Vancouver Chapter 

The topic for the night's meeting was Game Design and the Next Generation of Systems, mainly encompassing controller design, porting, player expectations and online play. Members of the discussion panel were Sean Smillie (BVG-Propaganda Studios), Eric Holmes (Radical Entertainment), John Doyle (EA-Black Box) and Clint Hocking (Ubisoft).

The leading area of discussion was about how complicated game controllers have become and how the complicated key combinations are not inviting to new players. To that end, Nintendo's Wii with its new, intuitive controller could step up as the new "intro-level" gaming console. Sean Smillie remarked that he believed the Wii is a positive move for Nintendo and will easily open the door to new gamers and hence new consumers.

Moving the panel forward was discussion about the whole next-gen game experience. It was noted that the gaming industry is its own worst enemy in that as new technologies are invoked, gamer expectations of their playing experience rises, and this in turn increases both production and end-product costs. Again, the Wii with its expected low price will be more inviting to the new gamer and families without an abundance of disposable income.

Development processes for the Wii, 360 and PS3 have introduced many challenges to the masterminds behind the games. Portability between the console technologies has been split as different port strategies need to be developed. One of the main causes of this has of course been the controllers themselves, and studios are finding that they need to develop entirely different game versions for the consoles, the Wii in particular. As Eric Holmes stated, next-gen means new games with new experiences. I believe that while each console with have its strengths, the ultimate decisions for next-gen success will come from the gaming community.

As studios and console designers have learned, the gaming community is paramount to a game's success. Online gaming has become a basic expectation of today's gamer. I know that Mike will be less likely to play a PS2 game if it does not have online playability. He enjoys the online interaction and challenges of meeting other gamers head to head, whether it's in an MMORPG, an FPS or a racing game. I feel that in many ways, the online gaming community is taking the place of online chat networks. Players can interact with each other on the game field while also chatting - be it by typing, ingame voice communications such as those of SOCOM, or via TeamSpeak and Ventrillo.

A smart development studio will keep tabs on the most active "public" gamer communities, especially those dedicated to a certain game or genre of game. The gamers who exchange ideas, experiences and criticisms are the developer's market, their bread and butter, so to speak. Knowing what the players of any given game like, dislike or would like to see is tantamount to ensuring sales of future game versions or free expansions which guarantee continued interest in the product. Gamers also like to have some type of interaction with the developers, and those who take the time to participate in the gaming community are ones who will increase product loyalty. That loyalty increases when added-value expansions or versions include suggestions that came directly from the gamers who play the games. From personal experience, announcing tidbits and teasers for future versions or expansions is another way of building hype for a product without a huge outlay of advertising dollars.

With the coming of higher definition graphics, the player's experience ingame has the possibility of becoming more immersive. The marriage of HDTV and surround sound gives development studios the opportunity to literally stun its audience with visual and aural experiences, which will increase the emotional benefits that motivate gamers during play. The key lies in finding the balance in each particular genre that will keep the market active. FPS players want to feel like they are really in the battle (to an extent, of course), RPG players like to feel as if they truly are in a different world and have the freedom to explore it and interact with the characters in it while developing their own online personas for the game. Car racers want to feel like they are really behind the wheel of that Ferrari racing down the track and mach 5 speeds. It is up to the developers to find the right forumulas and balances for the upcoming console generations - and that includes the PC gaming experience as well, although PC gaming wasn't really a topic for this panel. As Clint Hocking noted, gamers expect historic accuracy, and the games need to feel richer, more compelling and more real to the person behind the controls.

Sean Smillie's closing thoughts on the next-gen experience came closest to what I personally look for in my own gaming experience. He stated that the story, the concept behind the game, needs to remain entertaining and intriguing, that developers should not lose sight of the basic idea behind the games. On this I could not agree with him more, and I truly hope that as the new generation of games continue to hit shelves around the globe, developers will continue to amaze us - without breaking our bank accounts, of course.

I would like to thank the IGDA Vancouver Chapter for hosting an informative and entertaining evening, and I look forward to attending many more of its meetings and events.

Written by:
Tami Quiring
Killanet.net