I am planning on writing a recurring column on my website which will talk about the greatest innovations in gaming. I would like all of them to be gameplay innovations and not technology innovations.
For example MMRPGs i wouldn't call innovative because the idea has been around for ever, technology finally caught up and let it happen. Same with online multiplayer. However online matchmaking is an innovation. Here is my list so far I am just looking for more ideas.
Checkpoint saving
Randomized loot
Cover-based FPS
Ability cooldown
Regenerating Health
Morality
Lack of Hud
Limited weapons
Quicktime events
Time manipulation
Free running
DLC
In-App Purchases
Matchmaking
Feel free to disagree with me, I would love to hear that also. If you think something is not an innovation then lets talk through it.
Sandbox gameplay world
scaring the player (think survival horror)
FMV
Co-op gameplay
That is all I can think of.
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Class-based multiplayer gameplay
Achievements and Trophies
Fighting games with a 3rd person view and freedom (Like Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi)
Zombie survivals
Music-based gameplay
Procedural content (going aaaalll the way back to Elite, if not earlier)
Powerups
Modding
By the way, you should probably clarify that innovations aren't always (or even often) well-implemented. Morality systems, for example. Or quicktime events.
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I think the idea of using isometric viewpoints was pretty darn big. It allowed video games to have some semblance of realistic depth for the first time, and certainly paved the way for true 3d gaming.
I am planning on writing a recurring column on my website which will talk about the greatest innovations in gaming. I would like all of them to be gameplay innovations and not technology innovations.
It can in some cases be pretty hard to draw the line between the two. For example, is "online matchmaking" an innovation in gameplay or an innovation in technology? After all, it became possible only when the technology made it possible.
Also the term "innovation" has a definitely positive connotation to it. However, not all gameplay mechanics are generally perceived as positive. For example escort missions are a pretty well-defined gameplay concept, but often highly reviled in most cases by most people.
How about gameplay mechanics which have become more or less obsolete and are nowadays considered unnecessary? For example lives and continues (with a "continue?" countdown) were gameplay elements invented solely for arcade games, were consequently misaimedly used in some home console games, but have been considered obsolete for a very long time (except for the few arcade games that are still being produced). Can they be considered "innovations"?
One very significant gameplay innovation, one of the first ones, was a top scores list. (There's an anecdote that the first arcade game that used a top scores list got quickly jammed because the coin box got so full that people couldn't insert any more coins and play the game. It proved to be that popular.)
This is strictly a graphics thing, but I'd say normal mapping is pretty goddamn innovative. How do you even come up with that idea?
edit:
Serious reply: Cheat codes. Both the password type and the button type.
This is strictly a graphics thing, but I'd say normal mapping is pretty goddamn innovative. How do you even come up with that idea?
It's not a gameplay mechanic, and isn't really related to gaming at all (it was invented as a rendering technique, originally for rendering software). You might as well say that "color monitors are very innotavite". Yes they are, but they are not a gameplay mechanic.
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I find your premise a bit weird. Either you should write columns about the greatest innovations in gaming, period, and include the significant technological advancements as well (since you can't really skip over things like Quake being the start of the serious 3D graphics era), or you should write a column about the greatest innovations in game design. I find it quite astonishing that you'd choose to ignore all technological achievements and yet list ability cooldown of all things.
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I find your premise a bit weird. Either you should write columns about the greatest innovations in gaming, period, and include the significant technological advancements as well (since you can't really skip over things like Quake being the start of the serious 3D graphics era), or you should write a column about the greatest innovations in game design. I find it quite astonishing that you'd choose to ignore all technological achievements and yet list ability cooldown of all things.
You are right, Game Design would have been the more accurent word choice. I am less concerned with the technology and much more interested in design changed. Also not sure why you are so offended that I listed ability cooldown as an important innovation. Remember turtles in time? Or that X-men arcade game where doing your TRADEMARK move would actually deal you damage? So cyclops can't even spam eye beams? Thats bad design, which was GREATLY improved by cooldowns.
It's very hard to draw the line, and in the end it's just going to be me choosing what to write about. Basically if the idea is something people always wanted, but just couldn't have because of technology limitations, then Id on't count that as an innovation. So Co-op, mulitplayer, online multiplayer, MMPRG, Open-world sandbox games are all things, that although great and important, I don't consider innovative because everyone had that idea. I remember saying, while playing fallout 1, man I wish my friends and I could play TOGETHER.
Also you are 100% that not all innovations are well implemented and that is something I will talk about especially with Morality and Quicktime events. I think they have potential but some games fumble them badly.
Thank you guys for all the ideas. I have already begun writing my article on ability cool downs, I will start another thread about it so I can get some ideas and input on it.
I'm just wondering how DLC can be categorized as a gameplay innovation? They are extra content, but I wouldn't call that a gameplay mechanic.
And furthermore, I would classify them as a subset of expansion packs/discs that have been around forever.
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The way DLC is treated lately, compared to forever ago is very different. Now DLC is almost expected of console games. Halo 2 and on have all had DLC map packs, Civilization 5 has had DLC civilizations released, Mass Effect 2 has had 8 hours of bonus made available through DLC.
But you are right, it has little to do with gameplay, more gaming as a whole. Like I said my list isn't set in stone. I could be wrong on some of them, i just made my list yesterday. But I feel the new DLC concept is worth talking about.
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I would say that the invention of 3-D games, is where games went downhill. On the Snes, Even the crappy games were at least a bit fun. They always tried to keep everything fresh, and new, and difficult. Today, with all the health regeration, saving like crazy, and scipted vehicle sections, there are few games that are really good. Everything is now the same, and dumbed down for the casual player, since the largest market of games today is for casual players, many who freak if they go for 12 minutes without killing something. The day of the turn-based RPG will soon be a memory because they think the game wont sell if it is turn based.
THe greast innovation in gaming, TURN BASED RPG's
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No I guess not... but it would certainly make it easier for me to have an opinion on it if I actually was alive before it's existence. If Turn-Based RPGs were around since the beginning of video games, it's unclear what/how it innovated. I mean... what were RPGs like before turn-based RPGs? In my experience the video game RPG evolution went like this Text-based rpgs --> turn-based dungeon crawls --> live action dungeon crawls
I would say that the invention of 3-D games, is where games went downhill. On the Snes, Even the crappy games were at least a bit fun. They always tried to keep everything fresh, and new, and difficult. Today, with all the health regeration, saving like crazy, and scipted vehicle sections, there are few games that are really good. Everything is now the same, and dumbed down for the casual player, since the largest market of games today is for casual players, many who freak if they go for 12 minutes without killing something. The day of the turn-based RPG will soon be a memory because they think the game wont sell if it is turn based.
I have to disagree. I can list only a handful of great 2D games, but countless great 3D games.
The problem with old 2D games is that the vast majority fall into the platformer category, and from those the vast majority are completely bereft of story, logic or any kind of appeal, and most of them are ultimately quite boring, (There are only a few exceptions such as Super Metroid and some Castlevania games.) The best 2D games are JRPGs, but unfortunately they are outnumbered by great modern 3D games (including JRPGs).
No I guess not... but it would certainly make it easier for me to have an opinion on it if I actually was alive before it's existence.
You're going to get tons of complaints from crotchety gamers along these lines if you ignore everything from before you were born. Do the job properly; do the research.
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JXQ wrote:
Perhaps not exactly what you were looking for, but "Down+Jump = Slide" sure caught on after Mega Man 3 (I think) introduced it.
Yeah, I can't think of any examples before MM3. Sliding is a great game mechanic, but I'm not sure it's really a "Great Innovation in Gaming."
To add another one, selectable characters. I can't even think what game first implemented it, but it sure did shake things up. Imagine Super Mario 2 without Peach or Toad.
No I guess not... but it would certainly make it easier for me to have an opinion on it if I actually was alive before it's existence.
You're going to get tons of complaints from crotchety gamers along these lines if you ignore everything from before you were born. Do the job properly; do the research.
Maybe once I run out of topics that I know about, i'll begin writing about topics I don't know about.
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VirtualAlex wrote:
Dada wrote:
I find your premise a bit weird. Either you should write columns about the greatest innovations in gaming, period, and include the significant technological advancements as well (since you can't really skip over things like Quake being the start of the serious 3D graphics era), or you should write a column about the greatest innovations in game design. I find it quite astonishing that you'd choose to ignore all technological achievements and yet list ability cooldown of all things.
You are right, Game Design would have been the more accurent word choice. I am less concerned with the technology and much more interested in design changed. Also not sure why you are so offended that I listed ability cooldown as an important innovation. Remember turtles in time? Or that X-men arcade game where doing your TRADEMARK move would actually deal you damage? So cyclops can't even spam eye beams? Thats bad design, which was GREATLY improved by cooldowns.
You're right that it was a good development but I'm just not sure I would list it among the greatest innovations in the history of game design. To me, great innovations are things like the ability to freely explore, the ability to save the game, good NPC AI, games consisting of multiple levels, multiplayer gameplay, storytelling, NPC interaction, 3D...
Even if some of these seem like technological advancements, they did give game designers a lot more space to work with.
I guess it depends on how specific you want to get. It might be interesting to just pick a number of comparatively small (relative to the few things I mentioned) design ideas and write detailed articles about them.
Selectable characters have been in since the early RPG days. NetHack and Moria both had character classes with differing strengths and weaknesses. In turn those both inherited indirectly from tabletop games -- and if you ignore the influence that tabletop games had on videogames then you're seriously making a mistake.
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