Emerging pattern

[Aramax]

Have you noticed an emerging pattern in game development ever since you first played video games?

I started playing video games when I was a kid with the Atari playing Space Invader so I noticed those changes over the years quite often in my life. With the 10th generation of consoles video games about to hit the market in the years to come and their relevance noticeably declining because PC are simply better and more versatile compared to any physical console. I know computers will become a lot more modular in the future and changing a graphic card will be as easy as placing a NES cartridge inside the console so whenever I say "Soon" this is what I mean.

I can say that I have noticed the emerging pattern of trying to categorize every games into genre like Metroidvania, Shoot 'Em Up, Role Playing Games... you name them. I also noticed that some game developers had a tendency to mix and match those games with a wide range of results going from Negative to Overwhelmingly Positive (not sure if games with a lower ratings that fits the description actually got removed... I guess nothing is impossible here).

Anyway, I find it interesting that, if this trend continue, all video games will conglomerate to actually become just one big game. What do you guys think?

[Dadpool]

I don't understand, how all videdo games will become one big game? You mean as a cameo thing, for example in Street Fighter 6 there's Mai from some other fighting game, or Brawlhalla, Fortnite?

I know for a fact, that categorizing a game into a genre, the more specific the better, helps immensely people who want to find particular type of game (happens often to me, unfortunately due to generalization I don't find much, and I'm pretty sure there is good stuff out there). I hate searching for years a game similar to other game just to find maybe 1 game because according to many people genres don't matter, they do, really.

[Aramax]

Originally posted by Spotting Dots:

I don't understand, how all videdo games will become one big game? You mean as a cameo thing, for example in Street Fighter 6 there's Mai from some other fighting game, or Brawlhalla, Fortnite?

I know for a fact, that categorizing a game into a genre, the more specific the better, helps immensely people who want to find particular type of game (happens often to me, unfortunately due to generalization I don't find much, and I'm pretty sure there is good stuff out there). I hate searching for years a game similar to other game just to find maybe 1 game because according to many people genres don't matter, they do, really.

Speculation is not really my cup of coffee but I did noticed that most game developers have issues creating original new content and to bypass this issue they simply merge two game genre together. My observation is that this is some emerging pattern since creating new original video games that don't look like anything else will become significantly harder as time goes by. To keep people entertained gaming companies will probably have their own "Main video game" that actually contains all the video games they created and simply makes them evolve over time.

Kind of a one game to rule them all situation if you want.

[BJWyler]

Not sure where you have been, bud, but video games have been categorized since their inception. The fact that elements of one category are used in a game in another category is also nothing new. Experimentation has always been a core pillar of creativity outside of the corporate structure.

Are games going to eventually become one big homogeneous style? Hardly. There are only a limited number of "original concepts" so you will always get things that feel the same from game to game, but the number of ways to implement those concepts are much greater.

[Aramax]

Originally posted by BJWyler:

Not sure where you have been, bud, but video games have been categorized since their inception. The fact that elements of one category are used in a game in another category is also nothing new. Experimentation has always been a core pillar of creativity outside of the corporate structure.

Are games going to eventually become one big homogeneous style? Hardly. There are only a limited number of "original concepts" so you will always get things that feel the same from game to game, but the number of ways to implement those concepts are much greater.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_genre

Just look at books. Before you had to get a physical copy of a book to be able to read it and today we got Audible and with A.I. you will be able to have an infinite numbers of stories being told without ever touching paper. You see where I'm going with this...

[BJWyler]

Originally posted by Aramax:

Originally posted by BJWyler:

Not sure where you have been, bud, but video games have been categorized since their inception. The fact that elements of one category are used in a game in another category is also nothing new. Experimentation has always been a core pillar of creativity outside of the corporate structure.

Are games going to eventually become one big homogeneous style? Hardly. There are only a limited number of "original concepts" so you will always get things that feel the same from game to game, but the number of ways to implement those concepts are much greater.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_genre

Just look at books. Before you had to get a physical copy of a book to be able to read it and today we got Audible and with A.I. you will be able to have an infinite numbers of stories being told without ever touching paper. You see where I'm going with this...

Not really, because your OP is talking about classifications of types of games, not the method of delivery/acquisition as in this post. Games going from physical products to digital has nothing to do with their genre, nor the originality of any particular feature or its implementation in a game.

[Aramax]

Originally posted by BJWyler:

Not really, because your OP is talking about classifications of types of games, not the method of delivery/acquisition as in this post. Games going from physical products to digital has nothing to do with their genre, nor the originality of any particular feature or its implementation in a game.

As I mentioned "not my cup of coffee" sorry if there was some confusion. I was talking about the evolution of video games as a whole not just the genre merging phenomenon we're living in the present time.

[BJWyler]

Originally posted by Aramax:

Originally posted by BJWyler:

Not really, because your OP is talking about classifications of types of games, not the method of delivery/acquisition as in this post. Games going from physical products to digital has nothing to do with their genre, nor the originality of any particular feature or its implementation in a game.

As I mentioned "not my cup of coffee" sorry if there was some confusion. I was talking about the evolution of video games as a whole not just the genre merging phenomenon we're living in the present time.

The problem is, your whole premise started off on a false pretense, as I pointed out. And evolution of technology is a natural process as technology, and human understanding, evolve. Things going from physical to digital has been the stuff of Science Fiction for a century. There is absolutely nothing new, nor, shocking about it.

[Phénomènes Mystiques]

AI will transform game development and we should see the evolution of cinematic game play and AR.

[Ben Lubar]

Originally posted by Aramax:

I know computers will become a lot more modular in the future and changing a graphic card will be as easy as placing a NES cartridge inside the console so whenever I say "Soon" this is what I mean.

The GPU is generally attached to the motherboard and has ports on the outside of the case, but you could definitely make a case that has the PCI-E slots on the outside somehow and plug the GPU in through there if you really wanted to.

Have you tried installing a GPU? It's basically that easy. Just plug it into the slot.

[Crazy Tiger]

Genres have always been divers in genres. Games always have had ratings on websites, platforms, reviews, etc. Yes, technical development has evolved. It all is quite stating the obvious you do, OP.

And all of this is not gaming specific. You can find it in, you know, all entertainment industries.

The conclusion that it all will become "one game" is a very weird one, though. Doesn't fit at all.

[Aramax]

Originally posted by Ben Lubar:

The GPU is generally attached to the motherboard and has ports on the outside of the case, but you could definitely make a case that has the PCI-E slots on the outside somehow and plug the GPU in through there if you really wanted to.

Have you tried installing a GPU? It's basically that easy. Just plug it into the slot.

Yes, I tried to build my own pc once. I was about to use a hammer and some nails and my brother suggested I let him do it instead.

But seriously I know it's like super easy but it's going to be even more easier in the future.

Soon

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

The conclusion that it all will become "one game" is a very weird one, though. Doesn't fit at all.

So you think games will simply keep on being developed with different stories and graphics over and over until the end of times. That's another point of view I guess.

[Knee]

Originally posted by Ben Lubar:

Originally posted by Aramax:

I know computers will become a lot more modular in the future and changing a graphic card will be as easy as placing a NES cartridge inside the console so whenever I say "Soon" this is what I mean.

The GPU is generally attached to the motherboard and has ports on the outside of the case, but you could definitely make a case that has the PCI-E slots on the outside somehow and plug the GPU in through there if you really wanted to.

Have you tried installing a GPU? It's basically that easy. Just plug it into the slot.

That’s what I was about to say, it literally is just a cartridge slot, just with clamps to help keep it down.

[Knee]

Originally posted by Aramax:

Originally posted by Ben Lubar:

The GPU is generally attached to the motherboard and has ports on the outside of the case, but you could definitely make a case that has the PCI-E slots on the outside somehow and plug the GPU in through there if you really wanted to.

Have you tried installing a GPU? It's basically that easy. Just plug it into the slot.

Yes, I tried to build my own pc once. I was about to use a hammer and some nails and my brother suggested I let him do it instead.

But seriously I know it's like super easy but it's going to be even more easier in the future.

Soon

:Blacktail:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

The conclusion that it all will become "one game" is a very weird one, though. Doesn't fit at all.

So you think games will simply keep on being developed with different stories and graphics over and over until the end of times. That's another point of view I guess.

Have books, plays, or movies run out of ideas yet?

[Crazy Tiger]

Originally posted by Aramax:

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

The conclusion that it all will become "one game" is a very weird one, though. Doesn't fit at all.

So you think games will simply keep on being developed with different stories and graphics over and over until the end of times. That's another point of view I guess.

Yes. Cause different people like different things. That's why all these genres and such exist in the first place, and why creators (game developers, writers, musicians, moviemakers, etc) sometimes mix genres to get something new.

There simply won't be "one game" because there is no such thing as a game that everybody likes, wants, etc.

[Heraclius Caesar]

Originally posted by Aramax:

Anyway, I find it interesting that, if this trend continue, all video games will conglomerate to actually become just one big game. What do you guys think?

I don't agree with your belief that video games will reach singularity at some point in the future.

Maybe a piece of tech will come along where every video game ever made can be accessed from 1 library and played with up to date visuals and controls and such. I could see that. But all games eventually merging into 1 game, no.

What you're seeing with the tags or "genres" is developers/publishers and players essentially throwing bowls of spaghetti at games and seeing what sticks. Like yes, such and such puzzle game could in theory also be an adventure game, roguelike game, etc. That's just a marketing trend at this point though, something to direct as many potential customers as possible to that games store page.