Crafting systems are one possible solution to this ongoing struggle, making huge leaps in possible hours of play with the inclusion of only a couple of rare items. The constant struggle for many AAA developers is to create longer games with more content for less time and money in order to meet the demands of their audiences and consumers. So what is the value that has driven the proliferation of the crafting system to so many different games? This is not a simple answer, especially since the implementations in different games show that crafting systems can hold smaller or larger parts of the gameplay, be central or unrelated to the plot, and reward the player in different ways for utilizing the option. Skyrim, after all, is just taking the soups and truffles of Paper Mario and replacing them with maces and invisibility potions. But, while the scale may have changed, many of today’s systems still follow the paths carved by these earlier examples, likely because they are addressing the same problems or desires. Instead, the modern crafting game often looks more like Mojang’s Minecraft, with virtually limitless room for combination and modification, or like Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, utilizing huge numbers of recipes and the ability to combine recipes to create even more valuable items. Magic & Mayhem’s innovative system for “crafting” zombies and elves was an overlooked gem. But many of these systems left much to be desired, using limited options for customization or feeling scripted. To many gamers, these games indicated the first exposure to a mix-and-match or recipe-building experience in a game.
While older systems were likely constrained by the limitations of the technology, the fifth generation began implementing features recognizable in modern crafting systems, like Paper Mario‘s recipe list, or Magic & Mayhem‘s crafting-centered monster summoning, not to mention the still-popular RuneScape crafting system and the Final Fantasy VII materia system. The idea of collecting non-essential items for the sole purposes of combining them to create something unique or rare gained popularity around the beginning of the new millennia. Why do gamers stop to sew leather armor and forge tiaras on the quest to save the world from evil? Crafting has existed since the beginning of video games, but it would be hard to call the interactions of the earliest games a “system” of any sort. Crafting Systems: Why Players Have Fallen for the Forge The greatest hero in all the land, hard at work.
0 kommentar(er)
