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LGF on 08 August 2016
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DonFerrari said:
LGF said:

Thanks!

The idea of this taxonomy is not to be of hierarchical fashion. These are just separate dimensions that can be used in combination to classify a game.

For instance, classic Pokemon games can be classified in the following way: recreational puzzle/exploration game recreating a scripted fantasy adventure on 2D orthographic open world, in real and continuous input time, played with digital inputs by a single player who progresses the skills of its pokemons; the battles are played in turn-based, discrete input.

And you intend to classify per game or genre/sub-genre?

The fact that the Taxonomy has multiple dimensions gives flexibility to use it in different ways. We can classify one game in every dimension, to establish the identity of that game, or we can pick particular dimensions and have some discussion about it.

For instance, I must say I don't like "discrete input" games. I'm more of an action-oriented gamer, so I like "real-time" and "continuous input" games. For some time I believed I didn't like RPGs. But then I realized the concept of RPG is related to character advancement (in this Taxonomy, "skill-based" progression) and collaborative storytelling ("non-scripted" behaviour). So, breaking down these concepts, I realized that what I didn't like were the traditional RPGs, which are "discrete input" and "turn-based". True RPG elements, like "skill-based" progression, can be found in games like GTA San Andreas (where you had progression bars for muscle, fatness, driving, riding, shooting, etc.) and Pro Evolution Soccer (where you can evolve a team of players with different profiles), which were some of my favourite games. And they had nothing to do with the boooring RPGs where you have to select something on a sub-menu and give it to a person to open a door which will lead you to somewhere else ... phew, I get exhausted just by thinking about it!

When I look at typical game genres, I get a bit confused. Some are based on the challenge, like shooting or racing, but others are related to the players, like MMO, and others to the environment, like 2D side scrolling platformers. So, I would say the Taxonomy gets all these things together and may help people better understand the concepts behind game design, as well as express their tastes in a more clear way. Also, we could start discussions about what game designs aren't well explored and that we would like to see developers working on. For example, I believe gaming will evolve more in the "non-scripted, online multi-player" direction, but I would like to see more effort in the "open-world, exploration, simulation" type. I miss games like The Getaway and LA Noire, and I don't remember any other game of this type in the last 15 years.

What about you?