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A New Edition of "Dear Developer"

IJoel

Member
As we play games, we come across some very pointless, not fun, or rather stupid scenarios the developers feel the need to burden us with. Let's list them here.

1. Escort missions: They are not fun. Stop it. If you have an escort mission planned for your next game, simply try to remove it, or at least give the entity to be escorted AI that's better than the equivalent of a brainless rat.

2. Checkpoints: There's no fun in replaying areas again and again to get to a boss that will undoubtedly require many tries to beat. Provide at least a checkpoint before a boss. Same applies to long levels.

3. Ridiculously cheap bosses: This one is dedicated to the PoP: TTT development team. The sword and axe boss was not fun. It was stupid and only served to make everyone realize the shortcomings of your subpar combat engine. I, for one, welcome challenging bosses, but not cheap ones. Some might find the line between these two to be quite thin, but in case of doubt, just find a few gamers outside your offices to test your game.

4. Cinematics Viewer: This one's not so much a complain, but a request. Add a cinematics viewer to the game. Some game have really beautiful cinematics that some would like to see more than once, and it'd be very nice to access these without replaying the entire game.

5. Multiple Save Files and Level Unlocks: As games get more complicated, so does the possibility of encountering critical game bugs. At least add the capability to have multiple save files, and level unlocks so that in the event of encountering such a bug, there'd be an option to access the level, or revert to a previous save file. Take a look at how Doom/Quake games do this.

6. Menu Loading: Geez, save some RAM for the menus. Having a loading screen just to access a menu is ridiculously annoying. Top Spin, I'm looking at you. Great game, otherwise.

7. Online Co-op: Another recommendation. Adding online co-op capabilities to games is a brilliant way to extend the play time without resorting to cheap tactics, such as some mentioned above.

8. Pointless Platforming: Some developers feel the need to add a platforming section to their otherwise action-focused games, when the engine doesn't even support a controllable camera. Don't. It only serves to detract from the focus of the game. Or at least make sure the gamer can see precisely where he'll land (and no, a bottomless pit doesn't count.)

I'm sure I've forgotten quite a few, but these suggestions come to mind when thinking of annoying things and glaring omissions developers include or fail to do so in their games. Add your own. Maybe they'll listen.
 
4. Cinematics Viewer: This one's not so much a complain, but a request. Add a cinematics viewer to the game. Some game have really beautiful cinematics that some would like to see more than once, and it'd be very nice to access these without replaying the entire game.

4a. Said Cinematics Viewer should become available after the game is finished, accessible from the main menu. Do not force the player to load a save and find it in-game, or worse yet, require the player to quest for it.
 
IJoel said:
1. Escort missions: They are not fun. Stop it. If you have an escort mission planned for your next game, simply try to remove it, or at least give the entity to be escorted AI that's better than the equivalent of a brainless rat.

RE4 did it perfectly. The problem is many games do it poorly, but if done right it can work very well. In RE4 Ashley a) moved out of your line of fire automatically, b) always stayed behind you so never blocked your path and c) stayed still when you told her to.
 
I think the one that pisses me off the most is the lack of controller customization. Limiting players to a few controller configs is ridiculous...then there's some games that don't even give you that convenience.

It's two thousand fucking six...we have the technology. We have the capability.

Anyone releasing a game without some button customization deserves a beating.
 
1. Escort missions: They are not fun. Stop it. If you have an escort mission planned for your next game, simply try to remove it, or at least give the entity to be escorted AI that's better than the equivalent of a brainless rat.

I never want to see this in another game ever again.
 
RE4's escort mission doesn't quite apply as Ashley was always following Leon, unless she was commanded to wait somewhere, in which case means you are really controlling both characters. It's quite different from most escort missions where you have to follow some brain dead entity run towards the enemy while you have to defend it.

krypt0nian said:
Stealth missions with no way of telling if you are in cover or not...

I'm looking at you PDZ.

Yes yes yes. That was a glaring omission on my part.
 
I guess, RE4 didn't feel like the standard escort mission with actually have a say in her movements. She wouldn't blindly run into danger unless you were the one foolish with your actions.
 
IJoel said:
1. Escort missions: They are not fun. Stop it. If you have an escort mission planned for your next game, simply try to remove it, or at least give the entity to be escorted AI that's better than the equivalent of a brainless rat.

goddamn San Andreas.

4. Cinematics Viewer: This one's not so much a complain, but a request. Add a cinematics viewer to the game. Some game have really beautiful cinematics that some would like to see more than once, and it'd be very nice to access these without replaying the entire game.

all 3 GTA games had a cinematic camera option. And all 3 of them sucked. They need a bit adjustment.


my own


1. Bring back the freaking World Map in RPG games, developers. Last gen with the PS1, I drooled over the idea of a next-gen world map with the PS2. It turned out that Square actually REMOVED the world map from the FF series. I hate Squaresoft for doing that. Other developers seem to follow this also.

2. Stop with your rpg's that use a Radar. I dont want to spend the the whole game looking at the radar where I should head instead of the screen itself

3. Squaresoft; Please drop the whole "realistic" look for the FF series. The shit sucks. Give us super-deformed characters like FF7 and FF9. No wonder those 2 games were the best of the entire series, and why FFX sucked. But thats not my only reason for FFX, I have a lot more.

4. Kojima; stop hollywood'izing Metal Gear.
Metal Gear Solid, while extremely cinematic, had a very Japanese feel to it. MGS2 simply sucked. The music too.
 
- don't wimp out on difficulty, include a 'super extra oh my god it's raping my mother' mode even if it's just a quick damage level hack. if the game is actually worth playing, the fanbase will lap it up.
- stat monitors. aw: ds does this well, i doubt it's a difficult thing to implement.
 
Damn good post Ijoel. *clap clap* I wish developers would actually read it. Mercenaries is guilty to quite a bit of those.

Foul Angel said:
all 3 GTA games had a cinematic camera option. And all 3 of them sucked. They need a bit adjustment.

He's talking about a menu where you can watch cut-scenes individually.

1. Bring back the freaking World Map in RPG games, developers. Last gen with the PS1, I drooled over the idea of a next-gen world map with the PS2. It turned out that Square actually REMOVED the world map from the FF series. I hate Squaresoft for doing that. Other developers seem to follow this also.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell no. Do yourself a favor and play Dragon Quest VIII. Best muthafucking overworld EVER, any genre.

4. Kojima; stop hollywood'izing Metal Gear.
Metal Gear Solid, while extremely cinematic, had a very Japanese feel to it. MGS2 simply sucked. The music too.

So, japanese feel = more amateurishly directed cut-scenes? :P Kojima has been improving like crazy with each game IMO, and the MGS4 trailer is the best example of "his" work yet(although I believe Shuyo Murata directed the trailer).
 
HomerSimpson-Man said:
^^^^^^

Nah, won't be doing any of that.

agreed

As for IJoels post, good points, though #7 is usually on developer to-do lists and almost immediately gets cut because it is in no way, shape or form easy to implement. The rest are mostly common sense although it's not hard to imagine publishers asking to break from those suggestions from time to time.
 
blackadde said:
- don't wimp out on difficulty, include a 'super extra oh my god it's raping my mother' mode even if it's just a quick damage level hack. if the game is actually worth playing, the fanbase will lap it up.

Yeah seriously, I also hate it when one has to unlock a difficulty mode by beating the game first-- what kind of bullshit is that? If I want to get served soon as I bootup Game X, so be it.
 
jett said:
So, japanese feel = more amateurishly directed cut-scenes? :P Kojima has been improving like crazy with each game IMO, and the MGS4 trailer is the best example of "his" work yet(although I believe Shuyo Murata directed the trailer).

Don't know what he's getting at being too "Hollywoodized" either. This is Hideo Kojima, his works have been movie influenced for over a decade!! Look at Snatcher (Blade Runner) and the old Metal Gear especially Metal Gear 2 (characters straight out of movies). Snake was something created out of his own recognition of Kurt Russell's Snake Plisken. It was technology that limited his scope, hence why he's not too fond of the old Snatcher games anymore.
 
jett said:
He's talking about a menu where you can watch cut-scenes individually.

oops :D

So, japanese feel = more amateurishly directed cut-scenes? :P Kojima has been improving like crazy with each game IMO, and the MGS4 trailer is the best example of "his" work yet(although I believe Shuyo Murata directed the trailer).

what I mean is, while MGS1 resembled a movie, MGS2 looked like a recent Hollywood flick. It felt more over the top than before. Also the voice-acting (especially from Hayter) became worse.
 
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