Its not just me, games used to be better

[ZebMacahan]

A relevant observation - I'm a mod on a subreddit for playing games, aimed at getting player feedback for indies. I was invited to the role maybe a year ago, and have been on it for a couple of years, so my observations aren't extensive or properly catalogued.

However, I've just noticed something in low-tier contributions, A lot of the games being shared consist of very weak visuals and basic gameplay, with the hook being entirely the upgrades, amount of items, amount of junk on screen at once. There's less interest in pure game and more on filler. You also see this in indie adverts, particularly mobile games - 100s of blahblah, cosmetics, level up - with all the presentation being on how much stuff is in the game rather than the actual game experience. Screenshots have a surprising number of images of stores and level-up pages.

I do wonder if the base mindset of game-design has shifted away from the gameplay and more onto the content. This parallels arguments about AAA games having pointless filler as if the number of hours engagement is more important than the quality of engagement in consumer decisionising.

Is this something that has been added after player feedback, or is the they have designed their games from the start?

 

[pcchen]

I do wonder if the base mindset of game-design has shifted away from the gameplay and more onto the content. This parallels arguments about AAA games having pointless filler as if the number of hours engagement is more important than the quality of engagement in consumer decisionising.

I think one of the problem is unfortunately with game media. For example, I recently read on a review of Monster Hunter: Wilds somehow criticizing the game as "too short" while stating the reviewer spent more than 50 hours on the main campaign. How does that make sense is beyond me. From my own experience this is a game with very few filler, and yet are criticized by some as too short. No wonder why many game developers feel the need to put in boring fillers.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Games catering to the power fantasy of gamers have been around forever.

Yes. I thinking more that a larger proportion of games are looking at the 'power fantasy' trip, or not even that. Just more more more with no focus on the gameplay.

D2 did hordes of monsters. As did Gauntlet. But there were other games where the gameplay mattered more than the levelling. These days, every ARGP feels like its all about the numbers, the skills and gear to max those numbers to mash monsters as fast as possible. I guess at the other end of the spectrum you have maybe a Souls-like, but I'm not feeling a middle ground.

But the point is more about the focus of the developer, and the marketing. The significant amount of attention given to presenting the store and the things you can buy, over the gameplay elements (of which there's typical none beyond the most basic movement). There's a significant amount of the VS-style lottery upgrades - pick one of three options. In any genre people can squeeze it into.

To be fair, this is still a small part of the totality of submission. There are plenty of Metroidvanians, farm games, pixel platformers. But I am noticing the beginner level content is fitting a different style where it's all about the stuff, not the gameplay. Contrast that with the Flash games of yore, the democratisation of gaming included Doom clones and Mario clones and whatever else clones, but the games were all about the gameplay. If someone set out to make a Frogger-type game, they did so thinking about gameplay variations on Frogger, and not just Frogger but with 1000 skins and ridiculous power-ups for smashing through cars on the same 'hop a lane' mechanic. I feel that evolution of ideas is lessened.

However, that could just be a diluting. It might be that the amount of originality is the same, but there are far more games made by far more people just repeating stuff they've seen.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Is this something that has been added after player feedback, or is the they have designed their games from the start?

From the start. A new developer sets out to create a game, gets a basic movement and shoot template, and piles on the upgrades and visuals and skins.