Peel back the story and art and most games are incredibly simple. A test of reflexes, some rudimentary mechanics. We live most of our lives oblivous to this man behind the curtain, but sometimes it pays to peel it back and remember that Sonic really is little but holding right except sometimes.
While some of these comics from College Humour do the standard internet thing and don’t know when to quit, the Mario, Sonic, Journey and Minecraft ones are perfect.
8 Unflattering Descriptions of Popular Video Games [College Humour]
Comments
6 responses to “The Sad Truth Behind Classic Video Games”
Sadly true. I sometimes wonder about how much I am actually doing in this game aside from clicking a few times to attack and running away.
It’s generally the test of good game design if you can distill its essence into a simple sentence (Obviously there are exceptions). If you find yourself coming up with too many “excepts”, “unlesses” and “ifs” then the game is probably too complex. Or at least that’s what all the “How to write a good game” documents say. I once had a lecturer who pointed out doing the same thing with novels can help you feel more confident if you start feeling like your story is silly. They also condensed Lord Of The Rings into “Tiny men with hairy feet take a long journey to throw a ring into a volcano.”
I think it’s easy to be an armchair analyst and reduce something down to its essence after having consumed it. The hard thing to do is to actually go through the creative process, start with a blank slate and constantly eliminate alternatives. Good game design isn’t about distillation – it’s just about fun.
“Save the Guy/Girl/world from the other evil guy/girl/corporation/aliens” = many games
True, but I can’t think of many female antagonists. Edea/Adel/Ultimecia? But they’re all the same person really
What about Zelda?
Mmm, I havent played (m)any games like that, but they are out there