Comment by lelandfe

1 year ago

The patented game mechanic I am most bummed won’t be appearing in other games is Death Stranding’s desire pathing. Having other players in an open word “wear” paths into the map was extremely cool.

8 comments

lelandfe

Reply
runevault  1 year ago

I missed that one. For me it is the Nemesis System from Shadow of Mordor/War. They made 2 games and haven't done anything with it since but they still patented it.

  • portaouflop  1 year ago

    They patent that stuff not because they want to use it but because they want to block and stifle the competition — it’s truly despicable if you ask me

    • permo-w  1 year ago

      I'd suggest "tax" is probably more accurate than "block" or "stifle", especially if they've not released anything since

    • runevault  1 year ago

      I'm aware. It is still a massive bummer they couldn't even make anymore games since they limited anyone else from making them without paying out.

Andrex  1 year ago

Sounds like Animal Crossing City Folk's much-hated "animal tracks," which they ditched the very next game because everyone hated them lol.

It's interesting to see that mechanic is desirable in a different context.

  • lelandfe  1 year ago

    The way it's implemented is clever. Players gradually wear down challenging terrain, incentivizing you to take those easy paths. But the mechanic subtly solves a problem with open world settings, bringing order to infinite choice: you can go this way.

    You also get notified when other players follow paths you've made, which feels great.

archagon  1 year ago

Ugh, imagine if Renaissance painters took out patents on the color blue or perspective drawing. This is where we’re at with game design.