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Talking Topic #19 - Which commercial games have inspired and influenced your click games the most?

News posted 30th May, 2007 by The Chris Street

Which commercial games have inspired and influenced your click games the most?

This is the discussion for this weeks Talking Topic!

Maybe a games artistic style has been the inspiration behind your own graphics, or maybe your games have been influenced by the "go anywhere, do anything" trend. Could the stories told in the Final Fantasy games have inspired the storylines in your own games?

Please submit your opinions in the comments thread. Remember to keep things clean, and please respect the opinions of other individuals. And, if you have any ideas for the Talking Topic, feel free to mail them to me! Happy debating!

Click here to view previous Talking Topics

Special thanks to Ben Mercer for this weeks Talking Topic.

Posted by Daymian T

30th May, 2007

Pretty much anything by Nintendo. The best over all company in videogame history IMO. Shigeru Miyamoto is the best in the biz, without a doubt. His characters and game concepts can't be beat.

Posted by Knudde (Shab)

30th May, 2007

Megaman (Specifically the Zero/X series), Metroid, System Shock 2.

For my puzzle game, I'd have to say Super Puzzle Fighter was a big influence on that; being one of the very few puzzle games I can still stand playing.

Posted by markno2

30th May, 2007

Duke Nukem 3D! for all the one liners and action. Blood (1997) for the same reason. Leisure Suit Larry series(1,6 and 7) for their humor (and Larry's cool). Doom for it's monsters + weapons.

Posted by ben mercer

30th May, 2007

Lately I've been influenced mainly by Half life, system shock 2 and FEAR. Half life for it's excellent weapons and level design, system shock for its mind blowing horror and atmosphere, and FEAR for its supercharged action and highly combat savvy opponents.

I'm trying to take the aspects that worked well from these games and combine them into my own game.

Posted by Fifth

30th May, 2007

In terms of my favorite genre (and that which has had the greatest influence on me), Wonder Boy III and Wonder Boy in Monster World have been most significant to me in terms of the exploratory feel, enemy design, style of weapons/powerups, gameplay flow, and some other stuff. The Metroid games and Castlevania since SotN onwards have also played their roles, with level layout (in terms of opening new areas with new powerups), hiding secrets, bosses, attention to details, and whatever else I can't remember right now.

Ah, the adventure/platformer. Truly a wonderful genre.

Posted by Klikmaster

30th May, 2007

For my current game: Metal Gear Solid.

Tamogotchi/Nintendogs/Pokemon has given me an idea for a cute game.

Posted by Ski

30th May, 2007

ALL CUTE GAMES! Anything with cute graphics visually seduces me.

Posted by ncsoftware

30th May, 2007

None. I'm creating whatever I like, I've developed my own look and feel.

I mainly play racing games and plane/helicopter sims and my games sure aren't influenced by any of those.

Posted by

30th May, 2007

Definitely Castlevania and Super metroid. Also, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Tales of Phantasia, YS5 expert, almost every Zelda game.

Posted by Reno

30th May, 2007

Every metroid game ever!

Hey... Metroid also influenced Alonso ^^

Posted by Sne

30th May, 2007

Earth 2140 (NOT 2150/60). Some of my games have place in it's modified universe.

Posted by Johnny Look

30th May, 2007

Any Super Mario game.

Posted by Del Duio

30th May, 2007

NES games mostly: Zelda, Metroid, Dragon Warrior, Castlevania, Legacy of the Wizard and the Wizards & Warriors Series.

Diablo is always a big inspiration for everything I do in some way, probably.

Posted by Phredreeke

30th May, 2007

None. I'm creating whatever I like, I've developed my own look and feel.

Having your own look and feel isn't mutually exclusive with being inspired by other games.

Games that inspired my Scurvy Sanchez games: Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong Country series, Monkey Island series

Posted by Fragasnap

30th May, 2007

"Ah, the adventure/platformer. Truly a wonderful genre. "

Agreed.

Posted by Sketchy

30th May, 2007

Advance Wars, X-Com, and GTA - I've got half finished engines for all three but I still haven't completed a single game yet

Posted by

30th May, 2007

Ah, yes! X) I forgot Monkey Island (1-3).

Posted by alibaba

30th May, 2007

Ah monkey island - amazing. They inspired me to start my own adventure game, but when mine was woefully poor in comparison i gave up. That is a problem of commericial games, anything u can make based on one is never quite gona be as good!

Posted by JetpackLover

30th May, 2007

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Other Zelda Series
Kingdom Hearts Series

Those are my key inspiration, actually right now I have Wind Waker on Pause.(I was studying the game)

Posted by Milo

30th May, 2007

The game I'm currently making is inspired by a Online game called Star Sonata and a few of the TDC games

Posted by AndyUK

30th May, 2007

I like to think I take something from every game ive played. Luckily ive played many different games on many different systems over the years.

I could say i take a lot from Super mario bros, however ive never owned a Nes or Snes, although i do have marioland 1 and 2 on the gameboy.

Posted by Neuro

30th May, 2007

"or maybe your games have been influenced by the "go anywhere, do anything" trend."

Hah, that's definitely me. I got into a few games a month ago - GTA San Andreas, STALKER, and been looking at a lot of 'Spore' info... I've never really wanted to make completely linear games, because I can't be bothered with making the game long with lots of levels etc.

So basically, I've been trying to make long, fun and replayable games with the least effort possible

(although I haven't completed one yet...)

Aside from that, I'm influenced by a lot of the greats - Zelda, Metroid and Kirby in particular

Also a big fan of some early PC classics like Commander Keen, the old Apogee games (Bio Menace!), and Tyrian.

Posted by Jimbob

30th May, 2007

Possibly anything and everything that came out on the Amiga. All the point and click games (MI, DOTT, Sam n Max, SQ, LSL, BASS) just for general design and brilliant artwork. Alien Breed has also influenced a few games I've tried to make. I guess some obscure Master System games, Dead Angle anyone?

Usually I take a concept from some old game and try to modify it to make it better, and from that I rarely look back at it, and so hopefully produce something that works out a bit more original.

Posted by Bibin

30th May, 2007

Super Mario and Sonic. Old Genesis sonic though, none of this new crap.

Posted by Peblo

30th May, 2007

Starcraft's user map setting game, Sunken Defense.

Posted by alastair john jack

31st May, 2007

Diablo and the Zelda series

Posted by Hempuli

31st May, 2007

Zelda, Mario & Shadow of the Colossus

Posted by Dr. James MD

31st May, 2007

None. I don't get inspired by games in the slightest, I don't even play that many. I'm more inspired by films or local myths and legends.

Theres a legend that ties in with Dovestones round my way, that 2 giants were arguing over a water nymph (or something), and it resulted in one giant killing the other. I googled the story to find out more details about it and found a little quote from a random guy saying (roughly) "Dovestones is a place where you can imagine the last of the gods clinging to the rocks in a changing world". That sparked a whole load of ideas.

not to mention Tormishire was the name of an old estate just round the corner. The only evidence of it remaining was the name engraved in a rock we found when digging the foundations for the house. It just had a sort of Narnia-style feel to it.

Posted by alibaba

31st May, 2007

Ditto neuro "'Spore' info... I've never really wanted to make completely linear games, because I can't be bothered with making the game long with lots of levels etc"

I often experiement with non linear creation engines and try to work out how to make them into an interesting game - not all that easy to make an interesting one tho!

Posted by Hayo

31st May, 2007

Hrm, most cute nintendo platformers when it comes to gfx I guess. As far as the themes of my games go it's prolly things that bother me in real life.

Posted by ..:.Phox.:..

31st May, 2007

Castlevania! ALL OF THEM!

and of course some Guildwars.

Posted by Chrisbo

31st May, 2007

For one of my current games, Diamonds. For Astro Man, Space Station Pheta. Otherwise I think all my stuff is stuff I thought up.

Posted by waffleton

31st May, 2007

For my current project; Starcraft + Zelda

x'D Fo realz

Posted by nim

31st May, 2007

I find a lot of games inspirational, but I can't say many of them directly affect my own choices when I'm making games myself. Wipeout was the first game I saw which used professionally licensed design and music.

Posted by

31st May, 2007

Final Fantasy VIII for my KNP games.

Posted by BeamSplashX

31st May, 2007

Way of the Samurai, Onimusha, Phantasy Star Online, Armored Core, Guilty Gear, Marvel vs. Capcom, Power Stone, Resident Evil, and Metal Gear Solid. Yeah, a strange combination, but mainly:

Way of the Samurai for replay
Onimusha for aesthetics
PSO for addiction
Armored Core for customization
Guilty Gear for speed
MvC for ease of getting into it
Power Stone for madness
Resident Evil for atmosphere and pacing
Metal Gear Solid for presentation

And I've failed to implement any of them well. Damn.

Posted by Jake G

1st June, 2007

Sonic and Knuckles 3 and the Banjo's :>

Posted by Del Duio

1st June, 2007

Hey BeamSplashX, when are you going to, y'know, RELEASE A FRIGGIN' GAME?!

I want to play it

Posted by ben mercer

1st June, 2007

I'd say everyone has to be influenced by other games to certain extent because otherwise, well they'd still be making "pong".

So anyone making a platform game must be directly or indirectly influenced by games of the platform genre.

Posted by Hill Gigas

1st June, 2007

Metroid 2: Return of Samus for my last one. And Warcraft for my current project.

Posted by Ski

1st June, 2007

Warcraft sucks.

Posted by Hill Gigas

1st June, 2007

That's ok, not everyone can handle Warcraft. Go play Pacman.

Posted by Del Duio

1st June, 2007

Warcraft is great, but so is Pac-Man. Especially Ms. Pac Man! A game you can still play like crazy 25 years later or so is top with me!

Posted by Dr. James MD

1st June, 2007

I tried to find gameplay in WoW but it turns out it's just a giant chatroom with level ups.

Real Warcraft was alright. Which are we on about?

Posted by Knudde (Shab)

1st June, 2007

@James - That's my problem with most MMORPGS, apparently the social aspect is supposed to make you forget that the games themselves are laregly boring as all hell. That's not even adding in all the god-awful useless stats that lots of these games attempt to call "gameplay". What ever happened to the fun part of RPG's when they made their leap to MMO?

Posted by Neuro

1st June, 2007

I think the problem is in balance and restriction. To 'progress' you need to accomplish one boring task over and and over again. Once you've progressed, it's the same again. You can't really explore the world until you're at the highest level because there's always a tough monster type further from home. Even then, there's nothing to gain from exploring.

Also, most players of the same level will be almost exactly the same, you can never be an individual character. Every character of the same type will have the same skills, and the same style of play.

As well as this, the world is very static, and every player's experience will be more or less the same. Sure they can visit a different area to do a different load of quests, but they wont be that much different, anyway. Kills monsters, find item, bring item back to quest giver.

I played the trial of WoW, and the most fun I got out of it was when I played as a Night Elf and travelled with some people over to the Human's home city. It was pretty intense because of all the high level monsters on the way

I uninstalled WoW the next day, however.

For a game that claims to be so vast and expansive, it's very linear. In the end, every character ends up the same - powerful, able to complete big quests, but they haven't really done anything useful.

Ok, that was my rant on MMORPGs. I might have to write out a design for the 'perfect' MMORPG...

Posted by axel

1st June, 2007

I'm afraid I'm continuing my "same as James" combo. I was going to say the Metroid and Zelda series, but then I realized I only like playing the games. They haven't really inspired me in any of my creations.

Posted by ben mercer

2nd June, 2007

I could never be arsed with MMORPGs. Stat upgrades can be good, if you get new combos when you level up or something, but IMO in general MMORPGs are so watered down in the gameplay deparment that they are more of a chore than a game.

Posted by BeamSplashX

2nd June, 2007

Which makes me even angrier since one of my friends stopped playing Phantasy Star Online (just a straightforward MORPG) for World of Warcraft. PSO has gameplay, son. Every online RPG (and offline dungeon crawler) should take lessons from PSO.

Posted by Hill Gigas

2nd June, 2007

Ack! So much hatred for MMORPG's in here! Warcraft is the greatest game to grace the face our modern planet. You should all bow down and lick Blizzard's toes for it!

(And PSO had no gameplay, son.)

Posted by Neuro

2nd June, 2007

Okay, I wrote a fair bit about my 'perfect MMORPG'. The first bit is pretty much a response to a lot of popular/modern MMORPGs, describing what I think to be some of their major flaws. Then it goes into some details and concepts of how I think an MMORPG should be.

It's about 6 pages long in Word... I'll consider posting it as an article if anyone's interested

It might provide some inspiration, or just be a nice read for some people.

Should I post it? Do you care?

Posted by axel

2nd June, 2007

Never been a huge fan of the MMORPG genre. I semi-recently started playing WoW, but I really can't say it blew me away or anything. Like all MMORPGs, its gameplay consists of repeating boring routine actions over and over again. Sure, it's fun when you actually level, and learn new abilities and stuff, but 80% of the time you're just doing things you don't want to do. The ones having the most fun are the lv70 elite who play it 24/7. But in the other hand, it's much more fun to play with friends (I'm talking about people you know IRL); like doing dungeons together, shared quests, etcetera. That's probably the only reason why I still play WoW.

Posted by Phredreeke

2nd June, 2007

Like all MMORPGs, its gameplay consists of repeating boring routine actions over and over again.

Cilla used to play WoW. When she did she kept telling me it was the best game ever. She can't play it now since it was her brother's game and she's living with me now.

She also plays Neopets

Posted by Hill Gigas

2nd June, 2007

Neuro, might as well post it!

Can a post be 6-pages long?

Posted by Sephirenn

2nd June, 2007

As weird as it sounds, I've constantly tried to convey the atmosphere from an EXCELENT game called Anachronox. It's basically a sci-fi console rpg for PC but it is damn fun. It's almost equal parts rpg/puzzle/minigames. I love it.

Also, the scene in Homeworld 1 where you come back from that first few battles and Earth is destroyed. The song that plays in the background, and the emotion the whole scene brings and sets up for the rest of the game is just awe inspiring.

ps - just curious, anyone else play anachronox? I actually never beat it, I just got to that big astroid/hive thing.

Posted by Muz

3rd June, 2007

Actually, commercial games don't really influence me that much. Most of them are hopelessly limited, just because most producers thought it would be too risky to do something different. I tend to make games that I can't play.

What I do like is "interactivity", as Chris Crawford calls it. I like something where you could go out and do whatever you like... run in with guns blazing or stealth, or even go in with long detailed tactics and see how the computer could screw them up.

So I guess interactive games like Medieval: Total War II, UFO: Aftermath, the X-Com series all inspire me. My latest game's been inspired by the Columbine shootings and SAW, not that you shoot people, but a horror game where'd you'd try to run, hide, and defend against an angry gunman.

Posted by Muz

7th June, 2007

Hmm.. my brother made something about an ogre pirate. Not hard to see where that inspiration came from. Good thing Ocean's 13 isn't out yet.

Posted by Tomssuli

8th June, 2007

Many many games have inspired me, but at the moment a game that I'm working on (hope it's not going to be an forever-project like some) is heavily inspired by paradroid, alien breed and system shock =

...It remains to be seen if I get anything done but the plans are big and theyre on paper already...