So what games do you like to play?

[Michael Hartlef]

I think Sandy had a good idea about this. He has problems coming up with an idea for a game. First what I would do is, I would ask myself what I would like to play. And maybe there isn't a game about it. This way, you would have an idea right there.

But now about the topic. I like to play several types of games:

1) Sport games, mostly racing simulations like NASCAR Racing 2003, or GTR
2) Real Time stragety games like Age of Empires, or with a role playing element like SpellForce
3) Simulation games like the Movies, Football managers, Train simulations
4) Space simulations, like FreeLancer or Elite (My all time favorite)

But there are two games I would like to work onmyself someday. One is a PowerBoat race game and the other is a COSIM construction kit. If someone doesn't know what a COSIM is, maybe you remember these war board games with a lot of cardboard counters and a hexagon map representing something from the war history. Man, we played them a lot in the eighties.

What do you like to play?

[kryton9]

I love all types of games. This would be a monster post if I listed them all. But here are the ones I am currently playing frequently and ones I will buying soon.

Starcraft Broodwars
IL2 Flight Combat Sims
Unreal Tournament 2004, will buy Unreal 3 when it comes out
The Serious Sam Series
Need for Speed Series
Command and Conquer, waiting for the price to drop on the new one and will pick it up, can't wait
Half Life 2, I have it but am waiting for a super game system I will build before I play it seriously.
Battle Field 2
I also play with old console emulator games on my pc. I love the old mario racing games.

One thing I look for is Coop Play, that is where my friend(s) and I can be on the same team or go exploring together.
Almost all of the above listed offer this except for need for speed, but my friend and I just drive around and explore the scenery
and look for great places to do jumps from.

My game programming goal is to make an epic game that will grow each year that I work on it. A big exploration game with mini games inside from combat to puzzle solving to quest missions etc. It will take place in space, on planets in caves, underwater. I want it to be as full an experience as I would like to see in games. I would also like to develop the tools to make it easier to develop the game too and perhaps hopefully have users adding to it.

[matthew]

The last Computer Game that I really liked playing was Final Fantasy VII.

When I was younger I started playing RPG Board Games and I'm still interested in them.

[Michael Hartlef]

RPG board games? Like Talisman for an example?

[matthew]

RPG board games? Like Talisman for an example?


I used to spend a lot of my time in the 'Games Workshop', lol. :D

I'd play games like Warhammer, Warhammer 40k and Space Crusade.

I have heard of Talisman but I've never played it. :(

[Michael Hartlef]

My son and I went to a local Games Workshop two weeks ago and got a basic set of WH40k. Next payment I have to get a set of colors and then I have to paint paint paint. :D

I would call these games you mentioned more a table top strategy game than a RPG. But hey, at least they are a lot of fun.

[sandyrepope]

I'm trying to think about what games I like:

Solitaire card game
Hangman
Concentration? I think that is what it's called. It's where there are rows and columns and you click on two and try to match too hidden symbols.
Monopoly (or any boardgame programmed for the computer)

I like turnbased games like:

angband

'DND' the old version also known as Telengard

I don't really care for any games that require fast reflexes because I have arthritis and can't really play a lot of games.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

Thanks
Sandy

[Barney]

Train simulators
Jig-saw puzzles
Adventures (text or graphics, does not matter)

Barney

[Michael Hartlef]

Hey Barney, regarding Train sims, which one. I was playing with Trainz a lot before. Really a nice sim.

[Petr Schreiber]

I tried Trainz too,
but engine ( Auran Jet ? ) was not friend of my old PC :)
It ran worse than HL2, don't know why...

I am also voting for adventure games on first place ! Especially classic point-and-click ( Monkey Island, Gabriel Knights, Longest Journey, Syberia ... but also DreamFall and Indigo Prophecy which were not click based ).

From text adventures only Catventures "Piggery Jokery" takes my attention in recent times :) But long time ago I played others too.

I would also vote for simulators, IL2 Sturmovik is unbeatable.

Half-Life 2 was amazing ride, but other FPS not too much. Maybe Quake 3 as it is pure relaxing shooting.

Also Gobliiins 1-3 were perfect, but I haven't seen anything similar in last ... decade :) Also demo of Zuma ( casual stuff, lot of colors, easy principle ) was nice.

I could continue for ages with the list ...


Bye,
Petr

[Barney]

I did not put "Train Simulators" without a reason as I play the lot. :) If there's a train sim out there I have it on my computer. Mostly I play Trainz, BVE, ZUSI and MSTS. They all have their good and bad points and which one you are going to use most really depends on what you are after.

If you want great outdoor scenery, thousands of available models and the overall eye candy than Trainz is definitely the sim of choice. It's also important to know that this is the only AAA train sim still in active development. Last but not least, I am the beta tester for Trainz so if you don't have it yet, you know what to do or I'll come to haunt you (with a big locomotive) in your dreams... ;D

MSTS is great when it comes to operational side of train simulation but it's worthy to note that creating proper scenario is not easy and requires a lot of skill and experience. Scenery is not as good as with Trainz, something that MSTS fans would vehemently oppose but that is a fact of life and does not mean that the MSTS scenery is bad. It's just not as good as Trainz's scenery. The biggest problem is, MSTS is no longer developed by MS. Apparently the same team that gave us the latest Flight Simulator is now working on MSTS 2 but God only knows when/if that one will appear.

BVE is a train sim created by a Japanese studene in VB and it is free. Once we found out (back in 2000-2001) how it works, it very quickly overtook the western rail sim world. It is a cab dimulator i.e. you can't "fly" outside the train. The camera is firmly fixed inside the cab and gives you driver's view of the rail track and surrounding countryside. As far as rail sims go BVE is by far the best in terms of physics and the overall feel of actually driving the train. There's a large number of routes available and some of them are downright fantastic. Most notably a Birmingham X-Cross South route by Anthony Bowden. You just don't believe your eyes when you are running the train down that route. So, if you haven't tried it yet, I heartily recommend BVE. Trainsimcentral (http://trainsimcentral.co.uk/) site is a great place to start. The sim can only be loaded on main Japanese site (http://mackoy.cool.ne.jp/). It's (as you may expect) in japanese so you can also use babelfish (http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/urltrurl?lp=ja_en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmackoy.cool.ne.jp) translation services.

ZUSI or Zug Simulator is a german train sim with relatively simple graphics but excellent driving and physics model. It follows german railway rules so it may not be of interest to non-german and especially non-european peopel but it's worth checking it out.

Barney

[Michael Hartlef]

Hey thanks a lot for the info on trains sims.

Petr, did you ever came over the WinterMute engine at http://www.dead-code.org ?
As an adventure fan, it might be something for you. Also my friend Lee is currently creating version 2 of his own engine (BlitzBackdrop) and developing an adventure with it. I think he will release it after that. Will be definately worth to have a look at http://www.gamelab3d.com .

[Petr Schreiber]

Hi Mike,

I know about WinterMute, here is quite popular but as adventure games are long time run not much people finishes the work.
I personally have idea for huge game project, but it would suit better in action-adventure style... but I would like to make a good job on our TopDown pet now :)
Not good plan enough for good adventure game now.

Your friend website looks ... scary, but in good sense. I am curious what will come out from him!

One of my friends plays a lot MSTS, he has 6GB of mods for it now :D and he dislikes Trainz. So it is question of view and personal preferences, as with all.


Thanks,
Petr

[sandyrepope]

Has anyone tried "caTrain"? It's a program that let's you make a model train layout and run trains on it. It's freeware. I sometimes play around with it and like it.

Thanks
Sandy

[Barney]

Isn't that one called Eisenbahn.exe in Germany? Excellent for modellers, but not really a train sim.

Barney

[sandyrepope]

not really a train sim.
I know. I just wanted to know if anyone else played around with it.


Isn't that one called Eisenbahn.exe in Germany?
I don't know. I don't know anything about that. I've only seen the english version.

Sandy

[ErosOlmi]

This post was perfect for a Poll post.
Mike, may be you can add one.
If so, I will merge it with this post.

PS: I've moved this topic into Gamig forum.

[Michael Hartlef]

Can you add the poll?

[ErosOlmi]

Created a new poll topic and merged with old one.
Please suggest new genres and I will add them to the list.
5 maximum votes per users are possible.

[Barney]

Remove "Space simulations" and replace it with "Simulations". Flight Sim, Train Sim, Ship Sim are all simulations but not really in space but on this earth and infinitely more interesting. :)

Barney

[Michael Hartlef]

Ok, Sims changed and Other Sport games added.

Barney, I saw Trainz 2007 yesterday in the store. For 29 EUR pretty cheap. Regular new games are 49 EUR here. How is this version?

[Barney]

I reckon this is a special version made for Germany only. It's basically nothing more than TRS2006 repackaged with some more German specific models and objects. There's a similar version for France, too. So, if you already have TRS2006 you don't really need this one as you can download missing stuff from Auran's "Download Station". If you don't have TRS2006 this version could be a relatively cheap entry into the Trainz world.

Barney

[Michael Hartlef]

Thanks for the info.

I just have classic so I might get this one.