Games benefit from limited scope

[Falksi]

Funnily enough, I'm just replaying the Pillars games and they're the perfect example of how the budget Kickstarter project fared far better for not bloating shit out to stupid levels like Deadfire did.

Phantasy Star 4 is also a great example of how dialing back the previous entry to a more focused experience worked a treat too.

 

[Geckabor]

I don't think having a limited scope is the only way to make a game, but it definitely is very practical. My favorite example is KOTC.

 

[Devastator]

Yeah, I really miss those BG companions and their romances

Interesting, I found the party composition and banter one of the best parts of the game. Including the fact that you can't just mix together anyone due to conflicts.

There are mods that remove romances and conflicts, so problem solved for you (free limited scope). Or you can just make a custom party with zero banter. There are no mods that would fix IWD and FOT for me by adding scope. (I know there are mods that add party banter to IWD but many other problems remain.)

 

[0sacred]

There are mods that remove romances and conflicts, so problem solved for you (free limited scope).

I don't really concede the point that a mod makes up for lack of focus during a game's development, but of course like I said some meandering games are actually a lot of fun. This is bread and parcel of game development for a lot of projects, put in a lot of different stuff so as many people as possible find something to enjoy about your game.

 

[Devastator]

There are mods that remove romances and conflicts, so problem solved for you (free limited scope).

I don't really concede the point that a mod makes up for lack of focus during a game's development, but of course like I said some meandering games are actually a lot of fun. This is bread and parcel of game development for a lot of projects, put in a lot of different stuff so as many people as possible find something to enjoy about your game.

I admit that a mod certainly can't fix the consequences of poorly managing the scope (some like to call that feature creep). Sometimes we see quite clearly at which point in the game they started to run out of time and/or money. If there are shareholders involved and they start saying things like: "Other similar games have these features, so you should add them all to your game," there's not much hope for a focused scope if corporate just nods along.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Some games will benefit from 360 no-scope