On the history of game design, the extinction of classic genres and what awaits us in the future

"I had 2 Battlefield, 75 indie games, 5 assassin Creed, half a page of slag, which was bought from greed at discounts and MMORPG of all sorts and colors, as well as a new CoD, a contra, WoW subscription, a goat simulator and a couple preorders. Not that it was the necessary supply of games for fun in the evenings. But if you started to collect and buy games, it becomes difficult to stop. The only thing that caused me to fear was the goat simulator. There is nothing more helpless, irresponsible and spoiled than people playing such stupid games. I knew that sooner or later I would stick to this rubbish. ” - This is how you can averagely describe the set of preferences of a modern gamer.

However, hello.
It would seem that with such a variety in the market, all genres of the game industry, and herself in general, should flourish. But what went wrong?

As part of the restoration of thematic publications for GT, the material has been revised.
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Introduction

According to the classification of games on Wikipedia, there is a whole article . If you look through it, you can select the most popular game genres at the moment:

- Action (tactical and first-person)
- Simulators / Managers
- Adventure Games
- RPG in the context of MMORPG

In fact, the article is very scanty and does not reflect the whole variety of modern game genres, however, they are mainly formed by interpenetration and combination between the main ones.

From year to year we observe the release of high-budget projects of the AAA class, the development of the console games market, the effects of which are discussed separately later, the dominance of F2P projects and the rapid growth in the number of gaming products in Google Play and AppStore. However, every year the genre fades, in which almost all the masters who dealt with computer games in the early 90s - 00s grew up.
TBS and RTS genre.

We present several factors that influenced the shift in the focus of the market:

• The growth of computing power and performance.
• The development of data transmission systems and networks.
• Massiveness of PC and mobile devices.
• Growth in mobile gaming market share.
• As a result, a decrease in the intelligence level of the average gamer.
• Coming into the industry of multi-million dollar budgets.
• The development of the console market and the transition from the PC to the living room.

And now let's go through the order in all these points.

Computing power.

“Before, the games were just gorgeous. 60-80th year of the last century - the golden era of games. The running square, the commander of a triangle, the shooting circle are real masterpieces. Although then was not the most advanced graphics. " ©

Although Moore's Law is no longer relevant, over the previous 25 years it has worked more than correctly. At certain moments, the power grew even faster, new technologies were opened, accelerating our movement to technological singularity .

As we all realize, 20 years ago, the creation of games was something akin to adventures. There were about a dozen studios that released their projects, some of them became hits, others went into oblivion. It’s not worth talking about any frills, now your office coffee machine can be smarter than the PCs of that time. However, igrostroy grew, developed and eagerly attacked all the new products in terms of hardware, adapting to the growth of computing power. But people have not changed personal computers for years, and the developers took this into account. It is also worth taking into account that, until now, many game designers are experienced desktop players, D & D players and card game lovers. Technological constraints, coupled with the predilections of their creators, dictated what the rest of the world would play. During this period, the emphasis was on game play, and not on graphics, because there were no technologies capable of walking a step to bring the image closer to a realistic one. And this was true, because it was during the 1990s that projects were created that rightfully went down in history. With the increase in capacity, the industry also grew, it became more spacious, developers could create more daring and beautiful projects than before. At the moment, possessing enormous resources in terms of end-user PC power, game creators can implement almost anything. And most importantly the dream was realism, which, unfortunately, was too carried away. We are mired in total domination of “realistic” action. In this regard, they also try to keep up with the console. Each subsequent generation of devices is becoming more and more focused on computing power, instead of creating fundamentally new concepts of interaction between the player and the device, and in each presentation improved graphics are mentioned more and more loudly compared to the previous generation. PS4, where is my graphene?
True, as can be seen from the picture to the right of the text, the understanding of photo-realism at different stages was different.

Development of data transmission systems

“Talking with a man who learned about the existence of computer games a month before.
xxx: look here, Dim. I’m sitting here, playing your Elder Scrolls III Morrowind, I have found myself very good armor and a strong sword, “killing”, by the standards of the game, there are no difficulties for strong monsters for me. I am already respected in the Guild of Warriors. But I don’t really see goals in the game - for me there are no difficulties and serious battles. And I know what I thought? Can you imagine how great it would be if there was almost the same game, only it could be played on the Internet? Hundreds, thousands of people go around one “world”, do tasks, help or, on the contrary, fight each other ... Maybe they have already invented such games?
yyy: No, Andryukh. There are no such games. Once, many years ago there were such, but they were unprofitable and they were immediately closed. Judge for yourself: who needs to share your gaming world with someone else?
xxx: Yes, you are probably right. But still…
yyy: There are no such games and never will be. Remember. You need to study two more courses, you are already a deputy. they give the general director of the company, you are going to make Natasha's proposal. There are no such games. » © bash.im

With the advent of the Internet era, the computer games market has changed. The developers were able to realize the old dream of gamers - the ability to play on the network without leaving home with players around the world. This opportunity not only transferred the familiar "online" shooters to online, but also gave birth to such a popular genre such as the MMORPG. In the future, the increase in speeds and the arrival of the “golden billion” of broadband Internet allowed, as well, to translate distribution into digital rails. The ability to implement and develop online games has put developers before the fact that they either make a multiplayer project ala Battlefield, or they have to release an AAA game in order to attract buyers with history and gameplay, not cooperative and game against real people. The development of online technology has put at risk some of the oldest genres - classic RPG, TBS and RTS. And if the RTS, in the long run, only benefited from this, then the first two were not competitive. The people were eager for “Bread and Spectacles”, and not waiting for the opponent to move in the classic TBS. The RPG, however, finally lost its appeal with the advent of the MMORPG. The developers have become strenuously "rivet" online games, similar to each other, like two drops of water. Browser projects, simple but monetized, began to multiply like mushrooms after the rain. First, something unpretentious, the type of BC, and after mutated into browser games of social networks.

Computer in every home, smartphone in every pocket

If we talk about the impact of mass-production PCs a bit lower, then in this part of the post I would like to pay attention to the mobile game system. Immediately I would like to note that in the personal opinion of the author of the game on mobile phones have a negative impact on the gaming industry. You reasonably ask me why? Let us turn to the nature of the games sold, or available for download for free without registration and SMS in Google Play and appStore. Not giving in to the monetization scheme can be described 99% of mobile games in one word - stupid casual . It is clear that there are platform limitations; in the absence of a full-fledged input device on smartphones (the touchscreen is still poorly suited for full-fledged games), we have to simplify management and gameplay as much as possible. Strangely enough, the most successful of mobile games are at the same time the simplest: several types of actions that will lead you to success, mainly only the cerebellum is involved. And recently, the popular Fruit Ninja is generally the top of game design - with a finger across the screen. Commander triangle shooting alien squares in the resolution just above 50 pixels on the screen and it looks more complicated and has a deeper meaning. Of course, there are a number of logical, educational games, or something that does not pretend to masterpiece (although who am I lying to?), But their share is very small. Even, it seems, they managed to fasten the UNDO button, which reduces the meaning of the project to zero, into a logical and complex “2048”. Cancel the move, save your nerves, increase the ChSV. "Hardcore" and the thinking process is not in vogue. "Tapay" from time to time on the screen of your Samsung / iPhone. Such entertainment now offers us a mobile industry. Less buttons = more happiness.

Unfortunately, the desire to make the game as easy as possible penetrated the PC market and console gaming (although this is due to platform limitations, but still), including at the expense of a huge army of “neophyte gamers” for whom Angry Birds was difficult. Of course, mobile phones got a second wind such a genre as “puzzle”, but compare the casual community and people thinking? Not comparable.

We do not want to think, we want to rest. And in the battle.

Increasingly, this phrase is found in the open spaces of the network. This is true - computer games have always been fun, however, it remains a mystery to me, why after 35 years people want to play a redrawn version of PacMan? Only without ghosts and with two buttons with one button. Perhaps this is the nature of man: our brain is more loyal to the monotonous and reflex actions, because it does not require a large expenditure of resources. Also a huge impact has a decrease in the age threshold for entering the world of games. Unfortunately, by our day the generation of “kazualov” has already grown, vzrozhennyh on the series of CoD and AC. Although the average age of the players is constantly striving upward due to previous generations, the overall level of intellectual development of gamers has fallen dramatically (which only 200 jokes about intimate communication with other people's mothers), due to the availability of PCs, and the development follows the market. A difficult game will not be sold, we need to make it simpler and clearer.

We do not make games, we make money

The motto of many modern companies. The arrival in this industry of multi-million dollar budgets, of course, gave us a large number of good games, however, they brought the main curse - the game should pay off .
In total, we have the widest possible target audience and simple, affordable gameplay.

Just think : there is a game that is dedicated to banditry and showdown , in which each player can score on the storyline, steal, rob, kill, arrange gunfights with the police, make absolutely stupid and frostbitten things if the player wants to. Plus, add a couple of charismatic main characters, spice up the opportunity to arrange a whole bloodbath and simple operation for the whole virtual city, and you will get the most commercially successful project of the last few years - GTA V. I do not detract from the paradox of the GTA universe, the games are in fact distinctive and very worthy in terms of the quality of performance for their time. The game is a standard of quality and attention to detail, care of the players. But, for some reason, many call it a masterpiece, although this is just a quality-made game, which is published every 5-10 years. I think, nevertheless, at the beginning of the game, the forerunners of the current game designers saw the masterpieces a little differently.

In general, the game on the lowland needs of the gamer simplicity-victory-pleasure, not the most, unfortunately clever at the moment, perfectly allows you to make money, because game development is already a business, not an art. Although many try to argue with the term “art”. At the moment, only some studios can afford to be under the wing of a large corporation and focus on the quality of their product in all senses, and not strive only for maximum profit. Because the name. Because the status does not allow. The same Naughty Dog's are sitting on a short leash at Sony, but cannot afford to tinker, for the exclusives and the main studio for the production of hits for the PlayStation lineup.

PC for work - console for games

In some way, this definition is true, however, the main advantage is not the location on the sofa near the TV, but simplification of development due to the unification of the platform. We optimize only for one set of iron, gentlemen! However, the same input device, called "Gamepad" dictates its own rules. And these rules are limited opportunities. The modern model of the gamepad does not allow to achieve maximum micro-control and accuracy in actions. Its limited area and the need not only to press the buttons, but also to hold it in hand requires developers to simplify the management of the game as much as possible. at the same time it is realistic to use with comfort only two fingers on each side, maximum three. And here we are faced with the restriction of genres and the “rendering” of the gaming market. Auto-aiming, health regeneration, corridor levels in 2014. Very many genres are simply physically impossible to translate to a console platform, and consoles are becoming more and more popular every year. And as mentioned above, where the money is there is development.

We need a breakthrough again

Back in 1992, daring guys from ID Software under the leadership of D. Carmack turned the view of the gaming industry, releasing Wolfenstein 3D on the market.

Wolfenstein 3D has defined the most important thing - the very vector of game design of such projects and set the tone for decades to come. What is a shooter in the classic view to this day? This is a game, most often a corridor, which is represented by “levels”, closed rooms in three-dimensional space, with a clear location of enemies, loot, its own route. The most common goal of the next level is to find a way out of it, for further passage through the plot and / or destruction of all opponents. Sometimes there are variations on the topic of performing an assignment, unobtrusively located along the very same “route” within the framework of the level. If you exaggerate, then any shooter, be it a product of game design twenty years ago, or the last Call Of Duty is an unobtrusive “corridor”, when moving along which we must destroy everything that moves and what does not move and destroy .

But the most interesting thing was later.

The Doom game by ID Software has become an icon for a whole generation, and the Doom II project has gained maximum fame. Large selection of weapons, high dynamics, a variety of enemies and captivating simplicity of the game idea played a role. Thousands of keyboards fell during the passage of this brainchild ID. An additional charm was added by setting the game and, at that time, a fresh idea of ​​confronting various “hellish” creatures. A variety of weapons, as well as the hordes of these very creatures only added fuel to the fire. Both parts of Doom also had two undoubted advantages, against the background of modern projects:

1. Uncovered cruelty Lord! Kids play this game! Where is the blood cutoff function?
2. Hardcore on high difficulty levels

Well, after that was Quake. Especially sunk into the soul of Quake III Arena. The author still, periodically, dropping a mean tear, already launches Quake Live, replacing the old man Q3, and chasing the Rocket Launcher + double to the odds.

So. Thanks to Carmack and his team, we got several breakthroughs in the game industry:

• 3D games "to the masses"
• Doom Project Phenomenon
• Cybersport thanks to the first e-sport discipline, Quake II, and its engine, which created the legendary Half-Life.

And now, after so many years, John Carmack again gives us hope for the next "revolution" in game design, which is the year working on the Oculus Rift project. I will not give references, because if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you have spent the last 5 years in a bunker and have not been in contact with the outside world, you have something to catch up with and apart from information about virtual reality glasses.

What can give the Oculus Rift gaming industry?

He can give another revolution and will be the crown of all the works of Carmack, if at least half of what is expected of him is realized. In general, the creation of a fundamentally new device for input-output information in itself implies a revolution in the industry. In our memory, we have already seen one of them - the arrival to the masses of touch screens in mobile and other devices, keyboard virtualization, avoiding the joystick and keys from the “crutch”. Now the same is to be expected from the Oculus Rift. It is difficult to say when this revolution will come, but I am sure that it will come in the next 10-15 years. A fundamentally new level of player-game interaction, a change in the principles of gameplay management, will go beyond the current controllers.

The ancestor of the augmented reality system in games, which Oculus Rift promises to us, can already be considered the kinekta XBox One and PS4, the control of consoles by gestures and voice, the control in games is still awkward strokes and jumps. This is only the beginning, which shows that the market can get a portion of "fresh blood", which will bring with it both new ideas and new game models.

As it is not surprising, but I see not only the rise of classic and now dominant shooters with the advent of augmented reality to the masses, but also a revival of interest in the RTS. Manage real-time voice and bare hands, the opportunity to look at the battle of armies through the eyes of a fighter, the chance to feel like a great commander .

What could be more tempting for a player?

With respect.

PS This publication is solely the personal opinion of the author and reflects his view on the situation in GameDev-sphere.