Article: Looking into the future > Page 2.
The most important aspect is, of course, the experience. One of the adventure genre's main lures was its ability to completely grip you, and make you feel like you were part of that universe. The problem with reintroducing an adventure game at the current point in the time is that it's an extremely risky business. With gamers craving constant action- obsessed first-person shootfests, developers and publishers alike are more inclined to take the safer route of producing yet another game of that syle, rather than taking a risk with something that could potentially not sell very well at all, no matter how great the game itself is.
It almost becomes a vicious circle. Whilst the gamers do want adventure games, they don't just want any adventure game. Adventure games can be done extremely well, or incredibly badly. This is perceived as a big risk by publishers, and it is only natural that they are going to be a little wary of providing massive funding for a game that could potentially take a few steps and then fall flat onto its face. And so, in most cases they decide not to take the risk, and the game isn't created.
Sometimes, the risk is taken. However, the publisher feels that they have taken enough of a risk as it is by funding the game's development alone, and don't fund as much marketing as they may do with a more mainstream game. This results in the game not being advertised properly, gamers not hearing about this awesome new adventure game en masse, and ultimately, the game fails to sell well. This puts a huge dent in the publisher's willingness to fund further adventure games, and slowly the genre is axed. Relatively recent tragic examples of this are Grim Fandango and Beyond Good and Evil.
And so, Tim Schafer has taken a slightly more appealing route to publishers (although whether or not this was intentional is pure speculation on my part), by integrating the adventure genre with the platform genre -- one that still goes strong even in today's hostile gaming environment. Psychonauts will have enough 3D platforming action to please even the most demanding of gamers, but will also be packed to the brink of explosion with characters that don't feel fake, full of interactive elements, and of course have a totally immersive storyline and universe. The market has been broadened, but without really getting rid of what attracts either side of the action/adventure divide.
So, to sum the last two pages up, Psychonauts isn't just a platform game. Sure, it may look like one. Sure, it may even sound like one, after reading the official press releases from Majesco. But it's far more than that. It's an adventure game, with action used as the primary driving force rather than puzzles. There is unlikely to be another game out there that is quite the same as Psychonauts prior to its release, and I fully encourage everybody who has even the slightest interest in either platform or adventure games to pick it up and at least give it a go.
Roll on April 2005.
It almost becomes a vicious circle. Whilst the gamers do want adventure games, they don't just want any adventure game. Adventure games can be done extremely well, or incredibly badly. This is perceived as a big risk by publishers, and it is only natural that they are going to be a little wary of providing massive funding for a game that could potentially take a few steps and then fall flat onto its face. And so, in most cases they decide not to take the risk, and the game isn't created.
Sometimes, the risk is taken. However, the publisher feels that they have taken enough of a risk as it is by funding the game's development alone, and don't fund as much marketing as they may do with a more mainstream game. This results in the game not being advertised properly, gamers not hearing about this awesome new adventure game en masse, and ultimately, the game fails to sell well. This puts a huge dent in the publisher's willingness to fund further adventure games, and slowly the genre is axed. Relatively recent tragic examples of this are Grim Fandango and Beyond Good and Evil.
And so, Tim Schafer has taken a slightly more appealing route to publishers (although whether or not this was intentional is pure speculation on my part), by integrating the adventure genre with the platform genre -- one that still goes strong even in today's hostile gaming environment. Psychonauts will have enough 3D platforming action to please even the most demanding of gamers, but will also be packed to the brink of explosion with characters that don't feel fake, full of interactive elements, and of course have a totally immersive storyline and universe. The market has been broadened, but without really getting rid of what attracts either side of the action/adventure divide.
So, to sum the last two pages up, Psychonauts isn't just a platform game. Sure, it may look like one. Sure, it may even sound like one, after reading the official press releases from Majesco. But it's far more than that. It's an adventure game, with action used as the primary driving force rather than puzzles. There is unlikely to be another game out there that is quite the same as Psychonauts prior to its release, and I fully encourage everybody who has even the slightest interest in either platform or adventure games to pick it up and at least give it a go.
Roll on April 2005.
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