Game Reveals

[Moonface]

How far out from release should a game be revealed? Should newer IP's be revealed earlier than sequels? After the initial reveal, how much more should the developers show off and of what type (i.e. trailers, gameplay, etc.) ? Do you think more should be shown closer to release so as to increase excitement, or should it just be most of the same content but spliced differently and changed up a bit to just remind everyone of earlier stuff?

I ask this because for a few weeks now, the Spyro Twitter page has been putting out content for the Reignited Trilogy on a weekly basis without fail, and each time it has generally been new content. With only three weeks until the game comes out, that would only be three more reveals, but if we just keep getting gameplay from a level every week until release it'll feel like they're just doing it for the sake of having something to show each week, rather than showing us something that builds up the hype of how close the release is.

Uncharted 3 is also another game that stands out to me as having the worst reveal approach out of any game I've ever wanted. Before release, we were shown London, France, Syria, and Yemen just off the top of my head, and every single set piece the game had to offer. There was so little left as a surprise when the game came out that the only reason I cared for the set pieces on my first playthrough was that I got to play them for myself. I think Naughty Dog learned from this though as The Last of Us and Uncharted 4 both featured gameplay from the same area almost every time we saw them, just approached differently. We got to see what the games had to offer within a small area, instead of having it spread out across 75% of the game.

Death Stranding on the other hand is a game that for all its reveals, has yet to really be clear on what it is as a game. I have a rough idea of the concept, but what am I buying? Is it a stealth game? Horror? Action/Adventure? A mix of all of them? Is combat a big part of the game or an emergency measure? I just can't figure out definitively what the developers are trying to sell to me, and if that continues I'm going to begin thinking they're relying on Kojima's name to sell the game rather than letting the game speak for itself.

[Dragon Lord]

I think the issue is more that developers/publishers have been announcing things far too soon the last number of years. Obviously FFVIIR was announced way too soon, but even these other games are seeing announcements too soon. Developers need to learn to wait until they actually know whether the game will be up to a certain standard of performance before announcing a release date. So many times we've seen games announced with a release date and then the dev/publisher is like, "oops, actually when we tried playing it the game is an unplayable mess. Gotta delay it."

I'd rather see companies wait a little longer to make announcements to actually make sure they can meet them. Especially Square Enix. They are getting to the point that they might as well announce the delay at the same time they announce a game.

[Moonface]

Yeah, the delays so far this year are insane. I don't think it hurts to announce the game earlier than its release date announcement, but no solid dates should be given until you know you can hit it.

[Dragon Lord]

Yeah, the delays so far this year are insane. I don't think it hurts to announce the game earlier than its release date announcement, but no solid dates should be given until you know you can hit it.

I should have clarified. I meant to say that companies need to stop announcing release dates until they know for sure that the game is going to be playable and ready for release. 

I see where the confusion came from when I mentioned Square Enix and their habit of announcing games several years too early. Although that's a completely different issue, I do wish they would learn how to properly announce a game. In addition to constantly delaying their releases, Square Enix does a great job at killing hype for a game by announcing it and then taking 5+ years to actually release it.

[Moonface]

The only two cases where I think SE were OK to announce a game way too early was FF7R and KH3, purely because those announcements served more to let people know they were going to happen, especially when everyone wasn't happy about that FF7 port the year before and KH fans just wanted any sign that a third game was coming regardless of when it would be finished. FF Versus 13 though was just an example of what not to announce too far in advance, since that game not only never ended up happening in the form it was shown as but had to be reintroduced as FF15 which then itself took a while to go from announcement to release.

[Dragon Lord]

As someone who was waiting a very long time for KH3, I really wish they wouldn't have announced it when they did. They announced it way too soon, took too long to release it and then delivered an absolute joke of a KH game that ended up being more of a giant, interactive advertisement for Disney more than anything else.

If you're going to announce a game that early and take a while to release it, you need to make sure you deliver on it, and KH3 absolutely did not delivery in anything other than decent combat (though I would argue that KH2 was still better). Of course hindsight is 20/20, but no one expected KH3 to turn out to be what it was. Especially with how many times Nomura said it would be the conclusion of the Xehanort Saga and put to rest all of the plot holes, only to then spend 95% of the game being Disney advertisements (the Frozen world is literally just playing through the movie with a couple of mini-games thrown in, very little interaction with the characters because Disney wouldn't let the story of Frozen be altered for Sora and co. to be included, and a few boss battles. Oh and of course the entirety of the Frozen song scene), and then only spending the last maybe two hours of the game actually being about the Xehanort story, only for it to receive the absolute laziest, most garbage conclusion they could have possibly come up with and then instead of answering all the questions KH fans have had for almost 15 years, it completely ignores most of them and just throws more onto the pile so they can milk more games out of it.

Okay I'm done ranting. Tl;dr version is KH3 is garbage and Nomura and Square Enix should feel bad.

[Moonface]

How far out from release should a game be revealed? Should newer IP's be revealed earlier than sequels? After the initial reveal, how much more should the developers show off and of what type (i.e. trailers, gameplay, etc.) ? Do you think more should be shown closer to release so as to increase excitement, or should it just be most of the same content but spliced differently and changed up a bit to just remind everyone of earlier stuff?

I ask this because for a few weeks now, the Spyro Twitter page has been putting out content for the Reignited Trilogy on a weekly basis without fail, and each time it has generally been new content. With only three weeks until the game comes out, that would only be three more reveals, but if we just keep getting gameplay from a level every week until release it'll feel like they're just doing it for the sake of having something to show each week, rather than showing us something that builds up the hype of how close the release is.

Uncharted 3 is also another game that stands out to me as having the worst reveal approach out of any game I've ever wanted. Before release, we were shown London, France, Syria, and Yemen just off the top of my head, and every single set piece the game had to offer. There was so little left as a surprise when the game came out that the only reason I cared for the set pieces on my first playthrough was that I got to play them for myself. I think Naughty Dog learned from this though as The Last of Us and Uncharted 4 both featured gameplay from the same area almost every time we saw them, just approached differently. We got to see what the games had to offer within a small area, instead of having it spread out across 75% of the game.

Death Stranding on the other hand is a game that for all its reveals, has yet to really be clear on what it is as a game. I have a rough idea of the concept, but what am I buying? Is it a stealth game? Horror? Action/Adventure? A mix of all of them? Is combat a big part of the game or an emergency measure? I just can't figure out definitively what the developers are trying to sell to me, and if that continues I'm going to begin thinking they're relying on Kojima's name to sell the game rather than letting the game speak for itself.

I'm just re-quoting this so it isn't missed since I merged posts from General Game Chat into here since I found this topic had been made and the respective posts I merged into here were fitting for it.

[WR91]

I feel a game shouldn't be shown off until they're in the final stages of being completed to begin with. That was there wouldn't me massive multi year gaps between gameplay or an update on the game itself.

The last game preview I saw that I was more than hyped to play and didn't have to wait long for was Uncharted 4 for the PS4. Great game and great reveal (besides whoever was playing the demo not moving through the crowd when it first revealed). 9.5/10 for me.

[Moonface]

Great game and great reveal (besides whoever was playing the demo not moving through the crowd when it first revealed). 9.5/10 for me.

That wasn't the fault of the player. The game legitimately broke and wouldn't allow the player to move, and is why the section is restarted. Naughty Dog even made a trophy for Uncharted 4 that references this moment, and can be earned by standing still when that respective level starts.

[WR91]

Great game and great reveal (besides whoever was playing the demo not moving through the crowd when it first revealed). 9.5/10 for me.

That wasn't the fault of the player. The game legitimately broke and wouldn't allow the player to move, and is why the section is restarted. Naughty Dog even made a trophy for Uncharted 4 that references this moment, and can be earned by standing still when that respective level starts.

Really? Next time I play it, I'll have to try that to get the achievement.