News Schafer: Games need to deal with new subjects

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2009/06/18/scahfer-games-need-to-deal-with-new-subject/1

Games need to start dealing with new topics and subject matter, says Brutal Legend designer Tim Schafer.

 

The problem with romance and comedy is you have people playing those out for themselves in games like The Sims and MMOs like Second Life all the time. It would take a comedic genius to keep a videogame funny if it relies on repetition of phrases, though sight-gags and physical humour never get old.

 

romance was played excellently in both FF7 and FF8 really added to the story i cant think of anything since with that much passion (for want of a better word) involved

 

comedy? mystery? suspense? intrigue? puzzles? sounds like monkey island to me. btw, if you need anyone to be the reviewer...

 

comedy doesn't translate well to games because the jokes get very repetitive after being played thru once. That being said Portal was hilarious.

I'm waiting for some more very dark games like max payne, that really set itself apart from many other fps' by having a plot that was pretty riveting in my opinion.

 

Manhunt was interesting, although it was admittedly a bit too much.

It is hard to tie in comedy unless the jokes are sublte or pretty genius, I mean most of humor today is just....not funny, imagine a game with our humor today..

Well American Humor at least(looks at DAne COok)..

 

I agree portal was the most i laughed at a game but i had loads of laughs on games but when playing multiplayer
so you could say games include comedy that way round, the laughs you get from playing with mates.

 

Romance is a huge motivator for people, and it shows up way more in other genres than in video games. Romance also works to make a lot of other character motivations and actions much stronger, more complex, etc., so I think there's a huge missed opportunity going on here.

I'd also like to see some games set in a properly done cyberpunk setting.

 

I definitely agree with Schafer on this one. I highly, highly recommend everyone read A Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster - it's basically an analysis of games as a medium and what they need to do to become more than a second-rate art form. It agrees with and expounds upon everything Schafer says here. Wonderful read.

Oh, and before I forget...

An Incomplete List of Comedy Movies that Never Get Old (And An Example of an Ageless Line from Each):
- Airplane! ("I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue!")
- Blazing Saddles ("Somebody's gotta go back and get a s***load of dimes!")
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off ("[Your car] is a piece of s***. Don't worry about it, I don't even have a piece of s***, I have to envy yours.")
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail ("Listen, strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government.")
- The Blues Brothers ("I hate Illinois Nazis.")


- Diosjenin -

 

I don't care about the other genre, I want more Sexy Beach type games please!