RANT - Games taking too long to load.

[smallstepforman]

As a gamer/user, I'm getting really annoyed with filler screens which dont actually add anything to the core game. Yes, we all know that artists are talented, yes, we admire the pretty screens once or twice, but as a user on a mobile device, I dont want to wait 60 seconds to get to the actual game. I've only got a few minutes while waiting for the train / bus, and I honestly dont want to watch your cinematic intro for the 200th time, no matter how pretty it is. Some developers are gracious enough to allow us to skip cinematic screen. Gee, thanks, but how about giving us back those 20 seconds we wasted while waiting for the annoying cinematic to load which we immediately dismissed.

My gaming console at home is just as guilty. It takes forever to start a game, so much so that most times I dont even bother turning it on if I have 5 minutes to waste - it will take longer for the actual game to start. I think the worse culprit is Battlefield 2 for my PC. I actually have time to go upstairs and take a shower, and dry of, and I have more than enough time to prepare a short snack by the time the game logs me to a multiplayer battle. And I've got a fast dual core CPU, heaps of RAM, and a RAID-0 pair of hard disks, spinning at 10,000 rpm. Load times are bloody insane.

I'm annoyed that the same thing is happening with mobile games. I prefer the games which start in less than 5 seconds. As a developer myself, this is one of my primary game design goals - when the game starts, a big RESUME button in the top right corner allows the user to jump right into the game they interrupted. No friggin loading screens other than the initial 5 second one at game start. No friggin credits screens.

Are other players just as annoyed as I am?

RANT over.

[weisome]

It can get pretty annoying. But I just find something else to do while I'm waiting.

[Zincous]

Yeah I hadn't played Wii in a while, and yesterday started playing Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games and also Mario Party 8.

The load time between games are crazy, it takes longer loading than it does to play some of the games.

It's also the whole reason I stopped playing Oregon Trail on the iDevices, load times were 3X as long as the next part of the game. It would load to bring up the river scene, I'd cross it in 10 seconds, and it would load out of the river scene to continue on the trail. It was ridiculous.

[Jyaw3]

Ya this is something that I've seen complained a lot about. I think in general, the amount of screens from title to playing should probably never be more than 3 deep, Title -> Organization of Levels -> Settings -> Play.

In my game that's soon to be released (In Review) you can go from loading to playing in <5 seconds =)

But I think it really depends on the game. Or rather purpose of the game, like games that don't lend itself well to short play sessions, anything rpgish, I think is acceptable to have longer load times, while short puzzles/gratification games should be quick, but that's just how I see it.

[Kamazar]

Hmmm, I haven't really noticed loading times that much. On my Mac, Nexuix can sometimes take forever, and my 360 too, but if I'm playing on either of them I'm not really expecting to leave anytime soon. With my iDevice, I usually have at least 10 minutes to spare and games only last around 3 or so, making the loading screens not really that annoying.

What games exactly are you talking about?

[Rocketman919]

Solution: get a 3Gs

[P0tent1al]

hmm.. would be keen to know what games you are referring to... I might just be lucky by playing the type of games that load fairly quickly.

But in most cases, if a game takes time render the game engine, object, textures, audio, UI etc these screens that programmers and artists create are to give you something to read whilst you wait. If you had a blank screen chances are you might think your device has crashed and exit out of the game.

Games creators can optimize load times but there will always be lazy programmers unfortunately.

Let us know the games in question... might be worthy list to compile for games to avoid on short journeys :)

[darwiniandude]

Type in LOAD"*" and press enter.
When it says "PRESS PLAY ON TAPE" ensure the tape is rewound, then press play.
Once the tape is through the loader, the screen will say:
FOUND GHOSTBUSTERS

Wait approx 20 minutes.

If your tape is in good condition, you'll have a game to play, with no save state. Remember if you turn the machine off you'll have to start the game over.

---------------------------

I'm just saying... :) BUT... I do actually agree with you.

[weisome]

Type in LOAD"*" and press enter.
When it says "PRESS PLAY ON TAPE" ensure the tape is rewound, then press play.
Once the tape is through the loader, the screen will say:
FOUND GHOSTBUSTERS

Wait approx 20 minutes.

If your tape is in good condition, you'll have a game to play, with no save state. Remember if you turn the machine off you'll have to start the game over.

---------------------------

I'm just saying... :) BUT... I do actually agree with you.

LOL :D So we've made a long way since. :p