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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 20</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC"> 
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              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
                in loonygames:</font></b></font></p>

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        <p align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8">Can't 
          Please Everyone<font size="+1"></font></font></p>
        <p align="right"><font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          Rowan &quot;<a target="_self" href="mailto:sumaleth@frag.com">Sumaleth</a>&quot; 
          Crawford </font></b></font></p>
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        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The game making process is 
          fast becoming a balancing act, and this is particularly true since the 
          explosion of 3D gaming where you can have framerate <i>or</i> detail, 
          but not both. Developers are forced to forego one for the other, attempting 
          to find a balance that will appease players who prefer detail, and those 
          that prefer frame rate. Again, there is no such thing as a perfect balance, 
          and no matter how good your intentions are there will always be a large 
          number of people that are unsatisfied with the results.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">id Software decided to favor 
          detailed indoor environments when determining the balance for <b>Quake 

          2</b>, Epic Megagames chose to favor large outdoor environments at the 
          expense of detail with <b>Unreal</b>, and DreamWorks decided on large 
          detailed environments at the expense of framerate and smoothness for 
          <b>Trespasser</b>. All quite different solutions to the problem of detail 
          vs. framerate, and yet all equally valid.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">These differences of opinion, 
          whether at the genre level, or in seemingly minor details like the firing 
          speed of a missile launcher or the running speed of the players character, 
          make the process of creating games very frustrating, and often disheartening. 
          Developers are making games they enjoy and so they live with simple 
          the belief that their games are enjoyable. To read reviews that attack 
          elements of the game that were intended to be <i>features</i> can be 
          very surprising, especially when it's clear that a simple, arbitrary 
          bias in the reviewer has lead to the attacks rather than any substantial 
          reason.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">And it's not enough for us 
          to just prefer one thing rather than another, whether we have what we 
          consider a good reason or not, there's always that additional tendency 
          to then <i>hate</i> the opposite. </font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">"<i>Command and Conquer is 
          crap.</i>&quot; </font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">"<i>Why</i>?"</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i>"I hate strategy games."</i></font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ever had a conversion to 
          that effect? Then they'll try to apply some reasoning<i>; "the gameplay 
          is so slow, it's boring.</i>&quot; The thing is, that's not the real 
          reason they dislike RTS games, they don't <i>really</i> know why, that 
          was just the first thing that popped into their head. The irony is that, 
          given time, they'll probably find they actually do enjoy those types 
          of games; tastes change, so ultimately they're arguing with themselves.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Orange sucks!</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Solutions? It's possible 
          to see technology based issues being put to rest some time in the future, 
          at a time when computers are fast enough to give a full frame with any 
          level of detail you may desire. Based on our current expectations, that 
          day <i>will</i> come eventually, although it's hard to judge what the 
          expectations of game players will be by then. We might find that there 
          is <i>never</i> a time when balancing of some sort isn't required by 
          game developers.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">A number of the issues can 
          be, at least partially, eased by simply <i>being clever</i> in the design 
          process. <b>Unreal's</b> outdoor environments are awe-inspiring enough 
          to take your attention away from the lack of baddies in those areas. 
          This helps maintain the framerate enough to keep things comfortable 
          until you get back indoors again.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Sin</b>, by Ritual Entertainment, 
          fades map detailing (such as plants, cups etc) into existence a surprisingly 
          short distance in front of you to increase the framerate while maintaining 
          a detailed environment around the immediate area. Even knowing that 
          this goes on leaves no negative impression; in the heat of the game 
          you are all but completely unaware that it's happening.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Another interesting example 
          is the use of realtime tessellation, something we'll be seeing a lot 
          more of in the future. The process involves creating highly detailed 


          environments and models, and then using a clever algorithm to reduce 
          the elements to a usable number of polygons during playtime. The benefit 
          is that if there is, for example, only one baddie on screen then it 
          will have all of your attention <i>and</i> a high polygon count. If 
          other baddies then come into view, your attention is divided and the 
          polygon load can be spread between the different models. This works 
          for distance too; there's no point drawing 800+ polygons for a baddie 
          silhouetted against the horizon. Traditionally this has been done by 
          creating a number of different models, or different sized versions of 
          the textures, but the real-time approach will allow far greater complexity 
          in the choice process.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">However, even this method 
          for increasing detail and speed will divide opinions since the process 
          is (at least for now) rather distracting and many people simply won't 
          like it. You can't please everyone. </font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The remaining elements that 
          make up games simply have no solutions to this problem; people will 
          always be divided no matter how much work is put in, and how good the 
          results are. It doesn't matter how good <b>Dark Reign 2</b> ends up, 
          people that don't enjoy RTS games still aren't going to enjoy it. If 
          someone prefers realistic characters in a FPS game, it doesn't matter 
          how well designed and implemented an alien might be if it isn’t realistic, 
          and (more importantly) <i>can't</i> be.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I often wonder what the point 
          of game reviews are. We all know how divergent opinions and tastes can 
          be, and they are quickly becoming even more so, which, when combined 
          with the "can't please everyone" theory it appears to make the whole 
          idea of reviews rather pointless.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Or at the very least, reviewers 
          are in desperate need of an industry-wide re-schooling on the art of 
          reviewing games. It's all too easy too hate a game simply because it 
          didn't have a graphical style that you preferred, or perhaps you found 
          some feature distracting enough to put you off everything else. Writing 
          a bad review for reasons like that is pointless - you are writing the 
          review purely for the benefit of yourself. It's no good to anyone else! 
          (and that's not even mentioning the reviewers who think that reciting 
          the plot of the game is what reviewing is all about..)</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">With genres now beginning 
          to split into whole new types of games, like the aforementioned deathmatch 
          orientated FPS games, we're beginning to see people slamming games they 
          <i>perceive</i> to have design problems, when they are actually playing 
          a different type of game altogether. There's a very real risk of people 
          trying to overlay the designs and strengths of something like <b>Quake 
          2</b> over games such as <b>Tomb Raider</b> or <b>Trespasser</b> which 
          are actually quite different types of games with entirely new aims and 
          incomparable gameplay. To compare one to the other is verging on the 
          ridiculous and yet we see it happening all the time.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">So not only do reviewers 
          need to be able to differentiate between what comes down to taste/opinion, 
          and what comes down to poor design, but they also need to be aware of 
          the sub-genres that are appearing all the time. Comparison is one of 
          the <i>strongest</i> tools that reviewers have at their disposal, but 
          not at the expense of diversity in game design. If someone wants to 
          make a puzzle game out of a genre that has typically been an action 
          format, they should be <i>encouraged</i> rather than slandered. The 
          same goes for multiplayer-only games. Slamming them simply because they 
          don't have a single player element is to be missing the point. If you 
          cannot make the distinction, you shouldn't be reviewing games.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is one of the reasons 
          why game developers find the recently popular spate of "opinion sites" 
          annoying, because they are, in effect, an outlet for simple opinions 
          (wrapped up in layers of sensationalism). They radiate the false impression 
          of being "correct" (whatever it means), with the sensational aspects 
          making them popular. This somehow gives the appearance of being informative 
          when, if you think about it, they are little more than a collection 
          of a single person’s arbitrary opinions.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Rather than smearing sensational 
          opinions all over a review, they would be far better off talking about 
          the aspects of the game that <i>can</i> be substantiated, and comparing 
          similar elements found in other games so that people can learn something 
          from the review and form a picture in their mind. Opinions can still 
          be included because, in small doses and when combined with valid arguments, 
          they can prove beneficial - but <i>not</i> as the whole review.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">If everyone liked the same 
          things the world would probably be a pretty boring place, but it would 
          certainly make life for game developers much easier. So, for now at 
          least, spare a thought for the problems faced by developers, and if 
          you think something "sucks", just take a moment to see if there's a 
          <i>good</i> reason why, before you open your mouth.</font></p>
        <p>&nbsp; </p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><i><font size="-1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">- 
          Rowan &quot;Sumaleth&quot; Crawford is a member of Team Impact. His 
          most recent project has been the upcoming <b>Quake 2 Internet Pack: 
          Extremities</b>.</font></i></p>
        <p align="RIGHT">&nbsp;</p>
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    <td><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
      Illustration &copy; 1998 Mike Sanzone. Can't Please Everyone is &copy; 1998 
      Rowan Crawford. All other content is &copy; 1998 <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi 
      productions</a>. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited, you pervert.</font></i></td>
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