3 ms·

I was going to disagree with you but I think you nailed it. Make something that people (i.e. most people) have never seen before. But that's not saying make s

by zach 16y ago

I was going to disagree with you but I think you nailed it. Make something that people (i.e. most people) have never seen before. But that's not saying make something that nobody has seen before, just something that the people you're marketing to have never seen before. That is, I think the key technique for success in any game market (indie or mass market) is to take a gaming experience that's proven to be fun and make it way more polished and accessible (I left out the Zynga games to save space): Infiniminer => Minecraft Tower Defense => Plants vs. Zombies Guitar Freaks => Guitar Hero The Game Maker => Game Dev Story Boom Blox/Crush the Castle => Angry Birds Rogue => EverQuest => World of Warcraft DECWar => Galcon Narbacular Drop => Portal Herzog Zwei => Dune II => Warcraft Dwarf Fortress => ??? Someone fill in that last one. It'll be tough, but you'll be a multi-millionaire. If you have this many people obsessed with a text mode game in 2011, there's something amazing waiting to happen.

mtinkerhess 16y ago
I agree that Minecraft isn't a wholly original concept, but the other examples you cited aren't from "lean" game studios. Your advice to incrementally improve upon previous successes (your own or others') is a good strategy across the game industry, but probably less so in indie / agile studios, where having less to lose allows designers to take more risks with their work.
- zach 16y ago
  I think championing the gameplay of an obscure (maybe even non-electronic) but fun game is a pretty significant risk itself. I've been an IGF judge and I love original gameplay, but I also know that almost everything really is a remix when it comes to game design and that there is more fun gameplay that has yet to find its audience than is generally acknowledged. If you're trying to fulfill your artistic goals, I understand that originality is its own goal. If you're creating a game because you want people to enjoy playing it, maybe you should start from fun.

by zach 16y ago

mtinkerhess 16y ago

I agree that Minecraft isn't a wholly original concept, but the other examples you cited aren't from "lean" game studios. Your advice to incrementally improve upon previous successes (your own or others') is a good strategy across the game industry, but probably less so in indie / agile studios, where having less to lose allows designers to take more risks with their work.

zach 16y ago
I think championing the gameplay of an obscure (maybe even non-electronic) but fun game is a pretty significant risk itself. I've been an IGF judge and I love original gameplay, but I also know that almost everything really is a remix when it comes to game design and that there is more fun gameplay that has yet to find its audience than is generally acknowledged. If you're trying to fulfill your artistic goals, I understand that originality is its own goal. If you're creating a game because you want people to enjoy playing it, maybe you should start from fun.