PCShooter: Many say that the first person shooter genre is evolving into a more mix of genres. Do you think this is a fair assumption?  

Name: Ken Levine

Company: Irrational Games

Co-Founder/ Executive producer/ Freedom Force

<Ken L> I'd like to think so. There's always that point when you're playing an FPS when you sort of realize, "Hey, it looks cool, it feels cool, but really, I'm just shooting people and the interactivity is pretty durn low." That's a yucky moment and generally time for Levine to start the un-install process. There's been a little progress, with No One Lives Forever and Deus Ex and what we tried to do with Shock 2. However, I wonder if the world wants that. What's still selling well? Unreal Tournament. A great game, no doubt (I'm going to personally bill the Epic guys for the time lost at the Irrational office playing it), but it makes no claims beyond being a top FPS.

Name: Kenn Hoekstra

Company: Raven Software

Project Administrator/ Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force

<Kenn H>Yes, I'd say that's a fair assumption.  First person shooters started as "kill everything that moves" and "find the key and open the door" and they've evolved into much more than that now.  If you define genres as science-fiction, fantasy and real world, for example, first person shooters have explored and continue to explore these venues.  If you define genres as role-playing, action and adventure (etc.), first person shooters are moving in those directions as well.  In this day and age, "first person shooter" is a term that describes a game's viewpoint or camera position more than it describes the game itself.  That said, first person shooters are definitely evolving into genre benders.

Name: Michael Chang Gummelt 

Company: Raven Software

Programmer/ Writer/ Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force

<Mike G> Yes I think the FPS is diverging into sub- genres, not every FPS is a Doom clone anymore. You have RPG-style FPS games like Deus Ex, you have more adventure-oriented FPS games out there, third person games (I consider them a child of FPS games), multiplayer-only FPS games and single-player only FPS games. I think this shows that FPS games have matured to the point where players want to see something new and different in the genre and FPS creation has become common enough that developers can add more to the standard FPS experience.

Name: Herb Flower

Company: Rewolf Software

President, Lead Designer/ Gunman Chronicles

<Herb F> Developers are always trying new approaches, which is good, since that's the only way anything can evolve. Of course it would still be possible to release tons of FPS games without mixing genres so long as they're entertaining the player with imaginative situations, creatures and storyline. That's the whole point, of course-- to entertain.

Name: Warren Spector

Company: Ion Storm

Game Designer/ Deus Ex

<Warren S> I don't know that I want to speak for all developers, everywhere, but as far as I'm concerned, mixing genres is the way to go. Forcing players to play the way you want them to seems like yesterday's news, design-wise. The goal in games like Thief and Deus Ex is to give players more control over their fates than that. To do that, you need to offer more options than find-big-gun-pull-trigger. Once you do that -- start introducing object interaction and character interaction and so on -- you're looking as much like an adventure game or a roleplaying game as you are like a shooter. Instant mixed-genre gaming! Seems inevitable to me. Other developers would probably give you a different answer.

Name: Jon Gwyn 

Company: Shiny Entertainment

Character Modeler/ Sacrifice

<Jon G> The days of putting together a game that is focused on one genre are nearing an end I think.  There is only so much you can do to something like a shooter before you have exhausted any original game play.  Games like half-life proved that by adding some real solid storytelling and adventure elements you can create a much more entertaining and satisfying experience for gamers.  There are so many options available to people buying games these days that unless you strive to create something new, only the big guys will survive. 

Name: Tim Williams

Company: Planet Moon

Senior Producer / Giants: Citizen Kabuto

<Tim W> I think it's a side effect from wanting more out of software. At some point exploding heads become mundane. People just want to do more. The first person genre had to evolve. If it doesn't it's going to be like adventure games. A genre of games that refused to evolve. Now every year people are pronouncing the genre DEAD.

Name: Chacko Sonny

Company: Savage Entertainment

CFO/3D Artist / Battlesuit MK1

<Chacko S> all genres are blending right now. There are adventure games which are taking on aspects of fighting games (Shenmue), and action games which are taking on elements of strategy games (Battlezone, Ground Control, etc.).  First person shooters were among the first to benefit from this convergence, mostly because so many run-n-shoot games had been created so quickly. People were looking to do something more than run, open door, shoot, jump, open door, shoot.  At this point, 3D game development is more about delivering a complete experience. Great new games like Deus Ex, Rune, and FAKK2 may be loosely categorized as First Person Shooters, but they each rely on more than traditional FPS gaming devices to deliver a fun gameplay experience. That said, that doesn't mean that the "pure" FPS genre is dead. Quake, Unreal, and even upstarts like Serious Sam continue to refine the furious gameplay that started way back when.

Name: No One Lives Forever Team

Company: Monolith Productions

No One Live Forever

<NOLF Team> Yes, we'd agree on that to a certain extent. We feel that most players want to do something more than shoot things. We expect more developers to give players different goals, objectives and methods of accomplishing these goals and objectives to keep their game from becoming stale. Variety is the spice of life.