Name this genre?

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Yasha(Posted 2014) [#1]
Recently rediscovered an old game I played some years back. A difficult one to find, because I couldn't think of any appropriate search terms. Sea of Fire, on Newgrounds.

The author calls it RTS, although beyond the governing concepts (base, tanks, money, enemy) it doesn't really fit; the gameplay doesn't ever give you direct control of units. Instead you manage production, and let your men hurl themselves on the enemy machine guns like it's 1914.

This seems to be a genre rather than limitations of a specific game: Crimson Warfare seems similar (probably the originator), and Bowmaster Prelude IIRC has similar mechanics, although it lets you control one hero directly. I've seen numerous ripoffs of both of these, slick and less slick (SoF sticks in my mind mainly because I really like the overall design as a program, campaign map and passwords and so on... the gameplay itself is dull as rocks, and kinda morally abhorrent). It seems like it might be a good design for a complete game that's also reasonable for newbies to imitate.


I don't see any reason to call this genre a subtype of RTS beyond its association with some similar battle tropes. Does it have another name? If not, what should it be called?


Derron(Posted 2014) [#2]
Sea of Fire:
is Real Time? ... yes
is Strategy? ... yes

So why shouldn't you call it RTS ?


If you want to limit it to "direct unit control" things like Total War would be of other genres too.


Wikipedia gives some more examples: Mega Lo Mania, Sim Ant, ...
Last paragraph in the history section: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_strategy.


bye
Ron


Yasha(Posted 2014) [#3]
Interesting... seems like the style arguably originates all the way back with Herzog. And that it could also be considered a subtype of MOBA but without the main element (a controllable unit).

Looking at that article, I suppose you're right. RTS is clearly a very varied and broad genre - where people seem to prefer using their brains to cloning - and this does still fit within the extended boundaries. But at the same time that doesn't deal with the problem of actually talking about specific mechanics (how do they do this for other subtypes? Is it all "Warcraft-style" and "Solar Empire-style"?).


xlsior(Posted 2014) [#4]
(how do they do this for other subtypes? Is it all "Warcraft-style" and "Solar Empire-style"?).


In some cases people do refer to a particular game, e.g. "Rogue-like"
You'll find a bazillion references to that term if you do a search.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roguelike


_PJ_(Posted 2015) [#5]
Just as with music, movies and pretty much any creative artistry the concept of genres is often too broad and subjectively based on interpretation/opinion, and as time goes on, the definitions become blurred and new concepts arise.

So really, some games may not fit exactly into any individual "genre", but may be considered as a combination of two or more such classifications, or even a more unique and new type altogether.

Ultimately, I think such terms as "genre" or "style" are aides to decription, not necessarily deining specifics and consideration should be given to only portions or similarities rather than the product as a whole.