Sonja Turbot: Existential Investigator, Page 2
So as I was saying, GearHead2 is an ugly game. This prompts the question, is it too ugly or just ugly enough?
As a lone game designer working mostly by myself, I don’t have time to do everything. In general I spend my time on those aspects of the game which I personally consider to be the most important: game balance, fixing bugs, adding content… To be honest, graphics are pretty far down on the list. If you catch me on a particularly cranky day I’ll tell you that graphics don’t matter at all. I’ll claim that gameplay is the only thing that matters, and as long as the user interface is giving the player the information they need then all is well in the world.
Of course by saying that I would be wrong, but don’t expect me to admit it if I’ve had a long day at the office. Like comics, computer games are a (mostly) visual medium. The appearance is the player’s window into the game and plays a large role in shaping the game experience.
This week I’m going to try an experiment. I’ve started work on the SDUI: Super-Deformed User Interface. This is a replacement UI for GearHead2 which will use a 2D Final Fantasy/Planet Cute-style map with adorable big-headed sprites for all characters and robots. I have great confidence in my ability to bring the cute. Let’s see if I can bring some polish as well.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:00 am
The statistics and description of equipment are also a player’s window into a game. What would Fallout be without brilliant writing?
Polish is nice, though, and I’m not complaining.
January 3rd, 2009 at 4:24 pm
“What would Fallout be without brilliant writing?”
A game by bethesda?
October 11th, 2009 at 11:05 am
“…I’ll claim that gameplay is the only thing that matters, and as long as the user interface is giving the player the information they need then all is well in the world.”
Hell yes I’ll agree! Well kind of… I’ve come to know Gearhead 1 by an Ubuntu package and have since played the game through few times. Not once have I considered (ok maybe once or twice…) using a graphical user interface as I love the text based interface in all its old-school, simplistic glory. Ok except for several annoying aspects and quirks here and there (read: ergonomics not optimal).
Graphics could probably add to the game but it’s as if the ASCII interface lets my imagination run. Far. And wide. Especially combined with item descriptions, the bits of text that come up here and there describing events (we want more! we want more item/location/event/stuff descriptions!) Sadly many item and mecha descriptions in GH1 are completely missing, I hope this serious bug is fixed in GH2
Again, graphics could add to the game but getting a player’s imagination to run with a story (and making an interface that doesn’t cause Repititive Strain Injury from playing!) counts so much more to me. And you are quite good at that Joseph Hewitt! (-: