What Makes The Perfect Game

[theENIGMATRON]

Think about it and tell me what you think makes the Perfect game.

I got all my old Text Books out, and started to try and come up with some ideas for a Game.
Sky is the limit.

But the question to ask, is what Makes that Perfect Game.

"Am not talking Ohh Amazing FPS Graphics and Geometric"
More Like:

Unlocks..........
"Is it unlocks that keep people drilled into a game"
Playing a game, and winning / unlocking something new. Keeps you focused and exited about what you will get next.

Score...........
"Keeps it competitive, Gives you something to beat yourself and your friends"
Adds Extra replay value to the game


Am just looking for a List of features that you think add to a game, that makes it the games of all games.

After some research i was finding the crappest of games can be a good game, With some Key Features that keep one person drilled in enough to make the game "Addictive"

After some planning, Messing around, Ill come up with some Story lines and Ideas and you can add / append change ideas etc.

[YorkshirePud]

as you can see by the popularity of angry birds it doesnt have to be graphically astounding.

its hard to decide what makes a perfect to be honest its like asking how longs a piece of string.

i would think a good story line, good controls, not too long but not too short, humour and maybe some set pieces but not too many, and no quick time events!!!!

RDR was a good example of a good game but you dont have to make something as huge

[DJ-Daz]

Simple idea's.
Rewards.
Scoring.
Rewards.
Easy Controls.
Rewards.

After watching the BBC Panorama programme about gaming addiction, it seems that people like being rewarded. Reward them too much, and they get bored, too little and they get frustrated.

Find a game type you like, and base your idea on that until you get to grips with making the game.

Create various game types based on your experience to increase you game coding experience.

Possibly try emulating another game like flight control or angry birds. Obviously this is for your own use, but it might give you the experience and confidence to try your own project?

[InfiniteStates]

I think you're looking at too high a level, personally. Pud almost touched on it though.

IM(professional :] )O the most important thing in any game is how good the core mechanic feels. I always spend a long time tuning the core game play feature, whether that's moving over platforms, blowing stuff up or driving or whatever. Before you add sound, graphics or level design, if the foundation of your game is not appealing, and doesn't "feel good", the rest can only elevate your game so far. It's hard to put into words, but it's essentially the X factor.

You can see this in effect by taking two directly equivalent games, say God of War and Dante's Inferno, and analysing why one is awesome and the other isn't.

Sure, all the stuff posted adds good layers onto a game foundation, but not all the things apply to all games. For instance, look at Tetris. There not a lot there beyond core mechanic. However the one thing common to every game is the interaction between the player and game world. If that feels wrong it's doomed before it's begun.


EDIT: oh, and another thing I just remembered: in the same way that first impressions are important when meeting people - the same principle applies to games. Put some effort into your front end. This can be seen in many EA titles - especially the way they integrate their logo into some game specific splash screen. But you don't need to go that far - it just requires going that extra distance on your main menu. It sets the player in a favourable frame of mind.