Clicking RIP

Ed-ChigliakEd-Chigliak West Yorks (UK)
edited July 2003 in Gaming
The first law of game design... keep em' clicking.

The second law of game design... distract them with fancy graphics and sound so they don't realise they are clicking.

The third law of game design... go easy on the AI it could undermine all the hard work that's gone into creating such a labourious click fest.

Labourious in the nicest possible way of course. Anyway my advice to you is to enjoy all the clicking while it lasts for as sure as the world isn't flat and the sun isn't hot your clicking days are numbered my friend. Whether they be real or imaginary numbers is entirely another matter.

Ed^;)

Comments

  • verselloversello New
    edited July 2003
    wigga say wha'?
  • Ninja-Kreon2Ninja-Kreon2
    edited July 2003
    Smells like... *sniff* Diablo II?
  • PyobliEPyobliE UK
    edited July 2003
    He has lost me tbh ...

    Although perhaps law number 4 should include clicking with friends? Multiplayer gaming?
  • Ed-ChigliakEd-Chigliak West Yorks (UK)
    edited July 2003
    The fourth law of game design... ignore the first three laws of game design.

    Since science fiction has a habit of becoming science fact and clicking doesn't feature heavily in science fiction we have yet to experience games based on the fourth law. I made the laws up after having a few drinks and then added some nonsense at the end. Anyway it would seem that I just kind of reverse engineered the laws of game design from the games I have played recently.

    Graphics will soon become photorealistic and that will be the end of that holy grail. What then?

    The next big push will surely be computer AI and voice recognition and when this technology is a standard feature of the OS the game designers will make use of it.

    Perhaps now I am making a little more sense.

    Ed^
  • verselloversello New
    edited July 2003
    Yes, keep going :)
  • Ed-ChigliakEd-Chigliak West Yorks (UK)
    edited July 2003
    The road ahead.

    AI has survived the initial hype and the inflated expectations of investors and the subsequent trough of disillusionment and has risen from its boom-bust period to a new sustainable level of activity. The long term goal of creating human level intelligence is a lofty goal indeed and is exactly that 'long term' so were do the AI workers practice their black art in the meantime?

    Well lucky for us they're going to be refining their AI skills here in the multi-billion dollar gaming industry building the next generation of gaming softbots.

    Those dumb bots that you've been blasting to bits are going to get alot more intelligent. Since much of the ground work for natural language processing has already been done and because the AI field now has mature tools that are easily used, well documented and well understood I don't expect it will be too long before holding conversations with a not so dumb bot will be possible... just before blasting them to bits as usual.:D

    As Elvis never said "a little more conversation, a lot less clicking please"

    Someone elses turn to carry on... it's not like I know what I'm talking about here.

    Ed^
  • T-BirDT-BirD Montgomery, AL
    edited July 2003
    I agree that AI is improving (see No One Lives Forever 2, for example), but I think the current/next MAJOR push is realistic physics - see the massive adotion of ragdoll physics (not always well implemented, but usually there). However, ragdoll is just the beginning, as items are given realistic weights and properties relative to eachother - see Half Life 2 and especially the matresses floating on the water. Granted, Half Life 2 has great graphics to back it all up, but how often have you felt that "yeah, the graphics are nice, but the game just 'feels' wrong"?

    These advanced physics, coupled with better visuals, sound, and AI will be the driving factor in creating total immersion. Now if only we could get rid of loading screens...
  • Ed-ChigliakEd-Chigliak West Yorks (UK)
    edited July 2003
    More realistic physics that better reflect the real world will add a great deal more to the gameplay and immersion of games than the cosmetic face lifts of recent releases. There are many games that model real world physics already... flight sims, driving sims etc but these are very specific situation. I think what will emerge next will be a more unified environmental model where the 'materials' and 'objects' that makes up the model exhibits real world properties. A mattress floats - become water logged - then sinks. As the environment becomes more detailed and realistic then this will open up the potential for the AI softbots to interact with the environment in increasingly intelligent ways. In addition an apple would have food value - a chair would have a rest value - a mattress that isn't waterlogged would have a sleep value and so on. If you stop a softbot in a corridor and ask him what he is doing then he should be able to give you an intelligent response like "I'm going to stop by the vending machine and get myself a drink. I'll rest up for a while in the lounge than it's back to guard duty." It's still going to feel wrong unless the AI receives a major push too.
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