Bells and whistles

This week I'd like to take a little time to talk about things that are added to games to help create a mood. It's obviously important to add those little visuals and sounds to a game that help improve the experience for the player. However, if there's no game play, then no amount of bells and whistles will help the game.

A good example is the Futurama game. The general consensus is that the game did a great job of capturing the jokes, voice actors and visual style of the popular show (okay, well I liked it). The game, on the other hand, failed miserably in giving players the experience of being in the world of Fry and Bender. If you took away all of the visuals and sounds, and substitued generic audio and actors, you would be hard pressed to identify the game at all.

The most important part of a game is how it plays. This is what makes it entertaining and keeps the players coming back for more. Your game play becomes the foundation on which you build from to create a truly memorable game experience.

Do you have any experiences to share? Let me know.