Re: Is Innovative Gameplay a Dead End?

I think when people talk about "innovative gameplay" they are talking about
bunch of different things.  Let's see if we all can come up with some sort
of definition for the phrase "innovative gameplay" OK ?  I'm going to try
and piece one together and hopefully others will modify it in whole or in
part til we have something more complete than is already out there.

Innovative Gameplay (as applied to 'video games')  -    Any new or
fundamental changes to game mechanics, constructs, interfaces, and metaphors
that offers the player unique and/or enhanced experiences.

Ok, so to understand what it means to create innovative gameplay is, we need
to understand what game constructs, mechanics, metapors and interfaces are
right?

Types of constructs:
    - Levels
    - End bosses
    - Power Ups
    - the NPC (non player character)
    - the cut scene
    - the in game scripted event (scientist getting pulled into air duct by
monster)
    - the Flag (as in capture the)
    - the Score Board / The High Score (the basis for so many coin-op arcade
games)
    - the Quest or sub-mission
    - the Fatality
    - the combo move
    - the alt fire weapon function
    - the sniper zoom view
    - the vehicle that works in First Person (like the Hovercrafts in Tribes
1)
    - the selectable player class
    - the instant replay (particularly in sports games)
    - the turn based combat sequence (like in the Final Fantasy series)

Types of Game Mechanics (Goals and SubGoals or perhaps "mechanics" is
synonymous with rules and objectives?  What about game modes lik deathmatch
versus capture the flag... where do those fall in?)
    - find the keys
    - kill monsters
    - find the switch/lever/button/etc to advance
    - manage your city
    - make your sims happy
    - capture the flag
    - increase experience points - "level up"
    - eat all the wafers, eat the power pills, get to the next level
    - learn the uber cool combo moves to kill your opponent while performing
really cool combo moves on them

Types of Metaphors (maybe these are really just the same as genres?  Or
maybe roles since role types even between God style games are fairly
different):
    - Player as actor in an interactive movie (think games like Wing
Commander 3 and 4)
    - Player as God
    - Player as Head of State/Commander of Space Colonies/Fleets
    - Player as controllable avatar
    - Player in soldier/warrior in the first person (maybe this actually
marks a trend away from metaphors??)
    - Player as pilot in the first person
    - Player as coach or general manager
    - Player as an entire sports team (hehehe)

Perhaps innovation in user control interfaces and graphical interfaces count
too or would those fall under constructs?  things like
    - mouse look
    - ducking
    - skiing (part of what makes Tribes fun)
    - the transparent HUD
    - the "buy screen" (as in Tribes and Counter Strike)
    - the inventory (as in RPG's)
    - the swing gauge (as in golf games)
    - voice over IP (semi-real time player chat)
    - multiplayer itself
    - the persistant online world

Anyways, at one point in time, none of the above things existed... and then
suddenly they appeared and offered the player new experiences.  I'd further
count as "innovation" substantial improvements to existing constructs or the
clever combining of existing constructs in new ways.  Well anyways, this is
my rough stab at answering the question what is "innovative gameplay."

-PizaZ



"Particle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> I wrote a blog post about this subject recently: (See
> particleblog.blogspot.com)
>
> As a designer, I cannot help get the feeling that most videogame designers
> are massively wasting their time by focussing on the wrong end of the
stick,
> as it were. I'd be interested to hear some opinions on the matter. Thanks.
>
> particle
>
>