Talking to my friend Rob often helps me cement my own stance on certain elements of game design. Wether he agress with my points or not its a really excellent way of me thinking through things I had previously taken as given.

Case in point: I was just recently talking with him about the current state of sandbox games. In discussing the reasons why Vice City works and Spiderman 2 doesn't I finally managed to nail exactly what it is I love about the former.

Character.

In the adventure or action genres of game often the biggest hits not only have a protagonist that the player enjoys playing as but they also have masses of character - not through npcs or other 'living' elements but through the world itself.

Vice City has one of the best characters in gaming in my view - the city itself. GTA3 pulled of a similar although slightly lower degree of this. This meant that the protagonists lack of speech wasn't an issue, the player explored the main character the second they walked around or took quick drive.

I still can't get really into GTA4 months after its release. For me, in chasing the authentic, the city lacks the same vibrance and character of Vice City. Furthermore in a game such as Galaxy - with arguably the most recognisable protagonist in gaming - the hub world still has stacks of character as do all the individual planets that you visit on your quest.

I guess what this leads to is something I mentioned waaay back on here in a previous post. I want my game to feature a place that players simply like spending time in. If the world itself is full of character all on its own, things can only get all the more appealing once it is filled with life in the way of animals, npcs and games.

For me, this time at least, it will be Character first.