In a recent interview with Edge, Total War Battles: Shogun lead designer Renaud Charpentier thinks that today's games lack design focus and "that 70 per cent of games simply do not pass muster as a result." Claiming that developers should be spending more time on prototyping rather then trying to exceed technology limits, Renaud believes that games in today's market aren't focusing enough on gameplay mechanics, something that he believes is lacking in the industry.

"Their biggest risk is not on the tech, not on the art, it's on the design," he insists. "You have to front-load that: it has to drive many of the other decisions.

"Hopefully that's something we manage to do at Creative Assembly, and that we managed to do with Battles, but it's still something that I think is lacking [in the industry] and it has to change.

While the director still recognises the need for tools that can help create more efficient workflow, a greater focus on design needs to occur in order to lift gaming standards. Obviously the shift of focus won't mean developers will need to create a 100-page document on how to better improve the game, but simply giving a bigger precedence to game design and prototyping in the early stages of development is what Renaud is calling for.

You can read more on the interview with Renaud Charpentier over at Edge.