what do you look for in a game?

[DistractedAussie69]

hey guys, as the title should suggest, im here to ask the community what it is that appeals to them in a game, what do you look for that screams, ADD TO CART!! if you have the time, please let me know coz im very interested/ curious what the people have to say.

[failsafe]

The more I play, the less idea I have why I play. As a result I buy dozens of games and don't play them at all, or play few minutes to few hours. Honestly, I'm little fed with games... have been playing them for three decades ;-P

I don't believe that graphics is a main thing whenever I make a choice. Some games, like FPS need to have decent graphics since if this is outdated the very game gives less fun - because graphics actually influences the level of reliability in those games. In other games... I don't mind if they are pixel-like. Actually, I like pixelart games. IF developer decides to save time on superb graphics but spends this time on mechanics... shut up and take my money ;-)

Multi... I've spent a lot of time in multi games, like CS, WOT and at this moment I select games for singleplayer. I do play multi once per a while, but it is not my first selection. So -> game needs to be a SP game or MP/SP with good SP.

I love when game has this "something" beyond mechanics and pixels. Something that makes me want to play over and over. Recently I had this case with several totally different games: Warhammer Armada 2, Call of Juarez and Vampire Survivors. As you can see each of these games is totally different, but each really has this something. Armada 2 is most probably the best WH game I've ever played - it has totally wrong idea about starships traveling and fighting like triremes... but it is soooo coool in actual gameplay. Sometimes devs just really know how to make things work.

And since I'm little tired with gaming (though not giving it up) I don't like overly complex games. I need to have a game that allows me to understand most of stuff in hour or two. If it takes 10-20 hours... well... I take a raincheck. Though... there is Stellaris, a game that asks you to spend at least 100 hours before it becomes fun, but most of the players agree that it is around 200 hours that really makes a difference.

By the way: recently I've started re-playing UFO: Enemy Unknown or Xcom: Ufo Defense (two titles, one game). Believe me or not, this game still has this something... though it is totally outdated. But it is a nice example of case where you have poor graphics, relatively poor mechanics, very poor UI... and you still want to spend some time getting into it.

[DistractedAussie69]

failsafe の投稿を引用：

The more I play, the less idea I have why I play. As a result I buy dozens of games and don't play them at all, or play few minutes to few hours. Honestly, I'm little fed with games... have been playing them for three decades ;-P

I don't believe that graphics is a main thing whenever I make a choice. Some games, like FPS need to have decent graphics since if this is outdated the very game gives less fun - because graphics actually influences the level of reliability in those games. In other games... I don't mind if they are pixel-like. Actually, I like pixelart games. IF developer decides to save time on superb graphics but spends this time on mechanics... shut up and take my money ;-)

Multi... I've spent a lot of time in multi games, like CS, WOT and at this moment I select games for singleplayer. I do play multi once per a while, but it is not my first selection. So -> game needs to be a SP game or MP/SP with good SP.

I love when game has this "something" beyond mechanics and pixels. Something that makes me want to play over and over. Recently I had this case with several totally different games: Warhammer Armada 2, Call of Juarez and Vampire Survivors. As you can see each of these games is totally different, but each really has this something. Armada 2 is most probably the best WH game I've ever played - it has totally wrong idea about starships traveling and fighting like triremes... but it is soooo coool in actual gameplay. Sometimes devs just really know how to make things work.

And since I'm little tired with gaming (though not giving it up) I don't like overly complex games. I need to have a game that allows me to understand most of stuff in hour or two. If it takes 10-20 hours... well... I take a raincheck. Though... there is Stellaris, a game that asks you to spend at least 100 hours before it becomes fun, but most of the players agree that it is around 200 hours that really makes a difference.

By the way: recently I've started re-playing UFO: Enemy Unknown or Xcom: Ufo Defense (two titles, one game). Believe me or not, this game still has this something... though it is totally outdated. But it is a nice example of case where you have poor graphics, relatively poor mechanics, very poor UI... and you still want to spend some time getting into it.

yes i completely agree, i intend on learning everything i can and making sure i have either good graphics/ machanics or both.. obviously mechanics of a game should always be the best that they can. and im in the same boat as you man, im getting tired of most games too... its a damn shame too haha. but back on topic, i personally want to gain the skills necessary to make the best game i possibly can and i just hope that i can do so with the very limited resources that i have. also thank you very much for this comment it is exactly what im looking for to help me peice this idea together, almost everyone who has commented has helped a great deal and i love it (:

[HiFive]

failsafe の投稿を引用：

The more I play, the less idea I have why I play.

There are tons of other hobbies you could try. :)

[failsafe]

HiFive の投稿を引用：

failsafe の投稿を引用：

The more I play, the less idea I have why I play.

There are tons of other hobbies you could try. :)

Oh, I do have other hobbies... though recently I feel tired, and don't fancy doing other stuff. Besides, I'm long time player, it is something you can't easily get rid of ;-).

[Tobiasomgfans]

sounds nice

[crunchyfrog]

failsafe の投稿を引用：

The more I play, the less idea I have why I play. As a result I buy dozens of games and don't play them at all, or play few minutes to few hours. Honestly, I'm little fed with games... have been playing them for three decades ;-P

I don't believe that graphics is a main thing whenever I make a choice. Some games, like FPS need to have decent graphics since if this is outdated the very game gives less fun - because graphics actually influences the level of reliability in those games. In other games... I don't mind if they are pixel-like. Actually, I like pixelart games. IF developer decides to save time on superb graphics but spends this time on mechanics... shut up and take my money ;-)

Multi... I've spent a lot of time in multi games, like CS, WOT and at this moment I select games for singleplayer. I do play multi once per a while, but it is not my first selection. So -> game needs to be a SP game or MP/SP with good SP.

I love when game has this "something" beyond mechanics and pixels. Something that makes me want to play over and over. Recently I had this case with several totally different games: Warhammer Armada 2, Call of Juarez and Vampire Survivors. As you can see each of these games is totally different, but each really has this something. Armada 2 is most probably the best WH game I've ever played - it has totally wrong idea about starships traveling and fighting like triremes... but it is soooo coool in actual gameplay. Sometimes devs just really know how to make things work.

And since I'm little tired with gaming (though not giving it up) I don't like overly complex games. I need to have a game that allows me to understand most of stuff in hour or two. If it takes 10-20 hours... well... I take a raincheck. Though... there is Stellaris, a game that asks you to spend at least 100 hours before it becomes fun, but most of the players agree that it is around 200 hours that really makes a difference.

By the way: recently I've started re-playing UFO: Enemy Unknown or Xcom: Ufo Defense (two titles, one game). Believe me or not, this game still has this something... though it is totally outdated. But it is a nice example of case where you have poor graphics, relatively poor mechanics, very poor UI... and you still want to spend some time getting into it.

Sounds like you're usffering the burnout ANYONE with a hobby gets. You will get to that stage where you've been doing it so long that not only do you get dimishing returns, but you feel like it's getting a chore or nothing new's happening.

The trick is to have other things to do and be honest with yourself.

The problem is with hobbies is that they can EASILY become routine. You get home from work, you might have a ♥♥♥♥ day, you might just want to sit back and relax so you tend to default to what is cozy and familiar.

You need to break that.

What I worked out years ago was when I built my first computer I got heavily into it, coding my own games, and basically living the damned things. Then I worked in computers too. After a while I found that with doing it all day, I wouldn't be as happy playing games in the evening.

So I simply indulged more in other hobbies.

At that time it was motorbikes and mechanics. But since then I've got electronics repair, astronomy, music production, playing music, and a whole lot of other small things.

The trick is to find out what YOU like and simply be introspective and if something ain't doing it for you, you do something else until it appeals again.

[failsafe]

crunchyfrog の投稿を引用：

Sounds like you're usffering the burnout ANYONE with a hobby gets. You will get to that stage where you've been doing it so long that not only do you get dimishing returns, but you feel like it's getting a chore or nothing new's happening.

The trick is to have other things to do and be honest with yourself.

The problem is with hobbies is that they can EASILY become routine. You get home from work, you might have a ♥♥♥♥ day, you might just want to sit back and relax so you tend to default to what is cozy and familiar.

You need to break that.

What I worked out years ago was when I built my first computer I got heavily into it, coding my own games, and basically living the damned things. Then I worked in computers too. After a while I found that with doing it all day, I wouldn't be as happy playing games in the evening.

So I simply indulged more in other hobbies.

At that time it was motorbikes and mechanics. But since then I've got electronics repair, astronomy, music production, playing music, and a whole lot of other small things.

The trick is to find out what YOU like and simply be introspective and if something ain't doing it for you, you do something else until it appeals again.

Yes, it is a burnout.

In my case there is one more thing. It is also MAKING UP for old times.

Explanation (might be boring, sorry). I've started playing computer games little more than 3 decades ago (I'm 39 yo at the moment... yeah, I'm pretty ancient guy). In my country - Poland - 30 years ago you had almost nothing. Country has just started transfering from communism into market economy. I got my Commodore 64 back then and had to wait a long time for my first PC - by the way, it was 80386DX2... most probably only few people here will know that piece of equipment. And for quite a long crucial thing for me was that computers were expensive and games were expensive. So, typically, when I got a game, I used to play it for months. I believe that games like Civ 1, Civ 2, Dune 2, UFO, C&C, Warcraft and few other like those generated thouhsands of hours of gameplay EACH.

Currently I just can't find a game that could keep me playing for lousy 200 hours. I've reached this mark with Stellaris, but - honestly - last hours were like an ordeal for me. I think I've stopped loving this game around some 190 hours of gameplay, maybe little later. I totally envy people who are capable of playing 1000 hours in each game.

So it is burnout coupled with gaming obsession ;-P

I'm doing some other stuff as well. Recently I've started having some fun with archery - very nice hobby, though at very begining I've made a decision that I'm not going anywhere with it, fun only. Now learning to operate a drone. And because weather is relatively nice - not Today, actually - and women start to show legs and other stuff as well I'm going to sink into less modest activity as well... Hopefully wife will never learn ;-P

[crunchyfrog]

failsafe の投稿を引用：

crunchyfrog の投稿を引用：

Sounds like you're usffering the burnout ANYONE with a hobby gets. You will get to that stage where you've been doing it so long that not only do you get dimishing returns, but you feel like it's getting a chore or nothing new's happening.

The trick is to have other things to do and be honest with yourself.

The problem is with hobbies is that they can EASILY become routine. You get home from work, you might have a ♥♥♥♥ day, you might just want to sit back and relax so you tend to default to what is cozy and familiar.

You need to break that.

What I worked out years ago was when I built my first computer I got heavily into it, coding my own games, and basically living the damned things. Then I worked in computers too. After a while I found that with doing it all day, I wouldn't be as happy playing games in the evening.

So I simply indulged more in other hobbies.

At that time it was motorbikes and mechanics. But since then I've got electronics repair, astronomy, music production, playing music, and a whole lot of other small things.

The trick is to find out what YOU like and simply be introspective and if something ain't doing it for you, you do something else until it appeals again.

Yes, it is a burnout.

In my case there is one more thing. It is also MAKING UP for old times.

Explanation (might be boring, sorry). I've started playing computer games little more than 3 decades ago (I'm 39 yo at the moment... yeah, I'm pretty ancient guy). In my country - Poland - 30 years ago you had almost nothing. Country has just started transfering from communism into market economy. I got my Commodore 64 back then and had to wait a long time for my first PC - by the way, it was 80386DX2... most probably only few people here will know that piece of equipment. And for quite a long crucial thing for me was that computers were expensive and games were expensive. So, typically, when I got a game, I used to play it for months. I believe that games like Civ 1, Civ 2, Dune 2, UFO, C&C, Warcraft and few other like those generated thouhsands of hours of gameplay EACH.

Currently I just can't find a game that could keep me playing for lousy 200 hours. I've reached this mark with Stellaris, but - honestly - last hours were like an ordeal for me. I think I've stopped loving this game around some 190 hours of gameplay, maybe little later. I totally envy people who are capable of playing 1000 hours in each game.

So it is burnout coupled with gaming obsession ;-P

I'm doing some other stuff as well. Recently I've started having some fun with archery - very nice hobby, though at very begining I've made a decision that I'm not going anywhere with it, fun only. Now learning to operate a drone. And because weather is relatively nice - not Today, actually - and women start to show legs and other stuff as well I'm going to sink into less modest activity as well... Hopefully wife will never learn ;-P

I can dig that. I remember back then. I'm British but I have a few friends from the old Iron Curtain countries that had to go through that ♥♥♥♥ of gettting bootleg or black market computers to get any fun. Must have been horrible.

But anyway, I'm glad you've got another hobby, as that can REALLY help. It works well for me and I've heard good reports from others doing the same.

The thing to remember is the more honest youare with yourself the better it will be. SOunds trite, but it's true. It can be a matter of minutes away before you feel like coming back or it could be weeks.

Sometimes if I'm really burned out I can leave thigns for a many days. Makes it better though ehrn you return. Of course having the right game is also just as relevant, and that can be a pain.

In that case, I recommend education. Places like Gamefaqs are important or even Metacritic.

Whenever I've bought a new console, I always immediately spend time finding out EVERY single release made for the unit to that date. I then scribbble down absolutely anything that looks intereastin and then investigate further.

Then I'm left with a list that I've whittled down of absolutely everything available that I want. I work through that.

It works for me, anyhow, and I regularly find out games I would never otherwise have known of.

[failsafe]

Regarding ol' times - east of Europe was trash back then, but on the other hand we never had - as a world or Europe + US, doesn't matter - this availability of games as we do have now.

We not only have flood of new games, but we also have great access to oldies. I remeber that even like fifteen years ago, or ten maybe, whenever I wanted to remind myself one of old games I had to look for box. I still have collection of boxes with floppy disks. Of course I can't use them now, but even if I could, I've lost passwords (sometimes, in old games, we had small books with content that was used to validiate product). Now... we just type name of the game and voila, here it comes. Not only on steam, but there are actually a lot of old games on steam as well.

Anyway... it is a problem of oversaturation. For example: do you imagine any other city builder than Sim City twenty years ago? Now... well... there are too many likewise games to remember them all. You can build modern city, you can build city on Mars, you can build medieval city, ancient city... just name it. Metacritic is one way to sort those titles, but it is a customer who needs to know what he wants. I have a problem that I totally don't know what I want ;-P.

My wishlist on steam has about 100 games... I believe I would really like to play at least half of them... But do I? Hmm...

By the way: how many games you have on Steam that you have played more than 100 or 200 hours? It would be interesting to see what is an avarage gameplay time per game. Does Steam has statistics available for public?

[crunchyfrog]

failsafe の投稿を引用：

Regarding ol' times - east of Europe was trash back then, but on the other hand we never had - as a world or Europe + US, doesn't matter - this availability of games as we do have now.

We not only have flood of new games, but we also have great access to oldies. I remeber that even like fifteen years ago, or ten maybe, whenever I wanted to remind myself one of old games I had to look for box. I still have collection of boxes with floppy disks. Of course I can't use them now, but even if I could, I've lost passwords (sometimes, in old games, we had small books with content that was used to validiate product). Now... we just type name of the game and voila, here it comes. Not only on steam, but there are actually a lot of old games on steam as well.

Anyway... it is a problem of oversaturation. For example: do you imagine any other city builder than Sim City twenty years ago? Now... well... there are too many likewise games to remember them all. You can build modern city, you can build city on Mars, you can build medieval city, ancient city... just name it. Metacritic is one way to sort those titles, but it is a customer who needs to know what he wants. I have a problem that I totally don't know what I want ;-P.

My wishlist on steam has about 100 games... I believe I would really like to play at least half of them... But do I? Hmm...

By the way: how many games you have on Steam that you have played more than 100 or 200 hours? It would be interesting to see what is an avarage gameplay time per game. Does Steam has statistics available for public?

That's precisely why I recommened sitting down with somewhere like Gamefaqs.

It can be absolutely daunting.

When I got back into gaming around the PS1 era, I found it overwhelming too. There were tons of games I knew absolutely nothing about.

So you make the time to sit down and go through every release. Find out what they're about and scribble down what you like. Sure, it DOES take time but you can do it in bits.

Once you have everything scribbled down that looks remotely interesting, you can use Youtube, or google reviews and find reviewers that gel with your tastes.

This simple tracik not only means I know of every game, but it also means I NEVER EVER buy a game where I don't know what I'm letting myself in for. I don't make mistakes at all.

So it defo can work.

The beauty of doing that work up front also means that after that you only need spend a small amount say, every month to keep on top of newer releases.

[failsafe]

Steam forum is somewhat helpful as well - especially if one doesn't know what is looking for. I'm using it this way, and thanks to comrades from forum I've found some decent titles.

What you say about pre-purchase inteligence is good and smart and wise... and I don't do it ;-P. For me it is a loss of time. I mean: I don't have that much time to spare. I want to spend it on hobbies or playing games. But I agree that this is a fair way.

Moreover, I've learnt that opinions/critics dont always match our needs and opinions. For example Civilisation - my favourite is Civ3, by many considered to be the worst, while I don't like Civ4, by many considered to be one of the best. Currently I like Civ5 and some day I will have to run Civ 6 (it already waits for me on my steam account... like many others).

So, I could say, that for me there is always a RANDOM FACTOR that makes a difference between really loving the game or not.

Having said that - I do take into account negative opinions about the game. I don't remember buying game with negative or mostly negative opinions. Maybe I have something with mixed opinions. I think that negative opinions are little more important, since most of positives are like "yeah, cool, best in the world, give me more beer".

[Kargor]

failsafe の投稿を引用：

By the way: how many games you have on Steam that you have played more than 100 or 200 hours?

Few. Most of the games that I play just don't have that much content; more often than not, games that hit these numbers are just NG+ playthroughs for different endings, plus maybe some extra grinding because I decided to go for platinum.

[crunchyfrog]

failsafe の投稿を引用：

Steam forum is somewhat helpful as well - especially if one doesn't know what is looking for. I'm using it this way, and thanks to comrades from forum I've found some decent titles.

What you say about pre-purchase inteligence is good and smart and wise... and I don't do it ;-P. For me it is a loss of time. I mean: I don't have that much time to spare. I want to spend it on hobbies or playing games. But I agree that this is a fair way.

Moreover, I've learnt that opinions/critics dont always match our needs and opinions. For example Civilisation - my favourite is Civ3, by many considered to be the worst, while I don't like Civ4, by many considered to be one of the best. Currently I like Civ5 and some day I will have to run Civ 6 (it already waits for me on my steam account... like many others).

So, I could say, that for me there is always a RANDOM FACTOR that makes a difference between really loving the game or not.

Having said that - I do take into account negative opinions about the game. I don't remember buying game with negative or mostly negative opinions. Maybe I have something with mixed opinions. I think that negative opinions are little more important, since most of positives are like "yeah, cool, best in the world, give me more beer".

Ah now that's why when I said about doing that thing up front where you investigate ALL games for a platform, you quickly find out which reviewers gel with your tastes. It's something you quickly find out.

Also it's equally useful to pick reviewers that are polar opposite to your tastes too as they can advise you equally.

So it's all about that work up front as I detailed. Again, it's made it so that I haven't bought a game that I have regretted for decades, and I have THOUSANDS of games across multiple platfomrs.

So it can be done and pretty easily.



As for your other question about how many games on Steam have I played over 100 or 200 hours on, well not too many on here, as PC games aren't my big thing. I play them the least. But I have several. On consoles I have tons of them. I'd guess around 20 on each platform across over 70 platforms.

[failsafe]

I think we are talking about different scale. I've played a lot of games as well. I liked most of them. It is that I didn't fall in love with most of them. I don't believe you loved every one of your 1,4k games on steam. But if you did, then great thing, maybe you are still on the level I used to be long time ago. And I don't mean anything wrong, maybe you are just the guy that finds fun in every game and is capable of loving every game. Cool.

For me a game that is loved is a game which I play a lot. Really a lot. I guess it would be at least 50 hours+. On the other hand, it doesn't mean that I like only few games. I like most of the games I have.

The thing is - and I think we are also talking here about this - that we do have many good games, but we are somehow get burnt with all this gaming experience. I think several other guys here have also stated things like this, so it is not my idea.

Besides... really... investigating ALL games on the platform? Dude... I really don't want to spend my life just checking games that I don't intend to play. From my perspective it is easier and cheaper to buy all the games I consider interesting and THEN check which one is good and which one is great. You may say that I'm not right, that it is cheaper to spend hours on youtube, forums, metacrit ect to check other opinions first. From certain perspective you are right. Hey, some 15 years ago I used to write reviews for few portals - this was my secondary job, not aimed on earning money, but spending time on gaming... and getting new games for free ;-P. Now, from current perspective, I don't think spending too much time AROUND instead of INSIDE is worth it. But this is just my opinion.

One more thing - yes, I'm little tired with gaming, but I'm not unhappy. Honestly, it is not that bad to have too many games and not play them. It is little better at least than having no games to play ;-P

[Kargor]

failsafe の投稿を引用：

Honestly, it is not that bad to have too many games and not play them. It is little better at least than having no games to play ;-P

Actually, when I finish a game, I can immediately find a new one -- I buy games when the deal is great, but I play them... at some other time. It's completely disconnected.