The shooter
A short insight into a field of games that most people
don't know exists. Arcade machine collectors and shooters.
They where there long before others adopted the name
and decided to call them something else.
Shooters
are probably the oldest video game genre, if simulating a space ship fight
counts as such.
If you're really picky then you at least have to admit that Space Invaders was the starting point. The evolution was fast, moving from single screens to scrolling backgrounds, simples enemy patterns to complex formations. End bosses appeared, Weapon Powerups, Energy bars and Smart bombs.
Eventually, those principles transcended into new games that formed entirely new genres, the Ego-shooter being the three-dimensional fork of the darwinian tree. However, as the laws of evolution dictate, a branch in development doesn't stop, it brings change.
Thus, the classic shooter genre still exists and thrives. But since it has found it's own evolutionary niche, it is not prominent any more. Enough people play shooters to finance their development, so no need for center stage attention and main stream audience revenues exists.
Which is probably the reason why shooters, contrary to what most people seem to believe, are an incredibly evolving and changing genre. They don't suffer from publishers neo-phobia: you don't have to be afraid of loosing your audience by introducing new playing concepts if the audience is only there because they demand changes. This is the merit of specialization.
It would be nice if some of those crazy ideas, bullet patterns, reflection shields, sidekick drones, score systems and bullet time modes made it into other genres. (Wait, there was one word in there that you probably know from another game, right? ;)
So, where do you get to play those rare gems? If you happen to know collectors , you're lucky. Somtimes, they even have tournaments:
So here are the pictures from the 3rd shooter tournament. Eyeweiss placed third of 18, which came as a great surprise to everybody involved.
If you're really picky then you at least have to admit that Space Invaders was the starting point. The evolution was fast, moving from single screens to scrolling backgrounds, simples enemy patterns to complex formations. End bosses appeared, Weapon Powerups, Energy bars and Smart bombs.
Eventually, those principles transcended into new games that formed entirely new genres, the Ego-shooter being the three-dimensional fork of the darwinian tree. However, as the laws of evolution dictate, a branch in development doesn't stop, it brings change.
Thus, the classic shooter genre still exists and thrives. But since it has found it's own evolutionary niche, it is not prominent any more. Enough people play shooters to finance their development, so no need for center stage attention and main stream audience revenues exists.
Which is probably the reason why shooters, contrary to what most people seem to believe, are an incredibly evolving and changing genre. They don't suffer from publishers neo-phobia: you don't have to be afraid of loosing your audience by introducing new playing concepts if the audience is only there because they demand changes. This is the merit of specialization.
It would be nice if some of those crazy ideas, bullet patterns, reflection shields, sidekick drones, score systems and bullet time modes made it into other genres. (Wait, there was one word in there that you probably know from another game, right? ;)
So, where do you get to play those rare gems? If you happen to know collectors , you're lucky. Somtimes, they even have tournaments:
So here are the pictures from the 3rd shooter tournament. Eyeweiss placed third of 18, which came as a great surprise to everybody involved.
Posted: Sun - November 21, 2004 at 11:25 AM |
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Published On: Nov 08, 2005 09:15 PM
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Published On: Nov 08, 2005 09:15 PM