A new audience doesn't need an overhaul

So recently the Crash trilogy remake became an amazing discussion point, for something I've wanted to say for a while. During a discussion where they had some unique questions, and even teased the possibility of a future with new games, this little bit was found in the conversation:

We wanted to broaden Crash’s appeal, so we had to keep in mind the new audience that might’ve never played these games before. It was important for us to consider that audience and how they might react to any decision we make. As a result, whenever we made a decision, we had to constantly ask ourselves: “But who are we making this decision for?”

Here's my very simple answer to such a question: You're making this for gamers that want to have fun. At least, that's my hope.

You see, when people usually pose this sort of situation, they mean to shift it to "streamline" which is often just a buzzword for making it trendy, generic, and match the current fads. They do something absurd to it, like how the new thief decided they needed an unlock system, special vision, and button prompts instead of intelligent level design. This was all in the name of "appealing to new audiences" while cynically hoping the old would just buy it because it was inspired and named after the game they were hoping to see again. People don't understand that what made the game fun for them (so they had fans to begin with), was in the game itself. But supposedly we're told to believe that can't possibly be true, and we have to carve the gameplay out, and fill it with trendy modern conventions you can get from any other game on the market. It's stupid, and so phony to the game itself that mere months away from Thief's launch, they listened to feedback and throw the entire XP system out the window, and implemented a customization system to help fix problems regarding other features. However the damage was done, and a corporate mindset overruling the actual heart and soul of the game carried through to it's very core. Not many people talk about the game that just came out a few years ago, but a die-hard fanbase still passes on words about how amazing the classics were, how well they were designed, and why they should be experienced.

Back into the shadows you go...

I like Thief to, and tried to congratulate it's customization as accessibility in the right direction. However, the game itself just didn't leave a lasting impact, and upon further revisits I've come to the conclusion it's just fun for virtual kleptomania. Just about any other stealth game short of MGS4 is a better choice for the genre, and Thief's influence, and you're better off playing Dishonored for a successor. You know, Dishonored, the new IP that came in a time where new IP's weren't supposedly possible, but it took sales because it won over people with it's charm, options, and it's clear path as a damn good stealth-action assassination game. It actually knew what it wanted to do for fun, Thief had a frame and filled it with a bucket list of mainstream features. It didn't need to do that. All they needed were to make a new story, make some interesting and complex levels, follow up on and improve all the options to the gameplay, and learn from areas that don't hold up such as the bland sense of direction from within those convoluted levels.

The thing people don't get, even some gamers repeating this sad excuse, is that games are played, remembered, and loved for a reason. New people of today aren't some foreign alien entity, they're human beings who also want to have fun, and can have fun under similar game designs. However games fall apart and go into obscurity faster than any other medium. A game like the original Doom is still amazing for so many reasons. People love it's exploration, it's horror and influence, the combat and monsters, and all the secrets. However this was before 3D was even a real thing in games, the level layout had little to no consistency, and you couldn't look up or down. People can still enjoy Doom on a freakin' calculator if they wanted to, but not everybody wants to do that. However whether they want to or not, we can all still find the fun value in Doom, despite it being old and needing emulation just to run. You could give a kid today the old NES Super Mario Bros, and they'll still get it and enjoy it the same way. They can run, jump, find secrets, and challenge themselves to try and try again. However they might not be able to tell if the character they're playing as is even human, because they're such horrible pixel blobs on the old systems. So you redo that gameplay, add to it, fix what was broke, and improve it on newer systems. You do not need to ditch the secrets, inject a half-hearted crafting system, and give Mario a dramatic edgy anti-hero backstory, just because you think this is what the kids dig today. These games were fun once, because they were fun period. They age badly in physical hardware, but have timeless elements of gameplay that are great entertainment.

All you need to do to get a new audience, and succeed in keeping your old audience, is give them a fun and faithful game that is truly entertaining. I don't expect the Thief guys were running around, pondering how to wreck their game, but they sure didn't seem to be treating the game with it's integrity. They took short cuts in level design, and then implied it was because newer players don't like open-ended levels. That's just plain stupid, and the fact some gamers buy into this idea and start blaming newer games just makes it all the more ridiculous. People will still seek out those challenges, complexity, or advanced design, it wasn't something that just died with one generation. Not every potential fan was born during the original release, had the access to it, nor has the will to go backwards and play it on it's old retro format. So, give them a new release. Give them newer graphics, new extras, new things that are full feature improvements, fix the obvious mistakes, and make ti a nice shiny deal they can't refuse while also showing the old fans how great their game was. That's how you do it right!

...and so far, despite the silly statement, I'd say Crash Bandicoot absolutely nails this lesson. They went above and beyond the call to give us the entire trilogy, seem to match the levels design and crafty sensibilities perfectly, are giving us updated cut-scenes, graphics, and fixing issues like the first game's physics. They're letting Crash be Crash, and are letting that fun speak for itself. Guys, Crash doesn't need to do anything stupid just to appeal to a new audience. Those people are out there, and can enjoy running, jumping, a humorous cartoon bandicoot, and mastering techniques for the best of secrets. They're out there, and I'm certain some of them are watching Crash with great curiosity, and they're going to finally pick it up and see just what the Nostalgic fans have been drooling over. Then... both nostalgic and some new comers, will be having fun. Not because you threw Crash Bandicoot out the window and replaced it with XP systems, Detective mode, and killstreak multiplayer palooza, but because they still enjoy the Bandicoot's wacky shenanigans on the most brilliant and up-to-date adaptation yet.