Quoted from HoakyPoaky:Screens really began to change game design in the 90s. And it was a welcomed exciting change throughout the decade. I still love DMD games, for the classic animations alone. But when LCD screens came along, I feel some companies & programmers have just taken it too far. Throw in a million RBG lights and it's too just too much. You need callouts because you can't visually tell where to shoot, and the screens have way too much information displayed.
The focus for the player should always be the playfield. Period. That's something that has been lost in this LCD era. Which is why the PF throwback to an older era is pleasing to so many players & generating so many sales IMO. I hope CGC makes more games like this, where all the people, resources & money that's pumped into the LCD development goes back into making great playfields & other game features.
I watched a good portion of the SDTM video and it seems like there was some effort to cater to modern complexity in rule sets. There's a lot to do to beat the game, and the play seems challenging enough, so I imagine there will be stacking of things, and they have RGB lighting here, so there could be a lot of inserts flashing, etc. But admittedly I didn't watch the whole video nor have really dived into the rulesets so I could be wrong.
I did really like what DMD brought to pinball and how animations, etc were developed there. To me, LCD screens CAN be cool, but also can more easily be lazily implemented especially given how many of today's games are licensed themes so there's existing video to use in regards to the license. DP is an example to me where the LCD is done well & lends to theme immersion, even if the player isn't watching it a lot of the time. Things like Bond (as is so far) feel lazy and stale. Some that are primarily playing existing video are somewhere in the middle. And then LCD can be poorly done in other ways too - I really wanted to like Oktoberfest but the animations there were pretty bad.
I think like most things if it's done with skill and passion (and that can mean on the license side too vs. being restrictive, etc) it shines through.