Stealth & Cel-Shading. Crunchy stale bread. Game style.

[Concept]

I'm sick of buzz words.
I'm sick of games which jump on the band-wagon just for the sake of jumping on the band-wagon.
I'm all for games that can use these elements effectively. And some are out there.

But... Why are developers, and more specifically publishers, like dogs munching on an old corpse when it comes to sucking the blood out of any remotely successful gaming concept?

And to think my forum name is 'Concept'...

I'm ashamed of the name right now, especially when it comes to the context of videogaming.

Implementation is the stale bread folks. All we get is the occasional tasty bread crumb...

Will buzz-word concepts always rule the industry and turn the PR of the majority of games into nothing more than an extended 'high-concept aesthetic/gameplay list?

When I, or you, are sixty years old and rotting ever faster to our graves...
Will Stealth (tm) and Cel-Shading (tm) still be there, with company after company droning endlessly on about them???

Or, more interestingly, what's going to be the next-generation of buzz words?

... I'm sick of gaming stale bread being shoved down the industry's throat by the industry.

Maybe this thread should be called 'welcome to bulimia, gaming style'.

Endless regurgitation of washed out concepts.

That's what I'm sick of.

Aren't any of you?

[goldbricker]

I think that in the current climate it is too much of a risk for many publishers to release innovative games when there is no guarantee that these games will be a success.

When Metal Gear Solid was released it offered a new innovation in the stealth concept. Coupled with the game's high profile the game was a success and we have seen many of its ideas utilised in games released subsequently. This sort of game will be in development for many years as I suppose that introducing ideas that have not been used before would need significantly more tweaking to ensure that that each idea works rather than a game which is released after the standard-setter which can simply re-use the concepts that worked in the original game. This will affect the cost of the project which will mean that the game is under more pressure to be a success.

Why should publishers release innovative games when there is no guarantee that these games are going to be successful anyway? I think we need to be realistic about how frequently we are going to see truely innovative games.

[Concept]

It's not all about innovation.

I'm talking about the sickening overuse of the same concepts in such an uninspired fashion.

I'm not asking for every developer to try and reinvent the wheel.

Just... No more steal........t.........h.......................

Or Cel-Shading.

I'm sick of people retreading up the same muddy field until it becomes nothing more than a squashy swamp.

If developers could come up with new ways of using stealth or cel-shading that actually made sense a lot of the time, I wouldn't be bitching like a bitch.

Those concepts are used because they have become standard.

"**** lads, it's what everyone else is doing, right..."

"Better do the same. then Join those numbers."

I want a little more imagination in using the same ideas.

Not necessarily the introduction of brand new concepts. Gaming is going around in circles right now, bitiing it's own arse.

[Kirby]

I hate stealth games, HATE HATE HATE! ft:

[mid]

Stealth. Its like an action game without any action.

Anyone else suspect that "stealth" is popular because games "last longer" when you have to crawl through them at a snail's pace?

[lordcookie]

Stealth and cel shading are being over used at the moment. I am all for both of them if done right (games like Thief implement stealth perfectly), but what annoys me is when they are used in a game for no other reason than to make it easier to sell to the masses. Games that implement stealth sections in the game, but in the rest of the game there is no other mention of stealth. Plus cel shading is getting very dull now. Too many generic titles are using it, and using it badly. There are the odd ones like Zelda, Dark Cloud 2, and JSRF that implement the style really well.
Its this idea that developers (be it forced by publishers or not) have a check list of certain elements that must be in each game. At the moment cel shading and stealth elements are at the top of the list, and 5 years ago lens flare was at the top. It is annoying, but it is something that has been around in the industry for years.

I am just waiting for stealth elements to be implemented in a racing game .

[Ady]

Once again, Concept has managed to mirror my own sentiments.

Stealth and cel-shading are the current tools of the trade in the developmental arms race.

You can just imagine some rapacious publisher insisting a devco include one (or both) of the above into its latest 'product' because "That's what's in at the moment". This comes across in many of the games that seem to use cel shading and stealth just for the sake of it.

Without wishing to hijack, another bugbear of mine is the sequel culture that currently infects gaming. Really, some games are just better left standing alone, but rarely does this happen. There's nothing worse than seeing a singularly sound concept mined to an inch of its life, ending up another tired, tattered and over-pimped franchise.

[EagleK]

Concept, I share your sentiment on abusing the trend, but isn't it true of any art or entertainment form. There were time when perspective was "invented" in Renaissance times, or impressionism was in vogue. Jazz. Rock'n'roll. Horror movies. Car chase movies. You see the drift. Something new comes up, develops, becomes fashionable, ubiquitous, matures, declines, forgotten bar a few classics.

Cel shading is a distinct (and for some controversial) visual technique, but I wouldn't say it was overused or reached its pinnacle yet. In fact you can count the games that successfully implemented it on one hand. To hate its use is like hating artists for using watercolors.

Stealth genre is even less mature. There are 150 times more driving games or generic shooters, along with multitudes "extreme sport" titles that bring nothing new to the scene, so a good stealth game now and again is a breath of fresh air.

Actually I do not argue with you, quite opposite, but I think there are worse culprits than cel or stealth.

[Ady]

Cel shading is a distinct (and for some controversial) visual technique, but I wouldn't say it was overused or reached its pinnacle yet. In fact you can count the games that successfully implemented it on one hand. To hate its use is like hating artists for using watercolors.

The issue here is not the ubiquity of cel shading (as such), rather the principle behind its adoption. That is, it's little more than a 'me-too' fad for most developers/publishers who apply it because it's the "in thing".

Just as cel shading was 'discovered', a little bit of imagination could open up a wealth of other stylistic possibilities.

Stealth genre is even less mature. There are 150 times more driving games or generic shooters, along with multitudes "extreme sport" titles that bring nothing new to the scene, so a good stealth game now and again is a breath of fresh air.

Stealth isn't a genre, though. Again, its merely an idea that's been flogged to death because it was used to good effect in one very successful game. As such, lesser design studios apply it hoping it will magically make them lots of money.

I really can't see how anybody could even begin to play devil's advocate here.

[goldbricker]

The issue here is not the ubiquity of cel shading (as such), rather the principle behind its adoption. That is, it's little more than a 'me-too' fad for most developers/publishers who apply it because it's the "in thing".

Just as cel shading was 'discovered', a little bit of imagination could open up a wealth of other stylistic possibilities.

What is the point in opening up other forms of stylistic possibilities if no-one is gonna buy it though? As far as I am aware Jet Set Radio was the first game to offer Cel-shading but was a sales flop. It's taken a game of the magnitude of Zelda for a title with this new style to sell and even when that was introduced everyone bitched about it.

[Ady]

What is the point in opening up other forms of stylistic possibilities if no-one is gonna buy it though?

And this is precisely what's wrong with gaming now...

[EagleK]

The issue here is not the ubiquity of cel shading (as such), rather the principle behind its adoption... Just as cel shading was 'discovered', a little bit of imagination could open up a wealth of other stylistic possibilities.

Probably I misconstrued the point. However if the issue is not the excessive use of the cel shading technique than the whole argument is reduced to "stop making bad games", which is a non-argument really. I personally view it is a distinct technique which I like and wish to see successfully implemented in games.

Stealth isn't a genre, though.

Doesn't matter how you pigeonhole it. Call it idea, style, or any other reference, still it has much more scope to explore and is not as worn out as many other "ideas". Just count the amount of games using the idea of stealth against those using the idea of driving a car, or an idea of jumping platforms and collecting valuable items to see which ones are more abused

Sorry, didn't mean to sound controversial just for the sake of it.[/quote]