Suggestion to AGS games page

[Smumm]

Hello everyone, here's a few things that have been bothering me for some time. Since there were no feedback box on the main page, I was forced to register here on the forums.

#1 - Sorting by player rating

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=digest

In addition (or instead) to sort with the AGS panels rating, it would be great to sort with rating given by players. This would give more accurate sorting and thus make it more competitive. Also con of the current sorting by panel rating is that opinion of a few is overrepresented.

#2 - Pick of the month

This is just something that came to mind when I was writing the previous suggestion. There have been some cases that I really doubt the pick of the month, don't get me wrong here, the games picked are at least avarage, but it's really shame when there's a lot of greater games without recognition. In the long run, the pick of month loses it's value when the game is more or a less just a random pick (with some exaggeration.)

It's really great publicity to the game and to be fair to everyone, it would be better if the game is voted every month from few to ten choices. Or possibly people could suggest games to be the game of month. (Or something even better?) As a concerned gamer and possible future adventure game maker, I think it's too much authority for one man! :o

[Bai Karl]

I agree for the "pick of the month" section.

The only game that I played from "pick of the month" was "La Croix Pan". The game is good but the game resolution 320x240 ruined everything good in the game. On my screen resolution 1024x768 the game in 320x240 doesn't looks very nice. Yes, it has an option to play the game in small window, but in small window I can't feel the game. I can't feel the atmosphere of the game when I see all other icons and toolbars on my operation system. In 2008 in "pick of the month" section there is only one game in 800x600 - Purgatorio. All others are in 320x240 or 640x400...

With AGS you can create a games in 800x600 (32 bit colors). And I want to see more games in 800x600!

[ThreeOhFour]

I would absolutely hate to see games being chosen based on their resolution. Not just because mine are all low res, either.

[Bai Karl]

Maybe, as game author you will hate to see game chose by game res. But If we ask players...they will choose the high resolution.

I think that AGS will become more popular with games made in high resolution!

[ThreeOhFour]

Keep in mind that most game authors are also game players .

I have a lot of games in my collection, and I can play a 2007 game at high resolution and a 1993 game with a very low resolution and be just as immersed in each one.

I respect that you enjoy higher resolution games, and I can see why. I just honestly cannot see any validity to the argument that having a higher resolution makes a game any more worthy of a player's attention .

[auriond]

Higher resolution games also tend to make for larger downloads. Larger downloads tend to lose audiences that just can't download such big files due to slow/unstable connection, etc. So game-makers prefer smaller resolution and smaller files that are easy to distribute online.

The panel rating has been discussed extensively on the forums. It's been argued that player ratings are too easily manipulated to give inaccurate impressions of a game. So either way it's not an accurate sorting.

[kaputtnik]

No offense, but that "high resolution" argument reminds me of the people who download loads and loads of movies and watch them and if you ask them about any of those movies, they'll say:

"Not bad, clean sound and good rip."

-"So, what about the movie?"

"Hm, can't remember. I think it sucked."

[Bai Karl]

Tell me guys what do you prefer? A same game in 320x240 or in 800x600?

[cat]

320x240

[Nikolas]

Tell me guys what do you prefer? A same game in 320x240 or in 800x600?

A GAME

Resolution is a technical issue and nothing more.

[Bai Karl]

Ok. Which screenshot looks better?



OR

[SSH]

Or, for another comparison:

versus

[ThreeOhFour]

Ahaha Stan, Stan, Stan.

Yes, the bottom screenshot looks better, and we all know why -  because you resised a screenshot designed for a certain resolution to prove your point.

Games built at 640x480 and lower resolutions have graphics designed to work at that game's resolution. Resizing this screenshot proves that resizing a screenshot makes it look terrible. It does not prove that higher resolutions are better.

Stan, my man, this horse is dead. You seem determined to keep flogging it, but I honestly cannot think of any actual evidence suggesting that you will bring it back to life.

While we're making basically pointless comparisons, take a quick comparison between the screenshots of Simon The Sorcerer 1 and then Simon The Sorcerer 3d.
Simon The Sorcerer
Simon 3d

It doesn't prove anything, really, but it's interesting to see how the graphics "advanced" with technology .

[Bai Karl]

SSH,

Earlier I agreed that there a bad games in hi res! But the question is that there are good hi res games that don't appear in the special sections on this website. And smumm - the author of the topic said the same. These low-hi res arguings are just part of the main topic.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Are you saying that none of the classic adventure games by Lucasarts or Sierra appeal to you?  If so then you're probably in the wrong place, since a great majority of people here were inspired by those games.  Also, your approach to show the difference in resolutions is highly flawed; try showing an image from a game in its native resolution as a comparison next time, like:



or




Here's a more valid comparison of styles.



vs.




I couldn't find a screenshot closer to the angle of the original Sam and Max, but it's enough for you to see the difference in detail and design choice.

Personally, I find the old adventures much more rich in style and details than many 3d (and some of the newer 2d) adventure games.

[SSH]

If you have suggestions for good games (of any resolution) that could be pick of the month, I'd be glad to hear them. I have over the history of picking received a total of about 5 suggestions, so more are welcome.

For earlier discussions on this, please see: this thread and this thread and this thread from before I started doing it
also see the explanations as to why games to chosen in my blog

As for sorting by rating, why not try: my AGS-games-DB-derived page

And as for higher resolutions, I don't think the OP mentioned that at all...

To answer the question from the other thread:

'Why games like Al Emmo, Diamonds in the Rough, Picaroon, Cosmos Quest don't appear in "Pick of the month"?'

Commercial, Commercial, Not released, Not got around to it yet

[Bai Karl]

I think that the games in 320x240 have a big MINUS. Is you want to play them like the way they are designed you have to play them in a small window instead of full screen. And this is the real problem.

- If you play them in a small window you a loosing from the game's atmosphere. You see the WINDOWS icons and buttons, and toolbars. Also somethimes the game can be a pixelhunting because of the small window.
- If you play them at full screen - the resizing is terrible.

I prefer to play hi res in full screen. In 800x600 there is also resizing if your monitor is 1024x769 but that resizing is not too much.

[Ali]

Resolution is a technical issue and nothing more.

I have to disagree. I don't agree with Stan's fervent objections to low res, and I think scaling settings can help get around the problem he's talking about in the post above. That said, resolution along with pallate is an aesthetic issue as well as a technical issue. Higher resolution and more colours offer artists more options.

That doesn't mean better games, of course so I don't think being able to search based on resolution would be that essential.

[bicilotti]

#1 - Sorting by player rating

On that I agree.

[SSH]

I think Stan hasn't realised about the 2x and 3x filters in the game's setup.exe, or the larger resolution options in older games.

I've updated the game ranking pages to include the latest ones (only games with a user rating are included, btw): http://ssh.me.uk/ranking200810.html

It also now has a resolution column so you can see that 17 games out of about 500 are 800x600. Which is maybe why you don't see many in the pick of the month. (The only one, I think, has been the farm)