It seems like in recent times, remakes are becoming more and more prevalent, especially in the film, animation, and video game industry. For instance, Disney looks like it's aiming to remake all it's most popular classic films, with it's newest remake of The Lion King to be added to the list soon enough. Netflix adaptations and reboots of popular series are beginning to insert themselves in every possible nook and cranny. Even Nintendo and other similar gaming titans are falling to this trend, such as the Spyro Remastered series, the rerelease of the Crash Bandicoot trilogy, and remakes of Superstar Saga, Bowser's Inside Story, and with it's most current release of Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee. It's speculated that even more remakes of fan favorite games, especially those which are not typically thought of as being "Main Series", currently have a remake scheduled or in development. But why the sudden increase? Well, the dreamer part of me wants to believe that it's an attempt to shed more light on beloved but currently obsolete classics, however, the cynicist in me knows that it's more than likely an attempt at a quick cash grab. As I stated in my previous post, it's much more difficult to use modern culture to your advantage, due to it's volatile nature, but an equally effective way to create interest in your consumers is to cater to their nostalgia. To a film director or a game developer, it's much easier to create a remake than a spiritual successor. You've already got the basic groundwork, the script, the story, the code, and the mechanics. Even creating art assets is easier since you've already got the previous assets that you can use as reference. Not to mention, it's way riskier to try something new, as you know for a fact that with remakes, you're almost guaranteed that you'll have a positive reception from longtime fans-granted that you don't try to stray too far from the original model. Though, as much as I hate to admit it, I do love the re envisioning remakes tend to offer, good or bad, and I am exited to see where the new creative perspective takes longtime favorites, however hesitant I am to come out about it.
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Well, with 2018 nearly out of the way, and 2019 fast approaching, here's a short reminder of just how long this year has been around for- the tide pods meme? That was in January. The Ugandan Knuckles? February. The Yannie/Laurel? May. Octo expansion was released this year, and the Teaser for Smash Ultimate was all the way back in this March. Feels like years right? Turns out in this day in age, trends are coming and going faster than they ever had before due to technology and the now widespread use of various forms of digital media used in an almost daily sense. With so much raw information at one's fingertips, it turns out that this overload of data to our heads makes us care less for the current, but what is 'happening'. To put it simply, we've lost a big chunk of our attention span. No wonder why trends last maybe a few weeks or so before dying, no one wants to stick around, everyone wants to move on to the next big 'happening'. This is incredibly significant to content creators - especially game design creators, because such a big part of game design is being able to connect to your audience, and an easy way to do that is by referencing current pop culture trends. The only issue is that these trends now come and go in a blink of an eye, all save for a few, and games can take years to produce. So what does one do in place of this? Well, for some, this means not referencing current pop culture, but referencing pop culture that has managed to linger for a while, that is still popular, even if it's simmered down in time, yet has proven itself against the tests of time. Or in place of a modern connection all together, one could take the route of nostalgia, an attempt to appeal to the deeper, older parts of an individual that have been ingrained into them at this point. Food for thought I guess.
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Creator InfoThis is a blog for a Game Art Design class. Future programmer and currently an artist and writer. Archives
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