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Genre Suggestions

Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 11:34 pm
by Alastair
Here are a couple of genre ideas that I have had which may warrant some discussion.

The first is the "Stuck on island" genre. This genre describes games where the main theme is that you have to escape an island, but there are many games where you need to escape some confinement other than an island. So a new genre needs creating for these other games, whether or not the "Stuck on island" genre remains as a distinct genre or is rolled into this new genre is one thing that needs a decision. The other thing that needs deciding is what to call this new genre, "Trapped!" and "Escape" come to mind but there may be better tag names that could be used.

Secondly, there are a number of games where the player can play the part of more than one character. I think such games deserve a genre tag, I just cannot think of a suitable name, for example "Multiple Player Characters" is ambiguous (is that a game where one player plays many characters or is it a game for several players?). So can anyone come up with a suitable genre tag?

Re: Genre Suggestions

Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 10:42 am
by Gunness
The reason I chose "Stuck on island" as a separate genre is that's a common device in literature, movies - and games. All the way from Robinson Crusoe up to the Cast Away film, as well as a considerable number of games. Usually the games will be about survival in exotic settings (and possibly with a bit of treasure hunting thrown in for good measure). For that reason, I'd rather not have it lumped together with prison escapes or what have you.
On a side note, the concept of a nested genre system has come up earlier (as in Escape > Island and Escape > Prison). I nixed it when we created the site as I had no idea if I'd get anyone to help me with adding the data. As it happens, lots of people have come forth, and I can see that our current genre model has some limitations. As has the fact that the synopsis and game notes are placed together in one field. Everything seems so much clearer in hindsight :)
Perhaps we should make a general strategy for setting up new genres?

For what it's worth, I think "Multiple Player Characters" is a fine description. Other than Causes of Chaos, I can't think of any multi player adventure games (MUDs, RPGs are excluded here). If need be, we can explain it in the genre intro text.

Re: Genre Suggestions

Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 9:04 pm
by Alastair
So should escapes from imprisonment and escapes from planets (which are usually a science fiction version of "stuck on island") be given their own genre tags? Also, should planet and island escape be put in the same genre?

As for putting the synopsis and game notes in the same field. A simple way around this would be to write the synopsis, type [b]Platform Specific Notes[/b], [b]Version Notes[/b], etc. as appropriate, then continue with the notes. This may not be the most sophisticated solution but at least it does not require extra site coding.

Re: Genre Suggestions

Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 9:08 pm
by Alastair
Gunness wrote:Perhaps we should make a general strategy for setting up new genres?
That's part of the reason as to why I posted here rather than just going ahead and creating the genres. This way everyone can contribute to the discussion.

Re: Genre Suggestions

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2012 12:30 am
by Alastair
Since I still can't think of a better genre name than "Multiple Player Characters" I have added "MPC" (for reasons of length) and an explanation of MPC to the site.

Re: Genre Suggestions

Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 9:27 am
by Gunness
I have added "Pirates" as a genre, as there seem to be quite a few pirate-themed games. If anyone feels this is a downright terrible idea, or if they think this genre can be expanded in any meaningful way, so that it might encompass more games, please feel free to suggest this.

Re: Genre Suggestions

Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 4:55 am
by terri
How does the theme of "pirates" relate to the type of game? If "pirates" were to be replaced by another "character" would that change the nature of the game?

Re: Genre Suggestions

Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 11:07 am
by Gunness
In my book (or game, as it were), a "Pirates" game has swashbuckling, high seas adventure and (often) treasure hunting as an integral part of the gameplay. So, if you were to substitute "pirates" with something else, you'd get a different game.

The genre category consists of both settings (western, spy etc.) and style of writing (adult, romance etc.). I think it makes most sense to lump the two types together.

Re: Genre Suggestions

Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 11:17 am
by Gunness
Alastair wrote:Since I still can't think of a better genre name than "Multiple Player Characters" I have added "MPC" (for reasons of length) and an explanation of MPC to the site.
I just had a thought, Alastair. Does this cover games such as Knight Orc and Scape Ghost, where many of the puzzles are based on ordering other characters around? My hunch is "no", I just want to make sure that we agree on this one.

Re: Genre Suggestions

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 12:01 am
by Alastair
Gunness wrote:
Alastair wrote:Since I still can't think of a better genre name than "Multiple Player Characters" I have added "MPC" (for reasons of length) and an explanation of MPC to the site.
I just had a thought, Alastair. Does this cover games such as Knight Orc and Scape Ghost, where many of the puzzles are based on ordering other characters around? My hunch is "no", I just want to make sure that we agree on this one.
I defined MPC as games where a player may have direct control over more than one character. Getting your character to order another character around is indirect control, so neither Knight Orc nor Scape Ghost qualifies.

Re: Genre Suggestions

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 4:41 am
by terri
In my book (or game, as it were), a "Pirates" game has swashbuckling, high seas adventure and (often) treasure hunting as an integral part of the gameplay. So, if you were to substitute "pirates" with something else, you'd get a different game.

I don't think so. Who is playing the game is in my mind irrelevant. It's the nature of the game not who is the main character. Otherwise you would have to get into a cross-indexing system which would be tedious. Or you would decide on the most "predominant" feature of the game.

The genre category consists of both settings (western, spy etc.) and style of writing (adult, romance etc.). I think it makes most sense to lump the two types together.

Setting is fine. Style of writing is OK too. I think "Pirate" is too specific to be helpful.

Re: Genre Suggestions

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 7:24 am
by Gunness
terri wrote:I don't think so. Who is playing the game is in my mind irrelevant. It's the nature of the game not who is the main character. Or you would decide on the most "predominant" feature of the game.
From my p.o.v., the features I mentioned (sword-fighting etc.) are an integral part of the setting and atmosphere. It's not just about the main character.
terri wrote:Or you would decide on the most "predominant" feature of the game.
That's what we're doing now, actually. A sci-fi game which has a brief puzzle with a spy is a "science fiction" game, not a "spy/secret agent" one. Otherwise the usefulness of the genre tag would diminish.
terri wrote:I think "Pirate" is too specific to be helpful.
Fair enough.

Re: Genre Suggestions

Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2014 11:35 pm
by Alastair
I've just noticed that there is a Pyramids genre. Why this specific term rather than Egyptian, Archaeology (even if it is more akin to Indiana Jones than reality), etcetera?

Re: Genre Suggestions

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 11:40 am
by Gunness
Perhaps it's an unclear term. I added it recently because I kept bumping into pyramid-themed games. There seem to be a lot of these.
"Egyptian" doesn't suggest the ancient setting, and "archaeology" would be a unnecessarily generic name - I can't recall any games that would fit this genre outside of the ones with the pyramidal setting, anyway
"Ancient Egypt", perhaps?

While we're at it... we have an (unreleased) platform. Would it make sense to have a (lost game) genre to specify games that - at least currently - seem to not exist any more? Outside of the early mainframe games, there are quite a few Spectrum and C64 games (and others), that have been reviewed years ago so we know they exist - but if a game hasn't shown up in emulated form yet, there's a good chance it never will.
Furthermore, it would be a good tool for those keen on tracking down lost games. And if they should turn up, well, the tag would be removed again.

Re: Genre Suggestions

Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 4:07 pm
by Richard Bos
Gunness wrote:Perhaps it's an unclear term. I added it recently because I kept bumping into pyramid-themed games. There seem to be a lot of these.
"Egyptian" doesn't suggest the ancient setting, and "archaeology" would be a unnecessarily generic name - I can't recall any games that would fit this genre outside of the ones with the pyramidal setting, anyway
"Ancient Egypt", perhaps?
Egyptology? Egyptomania?
Gunness wrote:While we're at it... we have an (unreleased) platform. Would it make sense to have a (lost game) genre to specify games that - at least currently - seem to not exist any more? Outside of the early mainframe games, there are quite a few Spectrum and C64 games (and others), that have been reviewed years ago so we know they exist - but if a game hasn't shown up in emulated form yet, there's a good chance it never will.
Furthermore, it would be a good tool for those keen on tracking down lost games. And if they should turn up, well, the tag would be removed again.
Count me among the latter group. And yes, it would be very useful. A bit of work to add them all, but then, that could be done one by one, each time I find a game that's lost - at least then I wouldn't look at a lost game twice.