The Future of Gameplay Mechanics…

Thoughts on the future of gameplay mechanics… This is a VERY open ended question, so I will attempt to answer it with an open ended answer. My first thoughts on this question contain three elements.

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The first and major change I think will occur with futuristic games will be with movement system and your combat abilities. Imagine this, Assassin’s Creed meets Call of Duty 4 with a splash of Halo 3… Assassin’s creed has some of the most powerful movement system ever brought to next generation consoles, being able to climb almost any wall you see, or being to find an alternate route. Now if you mixed this movement system in with a game like COD4 that has some of the most realistic graphics in relation to weaponry as well an extremely well polished combat system you would have an incredibly realistic game that would be able to successful cross genres. Then if you were able to bring in Halo’s approach to AI (flanking, waiting, stalking), you would only increase the overall realism and fun that is only possible with the use of resources given by next generation consoles.

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The second change I think will take place with futuristic games is there approach to level design and sand box design. With most games there is some level of storyline, but I think most games we will take a less linear approach and a more open approach just like in real life. If I want to go to one part of the game and do a certain amount of jobs / quests and then come back and work on the main story line or do some other type of quest, I should not get penalized, but the main game should get harder as I do different quests, and should self adjust to what I have in my inventory.

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The final difference I think we will see is the blurring of lines between mini-play and mega-play. This is not to say that they will go away totality but the “mini-games” will be required to enter a specific aspect of the game, going from mini to mega and opening some other part of the game. With games now a days there is just so much space to fill that unless you have mini-games the game will become boring quickly, but if you can step back and play a whole other type of game, this increases the playability factor substantially. You could also use the mini games to be the only way to reach some type of end goal of the mini games, increasing the ability to master a whole other set of skills that in turn could be used in the mega-play…