Originality in games - Is there any??

[savage]

I noticed over on GameDev that at GDC, a few awards were handed out. What caught my eye was not that Half Life 2 won Best Game ( that seemed like an obvious choice to me ), but what really caught my eye was that Katamari Damacy won best Game Design!!

<center></center>


On Amazon.coms Custom Reviews for Katamari Damacy it has scored 4.5 stars from a total of 73 reviews. It would seem that original addictive game play and design is still alive, at least in Japan.

If you can think of any, up and coming, games that have some original and addictive game design elements, I would love to hear about them, so please post replies to this news post.

[cragwolf]

That is an absolutely hilarious and innovative game design. I keep saying that Japanese culture is stranger than any alien culture you'll encounter in science fiction (which is simultaneously an appreciation of Japanese culture and an indictment of science fiction), and here is yet another example to demonstrate my point. One of the reasons I've lost interest in playing games recently is that they all seem the same. There doesn't seem to be many truly original ideas out there.

One of the most addictive games I've played recently is Frozen Bubble. I would be interested in finding out about some original game designs, so I'll keep a hopeful eye on this thread.

[savage]

There's an interesting article about Keita Takahashi, the creative brain behind Katamari Damacy over at http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/03...s&subj=6120232

Well worth the read.

[savage]

There a game called Darwinia, which is made by an English team called Introversion., which sounds interesting. Demo available from the Darwinia site.

[Almindor]

I think originality and gameplay are the 2 most important aspects of any game.
Even text game is great compared to let's say Doom3 when it comes to gameplay.(Adom etc.)
Sadly as of late people concentrate more on $$$ than actual "innovation" in the game industry.

If you wish to see something truly original google for "gish"

[savage]

If you wish to see something truly original google for "gish"

The game can be found @ http://www.chroniclogic.com/index.htm?gish.htm ( PS. It's an SDL game ) and should not to be confused with Lillian Gish, the actress .

[Sly]

Sadly as of late people concentrate more on $$$ than actual "innovation" in the game industry.

Sadly, as a game developer I see that every day. Publishers want something that they know makes money. Which means more of the same each year. The bigger the publisher, the more they 'play it safe'.