The road ahead.

I've noticed that the tools needed to create impressive imagery and functionality in a game have become very accessible. Common apps like the ones provided by Autodesk are available cheap for students, and the quality of the open-source Blender is getting better all of the time. Epic released it's version of the UT3 engine for free this fall, adding to the large pool of accessible and competent engines.

 Additionally, the various skills necessary to design a game are becoming much more common due to mundane exposure, and a growing range of subject matter. The pioneers of CG have done most of the work for everyone else to come in and make something beautiful. Schools are offering graphic and programming education at the high-school level and earlier. Online forums offer an accessible avenue for artists and programmers to communicate with other's at all skill levels.  

The quality of the games being designed is up for debate, but it's obvious that there are more games available than ever. Mobile games are the current choice, while the other formats seem to have remained as strong as ever, except for maybe arcade games. I'm excited to see games which harness augmented reality. The gaming world can be divided by noting the indie, commercial, and blockbuster titles. I almost forgot educational or serious games, they are somewhere in the mix.

 The psychology of a good game is still something that is unfolding, the best ones seem to be the simplest and oldest. I have found that the part of the world which has, traditionally, held the greatest influence on society is largely unaware of the power a good game can hold. There are a ton of ways to communicate and inform that haven't been acknowledged. A lot of the people who hold knowledge about vocational or scholarly topics are largely confined to the same methods of communication used for the past 500 years. 

 The point is that the presentation of info, and our ability to interpret and interact with it is very accessible. When I say very, I mean that "it is estimated that a week's worth of the New York Times contains more information than a person was likely to come across in a lifetime in the 18th century." 

And...

The trend is that a more diverse demographic is able to create more accurate and descriptive data models.

My questions are these;

How has your nostalgia effected the style of games you have worked on?

Would you rather create something that mimics a game you have always loved, or create something which has an emergent life of it's own?

And can these two vectors exist in one package?