Opinion Are you bothered by sci-fi clichés in games?

[Yakkue]

Inspired by this German video about the top 5 worst clichés used in sci fi games:

• Holograms that don’t make any sense
  Holograms are a part of lots of sci-fi universes, but sometimes they are used just because when a display showing various colours with a solid, non-see-through background would have made more sense
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Turning in a circle so you’d have to walk with the images if you want to study them…and you can see through them, so you see the Hologram behind as well.
  
  
• Hexagons everywhere
  Floor textures, Shields, Walls, decorations…Hexagons are used wherever designers can shoehorn them in
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Every floor, wall and box has a designated number/letter combination
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Obtuse angles in architecture, design, decorations…everywhere to make it seem more like the future
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Black/Yellow warning stripes
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Warning…this is a kitchen
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This is just a tiny selection of the examples given in the video
  
  Have you ever noticed these or other clichés in sci fi game design? Do they annoy you or do you even like them?

 

[pahamrick]

To be honest, I've never even noticed those. Now I probably will, thanks a lot.

 

[Schnitzelfee]

Yakkue funny enough I have seen that video a few days ago, he is not wrong but is dosnt really bother me... its just forms and function that seem futuristic to us at this point in time. Maybe it will all look really dated in a few years.

 

[RionaaM]

It's crazy how I never seemed to notice all these elements. I mean, on a subconscious level it's probable that I may have noticed how the aesthetics were similar in several games, but this is way deeper.

Something I love is stuff that pops up out of thin air, like in Minority Report or Remember Me:

 

[Someone]

Not just sci fi genre either though. Pretty much most genres have a go to safe thing / cliches and i think it isnt necessarily a bad thing if the games story isnt built around that event in story

 

[pahamrick]

It's crazy how I never seemed to notice all these elements. I mean, on a subconscious level it's probable that I may have noticed how the aesthetics were similar in several games, but this is way deeper.

Something I love is stuff that pops up out of thin air, like in Minority Report or Remember Me:

You really need to play the new Prey if you haven't already, then.

 

[prudis]

Personally as long as it fits with the theme and the story .... i dont really care if its cliché or not

 

[RionaaM]

It's crazy how I never seemed to notice all these elements. I mean, on a subconscious level it's probable that I may have noticed how the aesthetics were similar in several games, but this is way deeper.

Something I love is stuff that pops up out of thin air, like in Minority Report or Remember Me:

You really need to play the new Prey if you haven't already, then.

Yeah, I totally need to buy it once it's cheap. Sadly it's not the sequel to the original game, but I've had several years to make peace with that already.

 

[Maniac]

The future is hexagonal, full of clutter, empty space (such as on monitors and the likes) and impractical displays.

The future is crude, cliché, horribly inept, and best of all, incredibly clumsy. Just the way I like it.

I digress, the worst offense, in my opinion, is definitely the "NUMBERS ON WALLS = FUTURISTIC" - It's horrible to look at.

 

[oipic]

Hexagons are fine (I love playing Civ as much as the next strategy gamer), but Deus Ex truly nailed it: triangles are the future. Triangles everywhere.

 

[lashman]

Hexagons are fine (I love playing Civ as much as the next strategy gamer), but Deus Ex truly nailed it: triangles are the future. Triangles everywhere.

yes ... i especially love the armour thingy from Mankind Divided - looks great in motion

 

[Nzyme]

Yes for the most part, but way beyond just gaming. There are a lot of tropes and cliches that remain persistent because they are not challenged or there is a fear of diverging away from what is expected. On the other hand, some of these are so ingrained, I wonder if authors actually realise some of these a tropes without purpose

 

[Deepo]

I guess most of these things are elements I love about sci-fi design. But it's kind of funny to see them presented like that. I get what you mean about clichés.

 

[chobel]

Yep, I notice them. The thing I hate the most is low-poly like designs: It was cool the first time I saw it, but does every future scenario have to use this specific design? Are low-poly designs even that functional?

Personally as long as it fits with the theme and the story .... i dont really care if its cliché or not

The thing is we'll end up with limited themes because every Sci-Fi story/theme has to fit these must-have clichés.

 

[lashman]

does every future scenario have to use this specific design?

probably not ... but it feels vaguely futuristic so they're just going with that "by default" ... might have something to do with the fact that back in the day low-poly was the only way to do any CGI in movies

 

[chobel]

does every future scenario have to use this specific design?

probably not ... but it feels vaguely futuristic so they're just going with that "by default" ... might have something to do with the fact that back in the day low-poly was the only way to do any CGI in movies

Oh, now this makes a whole lot of sense.

 

[Panda Pedinte]

I've never noticed these things before, now it'll be pretty hard to not pay attention to them. And I still need to finish Deux EX:HR

 

[lashman]

Yakkue ruining games and movies for everyone lol

 

[NingenJanai]

I think if the design is well done you don't notice stuff like that, everything needs to be cohesive, here are some good examples:

Oblivion

Moon

Prometheus

 

[Blizniak]

I wouldn't say they bother me on their own but since they so often show up together it causes all the games' aesthetics to blend together. I wish more developers went back to retro sci-fi like Alien Isolation did. It makes for such strong style that stands apart from all the Minority Report-style holograms and hexagons covering everything. At the same time it's still guilty of having weirdly shaped rooms, doors etc but so was the source material in this case.

 

[Nahkapukki]

Alien in general had very utilitarian approach to the design up until the latest Aliens. The first two were brilliantly made to not really go in to the goofy futuristic cliches but instead were moored in the modern (back then 80's) world and just sort of extended from there without any large imaginary leaps outside of space ships and even those were rather well thought out behemoths.

 

[Mivey]

I liked what Alien Isolation was going for:

It's not realistic at all, since there is this weird mix of old technology (VHS-like video, lots of huge chunky devices) and super sci-fi stuff, like functioning robots. But it seems consistent, and it never bothers me.

You note a lot of generic designs in Sci-Fi games, but I feel this is a larger problem in video games: There is no thought put into the architecture. It's just supposed to look "good", no one cares if it makes sense. I loved The Witness in this regard, I really feel that a lot of the designs of areas made sense. Of course, they also hired a team of architects to design each area, and even had them offer critiques for small things, like the way railing should look and what materials they should use. No wonder it took 8 years go make.

 

[Nahkapukki]

I don't think it'd be smart to hire a bunch of architects to design all your game houses

But yeah some rooted in reality games could use more help from people who have first hand experiences doing stuff like that to keep it believable. The difficult thing in scifi is to have a leap in technology that doesn't alienate the viewer by making the tech seem like it's magic or just simply undoable. It could've worked in older movies 'cause during that time people believed more in the technological leaps being space ships and so on but these days people know what the limits are.

PS: People used to wear codpieces of radioactive material in them to increase their potency. Science = magic