The problem with most current videogames is that "big companies" are focus-testing and quality-controlling them to death, Jonathan Blow, developer of the award-winning indie game Braid told Gamehelper.
The thinking, says Blow, is that games getting that kind of treatment aren't really allowed "to require the player to do anything difficult or interesting," because the player might fail, and therefore have a negative play experience that's potentially bad for a company's bottom line.
"So games become about lying to players -- putting up faux challenges (A bunch of guys are attacking you! But you can kill them all without thinking, just mashing buttons, and you have to try really hard to actually die. Match 3 gems of the same color! But oh, most of your big scores happen due to gems randomly falling from the top of the screen into fortunate configurations, so it's impossible to do badly at this game," says Blow.
The trick as a developer is to not fall into this "pandering-to-players" trap, thus increasing the chances of creating something innovative and challenging. Interestingly, Blow says that indie developers and publishers are not necessarily the solution, as most of them are just trying to make the same sorts of games that the bigger fish are making, just with less money.
Blow also points out that even big companies can produce something innovative, though "usually in ways that are small enough that they don't risk the success of the entire project." Gears of War's active reload and Max Payne's bullet time are examples of innovations that help push games forward.
Blow will be running a session at GDC next week called "Nuances of Design," the idea of which is to let members of the audience play a game in real time while presenters guide them through the experience. Braid has yet to enter Xbox Live Arcade's certification process; its target release date is uncertain.
Jonathan Blow Says 'Fuck That' [Gamehelper]
