Posted April 03, 2017
This is a reflection on my own particular experiences in gaming history, brought upon by an event which occurred while playing Andromeda.
The particular experience was using Nomad to collect resources. Wait! I've done this before. In 1986. 31 years ago. (Yes, I've been there since the beginning, playing online text-based game, which I think was called The Dark Ages of Camelot, played over a blazing fast 1200 bps phone modem on CompuServe.)
The games were called Starflight I and II, games I was recently able to play again thanks to GOG. Anyway, this led me to wonder how much games have changed over the years, particularly the space genre. Obviously, the technology has improved. The planetside vehicle in Starflight was all of a couple hundred pixels, if that; all dialogue was text-based. And yet, all the basic elements found in space games are there: resource management, planetary exploration, alien encounters, personality choices, branching dialogue trees, combat, a mysterious ancient race, and an almost ineluctable sense of immersion. It also solved a very big problem: how to get away from a forced linearity by creating an open universe with hundreds of planets to explore with an overarching plot so you could engage the main plot triggers at leisure which would eventually led to a big bang conclusion.
Bioware entered with a bang itself in its development 17 years later with KOTOR I. I got the same sense of immersion, of an otherworldly effect as I had when I saw the first Star Wars movie. Also, it had the best production values of any game I've ever played. By production values, I mean the graphics, the plot, voice acting, and soundscape. In short, Lucas brought the same values to this game as his early movies, but in essence, it built on the elements of SF, but with three additions being voice dialogue, superb environmental music and individual mobility/combat. Resource managment was done in a different way, but still present.
A few years after KOTOR, Bioware created its Mass Effect gaming universe, which, at least to me, was KOTOR III without the Star Wars background. However, it dropped emphasis on the music, but did reach back to the resource aquisition/management done so well in SF. Its latest incarnation is ME: Andromeda. It is an ambitious game, more of everything, some additions, and everything is larger, from personal quarters to the universe itself. But still, and this is highly subjective, SF did a better job of creating a wondrous universe full of surprises and meaningful activities, along with a great sense of humor. Honestly, when I play SF I feel I'm riding along with the same joy I imagine the programmers/developers experienced.
But it begs a question, why were so many players affected by SF, to the point decades later of trying to create a new game or extending the old one? Everybody experiences games differently, so it's useless to try to analyze the experience part objectively. But, to me, and I'd guess more than a few others given the amount of effort given to recreate it, SF provided a lot of fun. I mean, I cracked up when encountering the transformation of the, uh, Spemin overlords in SF2.
Anyway, to make clear my point, while technology has grown by leaps and bounds over the years, I'm not sure the gaming experience has changed much, like watching movie remakes over the years. It started out as a silent film, then color was added, then cinemascope, then dolby, then 3-d. In short, the actors and technical elements change, but the plot and characters have remained the same for 31 years. Where's the plot/character innovation? Did that small group of SF programmers create the be all end all of space games, where everything that followed it is derivitive?
The particular experience was using Nomad to collect resources. Wait! I've done this before. In 1986. 31 years ago. (Yes, I've been there since the beginning, playing online text-based game, which I think was called The Dark Ages of Camelot, played over a blazing fast 1200 bps phone modem on CompuServe.)
The games were called Starflight I and II, games I was recently able to play again thanks to GOG. Anyway, this led me to wonder how much games have changed over the years, particularly the space genre. Obviously, the technology has improved. The planetside vehicle in Starflight was all of a couple hundred pixels, if that; all dialogue was text-based. And yet, all the basic elements found in space games are there: resource management, planetary exploration, alien encounters, personality choices, branching dialogue trees, combat, a mysterious ancient race, and an almost ineluctable sense of immersion. It also solved a very big problem: how to get away from a forced linearity by creating an open universe with hundreds of planets to explore with an overarching plot so you could engage the main plot triggers at leisure which would eventually led to a big bang conclusion.
Bioware entered with a bang itself in its development 17 years later with KOTOR I. I got the same sense of immersion, of an otherworldly effect as I had when I saw the first Star Wars movie. Also, it had the best production values of any game I've ever played. By production values, I mean the graphics, the plot, voice acting, and soundscape. In short, Lucas brought the same values to this game as his early movies, but in essence, it built on the elements of SF, but with three additions being voice dialogue, superb environmental music and individual mobility/combat. Resource managment was done in a different way, but still present.
A few years after KOTOR, Bioware created its Mass Effect gaming universe, which, at least to me, was KOTOR III without the Star Wars background. However, it dropped emphasis on the music, but did reach back to the resource aquisition/management done so well in SF. Its latest incarnation is ME: Andromeda. It is an ambitious game, more of everything, some additions, and everything is larger, from personal quarters to the universe itself. But still, and this is highly subjective, SF did a better job of creating a wondrous universe full of surprises and meaningful activities, along with a great sense of humor. Honestly, when I play SF I feel I'm riding along with the same joy I imagine the programmers/developers experienced.
But it begs a question, why were so many players affected by SF, to the point decades later of trying to create a new game or extending the old one? Everybody experiences games differently, so it's useless to try to analyze the experience part objectively. But, to me, and I'd guess more than a few others given the amount of effort given to recreate it, SF provided a lot of fun. I mean, I cracked up when encountering the transformation of the, uh, Spemin overlords in SF2.
Anyway, to make clear my point, while technology has grown by leaps and bounds over the years, I'm not sure the gaming experience has changed much, like watching movie remakes over the years. It started out as a silent film, then color was added, then cinemascope, then dolby, then 3-d. In short, the actors and technical elements change, but the plot and characters have remained the same for 31 years. Where's the plot/character innovation? Did that small group of SF programmers create the be all end all of space games, where everything that followed it is derivitive?
