Game Genres

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moroz1999
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Re: Game Genres

Post by moroz1999 »

Ralf wrote: Mon Apr 23, 2018 9:50 pm North & South
http://www.mobygames.com/game/north-south

Genre
Action, Strategy/Tactics
Perspective
Side view, Top-down
Gameplay
Wargame
Setting
Historical Events
Misc
Licensed
This sounds really fine, as it describes pretty much different aspects. Dividing the Genre and Perspective is a really good idea. Also multiple Genres can be used where really required (for example, in Technocop - there is some driving/racing and arcade shooter)
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moroz1999
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Re: Game Genres

Post by moroz1999 »

Also, I'll get back to Strategy vs Tactics question. Should we use "units" vs "armies" as a base of distinction? Is Black Raven (and PC C&C series) a realtime tactics just because you command single units, not armies?
According to units vs armies logics:
Nether Earth, Black Raven - realtime tactics
Stonkers, Theatre Europe - turn-based strategy
Laser Squad, Chaos - turn-based tactics
Are there any realtime strategies on ZX at all according to this logic? :)

I'm personally used to think that warcraft-like games are RTS (realtime strategies), not some RTT, and I'm pretty much sure that most of users are expecting the same logics.

In that wiki article the difference between Strategy/Tactics is whether you can build new units on base or units amount is fixed, but I must say that it's purely artificial as well.
Nomad
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Re: Game Genres

Post by Nomad »

Wouldn't it be clearer to distinguish war games based on the size of the total number of units controlled in the game?

Like a Turn based Squad game is going to have totally different feel than say a Turn based battalion command simulation.

Perhaps look at how boardgamegeek classifies war games/board games. Might be some good ideas there.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Game Genres

Post by Einar Saukas »

Ralf wrote: Tue Apr 24, 2018 10:25 am As I said I would be willing to help.

The best way would be multiple categories/tags as many games combine different genres. for example for Elite it would be:

-management
-trading
-combat
-spaceship
-3D
"Management" is clearly a game genre. But "2D" or "3D" is just a graphic style, thus a characteristic of a game, regardless of genre.

We must keep in mind this distinction, otherwise this discussion will get really confusing!
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Game Genres

Post by Einar Saukas »

moroz1999 wrote: Tue Apr 24, 2018 1:28 pm Also, I'll get back to Strategy vs Tactics question. Should we use "units" vs "armies" as a base of distinction? Is Black Raven (and PC C&C series) a realtime tactics just because you command single units, not armies?
According to units vs armies logics:
Nether Earth, Black Raven - realtime tactics
Stonkers, Theatre Europe - turn-based strategy
Laser Squad, Chaos - turn-based tactics
Are there any realtime strategies on ZX at all according to this logic? :)

I'm personally used to think that warcraft-like games are RTS (realtime strategies), not some RTT, and I'm pretty much sure that most of users are expecting the same logics.

In that wiki article the difference between Strategy/Tactics is whether you can build new units on base or units amount is fixed, but I must say that it's purely artificial as well.
The point is, you can divide strategy games between "macro-management" (war games where you coordenate actions of armies that behave somewhat independently) versus "micro-management" (tactical games where you control very few units in every detail). Or you can divide strategy games between simultaneous (realtime) or turn-based.

These classifications are orthogonal. We cannot put realtime inside tactical, or vice-versa.

I think it works best to adopt war and tactical as genres. And leave simultaneous, turn-based, alternating as characteristics, because they also apply to lots of games besides strategy. For instance, Bruce Lee supports both simultaneous and turn-based.
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Einar Saukas
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Re: Game Genres

Post by Einar Saukas »

moroz1999 wrote: Tue Apr 24, 2018 10:14 amI suggest the steps:
1. We should agree upon the software categories tree. As a base we can use some more or less recognized genres. For example, instead of Strategy: Tactical Combat, we should use something like Turn-based strategy, which describes the game for end-user in a best way.
2. As soon as the main categories tree is ready, we can split the task between different people (I'm sure that I'm not only one willing to do a part of categorization). We need some simple private tool for this task maybe - I can think something out.
OK, go ahead! I agree it's worth it trying.

ZXDB is flexible enough that it can support a second classification system, without sacrificing anything. Moreover, this new classification system could support assigning more than one genre to a certain game if needed. Users will basically get one more way to search for games, so it's a good thing.

Do you have an initial proposal for the new categories tree, that we can discuss here?
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