September 1st, 2007
There’s disturbing article on the FiringSquad named “What’s Killing Game Development?. It’s a must read for everyone who, like me, is disappointed with current state of gaming industry and with games they produce. Their points are simple: development costs too much and publishers cannot risk with new ideas. While many gamers will say that gameplay is most important for a game, reality shows that new game must bring great graphics to make profit.
I was passionate gamer and somehow I always managed to play all the great games despite school, work, family and other nuisances which every gamer face every now and then. But now I don’t play anymore. I have enough time and money but I don’t have games to play. I’m big fan of abandonware games but they are good only to bring out some memories, old interface and lack of multiplayer support being major obstacle for serious gaming.
Many thing needs to change if we are to play some good, innovative games in the near future. Game industry needs more segmentation:
- big studios which will provide games cutting edge technology
- middle sized studios who use older engines and tried technologies to provide satisfying sound and graphics but improve on gameplay
- small studios, waiting to hit big, making low cost games and building community around themselves
- open source community to make games for the sake of making games
Hopefully current situation where big game studios have monopoly on game distribution opposed by almost invisible independent studios will change in the near future. Similar situation is in movie industry but independent authors have more room and public recognition for their works then in gaming industry. Typical gamers, reviewers and magazines are focused only on big developers waiting for new graphics engines to be sold as games. True innovative games are almost things of the past.