"What would you like to see more of in computer games? (For that matter, what would you like to see less of?)"

Submitted by: Sierra On-Line

This question was posed by one of the Sierra game developers, and thrown open for discussion on the Gametalk message board. Here are some of your excellent replies:

Answered by: "acarotenuto"

"More of:

• Attention to environmental background sounds -- if they are done well you can be totally immersed in a game. If they are done wrong then they can ruin the effect.
• More attention to image clipping in 3-D games.
• Better graphics when it comes to casting magic spells. Casting a banishment spell or a fireball is not the same as pulling a rabbit out of a hat. The screen shots from the future Heretic II look promising. We'll see if they can do it without requiring 6 Cray computers to play the game.
• More character race and gender choices (as long as it doesn't detract from the storyline.) As well as clothing/color choices, and then have them displayed properly on the screen.
• Blending of game genres.
• Continuing of the realism trend.

• 320x200 resolution games.
• Cheap canned sound effects.
• Still picture puzzle games (put some motion into it).
• Video-capture characters whose color palettes and lighting effects don't blend with the environment.
• Acceptance of a buggy first release game with a couple of patches a month later. I thought version numbers were saved for operating systems, not games.
• Release date hype!!!"

Answered by: O'Jay Robinson

"Gameplay. I want more depth and replayability in games, and originality counts too. I would really like to see less rush jobs (it really sucks to have to download 2 to 6 patches just to make a game work the way it should out of the box) and less 'oh, this is such a cool new technology or license, let's build a crappy half-baked game around it and pretend it's the next great thing!' and less cash-in clones of great games that don't really offer anything new or fun."

Answered by: Nadiar

"More story/plot, puzzles that have an infinite number of solutions (mixed, of course with those that have but a few). Less emphasis on graphics and more on actual gameplay. Games that challenge, even a second time around, yet still let the player get somewhere (this could be done with games that 'learn'). Gameplay and game flexibility are the main things I would love to see."

Answered by: Mårten Woxberg

"Take a look at Angband... unknown for the usual gaming population but those who play it can play it for years without getting tired... this game randomizes most of the things happening and has been without graphics for at least 14 years now...

"What I want to say is, Graphics is not esential for the gaming experience. If the game has a good story and different ways to complete the story then it would last much longer...

"Multiplayer should be an option, not a must... Right now most of the multi-player games are shoot 'n destroy games... Think what it would add to the gaming experience to have a must-cooperate to win game... players have different mission goals and if one of the players fail (dies) someone of the other players must complete that goal for all of them to complete the level...

"3D-games are begining to get out of proportion... nowadays the ones with the most money are the only ones who can play games (because of 3D-cards)... Gaming programers should concentrate on making sleek and fast 3D-motors that can run without 3D-cards... the 3D hype will not continue if the requirements keeps increasing.

"About First-Person-Shooting; All these games look and play alike... the only difference is different designs in levels... there's always a rocket launcher, shotgun and a BFG of some sort... Things missing in FPS's is a twich of reality... the monster AI's are too bad and gaming companies won't waste resources in making animations for monsters/players while they aren't doing anything..."

Answered by: Ken Liang

"More of... Better storytelling in games, whether they be adventure, RPG, action, or strategy. Better single-player gameplay. Better marketing by companies to promote the quality products. (How else to explain why Monkey Island 3 only sold 52,000 copies in 1997 while Riven sold over 900,000 in the same period? If only Monkey Island had just a fraction of the ad budget of the upcoming Star Wars movies...)

"Less of... Bugs, bugs, bugs, and premature releases. Multiplayer mode being the excuse or answer for weak computer AI."

Answered by: Marrisa

"I would like to see more realistic graphics. Not necessarily actual video clips, although I think that works well in certain games."

Answered by: J.D. Robertson

"In trying to answer this question, I thought about what I looked for in a game. It certainly isn't graphics and sound. Although these can certainly make a good game great, I still play a lot of old games on my computer, while avoiding many newer, flashier, but on the whole emptier games.

"Another obvious choice was story. That was, after all, the reason I abandoned my Nintendo when my parents bought there first PC, because many computer games offer reasons why your doing what your doing, something that very much appeals to me. A good storyline isn't really the answer though, because I've spent hours playing Quake, which has a story consisting essentially of 'There's a very, very bad thing out there, kill it.'

"What really makes a good game is quality. That's why Quake is fun, because it was designed to be fun. Too many games today are designed just to sell. Just because Hunting games have suddenly started selling well doesn't mean I want to buy whatever hunting game someone can code in their spare time. If I pay $50+ on a game, I want to think the people making it designed something they thought would be fun, not something that copied the latest hit game, and I want to think they took the time to put the game together right, so I will run without having multiple patches applied to it. Often, it's the games like this that sell well, too."

Answered by: Trinker

"Maybe I'm just jaded or maybe it's the wife and three kids ruining my concentration ('Take out the trash, dammit!'), but computer games just don't seem as much fun these days. Like I said, it could be just me and the changes over the years in my life, but I don't feel the same thrill from playing today's games that I did playing games back when. I still love computer games, and I keep hoping that something out there will thrill me again.

"I'm not being very helpful, I know. But it's just some intangible something I can't quite put my finger on. So thrill me."

Answered by: Greg the card carrying materialist

"I personally like network games. Player v. Player. AI is not far enough along to make truly interesting computer opponents... they are either too wussy/easy to figure out, or just too unbeatable (the computer doesn't ever have an 'off' day). There's also the suspicion that, somehow, the computer cheated and just decided you were dead. When playing against other humans, you know the computer is an impartial judge, and that if the other player beat you, it's because you deserved it. :)

"As for what I would like to see less of... hrmmm.. that's not as easy. There are a lot of mistakes a designer can make that make for a bad game."

Answered by: Paul Lalonde

"I would love to see more Story in a game. I find a deep story often makes a game even if the graphics and sounds are average. I still love Hero's Quest for that same reason!

"I also love the typing parser!

"I would like to see less mindless violence and less stupid games where all you do is run around and shoot, slice or blow up your opponents, be they Computer AI or other players."

Answered by: Chris Davis

"I love super-rich RPG games, like Daggerfall... Also, I love the resource-management/ take-over-the-world games like Civilization. The more complex and involved, the better. Games like Privateer, which put you in a story and allow you to build up resources and see yourself improve in life are also very good. Most RPGs are like that, which is a good thing. :)"

Answered by: Kick, the rubber chicken

"I have to start with what I would like to see more of to keep this from degenerating to a laundry list (dirty laundry too!), at least for a while. The story is the real key to the game, but barring that I think that the next key thing is a smooth game engine. More: Deep characters, multiple endings, and very cool graphics. Less: choppy interfaces, and implausable twists of fate (Oh man. My best friend growing up was actually my twin brother, but we were both moved from where we were born in another dimension, and my parernts were tragically killed. Coincidentally, my dentist is actually my dad's best friend, but he doesn't remember anything and so now I'm going to do such and such in hopes of freeing him! (Geez!)"

Answered by: Ryan Wetherill

"What I'd like to see more of:

• Good 3D first-person games (i.e. System Shock, Outlaws, Hexen).
• Turn-based strategy games other than military re-enactments.
• Online games that take into account the fact that most people do not own T1 lines.
• Fun.

• Console ports.
• Board game ports.
• Graphical adventures along the lines of Myst.
• Doom-killers, Quake-killers, and Quake2-killers. Id hasn't made a game in years, all they make is game engines. So quit trying to top their technology demos and make a game.
• Blatant attempts to cash in on the popularity of certain movies by making bad games loosely based on said movies.
• Flight, driving, boating, walking, sports, etc sims."