The Evolution of Video Game Design

Looking back through all those golden years of gaming, we can clearly see how it evolved from a simplistic experience with simplistic sounds and visuals, to the multi-million dollar productions of today’s titles. Along with this evolution, game design has taken a huge leap as well. This article will take a quick look at some of the changes that were brought to the industry and how some of the basic design remains in titles till today.

More after the jump.

First, lets take a look at game design from the Atari 2600 time. These games involved the player in a small objective that had to be cleared in a specific amount of time, or to be looped until the player achieves a high-score. This then becomes a challenge on breaking high-scores, much like the arcade games of its time. The design was simple, the games had the players use their imagination to enhance their experience in telling what is on-screen, and the goals were mostly straight forward, but not always clear (depending on the game). The games did not involve much, if not at all, any story telling of the sorts.

Next came the NES era. The games started to look better, became more defined and had better objectives. This was when “clearing the game” became the ultimate goal for every player, and from here on, games had started to pick up a pattern: start stage > defeat 100 minions > fight the stage boss > clear stage > start next stage > defeat 200 minions slightly stronger than the past stage > defeat stage boss > rinse and repeat for usually 3-7 really tough stages.

This can be applied to most action/adventure games from that time until today, while RPG’s had a different approach, even comparable to today’s design: start at level 1 > gather party members > enter world map full of random encounter battles > grind your way to high level > enter dungeon and random encounter till boss > defeat boss > rinse and repeat. The process goes on for hours, in this case.

The way games are done these days follow this standard usually, but there have been some games that tried to sway away as far as possible from this, while managing to bring something fresh for the player to experience. Games such as Shadow of The Colossus, while having a “Zelda-esque” feel to it (hero who wields a sword, a bow, rides a horse, and saves a princess), it managed to give the player an experience unparalleled to anything ever made in its time. The player’s objective was clearly defined: defeat the 16 colossi and save the princess. The process in which the game had to be played was left for the players to approach at will.

Another example was the Grand Theft Auto franchise. This introduced the world to the sand-box world of game design we see today, where a huge, bustling city was designed to carry all the elements in the game, such as missions, story and gameplay elements (who doesn’t like to steal a car and get chased by the cops in this virtual world?) with the player choosing what to do with their time.

There are other examples such as the music genre games, like Guitar Hero. This game had nothing to do with the standard we covered above, since usually little to no story is involved, and the player was taught how to play the game using a much necessary specialized controller. The game bids the player in a (increasingly) challenging musical notion in clearing songs and unlocking others. Players also could challenge each other or work together as to emulate a band experience. These games suddenly exploded into a sub-genre that eventually killed itself due to the lack of innovative ideas on how to evolve it, but you can’t deny how much it contributed to game design.

Finally, there are these weird titles that have completely different approaches to their design, like Katamari. The idea behind it is to roll over as many objects as you can. A good example of taking a simple idea and turning it into a working game environment. Artistically, the game has a fitting vibe to it as well.

Today, many developers are trying to innovate. The problem is not innovation though; everyone can come up with a viable idea to enhance their game design. The problem is with invention. It’s much harder to invent a new genre, or invent a new way to play a game in a well-defined manner. If you want to see how invention can be a huge influence in gaming, look back at the genres which got blatantly copied over and over again by different developers everywhere, while innovating these inventions to fit their approach to designing their video games.

Share with us some of your thoughts in the comment section below.

3 responses

  1. I believe with touch generation gaming is going to be re-innovated again! with games like cut the rope and angry birds.

    I am getting sick of repetitive games :S they are getting very predictable and not fun!

    I believe games like Warioware, ouendan were really interesting new games.

    Monster Hunter was a game design that I felt new

  2. I wonder why high budget games try to mimic real life!
    Gamers play games to escape real life not to live in a virtual real life!

  3. MaDMooD Avatar
    MaDMooD

    in my opinion, Game developers these days are trying to expand their profits by trying to attract Non-gamers to join the Gaming society..
    you notice that many of the big hit games , such as Heavy rain, are made in way that makes you feel you are controlling your own movie! Movies and theaters are a diff market than Games, what will happen if , in certain point in the near future, the joined the movies market with the gaming one? more customers, more profit, and maybe more excitement, it will be an evolution.. and Heavy rain game is like a blue print to that future, with addition of other titles..
    imagine a game, with a i dunno how u call it a real life graphics, and add to that Kinect that makes the character recognizes and your in a movie at the same time? but you are the one who controls the coarse of the story..
    i hope my point is clear , the more i try to explain the more i complicate it :D

Discover more from جيل اللاعبين المحظوظين

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading