tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11758224.post8905935754572213626..comments2023-09-28T07:23:51.376-07:00Comments on ProjectPerko: Mirror's EdgeCraig Perkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13173752470581218239noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11758224.post-2373484527523087842008-11-17T16:03:00.000-08:002008-11-17T16:03:00.000-08:00Well, as I said, there's nothing in the same niche...Well, as I said, there's nothing in the same niche to compare it to.<BR/><BR/>Having beaten all the time trials, I can say that it's a pretty fun game if you play it as just races. But you have to be very familiar with the courses: it's not a game that is appealing on the first pass.<BR/><BR/>I don't like the idea of a game that isn't much fun the first time through. There seems to be something horribly backwards about that idea.Craig Perkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13173752470581218239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11758224.post-90694213474268018132008-11-17T15:07:00.000-08:002008-11-17T15:07:00.000-08:00Thanks for one of the best analyses of Mirror's Ed...Thanks for one of the best analyses of Mirror's Edge I've seen so far.<BR/><BR/>However, while your idea of laying out paths in advance is interesting, I'm not sure it's a fair criticism of Mirror's Edge. In effect it's saying Mirror's Edge would be better if it was a different game, which is like saying Halo would be better if it was Fallout. I'm pretty sure there are solutions available that still let it be the real-time first-person free motion game that it wants to be.<BR/><BR/>It's also an interesting game in that no matter how much criticism I hear of it, I still really want to play it for myself.Greg Tannahillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00823898295759037081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11758224.post-91664235799626801692008-11-15T21:29:00.000-08:002008-11-15T21:29:00.000-08:00Well, I would think it would be a very large, cont...Well, I would think it would be a very large, contiguous map, sort of like the Crackdown map. But it could morph a bit in meaningful ways: for example, during the day, there are people around, everybody's got their windows open. At night, the streets are empty of vendors/cars. In the winter, there could be snow to mess you up, etc, etc.<BR/><BR/>I would like to have the topology change, too: maybe solar panels retract and flatten during the night, maybe there's some kind of sun awning that deploys during the day and retracts at night... maybe the runners bring out lots of little navigational aids at night (boards, pads, etc).<BR/><BR/>On top of that is the change in importance of various routes. Today you need to get to point A, and maybe there are some people who want to stop you at point B... tomorrow, you could be trying to reach point B in order to prevent them from demolishing building C...Craig Perkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13173752470581218239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11758224.post-45344973344857253512008-11-15T20:42:00.000-08:002008-11-15T20:42:00.000-08:00Hmm, yah. Now that I think about it, this would b...Hmm, yah. Now that I think about it, this would be the first really good use of re-use. Let the player really explore a space... almost a Shenmue or Zelda on the rooftops or something. Only once they know an area do you then require them to "speed through." It would work nicely if you had a homebase that you needed to return from and to.DmLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01867491782144075781noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11758224.post-81602202901447688242008-11-15T16:05:00.000-08:002008-11-15T16:05:00.000-08:00Well, I like the idea of a kind of superimposed "p...Well, I like the idea of a kind of superimposed "pathing" system - jump here, bounce off here, swing here, land. But I understand that simply providing (or calculating) these paths to the player limits the amount of freeform exploration that the player can do.<BR/><BR/>I think this could be dealt with by only displaying paths that the player has run, seen an NPC run, or has mapped out mentally through careful scanning of the locale.<BR/><BR/>You might even be able to buy "packs" of paths from various NPCs (or other players) that have done a lot of exploring on their own.<BR/><BR/>This would mean that you would have to have a world that you revisit a lot. With good level design and changing goals, I think that's possible. The idea is that the levels (which are quite large and intricate) are made important by what goals/plot elements are placed where.Craig Perkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13173752470581218239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11758224.post-60745322290588428042008-11-15T15:35:00.000-08:002008-11-15T15:35:00.000-08:00The idea of a first-person movement game is inhere...The idea of a first-person movement game is inherently appealing to me. It's one thing to remote-control something, it's another to "be" it. And I think good movement games are <I>always</I> trying to achieve the latter feeling more than the former- this could just help that cause along. But I'm not surprised to hear criticism of this game- when I heard how much focus the developers were putting on story and fighting and all that other inappropriate nonsense, I suspected these guys weren't qualified to pull it off.<BR/><BR/>I'm struck by one particular comment you made:<BR/>"This is why real parkour and free runner folks carefully familiarize themselves with wherever they are before they do anything dangerous: they need to know the 'grooves' in the local space, places where their capabilities will allow them to fluidly move through."<BR/><BR/>That's the answer, isn't it? Forget the speed element- not every movement game has to be racing. Let the player stand around, look around for grooves, then test them out cautiously, and only <I>then</I> attempt it without looking. This is possibly something that would require the Wii's motion controls (or preferably, the new motion add-on gimmick they're releasing). Anyway, what if a game just dropped you in the middle of a city, with no goals at all, and let you go around and figure out how to get around? Each building and object has at least one way to get through it, and the farther you go into the city the harder that gets to find. Like you suggest, no respawns -as a matter of fact, I'd go in the opposite direction and make the game actually quit when you die. You should be <B>terrified</B> of falling. You should feel like every bit of the environment you get through is a triumph. As you get to the outskirts of the city, and reach the <I>really</I> hard buildings, and get past those, you should be able to say to yourself: "I have conquered this city."<BR/><BR/>But this would mean paying less attention to spectacle and common game-making practices, and more to how parkour actually works. Yeah, it's not gonna happen.Moryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00811255096467614445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11758224.post-67212866819405793562008-11-15T15:09:00.000-08:002008-11-15T15:09:00.000-08:00The team that can make an immersive and fun 1st pe...The team that can make an immersive and fun 1st person free-running game will probably be my most favorite ever.DmLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01867491782144075781noreply@blogger.com