Pixels and the Future of Games: Part 2
Something old and something new
In Part 1 we touched on this idea of retro-futurism in game development and how it affects gamers and why gamers are heading down the avenue.
After this, I left you with this idea…
Think of the possibilities, but not only in this game, I thought… what about other games, the make-up and general coding process… simplified yet modern?
So what does this mean? What is the genius idea that indie devs of these new titles have applied to their games?
…I’ll tell you now!
In order to understand how these devs think, you have to look at the way Backpack Hero is structured.
Firstly, you start off with a small grid of 9 squares, after your first successful raid you’ll get 3 items, and the grid pretty much only carries those 3 items, or you can take what you think you need and continue onto your quest with a few more slots but somewhat weaker as you need those items to get through a few baddies. As you progress, you get to add more slots and so it continues until you’ve figured out what type of build you are, or discard it entirely and start over.
Now, here’s where we get to that quote from the beginning.
Developers of indie games have managed to get something right about game development that I believe a lot of AAA studios seem to miss these days.
Indie studios do this thing where they start small and expand from that small thing to a bigger thing and then make it slightly bigger but instead of making it even bigger, they stop with the virtual scale of the game and instead focus on the metaphysics of a game.
metaphysics - the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, identity, time, and space.
AAA studios focus on the expansion of everything, and once they are done they expand on that, and before you know it you have games that take 200 hours to complete properly by even the most hardcore gamers. Worst of all, some games release tons of bugs and flat characters that are no fun to play with or as, and it’s a result of this expansion where they waste resources on world-building and character arcs or functionality.
I will touch on this in a future piece.
Okay, so flaws aside, I’ve had great AAA experiences, so there’s no hate. Merely a little criticism that will be easily laughed off by many a keyboard warrior.
Now let’s get back to the beef of this idea.
When you start small, it’s somewhat easier to manage the components of a project. It’s easier to manage 3 main components and expand on those, than starting with 20 and expanding on those.
So let’s take that image of the 9 square grid from backpack hero, it’s a small space to manage and focus on and expand slightly with every run. Now, look at the development process of a game.
A lot of indie devs have unique ideas, but they are small teams with not a lot of gear to make something unique, and then of course everyone needs their games to have graphics that are at least somewhat appealing.
So cue the pixel, a wonderful reusable graphic element that appeals to retro gamers as well as hardcore nostalgia fans.
You see, a lot of good ideas belong to small teams, but they can’t really test out these ideas the way big companies can, so they have to push their game beyond the precipice to get it in even close to a noteworthy spot.
And that is why they are such geniuses, you see you don’t need a big engine to test out a big and unique idea. Same as you don’t require a big canvass to make a unique painting.
Okay so… they do something small, big deal… you’re probably thinking.
And I don’t blame you for doing that because here’s what makes this concept work. By making your area of testing smaller, you are enabling all of your devices to test out a modern idea that’s never been used in a game on an old engine that no one knew would ever be able to run this idea. You are essentially making an old game with the mechanics of a new game.
But this concept of development is genius because it acts as an incubator for game ideas to be tested on low-spec rigs that everyone can play.
These games are not only good in modern theory, but they are easy to sell to anyone because they have modern mechanics that alter the gameplay in a way that makes an old concept look brand spanking new, the only difference is that they are not graphically intense, they are pixelated.
So what type of game manages to make a splash like this?
Oh, there are plenty, but today’s lucky plug award goes to…
CURSED TO GOLF
This game is amazing! It also happens to be our prime example of a game that introduces what I mentioned.
Here’s the Bio:
Cursed to Golf is a challenging golf-like adventure where every shot counts. Players are tasked with making it out of Golf Purgatory to become a Golfing Legend. With insane hazards, otherworldly power-ups and tons of replayability, will you make it back alive or will you forever be… Cursed to Golf!?
How can this not sound like a good time?
Do you know what the tags are? Dungeon crawler, Roguelike, Sports.
So it’s a sidescrolling golf adventure with power-up cards and a life meter. You see this studio looked at golf games and saw the potential to invent a golf-based dungeon crawler with bosses. It’s a new fresh take on an otherwise outdated concept and I think it’s beautiful…
It’s also a helluva fun game to play and not easy, now does it have RTX ability? No, but it has awesome nostalgia induced pixel graphics and a killer old-school soundtrack that will get stuck in your head for weeks.
Check it out…
And in the meantime…
Try to be a gamer with an open mind, it makes my job easier and it will make your life more fun. There are so many interesting new titles coming out every day if you can drop those fun-limiting biases!
Until next time!
Curious Creature Out!
