Over thirty years ago, Toru Iwatani (not pictured) created Pac-Man. Decades later, itās a game people still remember and still play. That, Iwatani said, is what game designers must do today. They must create games that stand the test of time.
āWhen you look at games coming out today, itās doubtful that any of us will be talking about them in ten yearsā time,ā Iwatani told Game Career Guide
āYouāve had this flood of very simple games on the iPhone and social networks. Theyāre very āeasyā games, and by easy I mean easy to design and to pump out by the dozen.ā
āI think more thought needs to go toward how games present themselves to the user, to how they can be made more fun,ā Iwatani said.
Thatās not exactly fair. Take something like Angry Birds. It is āsimpleā, but simple in the way Pac-Man is simple. The gameās basic premise is easy to grasp, but complex physics when into creating it, just as advanced programming went into developing Pac-Man
Now, Angry Birds is only one game. And there is a lot of crap, too! But there are good games being created. Whether any of these iOS or Android games can last three decades, letās check back on that in thirty years. When Iām in my sixties. Ouch
Iwatani Interview [Game Career Guide via Eurogamer]
(Top photo: Kevin Winter | Getty)
