tuglaw

aka @CLeituga

Professional Game Designer, Clumsy Game Player // Previously from Sunburned Games, Gameloft, Miniclip, and others.

I was here before but not anymore: https://twitter.com/CLeituga đź”’

Probably will be here next:
https://bsky.app/profile/tuglaw.leituga.com

And / or go back here:
https://mastodon.social/@CLeituga


moonflowers
@moonflowers

the homogenization of video games controls has led to massive stagnation. it’s why everything from the ps3/360 era onwards feels exactly the same


johnnemann
@johnnemann

In that as games discover a series of "best practices" it narrows the perceived scope of possibility until we need movements to deliberately do things in the 'wrong' way to remind us that it doesn't have to be like this.

Best practices are good things to have but they quickly go from "hey if you want to accomplish this effect, try this design tool" to "this is the correct way to make things", especially in a medium that is as commercially focused, and as worshipful of its commercial arm, as video games is.


tuglaw
@tuglaw

As someone who jumps straight into the options menu and starts rebinding buttons before even trying out the game, the problem isn't strictly the controls.

I think the stagnation happened at the mechanics level, which caused them to carry over a near facsimile of their respective genre's control schemes.

Every first person game plays the same, every third person game plays the same, every platformer plays the same...

The grid based precision from earlier Tomb Raiders, the separate crosshair controls from GoldenEye 007... they were deemed rough edges to sand off.

killer7 is a great example of genre non-conformity.
It's a game where you shoot in first person/zoomed-in, but you move in third person, but you also move on-rails, but you also have the freedom to explore and revisit locations to solve puzzles.

It could've played just like the current Resident Evil remakes, but it doesn't. It's unique.

Familiarity might help to make a game more commercially viable, since it reduces the hurdle of learning new controls, but it also makes the games lack distinction.


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in reply to @johnnemann's post:

yeah this is of course all happening in the long shadow of the market, entire generations of creators coming up with no deeper aspirations than "be perfectly market-shaped + market-legible", the relatively new screeching commentator class youtube (a completely toxic attention market happening in parallel) saddled our medium with acting as enforcers of market thinking, and of course the platforms themselves being cultural forces of vigorous punishment for any products that aren't obsequiously serving market needs. a medium in bondage to capital.