(I know this is getting old, but I feel that it's a good friendly argument that should be made between people who want to create quality games).
I get your meaning, I think: from a production point of view, some origionallity must be sacrificed for flexibility and the ease of creation. And I don't dissagree with you at all, in theory. It is much harder to make something new because it has not been tested and so it has no documented pitfalls that you can look out for.
however, I feel that ColdStone is an excellent tool for finding those pitfalls and working around them. we are not investing developers. we will not be throwing around hundreds of thousands of dollars (or millions, in the case of some big-title games). we are just playing with our passion here, so there will be a lot of room for experimentation.
I say this: we will probably not be able to produce the same level of established action, or play style, or story developement as full commercial games have done in the past ( good commercial games -- we're not talking about Sanity here...). So, why not strike out to be different? being different from the pack might just be what gets ColdStone games noticed in the ebbing tides of the gaming industry. we can afford to step out of line here, and I think we should try to do just that, if we can. I'm not going to hold it against anyone if they make a new version of FF 3 -- there is nothing more noble than paying homage to your favorite style than by emulating it to create something new. I just think those who choose not to follow the path well travelled will be rewarded for their efforts in the end.
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Do not follow me for I may not lead. Do not lead for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Just leave me the hell alone.
-Jedi
(This message has been edited by jmitchell (edited 06-21-2001).)