Feature Creep

The A.D.D. has got me…yet again. Anyone who knows me knows this is a pretty big issue of mine, but at least I see it myself. Anywho, the relevancy of that statement is a bit more than you think, most likely, mostly because my blogging consistency is probably not going to be up to my initial conviction…so I thought I’d at least give a little outline for the next couple of upcoming – or at least planned – posts.

I plan on going on plenty of these nerd rants here, most applying to the game industry. Being a programmer, the tech rants are bound to come out eventually, but I would like to use this blog as a chance to organize my thoughts more, and release my ideas more steadily than my usual approach; that is more akin to note scratching than anything else.

For starters, I’d like to talk about something more general that applies to most people in the game industry whether they believe it or not, and that is the game’s Design. No matter if they’ve had a hand in the overall design of the game or not – everything an artist, programmer, music/sound designer, or writer does has an effect on the flow of the game and the player’s eventual experience.

The first subject I would like to tap is the action RPG, something I’ve personally felt has not made any drastic changes in a while, or even been seen traditionally in a while for that matter, and is in a desperate need for one. While some of the issues I address in the coming “Features” or posts could, in fact, stretch across multiple genres. However, this is the one that shares the most complete association with my first group of issues, and therefore is easier for me to use as an example.

For my first Feature List I’d like to include the following said “Examples” to branch design issues and eventual “Solutions”, Solutions being a simple gameplay/tech design that I think best addresses most, if not all, of the issues I’ve pointed out in the appointed Feature.

Feature List 1:

1. Action RPG
2. the Casual game
3. Puzzle
4. Strategy
5. Shooter

While these may seem to not cover very much of anything, this is completely intentional. Each of these very broad genres/subgenres will have a more robust and complete assessment  than these generic titles suggest. As I go through each I will also provide a somewhat incomplete outline before each “release”. An example for, say, the Action RPG is as follows:

• Attack/Animation Flow(combos)
• Graceful Strategy and Action Fusing
• Music/Sound Integration
• Storytelling through Actions

Another fad I intend to follow is including some type of storytelling or music/sound integration with most of the genres I intend to cover. This is because these are both very ambitious game features that have mostly untapped potential; and that could, in my opinion, potentially reinvent said genres.

Sigh…anywho these are in the works so dun worrii gaiz! It’s K….they’ll be here soon.