How Players Will Shape Video Games’ Next Big Thing

DICE is unlike many other events we cover. Because the information we can give you is not announcements, but spotting trends and getting a feel for what’s going on inside the heads of game developers. It sets an overarching theme that establishes a It meant there was an element of buzzword compliance to our onstage conversations, especially if you were speaking to us instead of the creative lead.

First, there was the gold rush to mobile and free-to-play games a few years ago that culminated in a shift to games-as-a-service. Both of these trends have come with dizzying thoughts about the possibilities that individual games make. Billions Usually spewed by apparently media-trained men wearing Patagonia vests over button-down shirts. There was always a healthy dose of sarcasm from DICE’s group every time we went that route. Because it’s primarily the game maker community that takes the “art” part of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences very seriously.

This year’s theme was simply called “The Long Game.” Before, I would have scoffed at how easy it was to figure it out and become more than that. live service games And a new pardon that churns out content for the experience, in pursuit of maximizing fun-sounding acronyms like ARPDAU (Average Revenue Per Daily Active User) and LTV (Lifetime Value). No way, but it wasn’t. Instead, the general idea that emerged during presentations, roundtable discussions, and (most importantly) bar conversations was that the human element of game creation and that truly great experiences start with respectful relationships with players. It was about the fact of being born.

What this means is that the next big trend in game development, not necessarily new tools or features, is to integrate the player directly into the development process. And how to unlock this new paradigm was discussed at length during his week.

The event’s keynote speaker was New York Times bestselling author Neil Stevenson. He, along with William Gibson, is one of the few writers who have helped define the dictionary of the modern interactive age. His 1992 novel Snow Crash Stephenson coined the term “metaverse” about the scene that, thirty years later, is responsible for much of the nonsense that tech billionaires often hear trying to advocate the concept of the metaverse. explained. In his presentation, Stephenson quoted his Rebecca Barkin, co-founder of his own “open his metaverse” company, Lamina1. This was a powerful opening comment to an industry that has often expended a lot of energy doing just that. It served as a great way to shape the events that followed.

In an on-stage conversation with Outerloop Games’ Chandana Ekanayake, Double Fine’s Tim Schafer reminded everyone that ‘humans make games’, and his work often involves improvisational actors crashing and crashing games. He said he felt it was about creating a series of scenes to test. limit. This focus on pleasing players and leaving control to their influence was emphasized over and over again in nearly every conversation we had with the developers at the event.

Over the past two decades, we’ve tended to think of game “generations” in terms of how they tie directly to hardware capabilities. Better technology makes it run faster, and it looks cool with sophisticated lighting and ray tracing, and triple-digit frame rates. But now, it seems we’re going through a different kind of generational shift, aimed solely at giving players more agency over how games are built and the experiences they offer.

Schafer pointed out that historically games are built by a small group of gatekeepers. As evidenced by the sheer number of indie games helping to push boundaries in all directions, the incredibly creative modding scene in PC games, and the growing power of game creation tools from Roblox to Unity and Unreal, That has been changing for some time now. The player empowerment we’re seeing isn’t a new phenomenon we can’t imagine, but the amount of trust and influence passionate players have on game development feels refreshing. It seems that it is also the turn of.

Much of the conversation so far has been about the ethical issues raised for AI-generated artwork and narratives, but using these systems as a way to interpret ideas involves There is tangible excitement. Rather than requiring expertise in a complex tool like Unreal’s editor, the AI ​​will be able to understand what is being described and turn the ball on to bring that idea to life. I’m starting to envision a scenario where I could roll a . Unleashing such tools in the future certainly seems to have the potential to completely change the nature of design and implementation. And like movies before the advent of video cameras, game development is relatively inaccessible compared to other art forms. AI has the potential to enable creative people to share their ideas without having to become programmers, writers, artists or composers.

One thing is certain, a truly cultural phenomenon of the scale of Fortnite, the next generation of games will be created in direct, hands-on partnership with players, rather than just thinking of them as customers. It’s going to be a great game.

John Davison is a publisher and editor-in-chief who has been writing about games and entertainment for over 30 years.follow him twitter.