Problem with future games... Is my age?

[XarXo]

Well people, I'm quite old, and I've to admit something: From Civ II MGE there isn't any game that really impressed me by the addiction level that it caused. Looking in games that need months/years of development with amaizing graphics and them decay in a total abandoned thing at the end of the first week...

Is time to reflexion...

Please vote.

PS: SimCity 4 is quite good, at least one has some power

[Mr. President]

"The last games are quite crappy (including future like "Rise of Nations")"

"Game creators are in crisis, this si why they spend millions in graphics and zero in create something new."

Especially the second one. After what? Ten years? It's still "Move your units ahead one space. Place workers on tiles."

[DrSpike]

Partly is it games-makers getting more lazy, and for my part it is a growing dissatisfaction with AI, despite it being better than it was 5 years ago when civ2 came out. These days I play more MP.

[Nikolai]

It must be something with your age!(you asked for it...) I for one think it has been several games the last years that is good, and everal coming. My favourite game is Europa Universalis 2(a GREAT game!), that came for aproximately one year ago, and the coming game from Paradox(maker of EU2) and a russian game company named Snowball, that is to be called Crusader Kings looks really promising.

[Sandman]

When you slavishly follow a game from it's conception to release, it takes away some of the fun. A bit like how even the best trailer ruins films.

[Straybow]

I had lots of ideas how to improve Civ. Then Sid made Civ2 and it was wonderful. It had only a few of the things I thought I'd like to see, but it didn't matter much. I had lots of ideas how to improve Civ2. Then Firaxis made Civ3 and it stunk.

It had nothing to do with following it from conception to release. C'mon, culture flipping?!? Hacking trade out of the game, leaving a festering stump in its place?

[Trifna]

Your age makes you eat too much bananas, which gives you a surplus of potassium with the consequences: the world is terrorized and developpers get their companies bought by big guys like Microsoft and Electronic Arts that just build what's easy cash.

[badams52]

My guess is that all the great games have been created already and the new ones are just a rehash of old ideas.

[SCG]

Originally posted by badams52
My guess is that all the great games have been created already and the new ones are just a rehash of old ideas.

that sounds a bit like a rather famous quote -

Everything that can be invented, has been invented.

attributed to Charles Duell, Head of US Patent Office, 1899

I think its the same problem with games today that is with the entertainment industry in general. It is cheaper, and you are guaranteed a share of the market if you do sequels or remakes. So that is where the majority of the money goes, rather into something that could potentially be a whole lot better but could also flop.

[XarXo]

-JUST AN EXAMPLE-

I've never seen a ski resort building simulator.

I always enjoyed the idea of putting a black route in an important point only for see newbies crashing at the trees . Imagine a landscape of mountains, rivers, forests and small villages, with the possibility of winter olympic games, creating train or car routes, buying terrains to ol' farmers and having problems with tiny inhabitated but enormous area village mayors.

I feel interesting at this, but nobody done it before. SID MEIEEEEEERRRRR, WHAT ABOUT SID MEIER'S SIM SKI ?

Another cool feature could be DO de routes at human vision just for check near all.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by XarXo
-JUST AN EXAMPLE-

I've never seen a ski resort building simulator.

Good god man, shut up before Maxis or Firaxis or someone equally irresponsible see this.

[TheStinger]

What about a insurance company simulator, where you have to build fax machines and photo copiers to ensur the fast movement of bits of paer round the office. you also have to build enough lawyers to defend against law suits

[DrSpike]

My first post on the page below again seems eerily appropriate:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...7&pagenumber=4

[badams52]

DrSpike, some of us don't have a page 4 to that thread yet

that's not exactly what I meant. By rehash, I mean taking a game idea and remaking it but changing the environment. i.e. taking a civ game and making it in space --> MoO, GalCiv, Spaceward Ho (one of my favs in this genre) or taking a sim game and making new instances of it simcity -> sim farm, sim ant (lame concept btw), sim circus, sim resort or dune 2--> comand and conquer.

In other words, the game has the same general strategies and motions to go through, but you're just tweaking names, units, tech trees, whatever new thing gets added later in the game cause you reached a certain level, etc.

edit: here's an analogy:

What my brother had told me (whether right or wrong) is that when you begin to read an author who carries a similar theme or style through multiple books, you will love the first on you read, whichever one in the series it is, best. A great example of this is Amy Tan by the way.

So in the world of gaming, my guess is when you come across a "new" title which is usually a rehash of one of many older titles, your love for it won't be as high as it was for the previous title you played to death unless the new title is by far the better game. Compare civ 1, 2, and 3 this way and I can see why many people dislike civ 3 having grown a loving fondness for civ 2. But I rarely hear anyone campaigning for civ 1 since civ 2 is very similar but by far a better game.

[XarXo]

Atlantis Underwater Tycoon...

What in the HELL is THAT? All this game could be included in Sim City 4 as an alone building!

[Shogun Gunner]

Ski Resort was was almost done by the Roller Coaster design game.

The "Insurance Game" almost sounds like a specialized "Sims" add on module.

"Atlantis Underwater Tycoon"???? What is that? A cross between Railroad Tycoon and ctp underwater city in a SimCity setting?

I'm surprised no one has mentioned an IRS Simulation by Sid Meier.

*******************************************
*******************************************
Sid Meier's TAXATION!


Think of a game where you debate flat tax versus other taxation strategies with other simulated economists. You alone can decide what percentage of returns to audit. Feel like bending the rules? Look up an old flame and put her husband on the audit list! Balance the boringness of a bureaucracy with the thrill of office politics. Rise through the ranks of the GS- pay scale with as little personal productivity as possible. Compete with others in a multiplayer snoozefest of tax code discussions and the Laffer Curve hypothesis. Enjoy a game where you are handed no authority but plenty of responsibility!!!!

[Nikolai]

Prima subject for a post that rivives a two years old thread!

[DrSpike]

He is a confessed bumpaholic.

[Shogun Gunner]

I just can't stop...actually that's wrong, I could stop anytime, but why should I?

It was a fun thread that I missed seeing two years ago...

[Gen. Atkinson]

How about, "Underwater Ski Resort Taxation Tycoon."

There all bases covered.

[Addled Platypus]

Originally posted by TheStinger
What about a insurance company simulator, where you have to build fax machines and photo copiers to ensur the fast movement of bits of paer round the office. you also have to build enough lawyers to defend against law suits

, you are hurtring me,

be carefull of what you ask for

[Gen. Atkinson]

In "Underwater Ski Resort Taxation Tycoon" you have to build lawyers that defend you in court cases from your patrons when they drown, crash into trees/cacti/whales, or spontaneously combust.
They also sue the other underwater ski resorts for stealing your obviously copywritten material, and then counter-sue the accident victims for defamation of charactor.

Or something.

[Mace]

Originally posted by XarXo
Well people, I'm quite old, and I've to admit something: From Civ II MGE there isn't any game that really impressed me by the addiction level that it caused.

I am 2 years older than you, so does that qualifies me as an old fogey then, huh? I had the most fun playing Civ1...true. Maybe it was just because I was 19-20 years old, I don't know.

I was a master at Civ1 and Civ2. But I never became so in Civ3. Probably because now as an adult I have too many other commitments going on to play Civ as much as I need to, to beat Emperor. (I've only beaten Monarch in a standard game).

And my old wrinkly rear-end will be downloading some REPLACEMENT leaderheads for Civ4 asap...because if they keep those current leaderheads, they are too cartoonish for me. All the young whippersnappers will not mind them but to me they are caricatures. I want seriousness!

[Adagio]

There's several problems with this thread:

1) A thread older than dinosaurs got resurrected
2) What is this thread doing in the Civ4 forum?

I hope that Civ4 will get me addicted again... ok, hopefully not as addicted as Civ1 or Civ2, but more addicted than most games that has been released for the past few years

[Jaybe]

54 years old and counting, and the latest stuff on civ4 has me "psyched" (again)!

Rise of Nations is a good time-killer, but it's the rare game that I feel good about after it's over (I had one today, though). BHG's notion that battles are a continuous thing is stupid. If other RTS's do the same thing, then ditto on them. Most of the time is spent preparing for battle. I am an old board wargame/war simulations kind of guy from back in the 70's.

Civ3 was good (or better) for most of the last 3-1/2 years for me.

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Adagio
There's several problems with this thread:

1) A thread older than dinosaurs got resurrected
2) What is this thread doing in the Civ4 forum?

I hope that Civ4 will get me addicted again... ok, hopefully not as addicted as Civ1 or Civ2, but more addicted than most games that has been released for the past few years

I didn´t check the date of the OP before I voted, must be the oldest thread I´ve posted in...

[Shogun Gunner]

Don't you play Civ3, Adagio? Or is that game not to your liking?

[Wise Ass]

Originally posted by XarXo
-JUST AN EXAMPLE-

I've never seen a ski resort building simulator.

I always enjoyed the idea of putting a black route in an important point only for see newbies crashing at the trees . Imagine a landscape of mountains, rivers, forests and small villages, with the possibility of winter olympic games, creating train or car routes, buying terrains to ol' farmers and having problems with tiny inhabitated but enormous area village mayors.

I feel interesting at this, but nobody done it before. SID MEIEEEEEERRRRR, WHAT ABOUT SID MEIER'S SIM SKI ?

Another cool feature could be DO de routes at human vision just for check near all.

I think this came out around the same time this was posted: http://www.activisionvalue.com/sales.../skiresort.htm

[Addled Platypus]

you are only as old as you want to be

I am in my advanced youth still

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Platypus Rex
you are only as old as you want to be

Cool, I'll take 21.