The last great modern games I’ve played it’s RE4 remake but that mostly thanks to the ground up job done by the groundbreaking original from 2005, so I “disqualify it”
The last great modern games I’ve played it’s RE4 remake but that mostly thanks to the ground up job done by the groundbreaking original from 2005, so I “disqualify it”
No one with a creative vision
Creative vision isn’t as important to modern game makers as profitability. In app purchases and expansion packs are what they want. So that’s what we get.
This is just false. There are many games that have good/great creative vision that come out. It’s just that like ‘never before,’ there is a tsunami of video games that come out every month. Finding these video games with good/great creative vision is tremendously hard unless you have a filter system in place. (And even then…) Are they all video games that we would likely pay for, no. There are a lot of half baked games that come out. I’m talking about video games from a single first time video game developer, 10 person dev team companies, 100 person dev team companies, all the way to 1000+ person video game projects made by AAA publishers/developers. And of course everything in between. Making a video game is easier to do nowadays, for sure. But to make a video game that captures all of the “creative vision” you speak of… very difficult to do so.
Some of the best video games to come out this decade have come from video game developers who were solo or small teams.
Untitled Goose Game
Inscryption
Vampire Survivors
DAVE THE DIVER
Factorio
Only Factorio is awesome among these
So a lack of creative vision isn’t a bad thing?
That isn’t what I was making a point of. I was doing my best to convey that it’s a more complex analysis than, ‘The new games I see, seem so soulless or bland. So that must mean they didn’t have a creative vision when creating their video game(s).’
I have an interest and in a way, a hobby of learning about the video game industry, with a strong emphasis on what developer teams and individuals do to make these games. The short answer as to why these games don’t hit their creative mark(s) is often the following:
Because there wasn’t a strong understanding as to what the game was going to be about or function like, from the beginning or continually.
Management didn’t do a good job or weren’t able to maintain development in the right direction or for the right things needed for the project. (The number of times I’ve read or heard about people or teams working on a character, level, game feature, etc, and then leaders/management decides to put something else in or cut it entirely… is staggering. We’re talking days, weeks, or months spent, then it’s removed or changed.)
Misjugement(s) of what and how much each ‘resource’ (time, people, expertise, money) would be needed to complete each milestone, stage, and final polish of the video game.
Game feature creep - The more you have on your list of things you want in the game, the more ‘resources’ you will need to complete it. When you don’t have enough of any or all of the ‘resources,’ you have to start cutting things from the final video game form.
That being said, there are more reasons why video games come out janky, half baked or lacking creative vision. Just remember, there is always two sides to a story.