darkSpyro

Skylanders aren't the only ones defending their turf.

http://blog.roblox.com/2014/08...finitys-toy-box

There is a lot of buzz in the video game world about “game creation” games. And most large game companies are trying their hand at letting players participate in creating content. But we’re seeing most of these creations going the way of “mash-up” engines and level editors, rather than as commitments to user-generated content

Let’s talk about Disney Infinity, a game with a sequel on the horizon, as an example.

Disney Infinity is doing very well in the “toys-to-game” space. But the feature that makes Disney Infinity unique among its competitors, such as Skylanders, is the Toy Box feature, which allows gamers to create their own levels. And while Toy Box stands out as the highlight for many critics and fans, it leaves a lot to be desired as a user-generated content platform.

Disney Infinity is ironically limited in its scope by its own branding. Unlike ROBLOX, Minecraft, and Little Big Planet, Disney Infinity doesn’t give players access to the rawest building blocks of game creation. Think of Disney Infinity more as a “mash-up” engine, with prefabs that can be dragged and placed. The prefabs themselves are made by Disney, and every game uses the same ones.

These constraints limit the creative space of the game. Let’s say you look for a brawler or kart racer with Disney characters in it. When you look at all the creations people have made, you’ll be hard pressed to tell the difference between any of them.

The reason games like Minecraft, Little Big Planet, and ROBLOX succeed is because you can share the experience with other players all over the world together, in real time. Disney Infinity is limited in its ability to share games. You can upload your levels in-game, and other players can download and play them, but the levels you make in Disney Infinity don’t support online multiplayer.

In Disney Infinity you’re creating in a bit of a vacuum because it’s difficult to request and collect feedback on any of your games. A community that can get excited about each other’s creations is crucial to success.

True to Disney, the characters in Infinity dance the line between cute and cool. As a first step into the world of game creation, Disney Infinity works well. The simplicity and pre-built aspects of Toy Box make it easy for anyone to create something fun, without needing to learn scripting.

Those that really want to develop games will quickly learn everything they can from the Toy Box. And the sequel’s additions seem geared more towards making it even easier for first timers, rather than expanding the potential for bigger and more complex games.

At ROBLOX we strive to give our developers the tools they need to create whatever their vision is. You’ll never see someone make a murder mystery game on Disney Infinity. Or a long-form adventure game. Or even a fashion modeling game. These are all possible because ROBLOX lets developers create games that look and play how they want, not how the pre-made assets and logic dictate.

ROBLOX makes it easy to get your game out to other people. Ultimately, we believe the freemium model will triumph over paid games such as Disney Infinity. And when it comes to user-generated content, we want our developers to feel rewarded. You’re not going to see Disney, Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft paying young developers for their creations in their games.

It’s great that the industry is recognizing that the future is at least partly one of user-generated content, but only halfheartedly embracing it isn’t quite enough. To be truly successful, user-generated content needs raw building materials, an ease of sharing creations, and a community that encourages interaction. Until it gets that, Disney Infinity’s Toy Box will not be the game’s key driver for fun and attracting players.

Never played Roblox (nor do I know what it is anyway), but they sure do seem to feel threatened by DI.

as usual a great read from GhostRoaster, thanks.

cuz or roblox is being hurt by the games they listed they try and fail.

Technically, they have a point about technical superiority; I share the same view with skylanders and toys to life. However, I saw Microsoft wipe the map of the networking world with Windows, which left other "superior" products in the dust. Popularity is what matters, and DI 2.0 is bound to threaten them, just as it will Skylanders.

The limited toy box sharing is a big problem. Even going beyond the issue of Toy Boxes feeling similar, because many put a lot of similar pieces together- which I disagree with (opinion on that at the bottom)- having such limited world-sharing options is terrible for a sandbox game. A lot of the fun from sandbox games, many would agree, comes from sharing your creations with friends, seeing what they've made, exploring their worlds and even helping them build.

I'd like to play DI with some people I know online and go through their worlds- but many don't play on the Wii U, we can't all agree on a console to buy the game on, and no way I'm going to buy the game on multiple platforms just so that I can play it with others. Plus, we shouldn't have to do any of those things just to see eachothers' Toy Boxes. A good online mode should be hassle-free, so that when I meet someone and want to play with them, I can just do so.
What am I supposed to do if I want to play in Toy Boxes of my friends who don't play on the same console as me? Fat chance they'll happen to have a fitting entry ready and win one of the weekly contests so I can download them.

It's forgivable that we can't play with eachother at the same time between- say, Wii U and PS3 copies, because tech limits- but we should be able to easily download and explore each others' toy boxes somehow, since that's a standard feature for many sandbox games now, and since Disney Infinity is so potentially expensive it should include the best standard sandbox features.
More importantly, it would make the game much more fun if I could talk to online friends about their Toy Boxes, by actually playing them and giving/recieving feedback on Toy Boxes they were still working on; ultimately making our experiences in the game feel more connected, because we could easily share our worlds with eachother and see what we did in eachothers' Toy Boxes.

Sure, if I want to play the game with others I can find new people who play the same version I do- but I really want to play the game with more of my current friends, too. I'm re-realising stupid design decisions like this, that made me feel mixed about DI1, lately.
Also, the publisher of Disney Infinity is Disney. From what I hear, they're crazy-rich. I don't know a thing about the costs involved besides game servers being expensive- but considering who they are and how Infinity is fairly popular, they should be able to spend extra on bigger Toy Box servers. It feels really hard to excuse the lack of easy sharing, and blatantly feels like Disney skipped it to lower costs. This isn't just something that would make a nice bonus feature, it's expected of pretty much every pure-sandbox game these days (and most fans keep playing Infinity purely for the sandbox part of the game- for good reason, in my opinion).

Nothing to say about Roblox because I haven't played it (and have no interest).

Oh yeah, and about similar-feeling worlds and somewhat limited building options... Honestly, I think Infinity offers enough to get creative and make Toy Boxes that have the same gameplay, yet look and feel different. It'd be much better if it had more in-depth options, but bad if that came at the cost of quality, and as a casual sandbox game Infinity seems to have fairly good quality to me. Once you get used to things, it isn't too hard to build nice stuff, the graphics are nice, it isn't glitchy, etc. Just a real shame it's so expensive, yet honestly, doesn't offer a ton of depth in the building tools. There isn't even water!

Project Spark looks like it has a lot of in-depth options, while also being simple to build in- I can't really say much aside from how it seems cool, though, because I haven't actually played it at all. I've heard some positive impressions, but I haven't looked into it enough to judge fairly... And still haven't actually played it. I've been wanting to try out the beta of the game, but Shovel Knight is next on my to-play list, so it's gonna have to wait.

*sigh* I really like Minecraft because it's a sandbox that doesn't lock items behind paywalls. You get a ton to build with while only spending $25, instead of buying characters to unlock chests, or DLC packs with items and other carp. You just buy the game and you can use everything the game offers. I see how some people prefer the option to pick what they want and spend less. I just miss buying every game I wanted and not having to worry about spending extra on "planned DLC" (content locked behind paywalls, that wasn't finished/released after the game).

i can see why this is threatful to roblox.