As an avid gamer myself I am quite aware of the fact that there are literally millions of games out there! These vary from simple small games such as the chrome browser dinosaur game (when you're offline) to some of the latest and greatest games such as the upcoming Borderlands 3. But there are also old games such as Tetris that are still widely known but also the less known games such as Jumpman, whereas his follow up name, Super Mario is pretty much known by everyone.
With so many games out there, there is one simple thing that comes to mind; why should I reinvent the wheel? A ton of games do things good and bad and can be used as an example for both things. For example an adrenaline filled racing feature would be... a pretty bad decision for a game with a medieval setting. But crossing swords on the other hand with some basic hack and slash features would be quite fitting. Those categories make up a list of points that match our third title. Based on these points research is imminent. I "have" to play games fitting the criteria in order to thoroughly learn which mechanics they use and how. The way they decided to implement it and the way the user experiences it. This prevents a lot of trial and error based on QA testing, which in the long run will still happen, but it makes the list of things to fix and repair significantly smaller.
So testing games sounds actually pretty amazing for research, especially when big titles come to mind with various nifty features. With our third game we want to deliver a strong story filled with emotions. Writing the novel for it is one thing, but actually executing it in such a way that the player (you) will experience various feelings is something on a complete different level. For this Nier Automata has served as a perfect example. Not only is the story extremely captivating, the game play itself is fun and the mechanics are worked out in such a way that anyone can enjoy the game. Whether you are a casual or a hardcore gamer.
Civilization for example is a great example about games where management is a major thing. Where you have to invest funds for the better good towards a victory, when you need to upgrade certain paths while you decide to ignore the others for the time being. While it is a completely different category it covers mechanics, information and execution that can be used a prime sample for games containing management mechanics. I am not saying that those samples are the best or worst out there, but for what I need to learn, they are great!
Have you ever played a game just to pay attention to how certain things are executed based on standards? For example in any RPG it is a common thing to have an inventory where you can store items in which serves like a massive backpack. This is because people like to collect things and they like to easily access them. Fighting games for example usually have a nifty combo system in place where you can execute fancy moves depending on the combination of keys you press and the list goes on.
Every single modern game contains a lot of categories and have to execute them to today's standards that is why studying about successful games is also an important step in game development. Next week I will update you about the progress on the visual side of the game; art and pretty soon we will unveil to you the title of our third product, until then I wish you all the best.
