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Re: SOPA Isn’t the Solution, But Can We At Least Agree There’s A Problem |
Jan 13, 2012, 08:18 |
Beamer |
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Jerykk wrote on Jan 13, 2012, 02:24:
Sure, but why are those the only 2 options? Why not 30 hours of modern shooter? Quality increases don't have to come at the expense of quantity.
They do when publishers want to pump out sequels on a yearly basis. It takes considerably longer to create assets these days than it did back in the 90's so if you have a one year dev cycle, you can either have a short game with high quality assets or a long game with low quality assets. Ideally, games would be given enough time to have both high quality assets and a lengthy play time, but the realities of the business only make this possible for a minority of games.
You're so right yet so wrong. It has nothing to do with "wanting to pump out sequels on a yearly basis."
Bhruic, think about how long it takes to make a level these days. Back in the Doom days you had about 20 textures to choose from, no real items to place and were working in 2D. Games had two people working on levels. Now games have at least a dozen artists creating models for all the random crap you see everywhere. They have four or five particle guys alone. They have people doing all the scripting because it's gone well beyond just "open this door and this other door opens behind you."
In short, when a 5 person team could kick out a 30 hour game in 2 years and sell it for $50-$60 you got plenty of 30 hour games. These days, at the level of detail customers want, it takes 100 to 400 guys to make 5 to 10 hours in 2 years. If you want a 30 hour game you either get significant recycling or you get a team that will go bankrupt because they'll never, ever make that cash back.
People keep throwing out DX:HR as a long game here. I spent 12 hours on it. I felt like I saw all there was to see. I spent a good amount of time wandering and jumping (but next to none reloading and replaying.) I opened every single door I found in every single level. Still 12 hours. In a game that recycled content and had you criss-crossing. If it was like most other FPS games, which keep you moving, it would have been 5-7 hours.
There's no "oh man, games need to be shorter!" conspiracy, there are just budget constraints. A team making a game expecting to bring in $20 million in revenues won't spend $20 million to produce it. Something needs to break. Either you get shittier graphics, shittier detail, shittier interaction or shittier length. |
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