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gaming question.
Aug. 17th, 2004 09:59 amOkay, so here's the big question.
We now have the ability to create games as beautiful and immersive as Myst was when it first appeared, but with free motion and real-time 3D graphics. In fact, the real-time rendering capabilities of a modern computer far outstrip the SGI render farm used to create the original Myst games, or even the updated-slideshow version of Myst. We're getting close to the ability to render in realtime landscapes as beautiful and alien as Riven's chain of islands. Far Cry's archipelago vistas certainly echo the seascapes of Riven, and the mechanical devices of Doom 3 are as complex as the devices in Myst and Riven. The technology is here, so where are the games?
Clearly, this is not a new idea, but I think that the first try at real-time Myst-like gaming was severely flawed. Arguably, the true first attempt at real-time Myst, the cleverly-named RealMyst, was even more severly flawed. RealMyst ignored years of first-person gaming interface development and attempted to use the same sort of click-to-turn interface as the original Myst. The result was a slow, painful trek, with pauses to orient onesself before moving forward in a straight line and pausing again. It was unfortunate that the designers didn't even see fit to give the option of multiple possible interface styles.
Uru improved on this somewhat, although an unfortunate dependance on jumping puzzles marred the demo. Worse still, Uru was flawed in more crippling ways. Uru itself was an ambitious project, but was crippled by several miscalculations. First-off, I'm not sure people
were ready for multiplayer Myst, and the company itself certainly wasn't ready for the initial burst of interest or for the resources required to support a multiplayer world of that scale and complexity. The initial number of accounts was limited and people who would have been interested simply couldn't get accounts, and drifted away. Uru has since been re-released as a standalone game, without the online aspect. One is led to wonder why UbiSoft did not simply initially release a single-player game based around that engine and add multiplayer later. Myst was originally a solitary pursuit, and that style of game retains its appeal.
So, what is holding back the development of puzzle and world-exploration games? We have Morrowind, which gives players a vast landscape to explore. We have Far Cry, which brings unprecedented detail to that landscape. We have game engines capable of driving complex puzzles and devices and plots, and we have a whole group of gamers with nothing to play. Myst brought
casual gamers to the computer, and was one of the top-selling games of all time, topped only, I believe, by The Sims. Have the puzzle gamers all migrated to life simulations? I find that hard to believe.
The time is right for immersive worlds and engaging puzzles to make a comeback. Where are the games?
We now have the ability to create games as beautiful and immersive as Myst was when it first appeared, but with free motion and real-time 3D graphics. In fact, the real-time rendering capabilities of a modern computer far outstrip the SGI render farm used to create the original Myst games, or even the updated-slideshow version of Myst. We're getting close to the ability to render in realtime landscapes as beautiful and alien as Riven's chain of islands. Far Cry's archipelago vistas certainly echo the seascapes of Riven, and the mechanical devices of Doom 3 are as complex as the devices in Myst and Riven. The technology is here, so where are the games?
Clearly, this is not a new idea, but I think that the first try at real-time Myst-like gaming was severely flawed. Arguably, the true first attempt at real-time Myst, the cleverly-named RealMyst, was even more severly flawed. RealMyst ignored years of first-person gaming interface development and attempted to use the same sort of click-to-turn interface as the original Myst. The result was a slow, painful trek, with pauses to orient onesself before moving forward in a straight line and pausing again. It was unfortunate that the designers didn't even see fit to give the option of multiple possible interface styles.
Uru improved on this somewhat, although an unfortunate dependance on jumping puzzles marred the demo. Worse still, Uru was flawed in more crippling ways. Uru itself was an ambitious project, but was crippled by several miscalculations. First-off, I'm not sure people
were ready for multiplayer Myst, and the company itself certainly wasn't ready for the initial burst of interest or for the resources required to support a multiplayer world of that scale and complexity. The initial number of accounts was limited and people who would have been interested simply couldn't get accounts, and drifted away. Uru has since been re-released as a standalone game, without the online aspect. One is led to wonder why UbiSoft did not simply initially release a single-player game based around that engine and add multiplayer later. Myst was originally a solitary pursuit, and that style of game retains its appeal.
So, what is holding back the development of puzzle and world-exploration games? We have Morrowind, which gives players a vast landscape to explore. We have Far Cry, which brings unprecedented detail to that landscape. We have game engines capable of driving complex puzzles and devices and plots, and we have a whole group of gamers with nothing to play. Myst brought
casual gamers to the computer, and was one of the top-selling games of all time, topped only, I believe, by The Sims. Have the puzzle gamers all migrated to life simulations? I find that hard to believe.
The time is right for immersive worlds and engaging puzzles to make a comeback. Where are the games?