Comment Re:Build Your Own? Why? (Score 1) 567
Let me reply to your points in order.
1) Not everyone, and not all the time. I was briefly interested in Aquanox just because it might have had the best graphics at the time, but I would not have expected too much gameplay out of it. Sure I'd like to use my hardware to the full extent, but I also HATE having my computer brought to it knees ala. Allied Assault. Now, I'm done and bored w/ Allied Assault, yet still playing Civ3 (*gasp* 2D landscape and units), Day of Defeat ( *ugh* ancient & ugly half-life/quake2 engine), Europa Universalis (you call those graphics?!?), Sims (isometric and stale), and GTA3 ( i can count those polygons on my fingers!). Rollercoaster Tycoon alone is proof that technical sophistication is not king.
2) If you only have one adventure in your game, yeah it better be sophisticated and good. When you have limitless possibilities, this is less of a problem. Well-crafted games can still be made for construction sets, and I'd claim they can be even better than most retail ones. Maybe you or I won't make one, but somebody can. In the case of ColdStone, the designers have already released a quality game and may release others. Even more, is that these adventures can be something different. Everyone complains about how many clones there are, even people who have only played games for a few years. Construction sets like Cold Stone allow that to happen because nobody can nay-say your idea.
3) You don't have to make an adventure yourself. Imagine if you had internet support for Pinball Construction Set. You could just play with all of these already available Pinball sets before you even thought of making your own. Eventually, though, you will _want_ to read the manual, and that is where an easy, simple-yet-powerful construction set will really work. Maybe Cold Stone is too technical. I believe a powerful and flexible engine could be designed and still be accessable to the majority of gamers. Look at what people are already doing to the Sims, far more than the designers predicted.
Overall, your comments seem unnecessarily negative. What would you want to see in a construction set, and why are you so doubtful that it could sell even if you wanted it?
1) Not everyone, and not all the time. I was briefly interested in Aquanox just because it might have had the best graphics at the time, but I would not have expected too much gameplay out of it. Sure I'd like to use my hardware to the full extent, but I also HATE having my computer brought to it knees ala. Allied Assault. Now, I'm done and bored w/ Allied Assault, yet still playing Civ3 (*gasp* 2D landscape and units), Day of Defeat ( *ugh* ancient & ugly half-life/quake2 engine), Europa Universalis (you call those graphics?!?), Sims (isometric and stale), and GTA3 ( i can count those polygons on my fingers!). Rollercoaster Tycoon alone is proof that technical sophistication is not king.
2) If you only have one adventure in your game, yeah it better be sophisticated and good. When you have limitless possibilities, this is less of a problem. Well-crafted games can still be made for construction sets, and I'd claim they can be even better than most retail ones. Maybe you or I won't make one, but somebody can. In the case of ColdStone, the designers have already released a quality game and may release others. Even more, is that these adventures can be something different. Everyone complains about how many clones there are, even people who have only played games for a few years. Construction sets like Cold Stone allow that to happen because nobody can nay-say your idea.
3) You don't have to make an adventure yourself. Imagine if you had internet support for Pinball Construction Set. You could just play with all of these already available Pinball sets before you even thought of making your own. Eventually, though, you will _want_ to read the manual, and that is where an easy, simple-yet-powerful construction set will really work. Maybe Cold Stone is too technical. I believe a powerful and flexible engine could be designed and still be accessable to the majority of gamers. Look at what people are already doing to the Sims, far more than the designers predicted.
Overall, your comments seem unnecessarily negative. What would you want to see in a construction set, and why are you so doubtful that it could sell even if you wanted it?
