Today we are taking about video game mechanics that changes over time and some remain same over years. The video game industry is already a veteran in the world of entertainment and its evolution has been enormous, especially in recent years, with a very significant increase in players around the world. In fact, a study concluded months ago that around 40% of the world’s population gambles. That means there are 3.1 billion people who play video games, next to nothing.
We have gone from playing on consoles with very little power, to now having consoles with cutting-edge technology and computers that make our colleague Mario Gómez have a better life. Joking aside, the industry has developed a lot, and technological advancement has made games better and some older mechanics evolve or change.
But there are also changes that do not have so much to do with power, but with making games more accessible to more audiences or, simply, to make life easier for us. In Technoeager we have selected 7 video game mechanics that are disappearing or changing in current games compared to older ones, something really interesting.
Because we must remember that all the advances also lead to different gameplay, and even the design of video games. For example, another change that is not in our article is the loading times and the design of corridors, elevators and similar tricks to load the game, something that will gradually disappear thanks to SSDs and future technology.
Video game Mechanics that have changed in different times
Differences in saving
Years ago it was much more common for saves to be always manual and on many occasions in specific places, in the world known as save points. Now, the autosave is a constant in video games, and it is also common that we can save almost in any situation to be able to continue our game. I still remember saying to my mother when I was little, phrases like “I can’t turn off because I can’t save.” What dramas that brought.
Automatic regeneration
Currently, it is normal for our characters to regenerate their health automatically (even slowly) or that access to a quick and instant healing is very simple. Before it was more normal to suffer from a shortage of first-aid kits and to monitor health with extreme care, because this was also combined with the previous change, since perhaps there was a long way to the next save point or safe place. Even so, the reality is that video games have been adjusting their difficulty so that this regeneration of life does not make everything easier either.
Self-battles in role-playing games
Surely you have terrible stories repeating pelas over and over again in role-playing games. Hours and hours fighting against enemies to be able to level up our characters, in order to face tougher rivals. This, added to the obvious and normal slowness of yesteryear, made these moments a burden for many players. Today, many role-playing games are betting on self-combat. With a few short guidelines, battles take place automatically, and even in some titles the time can be sped up. Without a doubt, for this mechanic, it is useful. In the end, as long as it is an option and not an obligation, all is well, since there are players who go through this.
Free camera
There are still examples of video games that do not allow us to move the camera, but the usual thing is that we have partial or total control of the camera. In the past, many of the great video games that hit the market opted for a fixed camera. This, in addition to by design, was an option that helped to create the games in a more controlled and, in some cases, necessary, since the developers could save a lot of resources if the player only saw a part of the game.
The correct line
Driving games began to introduce layout options a few years ago, to show the player a series of arrows and directions so that they know where to accelerate or brake, or where to turn their vehicle. This, after all, helps some people who want to play more casually to access this type of video game. It is not a measure widely applauded by the most common players of these games, although it can serve to learn a totally new circuit.
Self-aiming in shooters
Over time, in the quest to make shooting games more accessible to less common players, some titles began to introduce auto-aiming. It is also something that we have seen in other action games that are not shooters and that do not focus their potential on this issue. Again, a very little-liked change by some, but one that many players will surely appreciate.
Automatic travel
It is becoming more and more common for open world video games to offer us some form of automatic travel. Be careful, we are not referring to fast travel. For example, in some games like Watch Dogs: Legion we can make our character move only to go from one point to another, but traveling through the map while we see it in real time. There are other video game mechanics but these are mostly seen in all games frequently.
