I was trying to think of which games created certain mechanics that became popular and copied by future games in the industry.

The most famous one that comes to my mind is Assassin’s Creed, with the tower climbing for map information.

  • ThyTTY
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    703 months ago

    First thing that came in to my mind was Gears of War with its specific third person view and hiding behind covers. I don’t think it was the first game with that mechanic but the most influential one

    • @Katana314@lemmy.world
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      83 months ago

      The term I refer to is “hiding behind cover” singular - so when I hear “hiding behind covers” I think of the COG seeing locusts, getting scared, and wrapping themselves up in blankets. Lol

    • RBG
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      3 months ago

      Third person view in an FPS (first person shooter) type of game was first seen in the first Lara Croft game, I think?

      • sp3ctr4l
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        13 months ago

        If you are attempting to ask which game popularized 3d, third person shooters, then yes, the original Tomb Raider is probably the most early, widely popular game that popularized this.

      • @MagicShel@programming.dev
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        13 months ago

        I think you need to be more specific than just “third person”. Third person view was in Pong, Pac-Man, Asteroids, Centipede, etc. It’s the default for most games.

        First person was probably introduced with Battle Zone.

        Which, I don’t mean to sound pedantic, I just literally don’t really know what you mean here.

        • RBG
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          33 months ago

          Then you will need to extend that to the OP of this comment chain as they didn’t specify either what Gears of War is. I am going to edit my comment to clarify but I do feel you are too pendantic for asking this.

          • @MagicShel@programming.dev
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            33 months ago

            Thank you. Sorry. Never played that game and didn’t know that was specific to FPS. I know some arcade shooter games had that mechanic, but not in the context of free-roaming FPS. I think you’re right about Tomb Raider.

  • @PunchingWood@lemmy.world
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    633 months ago

    Battlefield 1942 always stands out to me as the one that popularized large scale online battles on big maps with vehicles. At the time it was revolutionary in online gaming.

    Command & Conquer: Renegade came out around the same time as well, with similar features. I kinda wish that game had a sequel as well.

    Another gameplay feature that comes to mind is the exclamation/question mark above NPC characters for quests. I remember it first from WarCraft 3, but I think it really kicked off with World of WarCraft to get adopted by many more games.

    • @gibmiser@lemmy.world
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      53 months ago

      Was it the first to allow you to look on the map to choose where you respawn, specifically on teammates?

      • @PunchingWood@lemmy.world
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        53 months ago

        I don’t remember being possible to spawn on teammates in BF1942, but definitely remember it as a first to select spawn points on map like Battlefield always did.

        • @Pea666@feddit.nl
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          13 months ago

          Battlefield 2142 had that, don’t know it that was the first one to do that though. Might’ve been BF2.

        • @Katana314@lemmy.world
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          13 months ago

          I remember an old BF1942 mod that had spawn selection; I don’t know exactly how far back the feature went, but it was around for a while before BF2.

          • sp3ctr4l
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            3 months ago

            There were a few BF42 mods that, on certain maps with certain vehicles, allowed you to spawn in vehicles.

            IIRC, Forgotten Hope had a number of para-assault maps that allowed players to spawn inside of the aircraft they would parachute out of.

            I believe you could also do this in… I can’t remember the name of it, but the Star Wars themed 42 mod (which the BattleFront series either largely copied or was directly inspired by), I think it had some spawn-in-able vehicles as well.

            Also BF Vietnam, the official game, used a similar concept of having ‘tunnel exits’ that could be built/placed by Viet Cong engineers, which were placeable spawn points, and the US had the ‘Tango’ … mobile river boat with a helipad thing… which was a mobile spawn point.

            I am 99% sure it was BF2 that first introduced being able to spawn on a player, I don’t think any of the mods for the earlier games pulled that off always had to be a vehicle or placeable static object.

            • @PunchingWood@lemmy.world
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              13 months ago

              I can’t remember if that mod had squad spawns. But I definitely remember playing it a lot, that was an absolutely revolutionary mod with so much content, not to distract from other great BF1942 mods though. I believe the original DICE team originated from that mod team to create Battlefield 2 as well.

              • sp3ctr4l
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                13 months ago

                DICE hired a few of the DC devs to work on BF2, then promptly laid them all off about 6 months or so after release, and then the laid off devs and others who weren’t hired made Kaos Studios, and made Frontlines: Fuel of War and Homefront, before being corporate acquisitioned into non existence.

    • @AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml
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      23 months ago

      Renegade was some of the most fun I ever had in a shooter. Truly a unique experience

    • @dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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      23 months ago

      I’m not sure I’ve ever had more fun with any game than I did with BF1942. It was just so much fun. There were games with smoother play and deeper mechanics and better graphics, but none were as fun. The dumb mechanics made it amazing, like being able to lie down on the wing of a plane and snipe people while your buddy flew, or dive bombing and parachuting out at 10ft above the ground to capture a point, or shooting the main cannon from a tank into a barracks that has 15 people spawned inside it, or piloting a goddamn aircraft carrier and running it aground to get to a spawn point safely. It was so stupid but so fun.

  • @fargeol@lemmy.world
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    633 months ago

    Donkey Kong (1981) popularized having different levels in a game to progress a storyline. Until then, you would have the same level over and over with increasing difficulty

    • @ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
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      123 months ago

      The fact they used Navi to do the targeting really demonstrates how the devs felt they needed to explain the new mechanic and not just use it ‘because game.’

    • I Cast Fist
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      53 months ago

      I know the “hold a button to lock-on to an enemy” was in Mega Man Legends, but in the first game you had to stand still for the lock to work. On MML2, you could lock and run around freely, but that game came after OoT

    • @Good_morning@lemmynsfw.com
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      3 months ago

      Love oot, but the only thing it brought 3d too was the Zelda series. Didn’t realize about the lock-on mechanic, would’ve sworn it was in earlier stuff, but I guess not.

  • @That_Devil_Girl@lemmy.ml
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    543 months ago

    Though it was used in a few games before, a Quake tournament and Half Life 1 cemented the use of WASD controls.

    • teft
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      123 months ago

      ESDF is the superior keybinding

          • @SplashJackson@lemmy.ca
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            -103 months ago

            If naughty words cause you a level of righteous indignance, my recommendation is to abstain from online activities until one reaches the age of majority

        • 🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 ℹ️
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          3 months ago

          I never understood this for first-person shooters. You can’t walk forward and backward at the same time, so I don’t see why being able to press the forward and backward movement keys at the same time would be useful at all.

          Top down games with 8+ directions of movement it’s great, though.

          • @offspec@lemmy.world
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            43 months ago

            It’s not about being able to push both movement buttons at the same time, it’s about being able to push more buttons in general. For hero shooters, mobas, MMOs, and other games with lots of inputs spreading out your reachable keys is really good.

        • teft
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          33 months ago

          There literally dozens of us!

          • @WhiteHairSuperSaiyan@lemmynsfw.com
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            23 months ago

            But for real, i struggle to play games with wasd default and now keybind changes. Part of it is as simple as my hand is just used to using esdf and I constantly hit the wrong keys in those games. But the loss of useable keys on my pinky just feels so bad.

            • @GriffinClaw@lemm.ee
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              33 months ago

              ^ This. So much this.

              Used to play Warframe pretty religiously with wasd, where shift was part of a key movement combo. After a year or so, developed significant pain in my left pinky.

              Shifting to esdf was damn awkward for about 2 weeks. The sheer pinky comfort though.👌

              • @WhiteHairSuperSaiyan@lemmynsfw.com
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                3 months ago

                I wish I could upvote twice. It just allows so much more customization, that allows much more comfortable hand positions. I often with disable my caps lock and use A and caps lock as run and crouch.

            • @dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
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              23 months ago

              I am unable to play Fallout 4 because E is hardcoded to be “Use.” You can change all the movement keys, but for some reason you cannot change that keybinding. So you can make E be forward movement, but every time you approach a door or chest or person you will automatically open or talk whether you want to or not.

              It made the game completely unplayable for me.

      • @Takumidesh@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Esdf requires more dexterity and is generally less accessible.

        I’m an idiot and misunderstood which key bind was being talked about

      • @Chef_Boyardee@lemm.ee
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        23 months ago

        Been RDFG since about 2002. One of my roommates in college was in the top thousand on Unreal Tournament. He talked me into it. God, I get good at that game playing against him.

    • nocturne
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      3 months ago

      I remember using wsad on an ascii graphics game I played back in 85 or so. I think it was called dungeons and dragons, but was not made by tsr. Larn, hack, and Moria were all similar games but I did not play those until later.

    • @pyre@lemmy.world
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      23 months ago

      yeah HL definitely was the one popularized it as default. quake players changed the bindings for it; i know because i played that game with old-school doom/duke controls

  • @wcSyndrome@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    Maybe cheating a bit but there are several genres of games that are named after the games that popularized their mechanics such as roguelike/roguelite, souls-like, metroidvania

  • Iceblade
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    373 months ago

    Minecraft for the fully breakable/buildable procedural open world.

      • holgersson
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        283 months ago

        Minecraft Hunger Games, although a mod, is responsible for the Battle Royal hype aswell.

        So Minecraft caused Fortnite twice - once as a survival crafting and building game and then as a Battle Royal retaining some of these elements

        • @ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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          123 months ago

          What’s the timeline on that mod versus the Battle Royale mod for DayZ? Because as far as I could tell, the DayZ mod is the true progenitor, but DayZ was itself inspired by Minecraft.

          • sp3ctr4l
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            13 months ago

            Day Z the standalone game was a result of Day Z the mod for Arma 2.

            While Day Z (the mod) and Minecraft were in their early phases around the same time (i alpha tested both), I have never heard anyone say that Day Z was inspired by Minecraft, beyond the idea of it being possible for an indie game with a small development team being able to become a huge commercial success.

          • holgersson
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            3 months ago

            As the inspiration yes. But Minecraft hunger games was the first to do it in gaming while also reaching maybe not more people than the movies, but definitly spreading to communities that the movies and books didnt reach (e.g. i didnt watch the movies until well over ten years after I had played my first game of MC hunger games)

  • @Cornelius_Wangenheim@lemmy.world
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    343 months ago

    The original XCOM is the source of grid based inventories.

    Star Control 2 is the first RPG that did the standard dialogue interface where you talk to someone and choose from multiple replies.

  • @smeg@feddit.uk
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    333 months ago

    Mario 64 definitely paved the way for most of the 3D platformers of the 21st century

      • @Katana314@lemmy.world
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        233 months ago

        I don’t think it’s just “being 3D”. Mario 64 put a lot of R&D into particulars of how jumping should work, the camera should work, and what the player’s goals should be. Quite a few games unintentionally copied them, while you could see some games not following their lead early in the 3D days that felt very janky to play. Tomb Raider could arguably be among them with the tank controls, though of course it has its own more niche appeal.

        • @Grangle1@lemm.ee
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          83 months ago

          Legend of Zelda OoT followed up with popularizing a targeting button (good ol’ Z-targeting) to focus on one object or enemy in a 3D space and move around it or fight/otherwise interact with it. Such targeting has been a standard feature of 3D action-adventure games ever since.

          • @frezik@midwest.social
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            23 months ago

            And it’s a bad one if it applies at all. PC shooters of the time always kinda tried, but it didn’t work. The original Half Life got dinged a few points in original reviews because of a few janky platforming sections.

  • @delitomatoes@lemm.ee
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    283 months ago

    I think Spyro was the first mainstream game to standardise achievements, you could do random stuff in-game and it gave you a little pop up, carried over to Ratchet and Clank and now every game has official achievements

    • @UndercoverUlrikHD@programming.dev
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      83 months ago

      I think Spyro was the first mainstream game to standardise achievements, you could do random stuff in-game and it gave you a little pop up

      Which one did that?

      • @rekorse@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I believe the very first one had skill points that unlocked an extended ending and game art.

        • Okami
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          53 months ago

          This. They were indeed called Skill Points, and Insomniac loved to tie cheats and bonus material to completing them. I played the shit out of Spyro and Ratchet and Clank back in the day.

        • VindictiveJudge
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          13 months ago

          Actually introduced in Ripto’s Rage. The Reignited version backported them to the first game, though.

        • I Cast Fist
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          03 months ago

          Not the first one on the PSX, that’s for sure. Also, getting some extra stuff for 100% a game wasn’t new by the time of Spyro, both Donkey Kong Country and Crash Bandicoot already did that

      • @SplashJackson@lemmy.ca
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        63 months ago

        Mortal Kombat for the Genesis did that though. Every once and a while on good hit, little dude would pop into the corner and call out, “Toasty!!”

        Really makes you feel like you achieved something great

  • @djsoren19
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    273 months ago

    Kinda wild to see nobody mention System Shock, the game that invented audio logs. It may seem quaint in retrospect, but at the time all shooters were in the vein of Doom, and story in a shooter was considered “like story in porn.” System Shock was not only the first to communicate the plot and next steps to the player through found audio logs, but it also filled the player in on side stories and provided characterization to the survivors on Citadel station.

    The game recently got a remaster, and despite very few gameplay changes, still holds up really well in 2024. You can really see the bones of later games in it, such as story focused shooters like Bioshock or F.E.A.R. and I’d really recommend it to anyone interested in playing a great retro game.

    • VindictiveJudge
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      63 months ago

      They also said popularized, though. System Shock never really got beyond cult classic status, so while it invented them, I’d say BioShock popularized them.

        • @ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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          33 months ago

          They might be closest, but they’re still pretty far off. One of the core pillars of Arkham combat is that it would punish you for button mashing by dropping your combo, meaning you not only gain fewer points at the end of combat but also lose access to your instant finishers, which are all too valuable for taking out the toughest opponents. Spider-Man is happy to let you mindlessly mash, and it’s far worse off for it.

          • VindictiveJudge
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            43 months ago

            Might just be because I’m just starting out, but Spider-Man’s combat is much more punishing for me. Could just be the higher emphasis on using specific combos on certain enemies, which I have some difficulty keeping straight.

      • @pyre@lemmy.world
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        13 months ago

        i think Shadow of Mordor did actually. the system was pretty similar but it didn’t feel as magnetic, which is an improvement.

        • @ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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          13 months ago

          I did like the magnetic nature of Arkham, and since Mordor lacked it, they let you hold your combo streak for longer, which also made it too easy.

          • @pyre@lemmy.world
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            13 months ago

            yeah i don’t care so much about ease, i care about how it feels. Arkham’s combat was fun, but the insane distances you could instantly travel made it feel like the game was playing itself. mordor’s solution is better imo. but it obviously comes down to personal preference.

            • @ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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              13 months ago

              I felt it was more about the “free flow” in the free flow combat system in Arkham. You want it to all chain together, and Arkham made sure you only hit the buttons you needed to exactly as many times as you needed to. Mordor let you keep your combo going even though it had been like 10 seconds since the last time you did anything, which wasn’t exactly flowing at that point. That combo system was a great fit for Batman, and it would fit in nicely with Jason Bourne or John Wick as well, and I’m not sure Lord of the Rings was the best fit for it, but it doesn’t seem like many are trying to do that combat style anymore.