How To Reinvigorate the FPS Genre?

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That picture sums up how I feel about the FPS genre these days. While there are a few gems that change things up a little to bring me something exciting (BioShock Infinite, Borderlands 2) and my love for the Aliens franchise makes me super excited for Colonial Marines, by and large the genre feels boring and stale to me.

How can developers reinvigorate the genre? What interesting takes and views can they give us, as gamers to explore? Just today a Norwegian developer announced a horror game where you play through the eyes of a 2 year old child. That's exciting, and while it doesn't change the genre, it offers something new and unique.

What are some situations you would be excited to see in an FPS setting?

30/05/2012

Melbourne, Victoria

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Guyver

Dinosaurs! More dinosaurs!

30/05/2012

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

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Kerosanak

Guyver said: Dinosaurs! More dinosaurs!

/thread

30/05/2012

I'm still kind of a big deal in the Capital Wasteland.

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Mik3y

fps with potato *_*

30/05/2012

Ｔｈｅｒｅ　ａｒｅ　ｆｏｕｒ　ｌｉｇｈｔｓ　　ＦＧ　ＸＲ６　ＮＡ

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Heller

Killing Dinosaurs? Riding Dinosaurs? Eating Dinosaurs?

It's been done before anyway, doesn't anyone remember our good friend Turok the Dinosaur Hunter?

30/05/2012

Melbourne, Victoria

Kudos: 70,159

Kerosanak

This needs to be a video game. I would pay all of the money.

30/05/2012

I'm still kind of a big deal in the Capital Wasteland.

Kudos: 352,724

Guyver

Heller said: Killing Dinosaurs? Riding Dinosaurs? Eating Dinosaurs?
It's been done before anyway, doesn't anyone remember our good friend Turok the Dinosaur Hunter?

I remember fog....fog as fat as the eye can see.
Seriously I would like to see a good remake if Turok.

30/05/2012

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

Kudos: 16,950

-PAYZEE-

...what developers need to do is SLOOOOOW DOOOOOWWWN...and think about it, yet somehow the biggest selling FPS at the moment has barely changed its gameplay element at all... that's right I'm looking at you Call Of Duty... don't ask me what needs changing to make FPSs fresh again, I'm happy with Bulletstorm and Skyrim...

30/05/2012

...dancing in the meteor shower with no pants on at the end of the multiverse...

Kudos: 49,906

SevenII

I'd like to see a shooter that gives you actual repercussions to shooting scores and scores of faceless men.

So you start out, fresh faced and wide eyed as you set off into battle. All is well as you take your orders.. Then you shoot someone... and time slows down as you contemplate the family you just robbed of a soul. An 'Amnesia' style freak-out occurs and then you spend the rest of the game in a dark corner, rocking back and forth staring down into your 5th bottle of booze, with the late soldiers face burned into your retinas. [WTF]

I like realism in games.

30/05/2012

Far side of the world... (Sydney)

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Heller

Interesting concept @SevenII , so perhaps something as emotionally charged as heavy rain, in a military situation where you still have to shoot a lot of bad guys, but you actually have repercussions that effect the gameplay. Perhaps occasionally you will have to hit the shoot button more than once to fire off the round because your character resists etc.

@-PAYZEE- you say the genre needs to slow down, then you say you're happy with Bulletstorm. That game was balls to the wall action and extremely fast paced. What did you like so much about it?

30/05/2012

Melbourne, Victoria

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Silence

There was an XKCD comic like that, Seven. Everytime you killed someone, a little snippet about the person ou just killed pops up.

E: xkcd.com/...

30/05/2012

I'm from the Internet. Nothing I say is original.

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-PAYZEE-

Heller said: Interesting concept @SevenII , so perhaps something as emotionally charged as heavy rain, in a military situation where you still have to shoot a lot of bad guys, but you actually have repercussions that effect the gameplay. Perhaps occasionally you will have to hit the shoot button more than once to fire off the round because your character resists etc.
@-PAYZEE- you say the genre needs to slow down, then you say you're happy with Bulletstorm. That game was balls to the wall action and extremely fast paced. What did you like so much about it?

...I means theyneed to.slow.down on the. Mass production of video games, people.complain that there is.so many genres of games and multiples of games in each genre released each year, which makes people lose interest in certain genres or complimentary that this game isn't as good as this game, etc... there's too many games coming out, I can't even keep up, I have had my ps3 since launch and I only have 70 games.... but to the topic at hand, IMO production (even though it somehow costs millions to some developers) needs to.slow.down to.take the time to sit and think properly on how they can make FPS A better and cooler and different to FPS B...

...I know what I'm on about...

30/05/2012

...dancing in the meteor shower with no pants on at the end of the multiverse...

Kudos: 14,833

whaling

Heller said:
Perhaps occasionally you will have to hit the shoot button more than once to fire off the round because your character resists etc.

That would mess with your mind. [WTF]

30/05/2012

On a vessel.

Kudos: 40,728

Desi

Heller said: by and large the genre feels boring and stale to me.

Don't play as much mainstream junk, for starters. Get yourself all of the STALKER games and play them in order of release date. Then you have two options from here:

1. If you like something kind of middling in difficulty, get yourself the STALKERSOUP mod for Shadow of Chernobyl and enjoy a LOT of new content (general estimates quote 200-300 hours of new content).
2. If you want a true FPS RPG with high difficulty, get yourself the MISERY mod for Call of Pripyat. It's brutal, but fair.

I rank the following FPSes in order of personal preference:
1. STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl
2. STALKER: Call of Pripyat
3. Far Cry 2
4. Half-Life 2
5. Metro 2033

30/05/2012

And I love starting sentences with conjunctions! >=D

Kudos: 49,906

SevenII

Silence said: There was an XKCD comic like that, Seven. Everytime you killed someone, a little snippet about the person ou just killed pops up.
E: xkcd.com/...

lol, yeah. Something to that effect.

Gamers are seen as kill-happy freaks with an energy drink addiction by most people outside of the culture. At least when it comes to FPS'. That needs to change.

Another thing that I'd like to see added is a hardcore mode, sorta like in Minecraft. If you die, your save goes with it too. Forever.

If you take your own mortality in a game seriously (deathly serious), maybe the NPC's will see some compassion too.

30/05/2012

Far side of the world... (Sydney)

Kudos: 281,247

Gryllis

The FPS genre is definitely being saturated at the moment. Half the games on my desk are FPS.

I'm not sure if just needs to be reinvigorated, there are just too many of them at the moment.

30/05/2012

The member formerly formerly known as ICC_06, formerly known as Ben.

Kudos: 186,102

Heller

@SevenII - I love the idea of a "hardcore" mode, would be awesome. Actually having a consequence for your actions!

@Desi - I don't simply play mainstream junk as you put it. S.T.A.L.K.E.R never resonated with me, wasteland-based FPS/RPG games just fall flat for me.

I checked out Q.U.B.E and it was great except for the fact it was pretty much a Portal clone but without the story.

A really AWESOME FPS game worth checking out is Gravity Bone. It will only take you 10-15 minute to complete, but in those few moments it tells you more story than most games could. I simply adore it. Check it out here - blendogames.com/...

I'd love a genuine spy game like this.

30/05/2012

Melbourne, Victoria

Kudos: 40,728

Desi

I'm still looking forward to The Dead Linger. Randomly-generated FPS world with zombies and a survival focus. Even if the game sucks, the randomly generated world is exactly what the genre needs.

Right now everything is too static. Online games boil down to throwing a grenade somewhere because you know that someone's going to be there. It's going to be very different when you've got to employ actual teamwork and fire support just to deal with the next unknown corner.

30/05/2012

And I love starting sentences with conjunctions! >=D

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Skarteh

I can't see a randomly generated world being fun. It will just feel mindless..

31/05/2012

Melbourne, Victoria | Walk with me in hell

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IAMColonel

Just had a look at that Dead Linger on Kickstarter. Looks like its concept is pretty damn cool. Might suffer from production value and it doesn't really look like they're intending on doing too many features, restricted gameplay makes a huge interactive map seem pointless.

Anyway, I don't think we can change the entire genre by pointing people to play independent games. It's just a natural progression now before it dies down and the next fad begins, like anything.

31/05/2012

Melbourne

Kudos: 40,728

Desi

Skarteh said: I can't see a randomly generated world being fun. It will just feel mindless..

Random generation does follow rules, if that's what you're worried about. It doesn't have to be a hodgepodge of elements stuck together.

IAMColonel said: it doesn't really look like they're intending on doing too many features, restricted gameplay makes a huge interactive map seem pointless.

It's early days yet. The community forums are full of discussion about features, though, because everyone wants a hardcore zombie survival sim.

31/05/2012

And I love starting sentences with conjunctions! >=D

Kudos: 96,210

Skarteh

Not hodgepodge but it is like playing the most bland of bland shooters. Have you ever played the randomly generated levels in Soldier of Fortune 2? Gets boring in minutes because theres no flow or design.

It will be blands as hell.

31/05/2012

Melbourne, Victoria | Walk with me in hell

Kudos: 40,728

Desi

It must have been related to Soldier of Fortune's blandness in general, no? You can do random generation well, or do it poorly (an example of poorly would be to use static assets and plonk them down randomly on a grid). Lots of randomly generated games remain interesting and playable to me. Minecraft is an obvious example, as are roguelikes.

31/05/2012

And I love starting sentences with conjunctions! >=D

Kudos: 96,210

Skarteh

Fps is not the same thing, and SOF2 was an excellent game.

31/05/2012

Melbourne, Victoria | Walk with me in hell

Kudos: 15,174

Loupek

I think it's a hard thin to do, if you go too real it gets boring, if you go too arcadey then you won't hook the "hardcore" gamers. Serious Sam was great in that it took gamers back to old school fps roots.

I think its very subjective too. Most settings have been done to death eg post-apocalypse / historic war / future war / dinosaurs / aliens etc. cod4 really set the bar high with fast paced action , perks, cinematic settings etc

I am a huge fan of the mixing of fps and RPGs.

IMO driving/racing games are in greater need of reinvigoration

31/05/2012

Canberra, ACT

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