What do you look for in a game?

[BloodyWaters]

I started developing a FPS game a while back, then stopped because of many bugs and it just wasn't very fun to play.  I want to revisit the idea of making another game as something to do in my free time. My question is, what do you look for when you want to buy a video game? I want this game to have a nice mixture of different aspects that people like. 

[Guest Kloaked]

Like my music, I like it when people do something different than what everyone else is doing, but also not suck at doing it.

[Nfan]

not repeatative gameplay

[Scruffy90]

A lot. I could go into detail for the genres I play if you want

[Glennieboyyy007]

an open world is almost a must for me. i like it if there is a story, but let us also play outside the story for more fun even when you finished the game itself.

[BloodyWaters]

3 minutes ago, Scruffy90 said:

A lot. I could go into detail for the genres I play if you want

What draws you to whatever genre you play? I'm open to ideas. 

[BloodyWaters]

1 minute ago, Glennieboyyy007 said:

an open world is almost a must for me. i like it if there is a story, but let us also play outside the story for more fun even when you finished the game itself.

Yes. That's a must in my book. 

[BloodyWaters]

11 minutes ago, Nfan said:

not repeatative gameplay

That's what made my first game bad. 

[Scruffy90]

4 hours ago, BloodyWaters said:

What draws you to whatever genre you play? I'm open to ideas. 

I was writing up a giant pro and cons list, but that would be a super long post. Maybe i'll create a post discussing this general changing in the gaming industry and genres specifically. To answer your question though, there are a few things that draw me to the genres I play (FPS, platformers, and fighting games).

 

Fighting games is simple for me. I could pick it up, play it for a few minutes at a time, and come back to it a few weeks later without having to worry about remembering the story. I  also grew up playing fighting games with my family and playing them at the local arcade back in the 90's. There is nothing like seeing someone rage quit in person or having hype moments after having a lengthy stalemate. The other upside for me was being able to hand someone a control and them being able to play without needing overly long explanations. Easy to pick up and play, difficult to master.

 

Platformers are probably my most played genre. For one, theyre usually simple to pick up and play and aren't story heavy (same reason as I stated for fighting games. Pick up and play minutes at a time). Those that are done well, usually have tight controls and varied level design over the course of the game. I usually have a blast being able to have a degree of freedom with movement not always available in other genres of games. More recently, a lot of platformers have had some form of couch coop, which means my significant other or friends I played games with for forever can play.

 

FPS I only regained interest in after playing last years doom and overwatch. Doom just reminded me that FPS' could solely be games and dont need to be story heavy and  could solely focus around having fun gameplay (no loadouts and not being locked to 2 weapons is the best). Overwatch caught my interest because it was one of the only games I got to play with my friends (easy for my non hardcore friends to play)that broke the norm of team deathmatch and had a varied lot of characters that catered to different gameplay styles.

 

So for me the biggest focus, is game play, controls, and fun factor. I don't mind story driven games, as long as it doesn't feel like i'm watching a movie, or at least have skippable cutscenes. 

[BloodyWaters]

1 hour ago, Scruffy90 said:

I was writing up a giant pro and cons list, but that would be a super long post. Maybe i'll create a post discussing this general changing in the gaming industry and genres specifically. To answer your question though, there are a few things that draw me to the genres I play (FPS, platformers, and fighting games).

 

Fighting games is simple for me. I could pick it up, play it for a few minutes at a time, and come back to it a few weeks later without having to worry about remembering the story. I  also grew up playing fighting games with my family and playing them at the local arcade back in the 90's. There is nothing like seeing someone rage quit in person or having hype moments after having a lengthy stalemate. The other upside for me was being able to hand someone a control and them being able to play without needing overly long explanations. Easy to pick up and play, difficult to master.

 

Platformers are probably my most played genre. For one, theyre usually simple to pick up and play and aren't story heavy (same reason as I stated for fighting games. Pick up and play minutes at a time). Those that are done well, usually have tight controls and varied level design over the course of the game. I usually have a blast being able to have a degree of freedom with movement not always available in other genres of games. More recently, a lot of platformers have had some form of couch coop, which means my significant other or friends I played games with for forever can play.

 

FPS I only regained interest in after playing last years doom and overwatch. Doom just reminded me that FPS' could solely be games and dont need to be story heavy and  could solely focus around having fun gameplay (no loadouts and not being locked to 2 weapons is the best). Overwatch caught my interest because it was one of the only games I got to play with my friends (easy for my non hardcore friends to play)that broke the norm of team deathmatch and had a varied lot of characters that catered to different gameplay styles.

 

So for me the biggest focus, is game play, controls, and fun factor. I don't mind story driven games, as long as it doesn't feel like i'm watching a movie, or at least have skippable cutscenes. 

Thank you very much for all this input! That is a great help and I appreciate it. 

[minibois]

Start simple. Don't just 'make an fps'. Because why at that point would I play your game instead of the million other fps games on the market? Find an interesting concept, a niche, a gimmick that makes your fps game different.

People often say you have to, for a TV series, come up with the characters before the premise of the show. Same for a game. First you need an idea on the feel of your game, than you decide the rest.

[Mira Yurizaki]

I'd rather have a solid execution than trying to be different or trying to exceed at something. If your game looks like it clearly has some purpose it wants to do and it does it in a great way, I'd call that a good game.

 

For example, taking it at face value, I Wanna Be The guy is hardly a great game, but when you understand why it was made and how it goes about doing it, it becomes the game that its known for.

 

And then there are other games that are trying to be too many things, making it a strain on other things. GTA IV for instance had a "friend simulator" that served little purpose to the actual game itself other than for Roman to bug the nuts off you.