Amusing rant on the actual state of the industry

[madhatt3r]

www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/games/manifesto.html

check out #14

[Gary]

Excellent link. Thanks.

[Brian]

apart from the fact is should be titled "one gamers opinion" as opposed to a manifesto that attempts to speak for us all.. it has some valid (if obvious) points

crates, yep, no risk next gen games, yep.. I agree with that..

the two "original games" he states about being marooned on a desert island, and the lawyer game, already exist..

both on the DS.. "lost in blue" and "phoenix wright : ace attorney" respectively.. in fact there was a version of "lost" on the gameboy colour, so he clearly isn't that desperate for originality if he hasn't sought that one out.. or maybe 2D isn't "hardcore enough" for him??

as for stat overlays on games.. personally I like to see the visual proof of a 24 hit combo, on say a fighting game.. after about the 16th hit it's hard to know for sure, and it always helps for visual confirmation to your rival that you are owning his ass!

as for the overlays on fatal frame.. it's a japanese game, and they like stats and info like that, so get over it..

as for his rants about AI, if he wants "real" AI then he'd better be prepared to play a game he'll never get off of stage 1, as that "one man against armies of thousands" vibe won't happen anymore...

constant saving?? I say "fuck right off" to that.. it's a lazy excuse for not balancing save points, if a game like metroid prime annoys you because of its saving, it's down to bad level design and save point placement, not the concept of save points..

unless you actually think that doing the "move a bit... save... move a bit more... save again" method of playing a hard level is fun..

which incidentally takes us back to his argument of HUD elements taking him "out" of the game reality...

In all his rant, while containing some valid crits, is a tad obvious and very ill informed...

Though I must admit that the near certain gamut of "low risk, high cost" product being churned out on the new consoles is a terrifying prospect...

[madhatt3r]

the two "original games" he states about being marooned on a desert island, and the lawyer game, already exist..

both on the DS.. "lost in blue" and "phoenix wright : ace attorney" respectively.. in fact there was a version of "lost" on the gameboy colour, so he clearly isn't that desperate for originality if he hasn't sought that one out.. or maybe 2D isn't "hardcore enough" for him??

Thanks for the info, knowing that makes me believe that the whole thing its a pro nintendo write-up done in a very subtle way. Looking through the links at the bottom of the document you can find yet another page which seems to be the inspiration for this one, which renders the manifesto unoriginal and (perhaps) biased. Then again I believe I look too much into things. But as a matter of fact after I finished reading the document I was very well thinking about buying a DS (weird).

unless you actually think that doing the "move a bit... save... move a bit more... save again" method of playing a hard level is fun..

That's well true again, I much agree with that. Looks like this guy only discovered videogames when Doom came out.

Then again, you (Ocean) should accept some responsability for the crating syndrome.

[Bill Harbison]

We didn't start the 'crating syndrome' - we just had a few games that had warehouse levels. ;D

I suppose it's similar to all the 70's cop shows having piles of cardboard boxes for the heroes to drive through at high speeds.

I can safely say that in my time at Ocean I never had to draw a crate. I must have been one of the lucky ones.

[Gary]

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Bill said:

....................................... I can safely say that in my time at Ocean I never had to draw a crate. I must have been one of the lucky ones.

We didn't want to stretch you.....

[Bill Harbison]

Gary said:

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We didn't want to stretch you.....

Hmm... now where is that video interview about Gary sat on the toilet playing Mario, I must put that back on

[Gary]

Touché!

[Mick West]

Bill said:

We didn't start the 'crating syndrome' - we just had a few games that had warehouse levels. ;D

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This reminds me of the day Gary got slightly angry at me after I learnt the terrible truth that Game Journalist are not to be trusted, no matter how friendly they appear.

I'm speaking of an article in ACE magazine in 1991, supposedly a preview of Darkman, that turned into a stinging indictment of Ocean's current game. The article was titled "Licence Revoked"

For some reason I still had a copy of that magazine, so I OCRed in the relevent bits. I hope the statute of limitations has expired....

(I've highlighted the bits where they get particularly nasty/truthful)
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With some design input from Ocean Software Director Gary Bracey, the Amiga and ST versions of Darkman have been handled by Mick West (programmer) and James Clarke (graphic artist). West previously wrote the 16-bit versions of Rotox (US Gold), Steve Davies Snooker (CDS) and UN Squadron (US Gold) - while Clarke has provided the visuals in Strider, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, World Cup '90 and UN Squadron for US Gold. Jonathan Dunn, Ocean's resident artist of the audio, is composing the music and sound FX

Darkman is in the familiar Ocean movie-licensed mould. A little bit of beat'em-up coupled with the ubiquitous platform section and a 3D section for added spice. "The basic idea of the game was to replicate the action of the film as closely as possible," offers West.

Players take the role of Westlake, alias the Darkman, and begin snapping photographs of Durant's henchmen as they briefly appear at a series of windows. So we're talking Ocean 'Shooting Gallery' yet again. If some good pics are taken, they'll have enough data to make a mask and disguise themselves.

This translates into a few hassle-free seconds on the next stage, which bares an uncanny resemblance to the Double Dragon martial arts arcade game. Players then enter, surprise, a warehouse, "This is the standard platform section that you get in all Ocean movie conversions," West confirms.

After these platform perils, the player runs and jumps across rooftops while being chased by a helicopter. "This is quite a nice little level," according to West. He says this section is a little bit like Super Mario Bros. Although the style is similar, the smoothness is a bit lacking. This is followed by the '3D bit' where Darkman grabs onto a rope hanging from the helicopter. Players have to dodge traffic on the road and avoid being shot. Finally, players are thrown into a showdown with the big boss at the top of a building. Didn't we see this in Robocop 2?

West and Clarke developed Darkman over the course of five months on the PC-based PDS development system. They used the script and stills from the film as a source of reference. Interestingly, Ocean couldn't actually use the faces of the actor in the game. The sprite expansion part of the 3D section has caused the most headaches as far as coding is concerned.

Does West think he's a good programmer? "I write efficient code which doesn't crash. I wouldn't say my games designing skill is up there though." West reckons his greatest achievement has been a Mono Emulator PD utility for the Atari ST. And did he like the Darkman film? "It's a low budget movie and it shows. Some of the acting is a bit dodgy. It's a fun movie. It'll do well on video."

Take any Ocean movie licensed game of the past three years and it won't be hard to make striking comparisons between them. The defacto warehouse/platform scene, shooting gallery and beat'em-up section are all starting to wear a little thin. Perhaps Ocean should spend more time on development? Batman on the Amiga, for instance, was written in less than eight weeks. In many ways we encourage Ocean's lack-lustre attempts at more sophisticated software. After all, the Manchester powerhouse has been voted Software House of the Year more times than I can remember. Lack of originality doesn't really matter when you're assured a top five hit in the charts - or does it? Consumers want to try something new occasionally. Ocean are certainly not the only offenders, but as arguably the top softco in the country, they have a responsibility to lead by example, and break this slightly over-familiar mould.

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James "Vader" Clarke, much as I would like to share the blame, was not a programmer, but an Artist.

[Paulie]

Blimey - I remember that article - there were some right b'stards that stymied the name "journalist" back then.

Mind you, at least you can say you went on to create an incredibly successfull dev studio along with that rather popular skateboarding game ;D

The chap that wrote the article is problem serving burgers these days!

- Paulie.

[Mick West]

Paulie said:

The chap that wrote the article is problem serving burgers these days!

- Paulie.

The chap was "Rik Haynes", and according to google he forged a very successful career as the high score champion on "Area 51", then vanished (probably abducted by aliens)

The article is not without some truth. I just did not realise I was being interviewed as we sat there chatting. I've got a much better "PR Face" now.

[Mick West]

This was the spread: "Licence Revoked? - Rik Haynes lifts the lid off Ocean's game-of-the-movie construction kit ethic"

[Brian]

madhatt3r said:

Then again, you (Ocean) should accept some responsability for the crating syndrome.

I agree on that, but the problem was that we didnt actually have any real designers at ocean at that time, and the majority of teams just designed to a formula that worked..

so much so that even on the SNES, some teams were STILL using the "raster time saving" technique of making a 1/3 screen status panel until I shouted loudly enough for someone to notice that "floating" stats were the way forward...

[Brian]

Bill said:

I can safely say that in my time at Ocean I never had to draw a crate. I must have been one of the lucky ones.

didnt you do the gfx for robocop 3?



nice tinsel on the top of the fence ;D

[Gary]

Mick said:

The chap was "Rik Haynes", and according to google he forged a very successful career as the high score champion on "Area 51", then vanished (probably abducted by aliens)

The article is not without some truth. I just did not realise I was being interviewed as we sat there chatting. I've got a much better "PR Face" now.

Rik Haynes became the European correspondent/journo for the Japanese Log-In magazine.

In retrospect, he actually did Ocean more favours than not in his time. I guess you were the unlucky one, Mick!

Great seeing you last week, by the way!