[Video Games: Mature Themes]

I love that post, Josh! I hadn't really known your thoughts on game design issues of this sort before, but now that I do I am certainly pleased (for whatever that's worth).

 

Might I suggest, though, that you focus less on the sole overarching theme of a game? Isn't it entirely possible to explore multiple issues at once? On the one hand you have a main theme which is accessible to the general audience (and I'm not saying it needs to be generic or shallow, but it could be if you wanted), and on top of that you layer a strong secondary theme about some deep/serious issue which is rarely touched upon, and which the player can largely ignore if they really chose, but is nonetheless pervasive and obvious enough to make the game unique and distinct.

 

E.g. a game about a dystopia (as the main theme, done to death I know) with strong undercurrents of racial or class identity is entirely plausible - you actually see this pair fairly commonly in written literature. In fact, I feel that it is the games which do not have such deep secondary undercurrents that give off the greatest impression of being shallow or 'trite', as you put it.

 

Still, I would like to see games whose main theme was more adventurous. Maybe an inversion of the above: a game which primarily focused on racial identity in a setting with minor dystopian undercurrents. It removes the focus from surviving in a dystopia, or reforming a dystopia, to instead however you wanted to play out the racial identity theme. Now that would be interesting, IMHO. I do believe it would be successful because you still have the core background elements there (in this case the dystopian setting) to strengthen your appeal. Not to mention that a game about racial identity is nothing to shirk away from. I'm not saying it'd appeal to everybody as your average game does, but it's entirely possible that for every customer who was put off by the idea, you'd gain one was intrigued by its freshness. Something that the media coverage as a sort of 'first of its kind' in this fledgling media would only magnify.

 

Note: when I say racial identity, I don't necessarily mean a preachy game. Simply a game which genuinely explores the issue. In fact, probably one of the most compelling reasons for covering such issues in a computer game is the unique degree of interactivity and freedom you can afford the responder in their exploration of the issue if you so choose, compared to print and film media.

 

This became somewhat of a verbose rant.

[1-bit alpha]

you want 60fps and alpha blended trees and hair? seesh.

 

I think it would be entirely reasonable to settle for below 60 fps as many games already do. I believe the GTA series and Halo run at 30 fps, off the top of my head, but you could easily opt for 45 or something, depending on the framerate sacrifice (if any) required for better transparency techniques.

 

I'd say this is especially true for games which don't operate in first person view (e.g. Aliens RPG).

 

It's all well and good to aim for as high a framerate as possible (within the monitor refresh rate) as far as it actually improves graphical quality perceptibly, but high framerates shouldn't be an end in and of themselves.

 

/2 cents and all