avatar_58
07-17-2006, 02:24 AM
http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/interviews/198/
If you don't know her name you sure as hell know the games she's created. In many eyes she is the one who basically created the graphical adventure game and made the genre itself popular. She's also a pioneer being a female game designer. She's a legend that deserves great recognition, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a huge sierra online fanboy. :D
Its a good read. Even though she admits to not having played todays games she makes an interesting point:
This is a cliché question, but in truth you are among the few game designers in existence who are truly qualified to answer it. Which of the following best describes the current state of the adventure genre—dead, dying, in hibernation, or in resurgence (you can only pick one)? What does it take for the genre to enjoy the popularity as it has once done in its yesteryears?
Actually, I’m not sure that I AM qualified to answer this question as I have not played or looked at any adventure games (or, really, any games) in almost 8 years...unbelievable as that may seem. So, keeping that in mind, you have to understand that my answer could be WAY off base! However, I have to say that my definition of an adventure game is really an interactive story set with puzzles and obstacles to solve and worlds to explore. I believe that the ‘true’ adventure game genre will never die any more than any type of storytelling would ever die. Sometimes, I think that something ‘new’ may come along for awhile and take away attention from longer, story-oriented genres, like movies took attention away from books for awhile, and TV took attention away from movies for awhile. Things like that. One thing that I always like to say is that, for awhile, it looked like book reading was dead (especially for young people), but Harry Potter proved that one wrong! And then there’s the Da Vinci Code. I remember in the 60s and the 70s, TV watching was really big and movie going was less important than it had been in decades prior. But, in the 80s and 90s, movie going bounced back big time and TV sank a bit. These things go in phases, but a good story never dies. An adventure game is really nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful. I do not think there is a need to try and make it ‘multi-player’ or any of those things. It just takes a good adventure game designer (someone who knows and understands how to write a game play ‘script’ in an interactive way), with a game company that will ‘go out on a ledge’ and support that designer and give them the desired tools to create such a game, and I think that, as in the ‘olden’ days of the 80s and 90s, adventure games would be as popular as ever, if not more so. I think that Ken is right when he says that there is too much of the same thing and not much creativity put into today’s computer games because the game publishers and marketers are too afraid to go there, and so, are actually restricting creativity. There is no doubt in my mind that given the right designer with the proper amount of budget and support from a top game publisher, an adventure game of the highest standards would set the computer game world on fire. One day, it will happen.
If you don't know her name you sure as hell know the games she's created. In many eyes she is the one who basically created the graphical adventure game and made the genre itself popular. She's also a pioneer being a female game designer. She's a legend that deserves great recognition, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a huge sierra online fanboy. :D
Its a good read. Even though she admits to not having played todays games she makes an interesting point:
This is a cliché question, but in truth you are among the few game designers in existence who are truly qualified to answer it. Which of the following best describes the current state of the adventure genre—dead, dying, in hibernation, or in resurgence (you can only pick one)? What does it take for the genre to enjoy the popularity as it has once done in its yesteryears?
Actually, I’m not sure that I AM qualified to answer this question as I have not played or looked at any adventure games (or, really, any games) in almost 8 years...unbelievable as that may seem. So, keeping that in mind, you have to understand that my answer could be WAY off base! However, I have to say that my definition of an adventure game is really an interactive story set with puzzles and obstacles to solve and worlds to explore. I believe that the ‘true’ adventure game genre will never die any more than any type of storytelling would ever die. Sometimes, I think that something ‘new’ may come along for awhile and take away attention from longer, story-oriented genres, like movies took attention away from books for awhile, and TV took attention away from movies for awhile. Things like that. One thing that I always like to say is that, for awhile, it looked like book reading was dead (especially for young people), but Harry Potter proved that one wrong! And then there’s the Da Vinci Code. I remember in the 60s and the 70s, TV watching was really big and movie going was less important than it had been in decades prior. But, in the 80s and 90s, movie going bounced back big time and TV sank a bit. These things go in phases, but a good story never dies. An adventure game is really nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful. I do not think there is a need to try and make it ‘multi-player’ or any of those things. It just takes a good adventure game designer (someone who knows and understands how to write a game play ‘script’ in an interactive way), with a game company that will ‘go out on a ledge’ and support that designer and give them the desired tools to create such a game, and I think that, as in the ‘olden’ days of the 80s and 90s, adventure games would be as popular as ever, if not more so. I think that Ken is right when he says that there is too much of the same thing and not much creativity put into today’s computer games because the game publishers and marketers are too afraid to go there, and so, are actually restricting creativity. There is no doubt in my mind that given the right designer with the proper amount of budget and support from a top game publisher, an adventure game of the highest standards would set the computer game world on fire. One day, it will happen.