OT: The Future of Computer Strategy Games

[Tnarg]

dogscoff said:
Firstly, you'll be looking at massively multiplayer. Purpose-built strategy MMOGs will happen, but the really interesting ones will be the ones where you are giving orders to real people, not computer agents. Of course, this means that for every person who wants to play the game as a general, there will have to be a couple hundred other players willing to take on the role of footsoldier/ pilot/ tank commander/ whatever and follow orders. That's just fine though, those numbers are probably fairly representative of the sales of strategy games vs FPS/ flight sims etc. This means that a game won't be classed as a MMOrole plyer or MMOshooter any more, it will just be a game world with different roles and different gaming experiences within it.
"

I think that this would be an interesting approach to a Real Time Grand Strategy game. As you start out as your tiny insignificant planet empire in a realm of millions of planets and thousand of Empires it would pretty much be a single person game in the beggining, easy to control. As you expand, other players (if they do not want to start their own empire and wish to take on certain tasks) can opt to join your game and take charge of certain tasks, jurisdictions ie, Director of the Orange Sector of the Gorkon Federation on the outer fringes of the 10 system Federation. This person would then be in control of everything that takes place in those 3 outer fringe systems. This person could opt to have subordinates as well. Of course the overal director of the Gorkon Federation (Original player) has his/her say and guides this other player, or they get the boot. For the first person shooter aspect, players can logon and play as a mercenaries for your empire, if they are doing a smashing good job, they can be offered permant membership to your empire and gain rank and prestige, ask the player for specific research, more forces, ect. If one wants to logon into your empire and do the "Sim City" micromanage thing, kudos, perhaps they can be hired to clean up some mired and redundant cities, make them more efficient, turn them into gems that stand out and gain recognition in the galaxy.

Basically as you empire grows and grows and instead of having AI's to manage all of your various aspects you can post job openings for real people Within your empire one could even try to oust another person in charge, just like corrupt politics in the real world. Or if the original player finally decides to retire after a successful 4 year run at it, he/she could turn it over to the 2nd in charge.

One would not need to worry about not always being online, because you could possibly have dozens of other people assisting the running of your empire at any given time that could make command decisions in your absence and provide a sitrep when you return.

[dogscoff]

I think turn-based 4X games are going to continue to fall farther behind other genres in terms of taking advantage of increased computing capabilities.

I disagree. In fact, I could argue the opposite, as long as by "increased computing abilities" you don't just mean "better graphics cards".
How long does it take to process a turn in SE4 on a pentium-II 350? How long would it take to process the same turn on a top-of-the-line quad-code whatever-the-hell-they're-selling-these-days? How's that for tkaing advantage of increased computing abilities?

I think the SE series is probably the only long-term viable business model - a joint labor of love between a programmer of the basic game engine and talented modders. There is probably enough money in selling the game engine to keep a one-man-band operation like MM going,

Something to consider here is that even though we occupy a niche, and that niche probably isn't gaining more market share, the market is a part of is getting bigger, so the customer base for this kind of game is expanding:

Suppose 4X fans represent 0.5% of all gamers.[1] Suppose that in 2001 there were 1 billion gamers worldwide. 0.5% of 1 billion gives 5 million potential customers for Malfador. Now suppose that by 2008 the number of gamers has risen to 1.5billion worldwide. The proportion of 4X fans hasn't risen- it's still 0.5% of all gamers, but 0.5% of 1.5billion is 7.5million- a much larger potential customer base for any 4X product, meaning more moeny for development than before. Now whether that extra money will all go to Malfador, or will be shared between other, competing 4X games is another issue, but the point is, even if we remain a tiny niche within the gamoverse, there will always be plenty of cash to fund future 4X development.

[1] All numbers plucked magically out of my arse, for demonstration purposes only.

[capnq]

dogscoff said:

Something to consider here is that even though we occupy a niche, and that niche probably isn't gaining more market share, the market is a part of is getting bigger, so the customer base for this kind of game is expanding [...] the point is, even if we remain a tiny niche within the gamoverse, there will always be plenty of cash to fund future 4X development.

I don't think the amount of development funding is as big an obstacle as the fact that the best software designers can make so much more money outside the game industry. The "labor of love" part is the main thing that keeps people in game design.

[Atrocities]

Sadly I believe that all aspects of computer gaming are doomed.

I firmly believe that the gaming market will continue to grow and expand more toward consul games and away from PC games as consul technology continues to improve.

I think the development of new PC type games, especially 4x and similar, has been back burnered for sometime now in favor of the development of new consul games. Regrettably, I don't see this ever changing for the betterment of PC games. In fact I think it is a safe assumption to say that the PC game market share is going to continue to dwindle and funds for development of new games are going to dry up to the point where we might, if we are lucky, see one or two new PC games every few years or so.

Everything runs it's course and there is no exception for PC games. Just look at what is being developed now and you can see that many PC game genera's have been retired in favor of twitch and shoot low brow type games of little to know imagination with absurdly stupid story lines geared toward the ever stupidly growing teenage gamer market and high school drop out 20 somethings who still live in their mothers basement playing games all day. Sadly the era of great PC gaming, and indeed great PC strategy games, have long since passed, replaced by sub-par imitations and countless remakes of old games.

When the bulk of the mmorpg market moves away from PC toward consul the final nails in the PC gaming industry will be driven in and the coffin lid of inspired and revolutionary personal computer games will be feared as closed for good.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

People have been saying PCs are dying for years. Until consoles get keyboards, hard drives, data access, internet and etc. equal to PCs, I do not see that happening...

...And hey, in that case, you're right back to PCs!

[Atrocities]

narf poit chez BOOM said:
People have been saying PCs are dying for years. Until consoles get keyboards, hard drives, data access, internet and etc. equal to PCs, I do not see that happening...

...And hey, in that case, you're right back to PCs!

Congratulations Narf, you just described an XBox 360.

[StarShadow]

Which, as Narf said, is basicly a PC (except with more limitations).

[Atrocities]

But its not a PC. Its a consul.

[ElectricEel]

A console.

[Atrocities]

Ya.