GCSA Studios

The following post is the sole work of Alex Flanders and does not reflect the views or opinions of any other GCSA member. Issues raised in this post are to be viewed as nothing other than political satire.

Allo lovelies! This is Flanders here with a post that I’ve been meaning to send out to everyone for quite some time.  For those of you who don’t know, I love video games. It’s the truth! I would quite honestly do things which are probably illegal in the US to some of my favorite games… if only I could. Anyways! I’m here to talk to you about what makes a game great. Why? Because we at GCSA strive to give you the best that we can in everything that we do. Since we have been working on several video games, I figured I’d share with you what I personally believe makes a great video game and what I hope to see in our products!

To me, the very best part of a video game is the story. If the story doesn’t have me hooked within the first hour or so, I’m done. I need something that I can sit down and play because I want to find out the ending. Because I want to know what happens to the characters that I’m playing as. Because I want to know which stupid castle the bloody princess is at and how she managed to get kidnapped by salad toppings! But, I digress… Nearly all of my favorite games are due to the story. Alan Wake. Read Dead Redemption. Fallout 3. Mass Effect. Mass Effect 2. Kingdom Hearts. Bioshock. Suikoden V. Dragon Quest 8. Final Fantasy X. Star Ocean: The Last Hope.  All those games have excellent stories! From the very first cut scene you are drawn into the story. You are introduced to characters that are likable, and soon the game takes on a world of its own. I love the types of games that you can fully immerse yourself into. Those are the very best.

Of course, that’s not to say that I haven’t played my fair share of games that I love, but have stories are completely asinine. Take Halo for example. My all time favorite FPS. I own every Halo game to date! Even… HaloWars… which we won’t talk about. I love it. Why? Because the gameplay is addictive and fun. I can hop on with my friends, and we can play it and have fun no matter what. While I have played some games with excellent story and terrible gameplay, it is very rare. Having an excellent story can only take you so far if the gameplay is atrocious.  There has to be a balance there.  Something addictive. Something easy. Yet something that has many layers beneath so that you are always learning something new. Some new way to tweak your movements. Some new skill which will let you do something you thought was impossible.

The final part of any great game is the music. I can’t tell you how many times I will play a game and the music just doesn’t fit what is happening. One of the best music things I can think about is during Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Right as you step out of the bunker and see the White House destroyed… The music was just perfect for that setting. While most people don’t realize it, the music plays a key part in a video game. It adds to the level of immersion and completes the game as a whole. Not to mention, music helps you to associate with a game as well. I can’t hear the song Beyond the Sea without thinking of Bioshock.

One last thing is the awe factor. There are just some moments in gaming history which you see and you know you will never forget. For me those are moments like in Fallout 3 when you step out of the vault. Assassin’s Creed when you perform your first leap of faith. Bioshock when you first see Rapture. Halo 3 when you finally find Cortana. Red Dead Redemption when you are sitting outside, watching the sun rise above the mountain plains. Those are moments which just take your breath away.

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We at GCSA are striving to incorporate all of these features into our games, and we hope you can see the grand results when we post them. For now, I will leave you will a small tidbit, a rough concept drawing for a fighting game that we are working on.

This fighting game is going to have a deep leveling customization option. As you can see, my character has already unlocked the Dark Spawn costume. Miller’s character has his own unique leveling up system as well which we believe stays true to his character. Furthermore, we hope to have a deeply routed countering system which addresses issues which we know that you guys will enjoy. All in all, we expect to have about twelve characters, not counting transformations and each character has their own special ability such as my character’s dark void and soul grasp all the way to Miller’s summon guitar and electrical shockwave. As a special treat, we also hope to have special unlockable costumes. Want Carter in an Ash Ketcham outfit? So do we! Want me in a dark lord outfit!? Well…that’s my basic outfit. Want me in a Kaiba outfit? Done! Want Miller in a box? We have that to! So you see, it is fun for everyone!

Because I Can,
Alex