What games work as a "Proof of Concept"?

[Benji]

So Quom mentioning AC1 basically being a proof of concept game rather than the finished article like AC2 wound up made me think of another game that was similar - The Order 1886. A decent enough game, but very short and an imperfect combat system and gameplay. I honestly think if they made a second that they could basically have the PS version of Gears of War.

So it got me wondering - what other first games in series didn't quite feel like the finished article and could have been, or did wind up, much better games the second time around?

[MDK]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiberoGrande proof that just playing as one player in a football game could be a lot of fun, predating FIFA Pro Clubs but a decade.

[Chris2K]

I'd say Wii Sports was not only proof of concept for a game but also proof of concept for entirely new way of playing games.

[JasonM]

The first Crysis game genuinely was the biggest POC ever made in gaming land. It was the de-facto measuring stick for graphical quality and rig stresstesting longer than any game ever was before and afterwards, and even today it stands up as a pretty damn gorgeous game all things considering. But in terms of plot, it was a pretty bland game and other later games did what Crysis did but better.

Dune II was Westwood's first real attempt at making an RTS, but everything they did well here they did practically perfectly (at the time) for Command & Conquer which still is the granddaddy of all RTS games. Dune II put down the framework of games, Warcraft 1/2 tried too, but C&C perfected the genre, and the rest (for Westwood, literally) is history. Warcraft 3

Skate was a bland skating game that was amazing because it proved that you could make a skating game based not on how many insane unrealistic tricks you could chain together, but instead grounded you in a pseudo-realistic skating system where pulling off 'simple & realistic' tricks felt extremely rewarding. Sadly enough, seven years on we're waiting for a fourth edition to be made...

[MDK]

1 hour ago, Jasonmufc said:

Skate was a bland skating game that was amazing because it proved that you could make a skating game based not on how many insane unrealistic tricks you could chain together, but instead grounded you in a pseudo-realistic skating system where pulling off 'simple & realistic' tricks felt extremely rewarding. Sadly enough, seven years on we're waiting for a fourth edition to be made...

Thrasher: Skate and Destroy predated Skate and was very similar. It was the opposite of THPS.

[Mick]

6 hours ago, Benji said:

 

So it got me wondering - what other first games in series didn't quite feel like the finished article and could have been, or did wind up, much better games the second time around?

 

MegaMan, for starters. I remember playing it for the first time as a kid, after I'd had my fill of 2 and 3, and just being amazed at how different it was, compared to it's later sequels. A score system? Six bosses? No passwords? What the hell? You killed a boss and that was it, you had no clue what the proper weapon name you got was. While the game did well enough, Capcom only approved a sequel if the team that developed would make it in their off time. 

 

Dragon Quest is another one. The first game is good enough, but let's compare it to the sequels. You're all alone, all fights are one on one, you can't carry multiple weapons, you need multiple keys instead of a generic magical key, some spells don't show up in other games. Dragon Quest II, nevermind what a huge pain in the ass the game is, gives you party members, multiple enemies in a fight, more magic, a larger world, more places to save then just the king, etc. III took it even further, becoming one of the most important RPGs in history. 

 

On the computer side, I'm going to start with a very old one: Pool of Radiance. It was an AD&D game, the first in what became known as the "Gold Box Games". You created a party of up to six characters, and went off on an adventure based on the module "Ruins of Adventure". Your party members were limited to four classes (Fighter, Thief, Cleric, Magic-User, or for the non-humans in the group, different multi-classes), there werne't many spells, and the game was very linear. It's sequel was "Curse of the Azure Bonds", which gave you much more freedom in the world, introduced more magical items, threw in the missing classes (Ranger and Paladin), and allowed dual-classing. You guys might want to consider the Gold Box games, you can find them on GoG  . 

 

Then there was Star Wars: TIE Fighter, the sequel to X-Wing. While X-Wing was fine and good (You get to blow the Death Star, for fuck's sake!), Tie Fighter allowed for a bit more customization options, such as choosing what kind of projectile you used on your mission (Concussion Missiles vs Proton Torpedoes), objectives were made more clear, a much better story, etc. 

 

And then there's shit like Civilization 2, The Sims 2, etc. 

 

 

[Bobfoc]

LA Noire is the first game that springs to mind for me. I'd like to see another game really give the interrogation mechanic a good go, but by making the process a bit less ambiguous. Plus there was a fantastically realised 1940s Los Angeles, chock full of vehicles lovingly replicated to fit the period, with no real reason to explore it.

[MDK]

13 minutes ago, Bobfoc said:

 

LA Noire is the first game that springs to mind for me

 

I love that game. It is the perfect proof of concept game because it was a great game but it had flaws. The story was amazing. 

[Kaney]

It's not had a series but I'd mention No Mans Sky. The idea is fantastic and sometimes it can be really immersive as hell but there's a lot that needs refined as well.

[FestiveJack]

31 minutes ago, Kaney said:

It's not had a series but I'd mention No Mans Sky. The idea is fantastic and sometimes it can be really immersive as hell but there's a lot that needs refined as well.

10 miles wide but only three feet deep was the best way I've seen it described. I'd love for someone to have another stab at this kind of game but aside from the scam that is Star Citizen, I doubt anyone is going to try.

[lws]

In a very literal take on this topic, the creators of the Suikoden series actually wrote the story for the second game before the first one. First time developers, they thought the story for number two was too good to use for their debut game, so they wrote a fairly bare bones prequel story to make sure they knew what they were doing. Suikoden II being my favorite and most played video game of all time, I think anyone who's played them both would agree this isn't shocking at all, considering the actual gameplay aspects of the two are virtually identical, only vastly improved through minor details in the second. And the story for the first one, while not bad, is very much so a linear path that offered nothing particularly new to the genre. Then Suikoden II came along, and it was a completely unique Shakespearian tragedy, with layered storytelling most video games still don't attempt to this day.

[Cymbols]

It probably wasn't the first, but games like FarmVille seemed to kick off the whole in game purchase mobile game craze.

[Vamp]

15 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

LA Noire is the first game that springs to mind for me. I'd like to see another game really give the interrogation mechanic a good go, but by making the process a bit less ambiguous. Plus there was a fantastically realised 1940s Los Angeles, chock full of vehicles lovingly replicated to fit the period, with no real reason to explore it.

Sherlock Holmes Crimes and Punishments has somewhat similar interrogation scenes. You can call suspects out on evidence that doesn't add up and also adds a disappointingly simple mode where you analyse people's appearances to form assumptions.

[Benji]

LA Noire is a decent shout, though really Phoenix Wright is the precursor to the interrogation, the strong and significant use of the facial recognition and capture technology was a major thing.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

On 09/03/2017 at 09:21, MDK said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiberoGrande proof that just playing as one player in a football game could be a lot of fun, predating FIFA Pro Clubs but a decade.

Great call. I owned that game. Mindblowing concept at the time. Tricky to control though, but the right ideas were there.

[MDK]

2 minutes ago, ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster said:

Great call. I owned that game. Mindblowing concept at the time. Tricky to control though, but the right ideas were there.

I tried playing it again recently and obviously it doesn't stand up too well but at the time I was amazed by it.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

The old PC game Republic: The Revolution. You played a political leader trying to get elected in a post-Soviet country. Amazing concept and felt pretty boardgamey.

[MDK]

Actua Soccer back on the PS1. First footy game to have motion capture for a football game, I think. Decent enough game at the time and was up there with FIFA and ISS.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

AND you could play as a team of Super Furry Animals on one of the Actua Soccer games.

[MDK]

7 minutes ago, ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster said:

AND you could play as a team of Super Furry Animals on one of the Actua Soccer games.

Take it to the 90's thread, mate.