| And heck, that’s not even counting the whole “carving a spooky jack-o-lantern” thing. I’ll be picking up two big pumpkins this weekend and creating my yearly masterpieces of candle-lit creepiness. Trouble is, I have no clue what to do this time, but I’m sure inspiration will strike when I look at the shape of the pumpkins I end up with. Last year I put spiky green fake-fur “hair” on top of them, carved in a couple of great expressions, made eyebrow rings and other facial jewelry out of tinfoil, and called them Punk-ins. The neighborhood kids loved them, but how the heck will I top it this year? Maybe pirates! Hmmmm, pirates…
Take two
So you may remember that in the last Coffee Break, I said I was playing my way through 7 Wonders II, the sequel to 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. Actually, it seems like we’ve released a lot of sequel games on our site lately. Some of them are even the third or fourth game in a series, and just like sequel movies or books, some sequel games surpass the originals while many others fall short. And that got me to thinking: what actually makes a good sequel? For instance, I could sit and play Jewel Quest II, Tradewinds II, Cubis 2, Luxor 2, or any of the later Mystery Case Files games all day. But a lot of sequels (a list which will remain nameless… primarily because they were eminently forgettable) received nothing more than a brief glance. So, why?
Okay, now this is just my opinion, and your mileage may vary. But as I see it, the biggest thing that “makes” a good sequel is continuity. If the original game was good enough to deserve a sequel, it must have done something right! The best designers are capable of looking at their last game, isolating the parts that really made it fun, and using that as a base on which to build the sequel. To use my dad’s favorite phrase, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
But really, that’s only half of the trick. If they just made the same game over and over again, it would inevitably get boring. So the next step is to expand on the original gameplay (bigger puzzle grids, new multiplayer modes, a different kind of shop to manage, new game pieces with special moves, and so on), or to add new elements that actually make sense in the context of the game. What exactly does that mean? Well, adding a bonus grammar puzzle to a spelling game is a logical step and complements the gameplay. Adding a bonus arcade shooting puzzle to a spelling game… not so much. I’ve seen more than one promising game try to include too many unrelated “extras” and just end up a Frankenstein’s Monster of mismatched pieces and elements.
Final recipe for a good sequel? Same ingredients, larger portions, extra spice.
As I said before, though, this is just my impression. What do you think makes a good sequel? If you’d like to express an opinion on the subject, or just tell me your favorite sequels of all time, drop a note to zmaster@microsoft.com!
Watching grass grow… but in a good way!
On the subject of stellar sequels, I’ve been playing a lot of Plant Tycoon lately. This game is from the same folks who brought you Fish Tycoon (and Virtual Villagers II!), and it’s very much the same sort of experience. You start out with fifteen pots, some soil and water, and a handful of oddly shaped seeds, and your goal is to cross-breed these seeds and their offspring until you discover the Six Magic Plants of Isola. To fund your efforts, you can sell the adult plants in your nursery, and a wide range of helpful fertilizers and chemicals is available to improve your odds.
“So it’s basically Fish Tycoon, but with shrubs instead of fish?” Well, basically, yes. And that’s a good thing. Just like Fish Tycoon, the game progresses in real time, so your plants continue growing even if the game isn’t running. Just like Fish Tycoon, the Magic Fish/Plants/Whatever of Isola have special powers that make raising your other fish/plants/whatever a little bit easier. And just like Fish Tycoon, you are going to find yourself checking your virtual stock a lot more frequently than is absolutely necessary, just because it’s so interesting to see how they’re growing.
However, as I mentioned before, a really successful sequel improves on its predecessor, and Plant Tycoon offers a few extra goodies for the player. The most important addition is the insect collection – similar to the collectibles-gathering feature of Virtual Villagers II – which gives you something to do while you wait for your plants to grow. Every so often, a bug might wander out from behind a pot, or fly onto the screen. Your selection of tools includes a butterfly net. If you’re fast enough to nab the little critter, it will be transferred to a glass jar on your collection screen. Duplicate bugs will automatically be sold; their price depends on the rarity of the particular bug.
I’ve had the game running for about five days so far: in that time, I’ve cross-bred my initial stock into 74 different species, caught a total of 124 bugs, used 1026 liters of water, and discovered two of the coveted Magic Plants. And yes, I’m having a wonderful time watching grass grow. Kudos to the developers at Last Day of Work for pulling off an excellent sequel! | |
| Tech talk
It’s an unfortunate fact that some people just don’t respect the principles of common courtesy when playing an online multiplayer game. Nobody likes playing with someone who is verbally abusive; the obvious answer is to report them to Customer Support so we can take appropriate action. Before we can review the issue, though, we need to see a screenshot of the inappropriate behavior. So if you see somebody harassing another player or using hateful or otherwise unacceptable language, please follow these instructions to capture a screenshot and include it when you send in your report:
1) Press the PrtScn or Prt Sc button on your keyboard. This is usually located above the Delete key, but will vary depending on which keyboard type you have.
2) From your Start button, select Programs, then Accessories, and choose the program Paint.
3) From the Edit menu in Paint, select Paste.
4) From the File menu in Paint, select Save As, and choose to save the file as Error.JPG
5) Attach the Error.JPG file to an email describing the incident, and mail it to zmaster@microsoft.com
Obviously, we hope you never encounter such antisocial behavior while playing on MSN Games, but it’s good to know that if you do, there’s a way to solve it.
See you next time! | |
