Game Gripes and Desires

I'll start this off with a gripe for the developers:

When making a game, DON'T use the same color palette on EVERY. SINGLE. LOCATION!!  The lighting and basic colors will be different when you're inside compared to outside, in a dark attic vs. in a glass-enclosed breakfast nook.  It bugs me!

Here's an example.  Look at the screens of the upcoming Web of Deceit: Morgana's Legacy.  Lovely graphics, but every screen has the same green and slate blue hue to it, regardless of what kind of scene it is!

Keeping the same art style throughout the game is important, but that does not mean saturating us with the SAME colors over and over again.  Give us some variety, it really adds interest to your project(s)!

One of my gripes would be I wish they would stop with the sparkles and black bar tips on the harder game play modes. They should just have one mode called custom and we can choose the options we want and have them apply to the game.

Another thing I wish they would stop doing is chopping of the ending of the main game. You need the bonus chapter to get a proper ending.

genkicoll wrote:I'll start this off with a gripe for the developers:

When making a game, DON'T use the same color palette on EVERY. SINGLE. LOCATION!!  The lighting and basic colors will be different when you're inside compared to outside, in a dark attic vs. in a glass-enclosed breakfast nook.  It bugs me!

Here's an example.  Look at the screens of the upcoming Web of Deceit: Morgana's Legacy.  Lovely graphics, but every screen has the same green and slate blue hue to it, regardless of what kind of scene it is!

Keeping the same art style throughout the game is important, but that does not mean saturating us with the SAME colors over and over again.  Give us some variety, it really adds interest to your project(s)!

OMG yes, I agree!!! And even when the colors vary somewhat I still *can't stand* that overused art style. I didn't know exactly how to describe it but I believe ERS was one of the first, though LOTS of devs use it now. Somewhat gothic in feel, with everything looking slightly hazy/fuzzy and that exact same bluish-green-touched-with-reddish-gold color cast over all. Not that it wasn't pretty the first couple dozen times but come on, give us a break and stop all looking like each other!!  

When a game is released at BFG I check out the frames and if I see that "look" I tend to not even demo it.
Likewise I'm hot to demo practically anything that has a different art style, even the ones deemed 'dated' by reviewers. Well, 'dated' to some, but clean, clear, crisp and uncluttered to me!

I have a CE game gripe!

I enjoy having wallpapers as part of our CE content, but I HATE it when you (devs) make your game logo HUUUGE!  I don't want to see a beautiful covered by your logo, I want to see the image!  Put a smaller logo on the wallpapers, please!

Since we're on the subject, give us a little bit of variety, please.  Oft times the walls are just images that we could have saved, ourselves, whilst we played the game!  ... Oh, except for that enormous logo, that is   Mix it up a little and give us something in there that we couldn't have made ourselves -- it makes your CE's seem that much more worthwhile

I'll add another gripe that I've mentioned before though I know most of you won't agree with me.   

I'm awfully tired of all the cutesy animal helpers that appear in the middle of so-called dark & eerie games. Yeah, I know the games aren't really scary, but nothing ruins an even *slightly* creepy or macabre mood faster than a cute li'l _____ (fill in the blank) that cheerfully helps you out... and even worse when you get to buy it cute li'l outfits and toys.   To me its inclusion seems a bit condescending, like the devs are rubbing their hands together saying, "Our customers are all women, right? And what do women want to see? I know, let's throw in adorable stuffed animal-style critters! Women eat that #$%& right up!" It's like Hello Kitty for grownups, yuck. Come on, save that for the cheerful fairy tales, devs, and let's keep dark games DARK!

YES, I agree!  It's an ongoing discussion, but it bears repeating.

I liked the monkey in Dark Arcana, but the devs did a great job on him, and he didn't seem out of place at all.  Not cutesy.

I loved Benny in Dreamscapes, too.  The thing about Benny, though, is that he was alien and wild, and not quite safe, so though he was adorable, he was also a little scary, perfectly suitable to the game. (Geez I love that game!!)

RenaissanceMom wrote:I'll add another gripe that I've mentioned before though I know most of you won't agree with me.   

I'm awfully tired of all the cutesy animal helpers that appear in the middle of so-called dark & eerie games. Yeah, I know the games aren't really scary, but nothing ruins an even *slightly* creepy or macabre mood faster than a cute li'l _____ (fill in the blank) that cheerfully helps you out... and even worse when you get to buy it cute li'l outfits and toys.   To me its inclusion seems a bit condescending, like the devs are rubbing their hands together saying, "Our customers are all women, right? And what do women want to see? I know, let's throw in adorable stuffed animal-style critters! Women eat that #$%& right up!" It's like Hello Kitty for grownups, yuck. Come on, save that for the cheerful fairy tales, devs, and let's keep dark games DARK!

Oh I agree! I can't stand cutesy games and while I don't know for sure because I haven't even demoed one of ERS games for almost a year now let alone buy any of their games but anyway I read on their latest game about having to wash clothes for the animals.  That's a definite no go for me!

I read on their latest game about having to wash clothes for the animals.  

ROFL - oh HELL no!! This is *exactly* why I insist my own pets run around naked.  

Another reason why I'm not such a fan of the "use an animal to jump, climb, fetch & carry" method is that in many cases it represents a further dumbing down in gameplay. I realize casual games aren't usually known for their brain-draining problem solving, but this feels along the lines of ERS' congratulatory "Well done! You found a screwdriver!" (exactly when you needed one, yeah right ).

Believe me, I like a relaxing (aka dead-simple) game now and then too.   But imo many a potentially challenging game has been ruined (for me) by the mechanics of an animal 'escort'. Especially as I get older, I really appreciate opportunities to use those little gray cells. Use 'em or lose 'em, folks!

genkicoll wrote:I enjoy having wallpapers as part of our CE content, but I HATE it when you (devs) make your game logo HUUUGE!  I don't want to see a beautiful covered by your logo, I want to see the image!  Put a smaller logo on the wallpapers, please!

This!! Same with soundtrack that can't be saved!! What's the point of including usable stuff if it's so restricted? I've used game wallpapers, but I took screenshots myself. The CE ones had gigantic logo covering 25% of the available screen estate. It's ridiculous.

Other gripes:
- cute helpers... they're in so many games now
- finding stone to break jar instead of 1) turning the jar upside down, 2) hurling the jar against the wall, 3) breaking the jar with a hammer from inventory, 4) breaking the jar with a pickaxe from the inventory, 5) breaking the jar with a sledgehammer from inventory
- one-use knives, crowbars, etc
- dumb solutions to puzzles. Who would put a complex plastic mask into a paper shredder?
- sparkles tied to HO hint recharge time. Why do 99% of the devs assume those who don't want handholding in adventure want hard HOS?
- stupid wallpaper resolutions aka 1024x768. That resolution was used in 2001, please include something like 1600x900.
- chopping off endings in SEs. Scummy practice. That's why I stopped buying ERS games.
- overriding system settings and stretching 4:3 games to fill widescreen monitors with distorted graphics... with no option to change it back.

Builder gripes:
- mouse over to collect resources. Am I just to believe that a tax collector would collect taxes and then leave the money sitting on the ground??
- no option to move buildings in games with free building
- no option to demolish buildings
- no chaining tasks and sending workers who haven't returned to HQ yet
Why so few games with scrollable maps? One-screen maps are small.

General gaming gripes (in spoiler because the post got so long...):

Spoiler:

Oh man... I could list more, but I'd better stop here. So many things annoy me!

Wow, vervaine, lol!!!

I'm very easy to please...good storyline & graphics, music & puzzles, I'll play anything!

There are a few puzzles I don't like & won't even try to work them. Sometimes, the way I have to access my Inventory (I prefer the mouse-over-opening, myself) aggravates me, and I like for it to be on the bottom of the screen, but whichever way, I can get used to it pretty quickly.
Cute little animal helpers...as long as I don't have to play dress-up, I'm okay. For sure, I will not "wash" outfits for them (I honestly can't believe a developer did that).

I don't play Builders or TMs. I don't have the skill to play TMs and I find Builders monotonous.

I must straighten out a misconception.    You do not have to wash the little raccoons outfit.

The poor thing has to wash its own clothes.      Which is why R-mom's naked pets are so happy. 

Oh, also, to go along with R-mom...after I do all sorts of stuff--like break into a safe or
someone's desk or take out bricks from the building cause, yeah, that's where I always
put my keys--the congratulatory  "you found a whatever".  Found it??  You made me go
through hoops to get it when I could have gotten it from the barn I was just in.
Congratulate me for being a petty thief.    


I have to say,   I do like Elf.   I would miss the little guy.

Hee hee great list, vervaine! I can tell you've been giving this some thought!

And on a similar note, what's with us (aka The Detective) being unable to stick our fingers in a little pile of leaves (or dirt or sand) to find something. Really? We have to find a rake or spade first?! Uhh, we're trying to rescue someone here in a life-or-death situation but apparently we can't get our fingers dirty! <smh>

luvtoread wrote:I must straighten out a misconception.    You do not have to wash the little raccoons outfit.

The poor thing has to wash its own clothes.      Which is why R-mom's naked pets are so happy. 
   


I have to say,   I do like Elf.   I would miss the little guy.

I thank you for straightening this out. Like I said I haven't played the game. I was just going by what I read about having to find soap and wash clothes and well even if the raccoons have to wash their clothes it's still a no go for me. I will not be finding bars of soap in my games so raccoons can wash their clothes. If I ever came across this in one of my games well it would definitely get my   stop the madness, cut this off and pull the plug rating.

RenaissanceMom wrote:Hee hee great list, vervaine! I can tell you've been giving this some thought!

And on a similar note, what's with us (aka The Detective) being unable to stick our fingers in a little pile of leaves (or dirt or sand) to find something. Really? We have to find a rake or spade first?! Uhh, we're trying to rescue someone here in a life-or-death situation but apparently we can't get our fingers dirty! <smh>

Nah... I was just writing down annoying stuff and it slowly snowballed into that wall of text

That too! Detectives who don't bother bringing their own flashlight and pocket knife   Can't pull out a dirty cube from a flower pot or brush aside some leaves with their boot.

Older point and click games annoyed me with pixel hunting. In newer ones I wish there was more than one hotspot per screen. Ehh... I guess I'm hard to please!

Your insights never fail to impress me, Vervaine   Awesome list!

Something in particular that I enjoy seeing in a game is when I try to use the "wrong" tool for something, and the game tells me WHY this won't work.  For example, "The pliers are too big for this," or "The sledgehammer would damage x-item," or "The jar is too heavy to lift, and it won't break."

I always appreciate these tidbits, and always mention them in my reviews.  It's a little bit of extra effort on the devs' part that goes a long way.

The only example I can think of right offhand was in Margrave 4: The Blacksmith's Daughter.  We had a screw driver in our inventory, but we couldn't use it at one point because it was the wrong kind (it was a flat-head, and we needed a hex key or a Phillip's.)

Now that I think about it, I seem to recall that in Sable Maze 1: Sullivan River we had a knife for a while, but then it broke, and we had to find something else to cut with.  Awesome!

There are two things that will kill the enjoyment of a game right off the bat. 

The first is localization -- if you're going to translate to another language, get someone who is NATIVE to the tongue to help you!  Terrible grammar and mislabeled items really grate on my nerves.  It IS possible for me to overlook it and still enjoy the game if the story and gameplay are good enough, but it still really bugs me.

The second is a MAJOR gripe, and will actually invoke a feeling of hostility from me.  Tasks that defy physics and could NEVER work in a million years, tasks that are so dangerous that you would literally DIE, and sheer stupidity in our tasks.

Let me give you some examples I've come across:

There is a glass dome with a lock about half way between the top and bottom.  We're supposed to be able to use a magnet to move the key to the lock, thus unlocking it and getting us the key.  First of all, why can't we just break the glass?  Secondly, how on EARTH are we supposed to be able to, in reality, position the key EXACTLY right so that it goes into the lock?  Not happening!  Even if the lock was right against the table at the bottom, it would be INCREDIBLY difficult, if not impossible!

In one game we're asked to shoot an oxygen tank with a flare gun in order to get through a thin wall.  Excuse me?  There has to be a MUCH less dangerous way to make a hole in that wall... and besides, I don't think a flare gun would have enough power to break through the tank in the first place!  This particular game was one I was really enjoying until they kept stretching believability to the breaking point -- this one example is just the tip of the iceberg!

As for sheer stupidity, we see that in a lot of games.  Why can't I break that vase with the brick in my inventory, instead of filling it with water to get something to float to where I can reach it?  I can forgive that, it's not that big a deal.  When I'm asked to break a music box by cutting a rope that has an iron dangling from it, and letting it fall on the box... Well, that's just plain STUPID!    For one thing, why in the world would someone hang an iron from a rope in the first place, why would it be hanging over a desk and perfectly positioned over the music box, and why, if I need it so much, can't I just untie the darned rope?  Maybe I can't get the knot loose, that's fine... but even more pressing, to my mind, is why in the WORLD can't I just break the darned box with the TIRE IRON I have in my inventory?!? 

Whew~  Rant over.  I feel a little better know