Developers Were Lost, and Now Are Found?

[RaychelSnr]

At the end of the last generation of consoles, there was a lot of excitement about what developers would be able to achieve on next-gen consoles. Developers had gotten a lot of mileage out of the Xbox and Playstation 2, and consumers were eagerly awaiting to hear about what developers were planning for the next generation of game consoles.

Until very recently, though, developers have been focusing their attention on the wrong aspects of their games. At the beginning of the current generation of consoles, developers appeared to be more focused on adding unnecessary features and updating graphics, rather than attempting to make the best gameplay experiences on the market.

There were a few mistakes that developers made when creating games for the current generation of consoles. These mistakes included removing features from the Xbox 360/PS3 versions of various games -- features that were still implemented on the last-gen versions -- and added unnecessary features and gimmicks, hoping to appeal to a broader audience. They did all this while still leaving the core gameplay virtually unchanged.

Read More - Developers Were Lost, and Now Are Found?

[mgkibbles]

Talk about hitting the nail on the head. Although NHL still has some work to do with their gamplay issues (glitch goals, horrible online A.I., and crappy puck physics) they are still light years ahead of most.

[thudias]

Great Article..Very good read.

[DocHolliday]

That madden with the vision cone as default is probably the last time I enjoyed a Madden game. It was pretty damn good!

[mgoblue]

Re: Developers Were Lost, and Now Are Found?

The whole reason features get cut and re-added when going to next-gen is because they have to re-write all the damn code. Since everything needs a re-write, they don't have time to re-do everything for the first year. That's why now people think they're "found" now, we finally got back to the base point and anything new is actually new.

[The Sim God]

i liked the "flashlight" in madden.

[DubTrey1]

Again, another great atricle with valid points. Hope any and all devs read these. There is positively something to take away from reading these....

[BlyGilmore]

good story and you certainly hit the nail on the head.

the problem with EA IMO is they really seem to spend too much time developing a game with the back of the box in mind. "Hey what cool things can we put on the back of the box to get people to buy it?!?"

aka "Marketing Dictating Content"

[ChicagoSparty]

Couldn't be more spot on. Please forward this article and the comments to all producers.

I've recently begun playing games from years past, because they offer better gameplay that seems more realistic (such as NCAA 08, despite all its other issues, offering better defense than 09).

I'm not sure what the developers are trying to do with these games, frankly.

[mgkibbles]

The whole reason features get cut and re-added when going to next-gen is because they have to re-write all the damn code. Since everything needs a re-write, they don't have time to re-do everything for the first year. That's why now people think they're "found" now, we finally got back to the base point and anything new is actually new.

Yes your right that all the code has to be redone, but I think the point Jack is trying to make is that if they wouldn't focus on things like the Madden Virtual Trainer or The Zamboni mini game in NHL 2k9 the gameplay issues would be ironed out by now. Like the article stated MLB The Show made sure they got the gameplay perfected before the visuals, the gameplay from MLB 06 to 07 stayed virtually unchanged even after the system leap.

[Boucher]

that was an amazing article and like the people ahead of me you nailed it on the head

[ChicagoSparty]

Yes your right that all the code has to be redone, but I think the point Jack is trying to make is that if they wouldn't focus on things like the Madden Virtual Trainer or The Zamboni mini game in NHL 2k9 the gameplay issues would be ironed out by now. Like the article stated MLB The Show made sure they got the gameplay perfected before the visuals, the gameplay from MLB 06 to 07 stayed virtually unchanged even after the system leap.

And I'll take that a step further. I could have gone, for example, without the admittedly beautiful stadiums they created in NCAA Football. That stuff adds value, no doubt about it. But it should always be secondary to the on-the-field experience.

[Chessboxer1]

Great article, couldn't agree more. I like nice stadiums and such but ncaa 07 for xbox was 10 times the game 09 was for 360

[Cardot]

Re: Developers Were Lost, and Now Are Found?

I agree with the article. Sports developers in general have not done a great job with this generation. It seems they are finally coming around here in year 4......I think last gen they pretty much hit their stride in year 2????

I do however think that "unnecessary features and gimmicks" really is in the eye of the beholder. I don't have any interest in "RPG" modes like Campus Legend and "Be a Pro"....so they are a waste to me. And I am sure there are some modes/features that I really enjoy that others find unnecessary and gimmicky.

I also think that the difficulty to build a feature comes into play as well. People in the NCAA Football forum love to get their panties in a bunch over the mascot games. When in fact developers have said that it is a very minimal effort to map the Mascots over the players.

[twiztiddarkangelman]

loved the article you pretty much summed up the gaming industry.