Contraction pack

How times have changed. It used to be the case that creators, and creators alone, defined the direction a series would take. Super Mario World’s design had nothing to do with what players thought of Super Mario Bros III, for instance, yet nowadays it is a rare thing indeed for developers and publishers to entirely ignore what their fanbase thinks.

Perhaps because it is impossible. The lines of communication between creators and players have never been so open, so widely used, and so frequently abused. When Codemasters set out to make Grid: Autosport (p114), the negativity from its hardened playerbase could have filled an entire design document. The result is that, unusually for a sequel, things have been stripped right back. There are no headline-grabbing new modes or features; gone is the garage, the player’s collection of cars, and the well-meaning, if ultimately pointless, narrative. Even

s luxurious menu system has been pared back. It’s a thoroughly atypical approach to a sequel, but it works.

At first glance, Ultra Street Fighter IV (p104) is more traditional. It has five new characters, half-a-dozen new stages, some new modes and a couple of additions to the battle system that have a drastic effect on the way the game is played at a high level. Yet this, too, would have looked quite different had it not been made in consultation with its players. So important was fan feedback to Ultra’s development that the community manager hired to collate it ended up playing a key role in the game’s creation.

It’s not a guarantee of success. And nor should it be: there’s something to be said for authorial control at a time when there is always someone prepared to tell you why your game is the worst ever. But clearly there’s a future in making games with your community rather than by committee.