Creative vs Destructive Games.

I've been pondering common qualities in the games I like and found a common thread is that I most enjoy games where there is more of a focus on creating and building things than going out and destroying things or completing missions.

• Spore still remains one of my favourite games is all about the creating - you start out from a single cell and create everything about a species from the ground up.
• X and other elite-a-likes has you building your flotilla and business empire from a single ship.
• City of Heroes of course has the famed Hero creator.

And of course, any game with RPG Elements has you creating and building up your character as you go along. Indeed I suspect one of the reasons I have such terrible Alt Itis is because I enjoy playing around with the character creator more than the actual game.

So, bearing this in mind, what games do you guys know where there is an emphasis on creating or building things rather than just going out and "hunting" so to speak. I can think of a few off the top of my head.

• Mine Craft (duh). I'm reluctant to get started on that due to time sink and difficulty curve issues.
• Pretty much anything by Will Wright or Sid Meier.

But TV Tropes is all about finding the rare gems. So tell me about your finds out there on the interwebs.

So... the thread is strictly about Creative Games? Not Destructive games? Or a Creative vs Destructive flamewar?

Er...

Little Big Planet and Mod Nation Racers are both heavily focused on creation aspects. Oblivion has a really in-depth character creation aspect, as well as just being an amazing game. The Lego Island series has a focus on customisation more than creation, but it's worth checking out, anyway.

That's really all I can think of right now.

@Known Unknown. More about talking about games which have a significant focus on a creative aspect.

@gangstagnome. I have actually been playing Oblivion a fair bit lately. One day I might even get a character to level 2.

So.......what an example of destructive game? Black And White?

I regularly go through periods where I'm addicted to the Sims (Sims 3, atm), which is largely based on raising a sim the best I can.

@Signed. Well a good example of a destructive game is one where you just go out and blow stuff up and don't ever build anything. Half Life 2 even has Dr Breen lampshading that near the end, for instance.

The obvious ones for me were the various tycoon games (Rollercoaster Tycoon and Zoo Tycoon are my favourites) and the Sims games, including The Sims. Then there are games that allow you to build levels, like Little Big Planet.

I also really like RP Gs, but they seem pretty destructive what with their going about killing things.

RP Gs are a real mixed case. You build up a character, but mostly by murdering 95% of things you come across.

edited 2nd Nov '10 5:32:51 PM by TibetanFox

^ Except with Persona, where you can build stronger personas by making friends (Persona 3 & 4) or pissing off/amusing/hurting/talking to demons.

Blow Stuff Up, you say?

Play Mercenaries. Now THAT is a great game for blowing Stuff Up.

Also, I was wondering about something... Would the games made by Paradox Interactive could be classified as Creative games or Destructive Games?

edited 2nd Nov '10 5:55:10 PM by AttObl

What about both? :P

Creation and destruction complement each other in strategy games.

Build a mighty military-industrial complex in order to destroy the enemy. Crush and destroy in order to obtain more resources, grow stronger, and create larger armies and greater settlements. 4X is so fun.

edited 2nd Nov '10 8:09:54 PM by Shichibukai

Well I do have some pretty good Blowing Stuff Up games like Mercenaries and Just Cause 2 and Prototype but they don't tend to hold my attention for long, even though they're all really well made.

Blowing shit up just gets samey for me after a while, whereas the possibilities inherent to creating rather than destroying hold my interest for much longer. That's why I created this thread - to see if there were any experiences of that nature I was missing out on.

What about Iji? It seems highly destructive at first glance, but...

The building happens in the closing credits, though.

I used to play Creatures when I was a kid. I still have 1,2&3 somewhere.

I never take the destructive route in these games. That's for, well, destructive games where the mission is to defeat the enemy.

edited 3rd Nov '10 5:14:36 AM by elemcee

Fallout. Destruction abounds

Aren't your choices in Epic Mickey to basically either create or destroy?

@Re:Minecraft: Well, when I get the SMP server back up and running, I've modded it to hell and back so there isn't really the timesink issue.

or, there is, but it's more due to addiction. :P

Chrome Hounds was actually a pretty interesting example. It took the kind of mech customization you'd see in series like Armored Core or Phantom Crash and turned it up to eleven. Things like this were possible, if useless. Unfortunately, after a while, everything got homogonized to all hell because everyone found out that certain design strategies were WAY better than others. And the servers went down...

edited 3rd Nov '10 9:32:06 AM by Miijhal

What about creatively destructive games?

Well, don't just sit there, give me an example of one.

Or creative games that can be playedin a destructive way? The disaster option in the Sim City games is there for a reason after all... Although I tend not to do that. Well, except the one time I tried out the pool ladder trick in The Sims 2. And in The Sims 3, although it didn't work there.

Dwarf Fortress, however, seems to encompass both in equal measure. In fact the destructive part seems to have a very creative component too. At least judging from all the different ways players find to kill off their dwarfs dorfs.

Katamari Damacy.

I don't think creation and destruction are mutually exclusive, and not just in the sense of using one to prepare for the other or alternating. Sometimes the same act is both constructive and destructive.

What comes to mind is Actraiser for the SNES. You play as this god guy trying to build up cities in a land infested by demons. Your first job is to kill the resident demons to give the humans land to live on. By killing the demons you are directly contributing to the construction of the town. There's no distinction. It's very satisfying to sit back and say "okay, this place is safe now". You can also use earthquakes to destroy poorly built houses, forcing the humans to rebuild better houses. If you don't then the cities won't reach their maximum development.

edited 3rd Nov '10 10:37:45 PM by Clarste