ひげ
i think the main thing that separates games back then from games today is the money. you can tell when a game was made because someone wants to make a game versus when someone wants to make money off of a game, even if only subconsciously.
devs used to make money from their games because they were good, because they wanted to make a game that was awesome.
now, devs have all these ways to maximize profits on their games instead of just making a good game. and it works, they get more money, but they also spend more money, and slowly lose fans.
as a sidenote, i think this is part of what makes competitive smash so appealing to. none of these people are making any fucking money. other than like, the people who are sponsored you know. but the tournament winnings are paltry compared to other fighting games where the devs contribute money to them. fuck, nintendo borderline HATES competition for smash. yet they persist anyway because they just like playing the game, and they like competing in it. you know they have passion for what they're doing, it's just raw.
and this is kind of how i feel about my own game, too. i've poured so much of my life, time, and money into it that the money i stand to make doesn't matter much anymore. sure it would be cool to make a lot of money off of it, but i didn't set out to make a game that would earn me a shit ton of money. i wanted to make an RPG i would enjoy playing. something that i would be super proud of.
developers used to be so dedicated to what they were creating that they would practically live at the office. sleep under their desk. work like 18 hours a day on their shit. but now you have devs that complain about crunch and it's 100% because they aren't passionate about what they're creating. and that's not even necessarily their fault, a lot of it comes from the industry itself because making games isn't for fun anymore. it's for cash. even at the expense of brilliant minds. even at the expense of truly good games that will stand the test of time.
@beardalaxy It's because everything is run by Wall Street and Vulture Capitalists who don't understand a goddamn thing about anything except bleeding companies dry.