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Ever notice how similar video games are to each other?

There's a game called "Cuphead," and the art style is based on 1930's cartoons, but it's otherwise quite similar to a game that could be on the SNES. Watching gameplay videos reminded me of Yoshi's Island, a similar side-scrolling game. Cuphead can shoot lasers, that's not dissimilar to Mega Man.

Virtually all games seem to be slightly different versions of other games. That's probably part of why I got tired of video games.
 

TheKillerBs

Maester
I disagree. Looking back at the games I've played most recently, I got Pokemon SoulSilver a turn-based combat monster-collecting "RPG" and Link's Awakening which is a real-time combat game. Then there's Paperboy, Age of Empires 2, Crusader Kings 2 and Football Manager, all of which are very different. Even though there's some elements of combat in AoE2 and CK2, they're more about mass strategic battles than one-on-one combat.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
Similarity is almost inevitable. Even in the list of 9 rare used game types, they still list 2 or 3 examples for each.
And there are only so many ways that are make a game playable [there is chess, speed chess, battle chess, suicide chess, fox and hounds chess and a dozen more types of chess [3d and Klingon chess included] but they still follow the rules and expectations of chess].
Big games like big films can cost $200-300 million to make. Even "small" games take 10s of thousands of hours of work. So like a movie, if they want to make money they will go for a formula they think/hope/know/believe will work. They will make something like but not exactly the same as what has worked before and hopefully offer you something more.
What that formula is changes with time. Someone [and it is usually one or two people] has to be brave enough to go "I know this will sell but how about we try this..."
Nintendo used to be great at this. When Sony and Microsoft were duke-ing it out on computing power and realistic graphics, they took a completely different route and came up with the Wii and got then entire family playing.
As for me... I gave up on video games when I had to learn the special moves and remember the keystrokes. The last game I LOVED... Wing Commander II, if I remember.
 
I disagree. Looking back at the games I've played most recently, I got Pokemon SoulSilver a turn-based combat monster-collecting "RPG" and Link's Awakening which is a real-time combat game. Then there's Paperboy, Age of Empires 2, Crusader Kings 2 and Football Manager, all of which are very different. Even though there's some elements of combat in AoE2 and CK2, they're more about mass strategic battles than one-on-one combat.

Most of the games involve combat, which I think is a major weak point, and the main reason why virtually all games feel samey to me, Football Manager is a sports simulation game, which I think are all inherently similar to each other, the only thing left is Paperboy, which is a very old game.

Similarity is almost inevitable. Even in the list of 9 rare used game types, they still list 2 or 3 examples for each.

I don't care that there's 2 or 3 examples of the same idea, it's not as repetitive as 700 shooter games.

I made a thread about inventing ideas for non-violent games a while ago. Check it out if you wish.
https://mythicscribes.com/community...n-violent-video-game-ideas.18839/#post-272016

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