How important is creativity in games to you? I personally find games with no creativity in them unappealing to a certain degree. Hell, I think I would even play Call of Duty more often if could create my own weapons, design levels, etc… Games that require players to think creatively I think are the best types of games. I believe its the same for others, even if its unconsciously. I think thats why games like Minecraft and Terraria became so popular so fast.
So back to the question. How important do you believe is creativity in games? Do you think every game should have that aspect incorporated into it? What do you think of a game that really focuses on player creativity?
You also have to remember that games like Call of Duty also became popular very quickly. There are many different types of gamers. Some people like to create things, some people just want to get in and blow stuff up, some people prefer to amass wealth, etc.
Personally, I sometimes enjoy sim-style games, which allow me to be creative. I also think my favorite part of most MMOs is the character creation, for that same reason. However, I also really enjoy games like CoD, MAG, Gears of War, etc., simply because its fun to shoot stuff. Achievements, on the other hand, have never really been all that important to me, but that’s the top priority for others.
For a much better explanation, check out the Bartle Test.
I think creativity is quite important, although I think it’s also something of a higher road which isn’t always popular, like the above post suggested sometimes the ego just wants to get in and attack whatever is there already and not contribute to it. It’s different levels of mindset.
One area where creativity helps I think is when it improves interactivity, like being able to interact with a destructible game world, or add stuff to it. … the flow of creativity through me is enjoyable and makes me feel happier - it’s natural to create - but also I just like the interactive feelings of being able to change whatever I want - perhaps it’s a freedom thing. I think that openness to creativity also can lend itself to increased emergent gameplay which is I think the driving force behind the success of games like terraria, minecraft, world of goo, etc. When gameplay is more premeditated or scripted I overall find it less enjoyable… not necessarily less engaging/involving but it’s just a different experience.
Personally my favorite games are creative ones, which is why the game I’m working on is very creativity-oriented.
I really do believe it is always good to have both ways.
No some may say you cant have your cake and eat it too, but if you give them the option to edit stuff, the people who wish to be creative will take part and those whom are interested in blowing crap up can go their own sweet way.
Make it a part, just try to not make the main focus of a FPS etc.
Creative games are usually big flops.
Take a look at the most popular game of the world now, even a monkey can play Legue of Legends.
Creative people certainly have no place there because those are minority.
Some may argue Minecraft is creative… I really don’t think so. It jut runs on any calculator and had a viral boom on reddit after wining that contest.
Stuff like shadow of the colossus for me is genuine creative game. It is one of the most famous original and creative piece of art, still was not such a big success if compared to those more generic games.
All entertainment industries are learning that the masses are not very smart and don’t want too much complicated stories or interactions.
I have yet to see an FPS which focuses on creativity. Its really doesn’t make sense: a shooter…that…creates things?
I mean you do have shooters where you do have the ability to create things (Halo for example) but in the end, you create things just to blow it up again. I honestly think it would be really interesting to see a creative-focused shooter.
Ironically, League of Legends was originally a mod.
I think you’re misunderstanding what he meant by creativity (as I did when I first read this). He’s not saying that the game is creative, rather that it allows the player to be creative/create things. By that meaning, Minecraft is a perfect example.
You should also check out Star Forge, as that’s a shooter/Minecraft hybrid.
But again, some people absolutely hate creating things. To them, its a chore. There’s a large gap between “I think its great!” and “It should be in every game ever made!” People need to make their games for their target market, that’s it. And, as always, if you try to please everyone, you’ll end up pleasing no one.
Creativity is different. It doesn’t always mean “to make your own weapons”. It could be a creative concept like Portal* or super mario galaxy which encourages the player to be creative in thinking.
There is no perfect yes and no when it comes to game design. Different people want different things.
I feel like a lot of these debates come up with the mention of a handful of AAA titles. There are tons of creative games out there, we are not at a loss or anything. CoD is just a whole different ball game then what you may want.
Again, I think the OPs meaning is being confused. If you read the post, it doesn’t appear that he’s saying “games should be creative”. He’s referring simply to the ability for the player to create things in the game.
Yes thank you, thats what I meant. It doesn’t have to be restricted to that though, as there are other ways for players to explore their own creativity than just creating in-game objects.
Me personally? Not important, I do “creation” all day, it’s not what I’m after when I take a break. The world at large? Based on the popularity of social creation platforms and customization within games e.g. Minecraft, GTA III, The Sims, Little Big Planet etc, I’d say it’s a definite plus to have and way to extend out the lifetime of said game, something which may or may not be important depending on how you’re protecting, marketing and monetizing the project.
It does definitely prolong the shelf life of a title, which is the original purpose of user-created content. I am the same, however. While I understand the appeal of these kinds of games, its really not my thing. (Although, I did make a pretty cool mission in the original Starcraft.) If I’m going to make something, I want it to be entirely mine; not something built within the building blocks of another game.
I think sometimes creative games are looked on as a different genre. Take for example something like crayon physics, you’re being artistic/drawing the physics objects to solve puzzles… the game has a different feel to other games, there aren’t enemies and shooting and so on… so it becomes kind of a nice in that respect. Some people like shooting stuff. However, from what I’ve seen, there seems to have been somewhat more buzz when a creative game comes along and people go all gaga about seeing it able to do things they haven’t seen before, perhaps because the game concept itself is creative/original.
That true, I think that the game itself must also be creative and original for it to be successful. Take all the Minecraft clones out there, and look at their success. They have none
Creativity is incredibly important, most people are out there to roll in riches and others just conform to the AAA titles but don’t be like them. You have some truly original games that become popular and are very creative. Look for the real meaning behind Braid and tell me that is not creative. You will always get a biased response and people will always make clones for monetary gain.
I wanted to test this theory so a while back I made a slender man game for a 36 hour challenge. I did all the coding and art work myself and put it on the android store as a joke. This game made a fair bit of money and has heaps of 5 star ratings and no 1,2,3 star ratings. People in the end don’t know what they want unless they are exposed to it. So replicating these shitty clones is doing nothing but perpetuating and personifying stupidity. I did this as an experiment and it proved my circumstance.
Are you referring to the Slender Run game which you posted about a while ago in this thread? It’s ironic that 2-3 months ago you claimed to have used Slender Man in your game for monetary gain, and now you are telling people not to do it.
I also noticed that your game is still on Google Play (link) and it clearly has 1, 2, and 3 star ratings. As somebody who actually played Slender Run, I can say that I was disappointed beyond the uncreative concept of simply combining Temple Run with Slender Man. The awkwardness of the controls and its failure to use native features of the device (e.g. accelerometer, swiping) meant that the game became tiresome after only a few tries.
I think that clones have their place and people will play/enjoy them, but only if they are actually cloned well, e.g. Agent Dash as a Temple Run ripoff.
