A new Age of terror thanks to Frictional?

[Firia]

I'm being hopeful here. I don't have any links to projects going on.

Every step of interactive scares has lead to bigger better frights from people that "get it." First there was Alone in the Dark. Resident Evil followed. In a new direction, Silent Hill took the crown. From there, it's been an all out free for all for who is the best. Frictional was able to deliver a compelling and absolutely terrifying experience with an indy budget on Amnesia, and a simple recipe; run, hide, explore, poop pants.

With their sudden success, it's bound to turn heads. Amnesias' basic recipe is going to land on peoples drawing boards, by writers coders and budgeters alike. I wouldn't be surprised if in a little over a year we see another game using similar mechanics, bigger budget, and all new story doing exactly what Amnesia did. Like Resident Evil 1 was the archetype for hundreds (exaggeration) of games that followed it, Amnesia- I can only hope, will be the archetype for hundreds of immersive survival horror games that follow it.

I'm curious too, what the Frictional Team could do with double the budget and team.

[Frontcannon]

Double the budget = done

double the team = probably will be done, aren't they still missing a 3D modeler (I'M LOOKING AT YOU SEL)?

[Murloc]

But if they get double their staff then I cant think "Wow, I cant believe this was made by only 5 people" anymore.

[LSunday]

No, it'll be 'wow, I can't believe this was done by only 10 people.'

And I certainly hope games start turning towards this style. I'm getting tired of the lack of quality puzzle games in the favor of big gory shooters. Between this and portal, I'm hoping the entire industry will start to realize that we actually LIKE thinking through puzzles.

[SHODANFreeman]

Is it bad if I kind of want them to stay a small team? :p

[nofsky]

If doubling the team means cutting the development time in half then I'm all for it

[Conan]

I agree with you to a point, growth isn't a bad thing although it can be a double-edged sword. Sometimes game companies run the risk of growing too large and corporate and losing touch with the core passion that made them so great in the first place. So in the end it becomes more about pleasing shareholders than about creating art. That being said, I would love for Frictional to have a larger budget and more resources to do what they do best. That's why I bought the digital AND the CD version of Amnesia!

Is it bad if I kind of want them to stay a small team? :p

[Skaruts]

I don't think the bigger companies will follow it so easily. There are some factors at stake here:
Frictional Games is a small team, with small budgets and with all the time in the world to make their projects come true (unless they sign some contract that limits them). I don't know about their everyday lives, but I wouldn't be surprised if they said that some team members have day jobs to pay their rent, even if their games bring enough profit to rest easy without it.

So in other words, they can risk it, they can do whatever they feel it's right. They can make a game the way they'd like to play it. And people will be the judges of the outcome (and of the income ).

In large companies, this is their day (and night) job. If the game doesn't sell, it will be a financial disaster, people will get fired, upcoming budgets will be smaller or riskier, and they'll have to pray and hope the next title compensates the Tsunami of debts from that bad-idea-project.

So, large companies can't risk so much. They have to follow a monster called Trends, a demon called Profits, and Satan's Executives that don't know jack about games will demand and make sure that work is done in time and within budget, people will work after-hours, gameplay elements will be discarded due to not enough time/money, and whatever comes out, comes out.
They are forced to follow these studied market trends, and trends demand shooting, trends demand gore, trends demand clichés after clichés, and trends demand recycling gameplays and gameplay styles, and trends demand HDR and hi-poli models, and trends demands a new computer from everyone, bla bla bla...

So, since FG isn't following any trends, they are instead seeking the path to the core of Fear itself (one of Stephen King's objectives in his writtings, and mine for that matter), I don't think large companies will pick this up so fast.

The "Stealthy" or "Avoider" types of gameplay aren't new to the gaming industry. They were present in 1998 in Thief The Dark Project, they were present in Alone in the Dark and Sillent Hill (forgive me if I'm wrong, I hardly played SH ), and they were present in a few others, including FG's games that came out many years ago already, and did they helped the mainstream industry evolve? Nah. Trends did. Or should have...

[LSunday]

That's why indie games tend to be where new trends start- if a new game comes out that does really well despite not being hugely advertised, people notice, think "what made it work?" and try it again.

The prenumbra games didn't sell quite well enough to start a trend- Amnesia, however, just might have.

[Skaruts]

That may be true...