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Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Tactical Gaming...
by Chris Remo, Jun 02, 2006 1:15pm PDTInterested in tactical video games? Shacker Dslyecxi has crafted an exhaustive treatise on the genre, complete with screenshots, photographs, and videos, called "Tactical Gaming Done Right, according to Dslyecxi." He sums it up as "outstanding examples in current games, areas that could use improvement, and general commentary on the genre." The work spans three pages and over 22,000 words, comprehensively delving into a huge number of gameplay components within the pantheon of tactical games as well as what more can be done to bring the genre closer to the ideal. "Anyone who knows me knows that realism is where my gaming passion lies," says Dsylecxi, and to that end he has included plenty of real world videos illustrating situations tactical games attempt to emulate.
The main objectives of this article are to increase awareness of unique or exceptional elements that have been successfully integrated into past FPS games (with an emphasis on the tactical/realistic side of things), highlight and praise implementations of "standard" features that were done particularly well in others, and give me a platform from which I can provide commentary on the various features and options relevant to the future of the genre that I find myself so very interested in. Some of the areas I will be talking about have very clear-cut winners, and they will be cited prominently. In other areas, things are not so clear, and so a discussion will be made between the various games and their implementations. Some things I've written have yet to be implemented, and while much of that is relegated to the second-to-last 'chapter', it does show up occasionaly prior to that.Despite the hefty amount of content, the author notes that there were various features he was unable to address within the scope of this article, and plans to revisit the topic in the near future.
Comments
if you meant it to encompass those as well I'm surprised you didn't mention anything of A.I., or scripted behavior vs. emergent tactical behavior ala (F.E.A.R.). I know alot of developers actually see a major stepping stone as being how to create A.I. that will use cover positions, flank, can be dispersed to fall back positions,and can hold ambush or kill zone positions logically. (i.e. without scripting)
Next gen isnt going to make this any better in its first iteration as everyone is more pressed with rendering technology hurdles then innovating on established gameplay. (Normal maps, several million poly models that create them, shaders, blah, blah, blah let alone the pain in the ass that is currently ps3/xbox360/pc cross development)
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This is just an extremely long-winded statement of the obvious.
There is nothing wrong with that, I just don't see the point. If you're smart and experienced enough in these games then you already know all this. If you're not then you won't "get it" just by reading this editorial. I mean, if you're not already into tactical games then this isn't going to really pique your interest (ie the lame Halo2 crowd), and for those that already are into the games mentioned, then this is just putting into text the things we already are very aware of. I don't really see who the target audience is.
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Next thing we know you'll be linking to articles by Morris@CNN!
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Nice job!
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realistic games are about as far away from game genres of what i enjoy, but i love that we have choices. to me though i want to escape reality not play it.
great article.
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http://digg.com/gaming/Tactical_game_guide
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;)
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so does he get some blingbling for making teh fp?
Devs shooting to make "realistic" games should definitely read this!
Maybe this'll encourage more shackers to take some time and write some serious articles.
Well done Remo for having the balls to post this on the front page. Good man.
P.D. Play Sawt 4 and the addon. Awesome stuff for the tactical gamer.
Other than that, it's a hell of a fun piece to read through.