this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024
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I was trying to think of which games created certain mechanics that became popular and copied by future games in the industry.

The most famous one that comes to my mind is Assassin’s Creed, with the tower climbing for map information.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I wonder what the source of the RTS conventions was. Ctrl num for making groups. Double press to centre on group. X for scattering units. A to stop them. Pretty sure these predate C&C but the only one before that I can think of is dune.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

The Sims for the scrub-the-toilet mechanic.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Souls games. Popularized invasions.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Metroid, which spawned more than half of all indie games.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (2 children)

More than half seems bold, otherwise I agree

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[–] [email protected] 63 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Battlefield 1942 always stands out to me as the one that popularized large scale online battles on big maps with vehicles. At the time it was revolutionary in online gaming.

Command & Conquer: Renegade came out around the same time as well, with similar features. I kinda wish that game had a sequel as well.

Another gameplay feature that comes to mind is the exclamation/question mark above NPC characters for quests. I remember it first from WarCraft 3, but I think it really kicked off with World of WarCraft to get adopted by many more games.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Was it the first to allow you to look on the map to choose where you respawn, specifically on teammates?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (6 children)

I don't remember being possible to spawn on teammates in BF1942, but definitely remember it as a first to select spawn points on map like Battlefield always did.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Battlefield 2142 had that, don’t know it that was the first one to do that though. Might’ve been BF2.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I can confirm that you could pick spawn points in BF2 and BF2142.

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[–] [email protected] -4 points 5 months ago
[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Which game popularised the now household mechanic of being shut down after a couple of years?

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Maybe cheating a bit but there are several genres of games that are named after the games that popularized their mechanics such as roguelike/roguelite, souls-like, metroidvania

[–] [email protected] 56 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Ocarina of time, 3d, lock on, one enemy attacks at a time. So much of modern gaming pulled from ocarina of time

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Skyrim for the horse armor dlc.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 5 months ago (3 children)

That was Oblivion believe it or not. Ahh, the good ol' days where everyone got up in arms over even cosmetic DLC.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

My mistake you’re totally right there!

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Quake revolutionized fps games

Ape Escape was the first PS1 game to require the dual shock controller

[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago (4 children)

I'd argue that quake did far more for 3D graphics then it did for FPS. Like Doom is what got FPS into the spotlight even though Wolfenstein 3d came first. Like quake is pretty much what made real 3D possible and doable on the hardware of the time thanks to everything going on under the hood

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (11 children)

Absolutely, we didn't even have any special graphics cards at the time for 3D, I believe? I remember that started some time around Quake 2 but I am not sure, I might remember wrong.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

How about the flowing hair on Lara Croft in Tomb Raider 2 and later?

From my understanding, they wanted to have that working for TR1 but missed the deadline, so Lara got a static hair bun in TR1.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

Iirc (edit - apparently incorrect) Halo was the first to use left joystick as forward/backward and left/right strafe; and right joystick as look up/down and pivot left/right.

I even recall articles counting it as a point against the game due to its 'awkward controls' ...but apparently after a tiny learning curve, the entire community/industry got on board.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 5 months ago

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/alien-resurrection-playstation-1-argonaut-games/

Alien resurrection was the first and got panned by critics for it

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

The original Medal of Honor for the Playstation 1 had an alternate control scheme that let you move in the modern dual stick manner.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (5 children)

I thought goldeneye had that basic controls concept a few years before. and Turok was pretty close before that.

edit: ah forgot n64 only had one joystick. but basically the same with the left d-pad and middle joystick.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I think you are right, but the N64 controls used the C buttons as analog inputs for camera movement.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (6 children)

If we're talking Goldeneye, I believe the C-button aiming was an alternate control scheme. IIRC, the default controls had the stick control both your forward/backward motion, but also your left/right turning, instead of left/right strafing, so your aim was controlled horizontally by the stick, but vertically was pretty much locked on the horizon at all times. To do fine-tuned aiming, or to aim vertically at all, required holding R to bring up the crosshairs which you could then move with the stick, while standing still.

In hindsight, it's amazing that we ever tolerated that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

You're correct. In addition you could strafe using left/right C buttons, and you could look up/down using up/down C buttons, but that was awkward and not really designed to aim.

But we also must remember that those games had an auto lock system. Your character would actually target the ennemies by himself, you would only use the crosshair to dona headshot when you have time to aim, or to aim at a specific object in the game.

But yeah, that seems so clunky compared to what we have today

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[–] [email protected] 70 points 5 months ago (8 children)

First thing that came in to my mind was Gears of War with its specific third person view and hiding behind covers. I don't think it was the first game with that mechanic but the most influential one

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (5 children)

Third person view in an FPS (first person shooter) type of game was first seen in the first Lara Croft game, I think?

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