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The Death and Rebirth of Genres
Via GameSetWatch, an article at the Manic Pop Blog about the way in which game genres disappear and reappear based on current trends. The post's author discusses the death of the Adventure game genre, and its reincarnation thanks to casual gaming: "A casual game like Azada takes that basic "Seek and Find" formula, adds in some additional bridging puzzles, and you end up with a game with a series of static screens filled with items to discover. You put these items in your inventory and combine them in order to open up additional areas. And some areas require that you solve puzzles to advance. And it's all wrapped up in a storyline, further driving your desire to "finish" the game. In other words, it's an old-school adventure game."
Genres don't die, they just are out of the spot light of popular culture.
People are going back and investigating games (and gaming systems) that they didnt have as kids, either legitimately by buying/acquiring the original hardware/software or by emulation and/or warezing.
This is partly because of
- emulation (ala MAME, MESS, etc)
- XBox Live and the Wii offering great classics,
- retro gaming sites
- people making prettied up versions of classic games (like the great stuff hosted at retrospec)
- and most 30 year old males who now have kids want to share some of the good gaming experiences that they had when they were young.
But the single biggest reasons (IMO) is that there are old games that OOOZE playability which people still rave about even now many years since they were released.
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Sierra's writing? Bah. The writing in the best of modern IF (try Spider and Web) is significantly better than what Infocom and Sierra used to put out in KQ and PQ. As for Space Quest, I have very fond memories -- but going back and trying to play them again, the games are a mixed bag, and I spend far too much of my time frustrated.
No, if you want to get reminiscent about games with outstanding plots that still have playability (almost) a decade and a half later, I think it needs to be LucasArts. The Secret of Monkey Island, Sam & Max Hit The Road, Day of the Tentacle... those are the classics that stand the test of time.
... they simply evolved. Take Psychonauts, for example. Scratch the platformer surface and you'll find a detailed, well-written adventure game.
Mmm, true, but the field is more sparse for those who would rather do all the work with their brains and none of it with their thumbs. The old-school adventure (I still count the LucasArts classics as my favorite games) really has its modern incarnation on the Nintendo DS: Phoenix Wright (1, 2, soon 3), Hotel Dusk, and so on. Granted, the modern version, usually Japanese, is a little more text-heavy and narrative, but I still describe Phoenix Wright to my friends as "sort of like a SCUMM-engine CSI."
Not that there's anything wrong with a game like Psychonauts, but for people who enjoy PC or other gaming but who don't have the reflexes or the physical ability (I've had arthritis in my hand since I was a teenager, it really sucks sometimes) sometimes it's really nice NOT to have it couched in a platformer or whatnot.
I think the major innovation in gaming these days is in how best to combine genres successfully (emphasis on successfully). There are several "classic" genres in gaming, but more and more often, you are finding games that tap into more than one of these. Psychonauts and several others (Tomb Raider, Prince of Persia, etc.) have combined the Adventure and the Action (sub-genre: Platformers) genres together to make great games. I think in order for Adventure games to make a resurgance, they need to incorporate some aspect of another genre in order to appeal to more people - and thus appeal to the game makers.
On a related note, here is an excerpt from a gaming class assignment that I did a couple of years back that is related to the current discussion:
(3) Adventure games have declined in popularity in the last 10 years. Why do you think this has, happened? What would you change about the content or structure in adventure games to incite new interest in this genre?
Adventure games have not taxed the available hardware in the past few years. There have still been some that have been made (the latest Tomb Raider Legends has some adventure gaming aspects). I think that game designers have gotten away from the story telling mode. Games such as RTS and FPS games rely more on gameplay and less on story. Producing these types of games in mass numbers as they have recently has inhibited their ability to tell engaging stories. Even MMORPG games focus less on story telling. If adventure game are to have any sort of resurgence, I think that game designers need to work with authors to develop their story telling skills.
Layne
Dreamfall: 2006
Runaway 2: 2007
Paradise: 2006
Sam & Max: 2006-2007, six episodes
The genre isn't dead, it just hasn't grown to the same extent as action games. When a third-rate shooter can sell five times as many games, it takes some determination to release an adventure game. As a result, there's fewer of them coming out, but they do exist.
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