Psychochild's Blog

I've been busy lately. Got a few book review drafts I'm working on, but those take a while to do right. So, pardon me if thing are a bit slow around here currently, just that time of year.

Damion Schubert pointed out a wonderful review of chess. I got a good chuckle out of it because it says a lot about game development and game journalism, even though it looks like it was written at least 5 years ago.

The review is hilarious for two reasons. First, it goes against what we've been taught; chess is the "game of kings" with a long history. It's a great game with a lot of depth. Second, because it shows a focus on the presentation over a meaningful discussion of the gameplay of chess. The "small" board, the small selection of piece types, and the parity between the two sides don't hold chess back. If anything, they make the game even more elegant because it doesn't rely on excess.

Yet, the review shows that you can find the bad in anything. Unfortunately, I believe that this review would be fairly accurate if chess had never been developed and someone tried to introduce a similar game in modern times. The board isn't flashy enough, the pieces are too iconic, the moves don't make sense. All these focus on the presentation of the game, which is the least important part of the game of chess. Making the game flashier would only take away part of the elegance; anyone who has tried to play a game on one of those "themed" boards knows that it only distracts you from the game. Is Legolas my knight or my bishop?

The market is influenced by reviewers, and reviewers rarely care about gameplay anymore. Take a look at a recent post on Curmudgeon Gamer about a review of DOOM 3 (also pointed out by Damion). The original reviewer was basically unimpressed by the game except for the graphics, yet the game still gets an 8.6 rating. The presentation is everything in this review, and the game gets a superb rating even if the gameplay seemed stale (as paraphrased by Curmudgeon Gamer).

What lesson can we learn? First of all, a game is a lot more than just the presentation. Gameplay is what's important, but it's not easy to boil down gameplay into a few words or some screenshots for the back of the box. Indie games are often all about the gameplay, but if you never get past the presentation you'll never be able to find a game like chess: simple in presentation but elegant in play.