eggman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No Free-cam?
    No "sandbox mode" ala Simcity/Grand Theft Auto?
    Sniper Shots made it but "target locking?"

    This list may all be great mechanics, but many of them are far from the best.

    --
    Demented But Determined.
  5. up down up down left right left right b a start by grapeape · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What about cheat codes?

  6. spread shot by fearanddread · · Score: 4, Interesting
    In fact, the only shooters where you're not likely to find the spread shot are those of the first-person variety, like Halo and Quake. Alas, this weapon of mass destruction would simply be too much of an advantage in multiplayer matches.
    I disagree. The rocket launcher in Unreal Tournament had spread-shot capability that was devastating but in no way an unbalancing factor.
  7. Rhythm games...? by AdamTrace · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The earliest I'm familiar with was Parappa the Rapper, but given the whole DDR/Guitar Hero trend, I think rhythm games are a whole genre that shouldn't be overlooked.

    Adman

  8. Nethack. by irc.goatse.cx+troll · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nethack is a good example of no save cheating(well, not built in anyways.)

    You can save and quit, but you can't save without quitting. When you load you can resume your savegame or delete. Outside of these two option, you can't do anything else. This way you arn't stuck playing continuously, but you also can't replay anything before your savegame. Either you're playing and 'live', or you're saved and taking a break.

    Of course as a result, the vast majority of the game never gets more than half way through it, but that just makes it worth replaying. Most games today are just stuck on rails trying to tell you a story. Theres no way to fail, only fail to do what they want you to do forcing you to try again. You are not playing the game, the game is playing you.

    --
    Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
  9. Weak article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A seriously weak article. It had it spot on with a few of the entries, but come on, dog side-kicks transformed gaming???

    How about:
    Run and jump?
    Scrolling backgrounds? (It changed shooters forever and then changed platform games forever).
    Analog controls? Mario 64 introduced "push the stick a little to tip toe", "medium to walk" and "all the way to run". This feature is in 90% of character based 3D games now!

    There are plenty more, but this article obviously didn't want to get too technical.

  10. Errors by MilenCent · · Score: 4, Informative

    I love searching these articles for errors. There are fewer than I expected -- attributing the origin of a health total to a game by *SNK* seemed obviously false at first, but the game offered, Ozma Wars, came out shortly after Space Invaders. (That's real early.) And I respect the writers for remembering Gaplus.

    Doesn't mean the article's entirely accurate though:

    Power-ups: I'm reasonably sure Pac-Man wasn't the first.

    Chain Reactions: Missile Command's "matchbook" explosions far predate those of Bomberman.

    Time Manipulation: Ladybug has a freeze-the-enemies item, as does Q*Bert.

    Spread Shot: Oh please, Contra was NOT the first game to do this.

    Canine Sidekick: What? Stupid.

    Co-op play: Eliminator predated Gauntlet.

  11. Re:And RTS? by doti · · Score: 4, Informative

    Have you ever heard of Total Annihilation?

    It is to C&C, Starcraft and other RTSs what chess is to checkers.

    --
    factor 966971: 966971