My favorite game is DOOM. When I was young my family
didn't have a game's console. Instead we had a computer and a selection
of shareware games, mainly Commander Keen, Cosmos Cosmic Adventure, Bio
menace and the first two Duke Nukem games(Before he became someone I
would call an anti-hero), all good games. One game I played a lot was
Final Doom, an expansion of DOOM II. It's the main inspiration for my
"Portal to Hell" and usually what I use to judge shooters. While I
haven't played every FPS, I did look at some and saw some good ideas.
But what makes a shooter good. I'm no expert but I can make a list with
the perfect on how to make a good FPS.
Setting:
This more a backdrop thing than anything, but it's good to know whats going on and who you're fighting. It's good to have a bit of lore as it adds to the game. Like in DOOM when the reason you're the only one alive is because you weren't near any attacks till the game begins. Or Quake 2 where the maural tells about why the Stroog need to be stop, why they attacked, and why every mission in the game(except for one but thats explained) is important.
Guns
This goes with saying but guns make shooters. If you get a gun, you want to blast monsters with it, Not throw it away because you can only have two. And that's something I never liked. Two-Weapon load outs. different weapons are useful against different enemies. Like in DOOM, shotguns are useful against small enemies, while chain guns are useful against cacos and spiders. The problems I have with Two-Weapon load outs is that with, you won't have the weapon you'll need to stop a certain enemies. This was a major problem with Resistance 2, I fought enemies called Ravengers pretty early on and the best way to take them out is a sniper rifle, which you won't have at that time.
Exploration
I'll just say that levels should say level should have hidden areas that can contain weapons and equipment or extra ammo and health. you know, reward the curious.
Health
Health should not be regenerative. If you just take cover and wait for your health to come back, It get rids of the tension of fights. having it go back a certain percent is okay, but not all the way. It's one of the reasons why I didn't like Resistance 2 have no interest in Halo. Tell me whats better: Looking for health knowing one mistake will kill you, or just going behind a corner and wait a few seconds before fighting again.
Music
DOOM has one of the best soundtracks I've listen to. It has heavy metal tracks, fast moving songs, and some dark ambient themes. So yes, it's one of my favorites and is very memorable. however, I haven't heard a FPS soundtrack as good as it. I may have liked DOOM 3 but it was missing the kick ass music.
Enemy
What makes a fight more interesting. Have a cast of foes to face. Why I don't have any interest in games like Medal of Honor or Call of Duty and that's because you just fight generic soldiers. In a shooter, I want to fight big monsters like Stroog tanks, Hell Knights from hell, or the different breeds of mutants. And yes some games like Wolfenstien or DOOM 3 have generic soldiers, they have bigger enemies that add to the challenge.
And on a brief note on bosses. Most of the time they are easy to plain disappointing. most of them are just guys with big guns and you kill them with bigger guns. There are some good bosses like the Cyberdemon from DOOM which is a rocket launcher duel or the Swarm from Resistance 2 which is a game of wits luring the monster into a trap in order to kill it.
These are my thought on how FPS games should be made. On a last note I'll just say, stop trying to make games realistic. All that does is hinders how creative you can be.
Setting:
This more a backdrop thing than anything, but it's good to know whats going on and who you're fighting. It's good to have a bit of lore as it adds to the game. Like in DOOM when the reason you're the only one alive is because you weren't near any attacks till the game begins. Or Quake 2 where the maural tells about why the Stroog need to be stop, why they attacked, and why every mission in the game(except for one but thats explained) is important.
Guns
This goes with saying but guns make shooters. If you get a gun, you want to blast monsters with it, Not throw it away because you can only have two. And that's something I never liked. Two-Weapon load outs. different weapons are useful against different enemies. Like in DOOM, shotguns are useful against small enemies, while chain guns are useful against cacos and spiders. The problems I have with Two-Weapon load outs is that with, you won't have the weapon you'll need to stop a certain enemies. This was a major problem with Resistance 2, I fought enemies called Ravengers pretty early on and the best way to take them out is a sniper rifle, which you won't have at that time.
Exploration
I'll just say that levels should say level should have hidden areas that can contain weapons and equipment or extra ammo and health. you know, reward the curious.
Health
Health should not be regenerative. If you just take cover and wait for your health to come back, It get rids of the tension of fights. having it go back a certain percent is okay, but not all the way. It's one of the reasons why I didn't like Resistance 2 have no interest in Halo. Tell me whats better: Looking for health knowing one mistake will kill you, or just going behind a corner and wait a few seconds before fighting again.
Music
DOOM has one of the best soundtracks I've listen to. It has heavy metal tracks, fast moving songs, and some dark ambient themes. So yes, it's one of my favorites and is very memorable. however, I haven't heard a FPS soundtrack as good as it. I may have liked DOOM 3 but it was missing the kick ass music.
Enemy
What makes a fight more interesting. Have a cast of foes to face. Why I don't have any interest in games like Medal of Honor or Call of Duty and that's because you just fight generic soldiers. In a shooter, I want to fight big monsters like Stroog tanks, Hell Knights from hell, or the different breeds of mutants. And yes some games like Wolfenstien or DOOM 3 have generic soldiers, they have bigger enemies that add to the challenge.
And on a brief note on bosses. Most of the time they are easy to plain disappointing. most of them are just guys with big guns and you kill them with bigger guns. There are some good bosses like the Cyberdemon from DOOM which is a rocket launcher duel or the Swarm from Resistance 2 which is a game of wits luring the monster into a trap in order to kill it.
These are my thought on how FPS games should be made. On a last note I'll just say, stop trying to make games realistic. All that does is hinders how creative you can be.
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