On Innovation

While I was browsing my RSS feeds, I came across this little gem.  It appears that the producer of the new Prince of Persia wanted a few 'virtual pats-on-the-back' for the innovation in his game.

Alas Mr Producer, I have some news for you.

Innovation alone, isn't enough.  

Ignoring for a moment that the latest Prince of Persia is hardly what I would call innovative, it simply isn't enough to just have a new idea.  As counter-intuative as that sounds, the implementation is easily just as important, if not more important, than the idea itself.  The typical consumer cares very little for advances in AI or physics, except for how it directly influences gameplay.  Getting excited about that sort of thing remains the purview of the hardcore gamer. 

If you want your innovation to be well received by the general public and gaming media, you need to make sure that it's being used in a good game.  Prince of Persia suffered because the addition of Elika as a roving checkpoint (thanks to Susan Arendt for that one), removed any challenge from an already easy game and the open world makes the whole thing feel unfocused.  Add the repetitive platformer/scavenger hunt gameplay into the mix, and it's not hard to see why his 'innovative' game was not heralded as a masterpiece.

As a counterpoint to Prince of Persia, Portal is a innovative game that is every bit the media darling, and much beloved by gamers.  The reason for this though, is not just the novel concept at the core of the game, but the brilliantly dark comedy of the writing.  Would Portal have been so successful without the humour?  We'll never know for sure, but my money is on 'no'.  The point is that by making the innovation part of a compelling gaming experience, the innovation is well received.

In an increasingly stagnant industry, publishers and developers should be lauded for taking risks and trying new things, but if you're going to try and convince people to buy your game based on the strength of your idea, you better make sure it's a bloody good one.