Open World Origins

open-world games everybody loves them even the contrarians although of course they've never admitted such games are immensely popular today with examples all genres giving the player freedom to roam their worlds this open-ended design helps permit nonlinear play can help paint the illusion of a living breathing world and can otherwise surf is a great outlet for any pent-up stress so what was the first truly open-world game what are the titles set the standard along the way and what makes them so popular today open-world is a broad description and quite a few interpretations can fit generally the term implies a departure from conventional level based structure and instead the freedom to explore again without a particular goal barriers and invisible walls have only a limited presence and any activities are offered as an elective palette today the formula is very common and permeates multiple categories in the wake of the hugely popular minecraft a more open-ended style of survival pie has become very popular often with a social twist in such cases the world is more a backdrop to player interaction and a means to disperse vital resources within games like dayz in their potential for emergent events are a perfect fit for YouTube helping to ensure their popularity held aloft by multiplier antics with viral appeal free roaming worlds are also the perfect avenue for superhero wish-fulfillment games like crackdown prototype and infamous give the player immense power amidst an urban environment it's a formula that can work very well and will make a comic book world come to life when leveraged effectively arkham asylum is tied combat and gadget Laden stealth definitely set a high war mark for Batman games with the popularity of first-person shooters the existence of open-world FPS should come as no surprise rather than cramming the player into a linear series of corridors games like Borderlands or the stalker series grant a much larger map to explore with tasks distributed within the Far Cry series is perhaps the pioneer of open-world FPS while the first had a linear mission structure the environment was broad and obstacles could be tackled in multiple ways all of these modern open-world games are an offshoot of one particularly influential franchise a game that single-handedly created a new genre and still the gold standard of free roaming mayhem grand theft auto it has inspired 8,000 clones and forged an instantly recognizable formula driving shooting a core story divided into missions and a plethora of collectables and mini games to serve as diversion between it was Grand Theft Auto 3 that first established many of these conventions a bold step into the third dimension and one that led to a surge of mainstream popularity the ability to see Liberty City at street level instead of the earlier top-down view rendered the world convincing and it's driving shooting an action seamless it wasn't the first attempt at making a 3d city come to life games like driver and Midtown madness both had freeform driving action Shenmue was a trailblazer for on-foot City exploration and DMA themselves first tested the 3d waters with body harvest for the n64 although set in a less realistic world than Grand Theft Auto it did have similar sandbox gameplay and the ability to drive a variety of vehicles a game like gta3 was inevitable but it took the expertise and budget a rockstars disposal to clear the ambitious technical hurdles a definitive prototype for the future the perfect union of available technology Rockstar developer and boundless mayhem of course it's open world wasn't the first the original Grand Theft Auto and its sequel had less impressive graphics than the later 3d universe but still the basic GTO formula was established here with a quest based structure taken from RPGs arcade driving cinematic explosions and classic shoot-'em-up action despite being forged from disparate elements the GTA formula is greater than the sum of its parts there aren't too many 3d action sandbox games that came before one attempt ahead of its time was hunter an open-ended military sent with full polygonal 3d graphics and multiple drivable vehicles released in 1991 hugely ambitious innovative and daring in scope truly a pioneer but his hunter the very first to offer an expansive world an open-ended gameplay far from it driving games are a natural fit for an open world when you can go anywhere you'll get there faster in a car the potential scope of a road trip can demand a very large map from the American caricature scene in the crew to the long-haul eurotruck sim to the potential to drive across an entire continent is always impressive few can compare to the world scales seen in fuel but while the game was vast its lands were barren the more modest map of burner paradise made for a richer experience and the perfect fusion of arcade action with open exploration such games following a long line of open-world arcade racers the Need for Speed series Midnight Club and Driver all emerged today similar time the racing elements familiar but the exploration all-new this spate of freeform racers near the Millennium can be pinned on the success of the first Grand Theft Auto and the realization have been given the keys to a city along with an exotic car is awfully good fun earlier driving titles stick to a simple race centric structure but there are some exceptions Vette is an example granting free movement about a virtual San Francisco but it isn't the first 1986 is turbo Esprit was a particularly ambitious game for the APM micros its depiction of city driving basic but more realistic than anything seen before ahead of its time but was turbo Esprit the first open-world game close but not quite like the open road the expansive nature of space makes it a perfect fit for any mercenary to roam free long a staple of PC gaming space exploration games are seeing a recent revival with titles like star citizen and elite dangerous a modern update to the games to help define the golden era of PC gaming in the 90s it was a great time for fans of spacefaring and the sparse nature of space suited the limited 3d graphics at the time popular franchises like Wing Commander were early jewels in PC gaming's crown but the popularity of space themed titles can be traced to one particular game the key pioneer of intergalactic trading and exploration emerged in glorious wireframe on the 8-bit machines of the early eighties the seminal elite cramming an impossibly massive space into mere kilobytes it was a triumph of efficient programming an Azon redefining hit between spaceport trading ship-to-ship combat hyperspace and close encounters with the mysterious thyroids there's much to do and ample opportunity for a unique player story to unfurl so is elites freedom traversed galaxies a very first example of an open-world game almost we draw close but another genre entirely plays the prime role in the formative days of free roaming computer RPGs have a long history with emergent fantasy stories lending themselves particularly well to interactive entertainment exploration and adventure go together very well indeed an open world is an expectation in games like the Elder Scrolls series and the slice of Tamriel Skyrim delivers serves up much of the game's charm from snowy mountain site to dank droga cave the scenery is an essential part of the story Japanese RPGs are a different breed but exploration is one of the things they have in common with their Western kin a free roaming overworld is a regular occurrence such as in the Final Fantasy franchise the perfect place for endless random encounters The Legend of Zelda is a particularly influential game that helped to establish this overworld and dungeon convention progress is made in a relatively linear way but along your quest you are free to explore and while some obstacles may impede your progress you're not always forced to head towards a goal player freedom is an important aspect of a believable RPG they're escapist appeal hinges on an ability to choose where you go next what good is an adventurer if you're forced down a single path the definitive standard for the Western RPG during the 80s and early 90s was the Ultima series their impressive scope and rich world won over a sizable fanbase and the series has helped to establish many of the conventions that persist in role-playing games seen today the first entry arrived in 1981 with Ultima 1 the first age of darkness and while the graphics are simple the top-down tiles are far more attractive than any text adventure not much else from the era could match it and so the legend began a sturdy foundation for what would go on to become a kingdom with its world broad and dungeons deep is Ultima the very first open while title it very possibly is the definitions begin to unravel how open does a world have to be before it's open there are plenty of RPGs which predate Ultima principally centered on dungeon trawling like Ultima zone prequel at caliber the procedurally generated rogue or very early examples designed for academic mainframes like D&D united by their origin we see a departure from a virtual space and a transition to pen and paper instead stemming from a love of adventure and exploration developers have long striven to create living breathing worlds today technology permits more impressive and expansive environments than ever before and there's no shortage of games made in this mold a land without limits a place where imagination rules supreme an open world is a beautiful thing thank you very much for watching and until next time farewell

Channel: Ahoy

Views: 1,377,617

Rating: 4.9323463 out of 5

Keywords: xboxahoy, Open World (Video Game Genre)

Id: EdV_2svrDVc

Length: 12min 50sec (770 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 18 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/Dabrus]

As much as I love Ahoy videos, I would like him to present more facts and details about games that he mentions. Like for example, how big were the worlds created in these games, what were the problems that developers faced, how gamers reacted to them etc. I just feel that there is some potential lost, that he just scratches the surface. I still have no idea why the games he mentioned were special, I just know that they belong to open worlds games. Does anyone feel the same?

Nevertheless, the production value is mindblowing. Editing, music, his voice... it's all superb. He definitely puts a lot of work to make them. That's one of the best gaming channels for me, don't get me wrong.

[u/[deleted]]

Good video but I feel like repeating "But is it the first?Not quite" two or three times was kinda cheesy. Like simply saying "But let's go back a few years" or something would act as a better segue than the approach he took

[u/croppergib]

Really liked this video. The voice and style reminded me of when a teacher would pop in a VHS at school :)

[u/Potat4o]

But was it the first?

[u/IrishBandit]

That's how you're supposed to pronounce Draugr?

[u/RockBandDood]

I think it is important to mention, the Ultima/Akalabeth series that he argues may have been the beginning of the Open-World gameplay idea was done by Richard Garriot, who also was responsible for the first MMO to breach 100k+ subscribers with Ultima Online. (I believe Im right on that one, but any Merdidian59 fans may pounce on me for being wrong, lol, my bad)

But, Garriot lost the name of Ultima in a deal that was made with EA. I do not know the details, but, he is no longer making Ultima games, but is currently creating Shroud of the Avatar, a new MMO to follow up Ultima Online.

Ultima Online was unlike many MMOs you see today, there were no quests and the game itself was a sandbox, as he is describing in the video, but a sandbox that encouraged player interaction and allowed you to create your own feuds/alliances/playstyle.

I can truly say - no one played Ultima Online "the way" I did and its impossible to replicate. Everyone had their own adventure. You didnt start in a specific town and get told to go on this quest and go to this dungeon - you popped up in a world and had to find a way to survive. Sometimes that way was to become a thief or a grave robber and run away from others as they try to kill you for their goods. Or it was to group up with some other new adventurers and wander the wilderness and try not to die. Or you could literally be a lumberjack that doesnt do any fighting at all but makes great bows. I know youre asking "but why no quests" - towns werent these barren wastelands they are in modern MMOs. Everyone in the town had to interact with eachother, a bank in UO was not like a town square in modern MMOs. There were thieves stalking the crowd taking the goods the vendors were trying to sell. It was just the right amount of chaos at all times, no matter where you were.

The game was literally an open world adventure, no strings attached. Anyways - he is making Shroud of the Avatar, most of you have probably heard of it, but, if his record shows anything, its that he can revolutionize experiences. So, Shroud of the Avatar is in beta now - you can get it on steam and stuff, but hold off, its still legit in development, but, check it out if youre looking for a new type of MMO.

[u/killthealias]

Kind of a shame he left out Elder Scrolls II Daggerfall. That game was hugely impressive for it's time with an open world the size of Great Britain.

[u/DJVee210]

A fantastic video as usual for Ahoy. I did feel the exclusion of the 1979 title Adventure was somewhat strange, considering its legacy as one of the progenitors of modern RPGs, but overall I loved this video as I have with all of his previous, and he proves once again why he has one of the most entertaining and informative gaming channels on YouTube.

[u/renrutal]

His last words made me wonder:

Are there any open-world asynchronous massive multiplayer pen-and-paper RPGs out there?