

Video Games: Time not Included - tibbon
http://whatisnoise.com/2010/06/video-games-time-not-included.html

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stcredzero
MeteorBlitz has this right. The game auto-saves when you let go. You can pull
your iPhone out of your pocket and play, then put it away in a second.

Something like Machinarium would be great, where you have many, many short
puzzles. For an adult, what you can fit in "in a spare moment" becomes very
attractive.

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raintrees
My consoles are gathering dust, as well. An older Windows computer still has
an unfinished session of Dungeon Siege, somewhere around the house.

The wife and I instead opt for those shorter, hidden object with mini memory
games that take 2 to 4 hours to complete. We play these together, taking turns
who is mousing.

The service we currently subscribe to gives us a game each month for $7.00 -
Much less than the popcorn and sodas, let alone the admission of a movie these
days. And the service makes out, too: We end up buying one or two extra each
month when we find we have the odd evening off. The service gets the steady
revenue and a minor cash till ring here and there.

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mkramlich
I can totally relate to not wanting to feel required to put 100+ hours into an
RPG or MMORPG/grinder game. Short simple games that can be played in quick
intermittent bursts of free time was one of the design goals with my Rogue-
like zombie survival game <http://DeadByZombie.com>.

Due to the nature of the game engine, nothing happens unless you issue a
command or make a move. It only reacts to your input. Therefore, you can keep
a long-running game session open, not even needing to save, and just tab over
to it and play, here and there, when you have a moment.

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electromagnetic
I used to work as a game reviewer, now I rarely find time to actually touch a
fully fledged game. I currently get vastly more gameplay out of my 4 year old
DS lite (I basically have nothing to do on my lunch break other than listen to
radio, no access to computers and barely anyone to talk to) than I do out of
anything else. So much so that I'm currently considering picking up a PSP to
expand my game selection.

I've spent 2 months trying to play through Dragonage, but can't find enough
time to actually sit down and enjoy it, and any actual free time I do have I
have priorities elsewhere, like trying to keep my writing skills exercised so
I don't become an illiterate troll.

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Tichy
Books, time not included...

I very rarely play games, but if I do, I like to play for three days straight
(with sensible drinking, eating and sleeping). There are just not that many
games that are good enough, or so it seems. But I admit that I have stopped
following the announcements, too.

There definitely was a time when few good games emerged, but it might have
changed for the better now. You know, when selling points were "50 different
weapons, super-blaster-bazooka. Very realistic blood effects".

Last game I enjoyed was Risen, Fallout 3 is in the backlog.

How can you play a game like Half Life & successors and not be hooked?

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georgieporgie
Whenever a new Grand Theft Auto comes out, I buy it and plan to use nearly all
my free time playing through it. It's better just to get in it, get expert,
and get it over with. Then I can return to a more normal life. It's the same
obsessiveness that makes me a pretty good coder, I suppose.

Usually, the only other games I play are ones recommended by a friend in the
gaming industry. He introduced me to Braid. Sometimes, I'll play a game which
gets a lot of coverage in nerdy, non-gaming channels, like Portal.

(by the way, I'm currently fighting the urge to run out and buy Red Dead
Redemption)

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apike
I often hear about adults buying games but not really playing them. As long as
this is happening, there isn't any economic incentive to aim for quality over
quantity in gameplay. Game reviewers play a big part in this since adults tend
to buy games based on reviews, but reviewers consider length to be a good
thing. Only when games that are shorter sell better will publishers'
perspectives change.

~~~
hugh3
A good game should be enjoyable regardless of how long you play it.

I mean, how long was Pac Man? A few minutes, perhaps, but people would play it
for hours.

How long was Sonic The Hedgehog or Super Mario Bros? Maybe half an hour once
you got good at it, but you'd have to play it a fair few times before you got
good enough to beat it -- even once you had though, it was fun to play through
again.

Modern games are mostly just one long hard slog that you play through once and
forget about. Nothing wrong with some games being like that, but it'd be nice
to have the other type of game back as well.

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GeneralMaximus
I'd love to see a polished "arcade" game that ran on my Mac. Something like
_Cadillacs and the Dinosaurs_ [1]. Sometimes it's fun to sit down with a
couple of friends and mash the gamepad for a few hours, then forget about it.
Modern games come with too much baggage to be fun.

That, or strategy/sim games that are designed to be challenging. Rollercoaster
Tycoon and Capitalism come to mind.

I'm getting old.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillacs_and_Dinosaurs_(arcade...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadillacs_and_Dinosaurs_\(arcade_game\))

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georgieporgie
> That, or strategy/sim games that are designed to be challenging. >
> Rollercoaster Tycoon and Capitalism come to mind.

How about OpenTTD?

<http://www.openttd.org/en/>

It definitely doesn't fit your first criteria, as it is phenomenally complex
and took me weeks to get the hang of using signal lights to route trains
without collision. I found it pretty engrossing, though, and easy enough to
play in spurts when time allowed.

~~~
GeneralMaximus
Also see: Simutrans, Capitalism, Caesar.

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jsz0
This is exactly why I stopped playing video games too. I would love to see
more episodic presentation in games. Something where the plot and gameplay
elements are neatly arranged into 30m-1h chunks with a little recap before
each episode. I'd also like the option to skip these episodes. When I did play
games I'd often hit an area that just wasn't fun to me anymore. Without
resorting to looking up cheat codes there isn't much you can do but suffer
past the boring parts. This seems like a relic of coin-op video games to me. I
already gave you $60 -- why can't I just skip to the next major plot or
gameplay point? Smaller chunks would possibly allow for more reasonable prices
too. I'm just not interested in spending $60 on a game that I may stop playing
after 2 hours.

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eru
On the other hand, especially for hard parts (and not for lame stories),
persistence can be rewarding.

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Tichy
So true. I played a lot of games through because of the story, but it was
actually annoying and boring "work". Solving "real" game puzzles is
unforgettable in contrast.

~~~
eru
Tetris is a nice example. It has absolutely no story, but becoming good at it,
is fun nonetheless.

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moultano
I hope that in the future game designers start designing short games with a
higher content/time ratio with the intent of targeting them at adults. Adults
in general have more money than time, and are not going to feel cheated paying
money for a short game. On the contrary, they'll be happy that they had the
time to enjoy it, and that the experience during that time was the best it
could be.

~~~
crystalis
Try looking at more indie games: Cave Story, Spelunky, Hero Core, and N all
present polished gameplay experiences for the convenient price of free.
There's plenty more where those came from, and as you branch into the multi-
person studios who have the _gall_ and _audacity_ to charge a nominal fee, you
find mid-length games in more and more genres. (I'd point out Aquaria, World
of Goo, and Knights of the Chalice.)

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hazzen
To add: Desktop Dungeon with Derek Yu's tile set. Short-form "roguelike" that
is actually more of a puzzle game. Takes less than 10 minutes to play a
complete game.

I am on mobile right now, but search TIGsource for full links.

And to add to the discussion: games that I play the most are either online,
procedural, or score-based. But games that I have _enjoyed_ the most have all
been highly focused, incredibly polished single player experiences. 10 years
ago, these were long (30+ hour) games. But the cost of producing content has
risen so much lately that you can only obtain this level of polish if you keep
it short.

~~~
mikeklaas
Speaking of mobile, I'd love to have that on my phone

