Innovation: Past, Present, and Future?
Greg Leedberg
GregL2@ix.netcom.comVideogaming is all about innovation. If it wasn't, then we wouldn't mind playing just copy-cat games (although some copy-cat games are good just because they are such a good copy, look at Alien Trilogy). The real blockbuster games are all games that introduce something totally new in the way of graphics, sound, gameplay, etc. Game systems are also getting more powerful, to handle these in-game innovations easier or to actually make an innovation in themselves. The next big innovation, be it a new gameplay twist, a new type of graphics eye-candy, or something totally new and original, is probably sitting in some game designer's head now, just waiting for console (or arcade) technology that can handle it. Because true innovation is something that you have never seen before, it's hard for anybody to guess what it'll be. However, looking back at the biggest past innovations, we can guess what new things videogames will be doing in ten or twenty years.
Graphics in videogames go back as far as videogames do themselves, so this is the aspect that is constantly being upgraded to something new and better. Graphics are continually trying to get you more "into" the game. That's because the graphics in a videogame have the most direct effect on you. While some hardcore gamers disklike new 3D graphics, they definitely get you more into the game, as far as exploration and realism aspects go.
When the first videogames came out (go back even farther than Pong, to the old mainframe computer games), they were just images being displayed on a computer screen (actually, some were printed out on paper). Then came a wave of arcade games (a little after Pong), that actually had sound. That was a huge innovation at the time - actually hearing a game. Now sound is advancing also, but not at the same rate as graphics, simply because with modern set-ups (especially with Dolby surround sound), consoles can perfectly reproduce real-world sounds. Until someone really thinks "out of the box", sound can't go a whole lot further.
Touch was also introduced eventually, most notably in OutRun, where the steering wheel would vibrate. Modern arcade games are far more advanced and realistic, with recoiling guns, and fully shaking cars that react to the road in the game. Just now are home consoles starting to get any kind of force feedback, through accessories like the Rumble Pak, which vibrates similar to OutRun.
So how does all this looking at the past apply to looking into the future of innovation? Well, the most noticeable is that as far as force feedback, home systems are now starting the cycle that the arcades started so long ago -- with simple vibrating. I fully expect to see true force feedback implemented in home systems within 5 years. But that's not the prediction I wanted to write about. Looking at past innovations, they basically had to do with sight, sound, and touch. That's three of the five senses. It makes sense that innovation would be centered around the senses, doesn't it? To get a player more "into" a game, you have to make them feel it the same way they feel real life -- through their five senses. But there are still 2 senses left untouched: smell and taste.
My personal prediction is that we'll see these two senses at least "toyed" with sometime in the next ten or twenty years. It may seem far fetched that someday you'll be able to smell and taste the games you play, but if you went back to the 70's and told someone that they'd be able to feel games in twenty years, they probably wouldn't believe it either.
Another reason it sounds strange to us is that currently, no games have even a hint of needing that technology. When games first came out, they didn't need sound or feedback. But as games needed to affect those senses, the technology was developed. Smell could easily be worked into any game as a gimmick. But it could be effectively worked into games like RPGs -- imagine going into a town, and being able to taste food in a restaurant. Or being in a Doom-style game and being able to smell your opponent coming. When you really think "out of the box" about bringing a player into a game with these senses, the possibilities suddenly seem endless. And these innovations would follow the existing pattern beautifully.
Just something for you to think about.