NOTE: This is originally from the Fanzine issue of 2.5D that I created a while back. To download the issue in PDF form (Click Here)
We Want to be Creative
Finally, console developers are coming around to the realization that we gamers actually like to be a creative bunch. PC developers have known this fact for years with the huge mod communities that have popped up surrounding some of their top games. Ever since id software left the source code in the original Quake for users to play around with, the modding community has exploded. From PC modifications have come such games as Team Fortress, and Counterstrike. It's been pretty obvious to PC developers for a long time that gamers want to be able to create something. They want to be creative. Granted, consoles were always a different beast than PCs. It has taken them years to catch up, but we finally have hard drives with the storage capacity needed to be able to support mods, or user created levels.
For years only a small group of console developers has realized the average gamer with no programming skills, or mod making abilities still wants to be able to create customized characters, or levels in games. Even as far back as Excitebike's track editor, gamers have wanted to be able to create a working game environment. Some series like, most notably, the Timesplitters series have successfully given players the ability to edit, and create their own multiplayer, and single players maps using pre-set tiles. Though the tile sets are limited in some respects, really creative users were still able to recreate environments from other games, or better yet, create something completely original. The only problem with Timesplitters and a number of the other games that allow for such creativity is that TS, though popular, never received the huge mainstream success it deserved meaning the idea never took off with the mainstream gaming public who was too enthralled with Halo to care about the innovations made by games like TS.
This gen, however, things seem to be different. Though it's not even up to even the original Timesplitters' standards, Halo 3's forge mode is a good start for the series. You can't create completely new maps, but you can modify the game's physics, game's speed, and the objects in the environment. Some gamers have been able to create some cool gametypes, or even make things like Goldeneye maps within the confines of the forge mode. The point is, that even when given limited options, creative gamers can make some truly creative things. It's just time that more developers realized that level editors should be standard in gaming. They extend the life of a game for years, because they give the player options to experience something completely new when they finally tire of the default gameplay.
Of the big three this generation of gaming, I'd say that Sony has done the best in bringing mainstream attention to games that allow gamers to creat their own stuff. The success of Little Big Planet has stirred the creativity bug in many gamers. Another good example of a game that has gotten a lot of attention is Mod Nation Racers. The PS3 also offers, as far as I know, the only console game to ever officially have mod support, and that's the port of Unreal Tournament III. All you need is the site where you download the mod from, and a USB thumb drive to transfer it to the PS3. It may be a wise move for Sony to carve their niche into the market by giving more attention to games that allow the user to be creative. However, I'd also love to see Microsoft get more proactive on allowing the common gamer to create their own stuff. Halo Reach should have a full blown level editor as opposed to what forge mode offers. It is supposedly the last Halo game, so it would be to their advantage to give it as much longevity as they can, and because it's Halo, it could very well make it the standard for all future console FPS games.
The Wii, on the other hand is something entirely different. You see, Nintendo released a system with absolutely no copy protection meaning the system has already been hacked and cracked, and there are already modders at work on the games. This makes online cheating pretty much unstoppable on the system, but also has people creating stuff like level editing software for games like New Super Mario Bros which would have benefitted greatly if Nintendo would have included it from the start. There wouldn't be a need for hacked levels editors that way, and gamers could use their creativity. Nintendo has always promoted creativity with games like Mario Paint, but I'd love to see them expand it more to gaming applications. If any company should have created a game like LBP, it should have been Nintendo.
I'm not forgetting that the download services from the big three are doing a great job of promoting independent game development, because they really are giving smaller developers a chance to get noticed without taking a huge risk by charging $60 for their games. I just wish this same spirit of promoting creativity would spill over more to the regular joe shmoe gamer. I know there is a market out there, and games like LBP prove there is a market out there. I'm just saying, we gamers want to be given the opportunity to be creative. Furthermore, we want to share that creativity with other gamers online. It's time more developers realized it. I may never make a mod, but I'll kill hundreds of hours in a level editor creating something new._teh2Dgamer
Comments