Women in video games: Bad solutions don't fix problems.

The video game industry has recently been getting a lot of flak for having too many overtly sexual female characters.  I have seen several people say that a potential solution to the problem would be to include unattractive women in games. When given examples of unattractive women in games, these people inevitably respond in one of two ways, and often both at once:

1. Those characters are the exception, not the rule.
2. That character doesn't count because they are bizarre or outlandish.

These responses are ridiculous. This is why.

Video games are not movies or books, they do not need a good story to be good. They can stand on their gameplay alone. Street Fighter, for example, does not need a good story and I would even go so far as to say it would be worse if they had tried to shoehorn a deep story into the game. Not every game needs a deep story, not every game should have a deep story.

What every game does need are interesting characters. But if you are not going to have a deep story, there is no point to having deep characters. There is no payoff and that characterization becomes time wasted that detracts from the game.

Because of this, developers are often tasked with creating interesting but shallow characters. This is accomplished by making the character outlandish, especially on a visual level. They need to stick in the mind from the moment they are seen. This basically means they need to be notably strange, ugly, or attractive. Notably ugly is generally not used because no one wants to look at an exceptionally ugly character for any length of time. This leaves us with notably strange and notably attractive. Visually uninteresting characters (average looking) only work when they can be fleshed out by deep story and engaging dialog, which is often not possible

Even when a good story and engaging dialog are possible, average looking characters will always be in the minority because they are boring. The only time it is good to have such a character is when their lack of exceptional features contributes to their character, such as Lucca in Chrono Trigger (setting her apart as the only average looking person in a group of freaks,) or the setting, such as Alyx Vance. Otherwise the developer is passing up on an opportunity to put something interesting in the game for no reason and the game is worse for it.

In summary, average looking or ugly characters will always be rare because it is a really bad idea, with a few exceptions. This is not the solution to the overt sexuality problem. Stop suggesting it.

Game Design Part 1: Learning to Program

Part 1 of my game design articles. Each article will contain my insights on how to create an indie video game. This article will discuss how to learn to program.

Many people want to make video games, but few are able to. From what I have seen, the biggest obstacle for most is programming. The task of programming can seem daunting. Many begin by attempting to teach themselves C++ or Java. This is a big mistake, you will almost certainly burn out before you are able to make anything more complex than tic tac toe, if you even make it that far.

Instead, I would recommend starting with game creation software. I started with Game Maker, which is a great program. It includes a number of excellent tutorials, thorough documentation, and is free. You can pay for a pro version that includes additional functionality, but for the beginner game designer the free version will be more than adequate. 

The best thing about using game creation software like Game Maker is that you don't need to learn everything at once. You can see the big picture with greater ease and learn how to program by filling in gaps. You will be able to create simple games before you burn out which is very encouraging  and taking advantage of the scripting tools provided (which you should do as soon as possible) will allow you to create surprisingly complex games.

Of course, there are drawbacks to software like Game Maker. A game creation tool like Game Maker is much easier to use than C++, but the price is that it is far less adaptable. Eventually you may want to move onto a tool that allows greater flexibility, but I would recommend you first learn to create simple games within the limitations of Game Maker. This will not only help you learn to program but will also give you actual experience creating video games, which will be more important to making a good video game than anything else you can do.

Why sequels are so important, Borderlands 2 edition.

I have played Borderlands 2 for a few hours at this point, and I am greatly enjoying this game so far. From what I have seen, Borderlands 2 is an excellent example of why sequels are so important in the video game industry.

When an original concept is created for a video game and it is made into a new video game, it is difficult to see how early decisions well end up in the final project and generally you don't have the budget to go back and change decisions you regret. Furthermore, the budget is usually very tight so you end up cutting features. The entire project usually ends up severely lacking polish. This does not mean that the game is bad, only that they rarely live up to their potential, especially when the idea is new and radical.

Borderlands the first, being such an ambitious project, had these problems in spades. The game lacked variety in environments and enemies, the combat was imbalanced, it started slow, and the combat wasn't that satisfying. Still, I greatly enjoyed the time I spent with it. The idea of a true FPS RPG loot fest was excellent. Finding a new shiny gun was great and playing co-op was an excellent experience.

Borderlands 2 seems to have nailed down most of the problems that plagued Borderlands the first. The combat is fun and satisfying, the enemies and environment show much more variety, it is very enjoyable from the very beginning, and even the humor and randomly generated equipment is better. Borderlands 2 is not a perfect game, and I still need to play it a great deal before I can make a final judgement, but I think it is a good game and a great example of how sequels are important in the video game industry.

That is not to say that all sequels are better than the original or that too many sequels can't be a problem, but that is a subject for another time.