Individual Entry
Grand Theft Metropolis
Deja Vu.I'm glad that Grand Theft Auto doesn't render itself within the confines of a real city (yes, I realize that there was a GTA:London game, but let's stick with the GTA3 dynasty). Instead, it chooses an abstracted approximation (and spoof) of a real metropolis for its setting. Cities that seem familiar and have recognizable structures and architecture, but are still different and fresh. Cities that are the constructs of level designers rather than city planners.
Not because of any social criticisms or gameplay effects or anything of the sort, but because of the fact that, well, real cities are boring. Or, at least, simulations of real cities.
(Note: I have not played The Getaway or Streets of LA)
November 04, 2004. Gaming.Comments (3)
Exactly. Real cities and environs are functional first, aesthetic second.
What you said is what I was getting at, but with more words. I knew if I needlessly elaborated, I'd never have posted.
November 8, 2004 01:31 PM. Posted by: nowak.Dude, you can ALWAYS count on me to elaborate needlessly!! Word.
November 8, 2004 02:41 PM. Posted by: JP.
Very true, though level designers don't always "get" that concept, especially these days with realism in all its forms being such a persistent trend.
Usually the two biggest problems with "real world" level designs are scale and repetition... go into some place like an office building, an airport or even a mall and you'll find it takes quite a lot of time walking to get anywhere at all, and there are massively redundant structures like aisles or cubicles simply because, well, it's a real place where X number of real people have to do something useful. Unless you're making an office work simulator (hmm, there's a thought!) that is not germane or interesting stuff to be representing.
So the trick is to make your game office or game mall to "feel" real, to have all the visual touches you'd expect from a real one and be internally consistent enough to evoke it... without all the baggage and boredom of the real thing. The GTA series (haven't played San Andreas yet) has succeeded very well at this.
System Shock 2 did this pretty well too - the first 2/3 of the game at least (Von Braun). There were the standard corridors and open areas and ramps, but there were also bathrooms, crew cabins (the ones belonging to underlings more cramped than the executive suites), lounges, maintenance areas, holds for storing equipment, and one deck was a hydroponics farm where food was grown. Not only did each area have its own distinct flavor because of this, it really seemed like the ship you were on could support several hundred people for a very long journey through deep space, while avoiding the extreme utilitarianism and redundancy that would probably exist in a real interstellar ship design.
November 5, 2004 11:17 AM. Posted by: JP.