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Remus
Overgrown Cat
Joined: 03 Jul 2002
Posts: 1657
Location: Fish bowl |
| Where do you see computer RPGs going? |
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Two years ago some peoples and i see CRPG as a strong genre and will keep growing bigger and better. Nowdays, big game studios and publishers seem to lost interest in the genre, and relegate it to small and independent developers. What keep growing are console RPGs, MMORPGs, and action or stragety games that include few RPG elements. CRPG, especially the single player & old-school CRPG tend to become small genre that cater to niche market.
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Where do you see computer RPGs going?
The main stream titles will be smaller and more linear with higher production values. I hope there will still be independent studios producing more traditional RPG but they’ll have lower production values and so won’t sell to the main stream audience unfortunately.- Tony Oakden (Fallout Tactics, etc)
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Like every other genre, RPG’s are increasingly being developed as console games, so some of their complexity (and hence richness) is being lost in order to appeal to a broader spectrum of gamers. This change is understandable and even expected, but I feel eventually the pendulum will swing and we will see some classic RPG’s (and perhaps even adventure games) being developed again. - Tim Cain
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Straight to hell. There are very few companies making high-profile PC RPGs these days. Troika is one of the last pure PC RPG developer in the U.S. that I can think of. European companies seem to be one of the only bastions of hope. There are exceptions, of course, but I just don’t see a lot of buzz for anything new these days. I predict that we may go through another dry spell, followed by a new wave once someone realizes that no one is making any high-profile PC RPGs.- Josh Eric Sawyer
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The current trend is towards temporary extinction with the major publishers. I see true CRPG’s, like Fallout for instance, relegating back to very small, niche developers and European developers. Companies like Spiderweb Software will most likely maintain the torch for hardcore CRPG’s. Also, I do see some European developers attempting to capture the CRPG niche, and hopefully one will take off enough to wake up the big publishers and start a resurgence of new, quality CRPG’s. It’s a dream I have.- Damien 'Puuk' Foletto
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Down the toilet… Most small companies won’t touch an rpg. The time required to do a good rpg is huge and the resources needed far exceed those of other types of games. Imagine testing a game that has a couple hundred quests with multiple solutions for each quest and then take into consideration the ingenuity of human beings when it comes to finding ways around things… The resources required to create the game, test it, and then fix all the bugs are enormous (I’m talking meaningful content here, not courier quests).
Also, many larger companies won’t touch an rpg either, even though they have the resources. Big companies are interested in as much profit as possible for as little expenditure as possible. I hate to admit it, but rpg’s are a niche market. When you compare their sales figures to other games and then take into consideration the resources and time needed to make them… they don’t make good business sense to bean counters.- John W. Deiley
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The way of adventure games, I think. Obviously, publishers and developers want to work on games that they’re pretty sure will sell well and turn a profit, but there is a market for PC RPGs. I hope more publishers/developers in the future realize this and take the chance to bring about a new era of RPGs.- Jeff Husges
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I see more and more real-time RPGs, unfortunately. I see mixed RPG/genre games, like more action RPGs. There are very few real RPG developers left. I doubt we will ever see the RPG genre as dominate as it once was and that is a shame. The games that are left I see being more and more licensed-based. But, like a phoenix, I see more RPGs coming from indy developers -- and that's a good thing in my opinion. I also see more and more RPG components being used in other games, like character development or dialogue tree choices.- Christopher Robin Taylor
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Last edited by Remus on Fri Jun 25, 2004 11:05 am; edited 1 time in total |
Fri Jun 25, 2004 5:20 am |
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Hexy
High Emperor
Joined: 28 Jun 2002
Posts: 621
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RPGs have developed into MMORPGs, which is the thing for now.
The MMORPG market will probably be strong for a while, before CRPGs start to increase again.
On the other hand, many games, including FPSs and RTS/TBS games are becoming more and more RPG-ish. |
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Fri Jun 25, 2004 7:12 am |
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Namirrha
Noble Knight
Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 218
Location: Utah County, Utah. |
| Re: Where do you see computer RPGs going? |
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quote:
Originally posted by Remus
Two years ago some peoples and i see CRPG as a strong genre and will keep growing bigger and better. Nowdays, big game studios and publishers seem to lost interest in the genre, and relegate it to small and independent developers. What keep growing are console RPGs, MMORPGs, and action or stragety games that include few RPG elements. CRPG, especially the single player & old-school CRPG tend to become small genre that catered to niche market.
For large, commercial RPGs, I see further market consolidation into Bioware and Bethesda as the two main RPG companies for North America and a plethora of developers in Europe. Europe's the hotspot for RPGs nowadays. I also think a diverse indie RPG community is possible. But the indie community must surmount several issues before it can become self-sustaining. The ever present problems of funding, piracy, distribution, etc. threaten them. I don't believe RPGs will ever disappear, though, so long as there are fans.
The worst thing (and best thing) about RPGs is they are so complicated. This is problematic from programming, design, and testing viewpoints; however, the end product, if done right, is greater than the sum of its parts. In a way, I have the most hope for indie developers, because I think they will provide new ideas and dedication to keep the genre alive and well.
As long as there are people out there learning C++, drawing dragons and modeling them in 3D StudioMax or painting them in PhotoShop, and yearning for the return of the good old days, I don't see why RPGs will disappear anytime soon.
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Give me the shadows, shield me from the light, and I shall let nothing pass in the darkness of the night. |
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Fri Jun 25, 2004 8:20 am |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
Number of RPG fans is going down and therefor interest of big developers is turning toward other games. I doubt it will change, probably it will even continue. I suppose we will see fewer good RPGs and we will need to wait longer and longer.
It is where business with its logics leads:
- not many RPG fans
- you can not think that you will sell large number of copies
- develop good RPG is very difficult (there are aditional costs in comparition with f. e. FPS) |
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Fri Jun 25, 2004 10:20 am |
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Remus
Overgrown Cat
Joined: 03 Jul 2002
Posts: 1657
Location: Fish bowl |
I do believe indie developers can produce some good CRPG with small followers and fans, but beyond that, it's very hard for them to create high quality titles. I don't doubt the capability of indie developers, but the cost of hiring veteran voice actors to do huge or complete in-game dialog, big beta team by publisher or by developer themselves, creating new cutting edge game engine or even buying/licensing engine is just too much. It is not the question of talent, but cost, and no doubt the cost of creating game keep increasing over the years. Valve spent about 40 millions on HL2 alone!.
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Fri Jun 25, 2004 10:58 am |
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corwin
On the Razorblade of Life
Joined: 10 Jun 2002
Posts: 8376
Location: Australia |
There are quite a few RPG's being developed, but as others have pointed out, most are coming from small Independant developers. That's fine by me, think Arcane, Larian, PB, etc; all makers of great games. Jeff Vogel will continue to make great games, and new companies like Clownkeep are working towards some creative ideas in RPG gaming. Add to that the number of remakes of old games eg Ultimas using various engines and the genre still has plenty of life in it. The main problem is the length of time it takes to make the games. And finally, don't forget Grimoire is coming!!
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If God said it, then that settles it!
I don't use Smileys, I use Emoticons!!
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Fri Jun 25, 2004 11:08 am |
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Dhruin
Stranger In A Strange Land
Joined: 20 May 2002
Posts: 1825
Location: Sydney, Australia |
It's hard to add anything to this. The quotes above are undoubtedly correct, however, with the CRPG market almost devoid of competition I feel the occasional developer will see an opportunity, along with European, Russian (etc) studios with lower costs.
While I doubt the market will ever "explode" in the future, a big hit might stir some action. I think it's fair to Vampire: Bloodlines an "action RPG" but it might generate some decent sales and I'd put money on Dragon Ages to sell 1 Million+ right now.
Menwhile, open-source and cheap 3D engines will spark indie and community projects. They can't compete with the big projects but they should be fun for the hardcore fans.
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Editor @ RPGDot |
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Fri Jun 25, 2004 10:59 pm |
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Namirrha
Noble Knight
Joined: 03 May 2002
Posts: 218
Location: Utah County, Utah. |
quote:
Originally posted by Dhruin
While I doubt the market will ever "explode" in the future, a big hit might stir some action. I think it's fair to Vampire: Bloodlines an "action RPG" but it might generate some decent sales and I'd put money on Dragon Ages to sell 1 Million+ right now.
Menwhile, open-source and cheap 3D engines will spark indie and community projects. They can't compete with the big projects but they should be fun for the hardcore fans.
My hope is the indie community can attract enough fans and support to become self-sustaining. As it is, too many indie developers have shut down from lack of funds and few sales and others which produce good work still fail to break even on their investments. For indie RPGs, I think the exception is Spiderweb Software. Vogel maintains high quality RPGs and a salient operation. But I wish there were more Vogels and more diversity.
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Give me the shadows, shield me from the light, and I shall let nothing pass in the darkness of the night. |
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Sat Jun 26, 2004 4:36 pm |
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NeverDark
Village Leader
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 91
Location: Virtual Reality aka Life |
Unpopular? Not many fans? What happened to MILLIONS of people who purchased Baldur's Gate II?
Here's my idea of what's going on:
1) Blizzard made a mistake by not declaring Diablo as a title of a completely different genre from RPG (which it is, but only to some extent). If they invented a new genre they would have expanded the system, instead of having created one branch and basically destroyed another
2) Many RPG developers lack basic understanding of the genre, so whatever they produce gives the entire genre a bad name. Just look at these guys', notorious for making hit RTS in the past, comments:
Combat is an important part of a computer RPG. There should be enough to keep the player entertained and fuel character development.
Dialogue should be kept to the minimal amount necessary to move the plot forward. Multi-branch dialogue trees are usually not exciting.
It should be obvious which NPCs a player needs to interact with.
http://www.ironlore.com/c_designer.html
Just look for the section describing their view of a good RPG level. And these guys are expecting to produce a kick-arse RPG in the future. Bleh! Another “diablo clone in the bag” game…
3) The PR, or hype, aka marketing. Look at how games are being marketed nowadays. RPG label is slapped on practically every title that has a third person view of the character and numerical representation of his strength. I don't know why they keep on polluting the genre, since RPG never sell extremely well compared to the games from other genres, but nevertheless they do that.
All in all, the future of CRPG as we know them doesn't look too bright. |
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Sat Jul 03, 2004 8:32 am |
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Sir Markus
Counselor of the King
Joined: 11 Jan 2002
Posts: 369
Location: Columbus, Ohio USA |
CRPG's will be fine. The problem is too much development money is still being spent on MMORPGs. I forsee a dry spell for a few years where maybe indie games might be our only options and I agree with whoever said that about European developers being aggressive about the making of RPGs. The genre will be ok, IMO. |
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Sun Jul 04, 2004 5:06 am |
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Navaros
Eager Tradesman
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 40
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RPG is an almost dead genre
doesn't really matter anyhow because there has mostly only been crappy, immature, babyish RPGs in the last 5 years, ie: BG 2
RPG genre hasn't been producing anything good recently, except maybe Arx
i'd rather see RPGs dead then continue to have babyish schlock like BG 2 sully the genre |
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Wed Jul 14, 2004 1:12 pm |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
quote:
Originally posted by Navaros
RPG is an almost dead genre
doesn't really matter anyhow because there has mostly only been crappy, immature, babyish RPGs in the last 5 years, ie: BG 2
RPG genre hasn't been producing anything good recently, except maybe Arx
i'd rather see RPGs dead then continue to have babyish schlock like BG 2 sully the genre
I really think that RPGs have bad times and worse time will come, however you are probably too negative. Not good rpgs in last 5 years? Probably you are some kind of extreme hardcore classical rpg player :]. You did not liked BG, Fallout, last Wizardry, Morrowind, StarWars KOTOR or some other rpg from several last years? |
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Thu Jul 15, 2004 9:05 am |
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Zephyr Elvirion
Baron of the Court
Joined: 23 Mar 2003
Posts: 336
Location: New Zealand. |
I see RPGs evolving more towards the consoles - Morrowind took the leap and introduced the genre to a whole new audience and Fable's continuing the leap foward being released on XBox ONLY.
Let's face it, it's easier to play a game on a console, there's no finger knotting as you try to get to the correct keys, the picture's as large (or small) as your TV screen and you can take a console with you with a minimum of fuss (yes a lap-top goes with you too, but the picture quality isn't there).
Yes, I see more game companies going to console only.
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There're 3 sorts of people who're good at maths - those that are and those that aren't. |
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Thu Jul 15, 2004 9:31 am |
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Danicek
The Old One
Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic |
quote:
Originally posted by Zephyr Elvirion
I see RPGs evolving more towards the consoles - Morrowind took the leap and introduced the genre to a whole new audience and Fable's continuing the leap foward being released on XBox ONLY.
Let's face it, it's easier to play a game on a console, there's no finger knotting as you try to get to the correct keys, the picture's as large (or small) as your TV screen and you can take a console with you with a minimum of fuss (yes a lap-top goes with you too, but the picture quality isn't there).
Yes, I see more game companies going to console only.
There are also several reason why are consoles "not so good" for games, and also not so good for RPGs. I do not mean to start another consoler-PC war.
But what I see is that if something is developed for console or console and PC, it is usually visibly cripled by console possibilities. |
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Thu Jul 15, 2004 9:43 am |
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Schattenherz
Head Merchant
Joined: 21 Sep 2003
Posts: 71
Location: Nuremberg, Old Europe |
RPGs are dying. The Companys won't invest in complicated Games with long Development-Time if they can make fast Cash with the casual Gamer, Console-Kids and the FPS-Crowd - also the Death of Interplay might indicate that this Strategie doesn't always work  Maybe the Developers will reconsider in the Future ...
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"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."
-Nietzsche |
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Thu Jul 15, 2004 11:46 pm |
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