I find that the older I get the more picky I become about the games I play. Used to basically buy every single box game available on the market and enthusiastically follow new releases, now it's a much more relaxed and selective process.
Yeah, of course I still play 'em. I started making games because I loved playing games. That hasn't changed. If you want to look at it from a purely practical perspective, playing games gives you insight into how other devs have approached certain problems and implemented certain things, which informs your own development better. You have to expose yourself to your medium for inspiration and learnings. Artists look at other art. Musicians listen to other music. Filmmakers watch movies. Etc. Also, games are fun. :P
Of course, as a hobbyist with a day job, I don't have to make the soul-wrenching decision to develop games over playing them so that I can afford to eat, but even the pro devs I know are still voracious game-players, for all the reasons I mention above.
At the moment I develop mostly at work when I have nothing else to do and then I play competitive CS:GO 4 times a week from 8 till 11pm. (Tue,Wed,Thur and Sun)
I find most of my time spent on trying to make them, but I do play some Binding of Isaac in the 5 minute breaks I have. Also I play a lot of Dust: An Elysian Tale over the weekends. What a gorgeous game...
Actually doing a whole lot more making these days. I work on VCD during the day then spend most of the rest of the night on one or the other prototype. I try to get a bit of playing in on weekends or holidays though. Maybe the occasional bit of Left 4 Dead in the evenings for an hour here and there. Since I'm never not at a PC, I've no console/phone/handheld games.
Awesome to see so many still playing games. Its easy to forget why we do this... why we love making games.
L4D is fun but no good versus servers locally. Otherwise i would be there. Now its quake live... impatiently waiting for UT4. And holding thumbs they cut prices on Evolve. Not paying $60 for a game. Dont care how awesome a game is. Its not worth that price tag.
Even when i owned a console. I would get all my games from the bargain bin. Eventually gave it to my nephews for christmas. Didnt see a point in owning a Xbox if i always had to share it.
I would recommend everyone here to check out Dying Light - Yes it's a zombie game, but it's also one of the most beautifully rendered and realised cities I've ever seen. Every detail from the tiles and zinc cladding on the roofs to the dustbin bags and cars on the roads have been painstakingly recreated. The lighting and rendering looks phenomenal, I'm pretty sure they're using a physically based shader for most things. The gameplay and story is surprisingly fun too.
It's a damn fine example of how you polish a game. The core gameplay is melee weapon fighting and they've made it feel so satisfying when you chop off a head or an arm.
But sitting on top of a tall building or on the top of a bridge in the game really makes you appreciate how far we've come.
That's what I'm playing and enjoying at the moment... Oh and I play Team Fortress 2 a lot too.
Sigh.. Sadly no :( I was really getting into WoW, but now if I do get some spare time to play, this massive sense of guilt starts to well up, urging me to stop messing around and actually do something productive like work on my own game.
I keep thinking, "I'll play the weekend" but that weekend has yet to appear. #Moan
I mainly actually play multiplayer or boardgames with friends - this allows me the opportunity to conveniently both socialise and play games. Otherwise, I've very limited free time and playing games is unfortunately not a priority.
ELITE DANGEROUS and HEROES OF THE STORM. Once in a while these kind of games come along that i have to play, but did go through a period of not playing for a about 1 year. STARCRAFT 2 also once in a while. Dying light looks pretty cool!
Dying light looks damn awesome. But whats up with the price tags these days.
We used to be perfectly fine with small budget AAA titles. Sure it took 4 years to be made. But we also only paid R300 a game. Now its R600.
So in essence for people like me i still only get a AAA title once every 4 years or so.
This is very true. It feels like a slap in the face, especially since PC games have traditionally been relatively cheap. Waiting for a Steam sale remains the best option I think.
If a game is damn good, and people worked bloody hard to make it so, I don't have a problem paying for it, even at a "premium" price. Good work deserves it.
And yeah, I still play games. Not as much and not for as long, and I play them differently to how I used to when I wasn't a developer, but I think it's important to keep playing things, if only to learn what others are doing, but hopefully for fun too.
I am developing games with Zaphire, im doing the arts and modeling mostly at work from 6 to 6, gym from 6:30pm to 7:30pm then gaming from when im done till 12pm :P haha. FFXIV ftw.
I'm also playing games nowadays very differently than I did when I was not working in the industry. Now when I play I can't help but think about how certain things are being achieved. For instance I think the Batman and Shaddow of Mordor combat systems are incredibly interesting to try dissect, and how you'd even start thinking about the animation trees for all the combinations. Games for me used to be fun to play, now they fun to learn.
I try to play as many games as possible. The problem is that I almost feel like I've played all the games already. I enjoy games with great stories/plots and I love RPG's, but my focus when playing games usually comes down to mechanics and systems. Games like Pharaoh(a city builder) and the various strategy games are my favorite. The problem is that the more games I play, the less new mechanics there are to explore which means I get bored quicker and quicker. :/
Currently (the last few years) Itend to gravitate to games that have either a strong competitive or strong social component. The competitiveness serves the purpose of creating endless novelty because of play with human opponents, and social games(which include board games) allow me to play and socialise(like @dammit said).
The best games are of course those that combine this, like TF2 and Heroes of the storm. Team competitive games are simply win. :)
Well it appears the more i develop the less time i have to game. But i am trying to make a point and set at least 30 minutes of gaming a day now.
Do you still play games? Has your love for playing games been replaced by making them?
Im with you there. In my case, honestly, games entertain me for 30 min then i get bored. Making games is much more fun than playing them. I honestly don't know if its the fact that I'm making them or the fact that they suck.
i mean have you ever seen an infinite runner like this?
Playing games is what is currently diverting my attention away from the creation of games...
I have just shy of 300 games on steam. Latest acquisition being Homeworld: Remastered. I play waaay too much CS:GO. At 40+ my reflexes aren't what they used to be when I played CS 1.6 to death. Also... each time I get a Chroma case, my phone goes ping as my credit card buys that darn key to unlock it for a WEAPON SKIN, aaaargh! Sigh.
I only recently had a look at the wonderful Dead Island, so Dying Light has to wait (me tries to think of a way of hiding wallet from myself somehow), Shadow of Mordor and Alien Isolation, Elite Dangerous etc etc all are vying for some play time right now...
Is there a number one can phone for assistance with a 30 year addiction? :-P
I would have said I don't play much anymore, but that would actually be a lie... I think it feels that way because I don't play in the focused, competitive way I used to, now I'm mostly playing to explore or relax or learn.
I play a lot of Spelunky. LoL with my girlfriend. Binding of Isaac, Dream Quest, Crypt of the Necrodancer and weirdly, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel recently. I also played all the games that I got assigned for the IGF. Plus this last week I've played a horde of games, mostly experimental and indie things of awesomeness (actually ALL indie, heh). I'm sitting on Infinifactory and Darkest Dungeon at the moment because I know they'll destroy my time when I get into them, I'm hoping to be able to dive into those in April.
Right now I'm about to boot up Sunless Sea so that I can chat to the devs about it tomorrow :)
I recently bought Bastion from GOG, partly to gain inspiration and have some fun at the same time. I kind of miss the days of my brother's 286, playing Golden Axe and TIM, yet now I might at some point be the instigator in someone else missing those days in future.
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I play bf3 maybe once or twice a week now
Of course, as a hobbyist with a day job, I don't have to make the soul-wrenching decision to develop games over playing them so that I can afford to eat, but even the pro devs I know are still voracious game-players, for all the reasons I mention above.
Also I play a lot of Dust: An Elysian Tale over the weekends. What a gorgeous game...
I try to get a bit of playing in on weekends or holidays though. Maybe the occasional bit of Left 4 Dead in the evenings for an hour here and there.
Since I'm never not at a PC, I've no console/phone/handheld games.
PS: Play more L4D!
L4D is fun but no good versus servers locally. Otherwise i would be there. Now its quake live... impatiently waiting for UT4. And holding thumbs they cut prices on Evolve. Not paying $60 for a game. Dont care how awesome a game is. Its not worth that price tag.
Even when i owned a console. I would get all my games from the bargain bin. Eventually gave it to my nephews for christmas. Didnt see a point in owning a Xbox if i always had to share it.
It's a damn fine example of how you polish a game. The core gameplay is melee weapon fighting and they've made it feel so satisfying when you chop off a head or an arm.
But sitting on top of a tall building or on the top of a bridge in the game really makes you appreciate how far we've come.
That's what I'm playing and enjoying at the moment... Oh and I play Team Fortress 2 a lot too.
I was really getting into WoW, but now if I do get some spare time to play, this massive sense of guilt starts to well up, urging me to stop messing around and actually do something productive like work on my own game.
I keep thinking, "I'll play the weekend" but that weekend has yet to appear. #Moan
But whats up with the price tags these days.
We used to be perfectly fine with small budget AAA titles. Sure it took 4 years to be made. But we also only paid R300 a game. Now its R600.
So in essence for people like me i still only get a AAA title once every 4 years or so.
And yeah, I still play games. Not as much and not for as long, and I play them differently to how I used to when I wasn't a developer, but I think it's important to keep playing things, if only to learn what others are doing, but hopefully for fun too.
Currently (the last few years) Itend to gravitate to games that have either a strong competitive or strong social component. The competitiveness serves the purpose of creating endless novelty because of play with human opponents, and social games(which include board games) allow me to play and socialise(like @dammit said).
The best games are of course those that combine this, like TF2 and Heroes of the storm. Team competitive games are simply win. :)
I honestly don't know if its the fact that I'm making them or the fact that they suck.
i mean have you ever seen an infinite runner like this?
I'm almost finished with it
I have just shy of 300 games on steam. Latest acquisition being Homeworld: Remastered.
I play waaay too much CS:GO. At 40+ my reflexes aren't what they used to be when I played CS 1.6 to death. Also... each time I get a Chroma case, my phone goes ping as my credit card buys that darn key to unlock it for a WEAPON SKIN, aaaargh! Sigh.
I only recently had a look at the wonderful Dead Island, so Dying Light has to wait (me tries to think of a way of hiding wallet from myself somehow), Shadow of Mordor and Alien Isolation, Elite Dangerous etc etc all are vying for some play time right now...
Is there a number one can phone for assistance with a 30 year addiction? :-P
I play a lot of Spelunky. LoL with my girlfriend. Binding of Isaac, Dream Quest, Crypt of the Necrodancer and weirdly, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel recently. I also played all the games that I got assigned for the IGF. Plus this last week I've played a horde of games, mostly experimental and indie things of awesomeness (actually ALL indie, heh). I'm sitting on Infinifactory and Darkest Dungeon at the moment because I know they'll destroy my time when I get into them, I'm hoping to be able to dive into those in April.
Right now I'm about to boot up Sunless Sea so that I can chat to the devs about it tomorrow :)
I kind of miss the days of my brother's 286, playing Golden Axe and TIM, yet now I might at some point be the instigator in someone else missing those days in future.