Thread: The Attractive Technical Aspects of Teamwork Oriented Gameplay

What kind of technical aspects do you look for in a game? To start, why do you play what you play now? What about the game itself hooks you into playing, and would you consider it the 'best' at that thing, or merely 'better than anything else out there'?

By technical, I mean gameplay mechanics, features, support, capabilities of the engine, etc. etc. Things like friends or TTP hosting would fall more under social aspects.

I know what I would want in a hypothetical super-game, but what about you? As undisputed connoisseurs and gourmets of teamplay-oriented games, elucidate me. Be my focus group!

Draco

Technical aspects... pfff.

If a game is fun then a game is fun... it can be a really basic game thats extremely uncomplicated and still be a blast to play. I think your overlooking the social aspects importance in teamplay more than game mechanics.

One thing i demand from the games i play is activity. Both in terms of the community (which includes teamates on clans I'm in)... and the company that made the game. If a game doesn't have an active and fun community and many many players then its not nearly as enjoyable to play... and if the people who made the game are not following it along, providing information, fixing problems, and so on then its not as enjoyable either. After that it simply comes down to is the game fun or not. It could be the most simple.. uncomplicated game in the world but if its enjoyable and the activity is there I'm usually there.

I play 2 distinct types of games. 1 is the smaller team size shooter like the UT series or CSS series or COD series. The other is more of the MMO style, battling creatures and people, finding items and treasure, exploring the world style of game like the Diablo series and WoW. But in both i think a similar aspect i enjoy is the hunt. Whether thats a hunt for treasure, upgrades, new places to explore or a hunt for another person to kill... either way i enjoy it a ton. Its honestly hard to say exactly what draws someone to a game.. i mean sure you can run off a bunch of "stuff" that you like.. but you can have 2 games that are VERY similar and you love one and hate the other. A lot of it comes down to just a "feeling" thats hard to describe and when you enjoy the game u enjoy the game.

Hmm...Well this topic is rather broad so I'm going to have to answer in rather broad terms.

Each genre has elements that appeal to its player base. These elements won't necessarily overlap into all or any other gaming genres. I'll focus on
TTP-style multiplayer FPS games for the sake of keeping it simple (though I could write similarly about MMOs, RPGs, MMORPGs, MMOFPSs, RTS, Action, etc.). When I look for a quality multiplayer FPS game I'm looking for a few things:

- General quality and polish: in terms of UI and graphics mainly, but also with respect to bugs

- Game pacing: Is it easy to get into the fight? Is it too easy to get into the fight?(CoD 4 suffers from the latter in some game modes)

- Learning curve: How quickly can you pick up the game and play it on a basic level? How quickly can you master all of the games features? How much effort would be required to become the ultimate player of the game? The first response will hopefully be quickly, but the latter questions will be answered, "a while," for a good game.

- Team communication/organization: Does the game have a quality VOIP integrated? Does the game have some way of organizing your team (BF2/BF2142 are great examples of how to do this right)?

- Balance: Is the game balanced or can one class/weapon/item always defeat its opponent?

- Ingenuity: Does this game have something interesting or unique that makes it stand out in terms of quality/depth of content?

- Fun factor: Can the game bring all of its uniqueness together in a package that is fun and interesting or does it just feel like a lot of gimmicks put into one box?

- Community features: Does this game have the potential to communicate with friends via the client? Does it allow you to save favorite servers? Are the developers concerned with community opinions and try to fix what the community considers to be broken? Does game somehow foster a spirit of camaraderie, ownership, and personal achievement?

- Advancement, Unlocks, Achievements: Does the game have a system that makes you feel like you're progressing in ability (even if you aren't, like BF2/2142/CoD4's rank system)? Does the game have a system where you can unlock new abilities/items over the course of playing the game? Does the game have achievements to give a long term player something to work for when he's exhausted all other means of advancement? This of course must be balanced. You cannot have unlocks that remove the ability of new players to compete. You also should not have achievements that are based off of doing things that would not normally happen during the course of your play time (i.e. Crappy TF2 Medic achievements that promote base camping, etc.).


Well there's a short list off the top of my head. I'm sure I could think of some more.

^^^^^

That is why i didnt go into any details... if you try and explain every little technical aspect of a game you have to break it down by type of game and so on... you would be writing a book.

Originally Posted by Wurzzzz

Hmm...Well this topic is rather broad so I'm going to have to answer in rather broad terms.
I'll focus on TTP-style multiplayer FPS games...

Yes, I should have clarified that. Since TTP only hosts FPS games (so far!), I was refering to a game like that, although bringing in conventions from other genres is'nt taboo, either.

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How important are graphics to you (the audience in general)? Would you play something that looked like ass (admittedly well-polished though it may be) if it had solid gameplay? Vice-versa, something that looked like heaven on earth, even if it had somewhat lackluster conventions?

Is it too easy to get into the fight?

Can you clarify? Do you mean that it is too easy for people joining mid-round to tip the balance?

Does the game have a quality VOIP integrated?

A given for TTP hosting!

Does the game have some way of organizing your team (BF2/BF2142 are great examples of how to do this right)?

How 'right' is Battlefield in this; does it offer enough organization, or would you like more granularity? Less? How much interaction should the various echelons have with one another, and are you satisfied with how Battlefield lets players participate in the system (compare with Arm:A's system in which roles must be chosen before the round starts)?

Is the game balanced or can one class/weapon/item always defeat its opponent?

Rock/paper/scissors type balance, or more of a conceptual balance? How pertinent should proper tactics be versus simple weakness or strength?

Does this game have something interesting or unique that makes it stand out in terms of quality/depth of content?

What kinds of things would you consider interesting or unique enough? A good storyline, or a setting? A time? A place? Banana phone?

Can the game bring all of its uniqueness together in a package that is fun and interesting or does it just feel like a lot of gimmicks put into one box?

In other words, that the features work together and have a meaning with one another instead of being isolated or aloof?

Are the developers concerned with community opinions and try to fix what the community considers to be broken? Does game somehow foster a spirit of camaraderie, ownership, and personal achievement?

Would you support a system whereby custom, user-developed maps could be submitted for ranked play (and not just a few included in end-game patches a la BF, but maybe once a month)?

If so, who (and how) should the maps be hosted? On the onus of the server operators (a la Source games for custom content), or a central server system? Would you support a pay-to-play plan to keep a system like that going (even if the fee was just a few dollars instead of something like a typical MMO subscription)? Should all maps be available for ranked play (a la TF2), even at the risk of things like achievement farms?

- Advancement, Unlocks, Achievements

How esoteric would you like your stats to be? How granular should the system be, and should the achievements actually mean something to your gameplay, or should they be badges of honor, earned only for their own sake? Should there be RPG-like statistical improvement, or should all players always have a level playing field, from a character-performance perspective?

You cannot have unlocks that remove the ability of new players to compete.

They should make an older player more comprehensive instead of inherently better, correct?

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Originally Posted by sL!ppY

That is why i didnt go into any details...

On the contrary, Wurz' post was amazingly helpful, even as broad as it had to be. The OP is designed to spark a discourse between players, not state a hard definition of what should and should not be. That's what a forum is for, eh?

Draco

So... why isn't someone writing and submitting an article on this?

Some other things to consider:

Spawn;

Do you like instant respawn (TF2, CoD4), timed spawn (BF series), wave spawn (RTCW, ET), single spawn (CSS)? Have limited numbers of spawn or infinite spawn within round time limits?

Weapons;

Realistic weapons? Futuristic weapons? Full simulation, or just representation? Mechanical malfunctions (jams, broken parts, dud explosives, variable effects)?

Health and Performance;

Do you like more simple numerical health systems (ie, I have 100 HP, that tank over there has 1000), or would you support more realistic damage simulations (ie, I shoot you in the knee, and you can't sprint; shooting you in the shoulder affects your aim, etc.)?

Do you like consistency with regards to perception, reload times, and character performance (ie, reloads always take the same amount of time, you can always see things around you, you always have the same amount of sprint), or would you like a system that simulates combat stress (reloads take longer / could make mistakes, running affects your aim, shortness of breath affects your visual acuity)?

Vehicles;

Yes/no? Where should they fall in importance? How many types should there be? Are they rare or plentiful? What influence or abilities should they have on the battlefield?

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I have my own personal experiences in BF2 and 2142, so I think in a certain way about these things. What I'd really like is some feedback from people who play CS:S, DoD:S, TF2, Arm:A, big CoD4 players. Why do you play those games instead of, or in spite of, or in preference to others? What is their unique hook that keeps you playing them?

Draco

Originally Posted by Adsartha

So... why isn't someone writing and submitting an article on this?

Maybe someone is... :2

I intended it more as a question that a statement, it would be hard to write an article about opinions. There should (eventually) be enough material for a corollary article, though.

Draco

Originally Posted by draco7891

I intended it more as a question that a statement, it would be hard to write an article about opinions. There should (eventually) be enough material for a corollary article, though.

Draco

Nonsense. Write articles. Argue back and forth about your opinions. Things like that keep people coming back to see where the current... what was the word BD used... blargument! stands, at any given point.

Doooo eeeeet.