[Steve Ince]

My on-again, off-again column, Developing Thoughts, has just found a new home over at the Randomville site:

http://www.randomville.com./article/8/110.html

The column will be appearing on a weekly basis and in it I reflect on my career in development.

I hope you'll take a look and tell me what you think.

[Ninja Dodo]

Very nice... looking forward to the rest.

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by Ninja Dodo

Very nice... looking forward to the rest.

Ditto!

[Steve Ince]

Thanks guys. I think you may enjoy next week's.

[jjacob]

Nice 'introduction'! Is next week's gonna be more spicy and insider..ish..y?

[Steve Ince]

Originally Posted by jjacob

Nice 'introduction'! Is next week's gonna be more spicy and insider..ish..y?

You'll have to wait and see.

[Mattsius]

An interesting read, as always.

[Steve Ince]

Thanks Mattsius.

[DomStLeger]

A great idea for a column, drawing on your unique experiences in the gaming industry. Good start, I look forward to the next one Steve

[Steve Ince]

Kind of you to say, Dom.

[redhotray]

I concur with all you've said in your column, Steve. I think, with games we've only just seen the tip of the iceberg. Who would have ever thought we would have progressed from Asteriods to R-Type, from Pacman to Bust a Move, from Wolfenstein to Half Life, hell, from the original CGA rendition of Kings Quest, to Broken Sword!!

Right now, lots of companies are trying to put out the flashiest, most appealing graphics, and cinematic sound to try and draw in the masses, to bully your sound and graphics cards, pummeling them into submission. But there will come a time, when that isn't the only thing companies will do in an effort to entertain. Stories will become stronger, more interactivity, and innovation will be commonplace, and pretty soon, it'll become difficult to ascertain the difference between reality, and virtual reality.

Yet, with this infestation that looms on the horizon, I can't help but feel just a little intimidated, as to what really awaits us, ten, even twenty years from now. It is exciting, and games have probably never been so popular as they are now, but it will also be incredibly difficult to keep up with. Time will tell.

A great column Steve, very enlightening, and to the point. I'm looking forward to further installments.

I wish you all of the best in your future endeavours. You've contributed to many of our greatest adventure game memories, through your works on some of the genre's best titles, and I'm sure you will continue to perform your magic, wherever the wind takes you next.

[Steve Ince]

I agree, it can feel very intimidating. I sometimes feel intimidated at the moment with the wealth of games that are currently on offer. It's impossible to play everything and sometimes I only have time to look at demos of games I should really be playing completely. If I were a film maker, spending a couple of hours to see the latest Spielberg is neither here nor there when compared to the 20-40 hours many top games take to play. It's getting increasingly difficult to keep with all that's happening.

[Ninja Dodo]

Games should be shorter. I currently own more games than I have time to play. It's ridiculous.


Short but sweet beats clocking 50 hours plus, thinking 'oh my god, a life, what is that?', if you ask me...

[redhotray]

Games are much longer than they used to be, especially those MMORPG's, where you can literally immerse yourself for hundreds of hours.

The problem stems though, when games become TOO short. Cases in point, Beyond Good and Evil, and to some extent, Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon. I became so immersed in both games, experiencing the World, enjoying the characters, intricately following the story, and then when they both concluded, I felt a bit down. Whereas you get games which can be repetitive, and just go on for TOO long. I actually found this with Halo and No One Lives Forever (Two examples which stick out). I actually couldn't wait to end either, despite the fact both were pretty enjoyable experiences overall, I wanted to get to the end of the game, rather than sit contentfully through the experience.

[Steve Ince]

I don't think you'd feel bad about a game being the length of Broken Sword - The Sleeping Dragon if you knew there was another around the corner soon or if it was a little cheaper.

Perhaps the pricing of games should be based upon the number of hours of gameplay involved.

[Martin Gantefoehr]

Perhaps the pricing of games should be based upon the number of hours of gameplay involved.

That's going to be difficult, because most people play them like this nowadays...

[Steve Ince]

Good one, Martin.

This actually reminds me of a story concerning Beneath a Steel Sky. There was an option to turn the speed up so that you could play it more quickly. One reviewer did this and then marked the game down because the animation looked bad. Ho hum...

[ragnar]

Originally Posted by redhotray

Games are much longer than they used to be, especially those MMORPG's, where you can literally immerse yourself for hundreds of hours.

I beg to differ. The old games could also be ridiculously big. But the main thing I think is that they were harder to beat and thus you had to spend more time with the games to beat them. There are still some games I've spent lots of hours with that I haven't been able to finish.

[Skinny Minnie]

Congrats on the new job, Steve! Best of luck-- and I knew it wouldn't be long!

[Steve Ince]

Thanks for the kind thoughts, Minnie. If you mean the column, well it's a small start.

If you mean AllintheGame - what this means is that I have agency representation and they look for work on my behalf. I'm sure it will lead to good things.