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> It was a couple dozen HIGHLY interconnected Twitch streamers all getting into the same space and then 100's of follow along mid tier twitch streamers hoping t

by derefr 5y ago

> It was a couple dozen HIGHLY interconnected Twitch streamers all getting into the same space and then 100's of follow along mid tier twitch streamers hoping to ride the new bandwagon to higher viewership. I mean, until Twitch is no longer such a big thing, that sounds like you're describing a likely repeatable formula for success: make a game that will catch on amongst these couple-dozen Twitch influencers. And it seems like a good property for such a game to have, would be a really low barrier to entry, to entice them into trying it in the first place, when they don't see anyone else playing it. As such, I can see the validity in the argument in the article is making — and I'm not sure why you think it's a "small detail." It's not like that set of Twitch streamers has ever made a game go viral that didn't have this "pick-up-and-play-ability" in some way or another. The property is just created in different ways for different games.

munificent 5y ago
> a likely repeatable formula for success: make a game that will catch on amongst these couple-dozen Twitch influencers. Sure, but like half the world's game devs are all trying to do exactly that right now. Similar to the stock market, game development is an novelty-based ecosystem. That means that there is essentially no long-term repeatable formula for success. Any formula will eventually discovered by others, over-exploited, and players will lose interest and go elsewhere.
- shuntress 5y ago
  The problem isn't the formula (good enough game, readily accessible, noticed by players.) The problem is that last step, "be noticed", is extremely hard and mostly based on luck/money. And this is 100% "long-term repeatable" if you can continually deliver "good enough" games after being noticed. The obvious example is Call of Duty.
- derefr 5y ago
  If the set of Twitch influencers is relatively static, presumably you could just cater to the exact peculiarities of their tastes in games to the exclusion of the wider market, the way that some authors try to cater to the exact peculiarities of the tastes of a particular editor.

by derefr 5y ago

munificent 5y ago

> a likely repeatable formula for success: make a game that will catch on amongst these couple-dozen Twitch influencers. Sure, but like half the world's game devs are all trying to do exactly that right now. Similar to the stock market, game development is an novelty-based ecosystem. That means that there is essentially no long-term repeatable formula for success. Any formula will eventually discovered by others, over-exploited, and players will lose interest and go elsewhere.

shuntress 5y ago
The problem isn't the formula (good enough game, readily accessible, noticed by players.) The problem is that last step, "be noticed", is extremely hard and mostly based on luck/money. And this is 100% "long-term repeatable" if you can continually deliver "good enough" games after being noticed. The obvious example is Call of Duty.
derefr 5y ago
If the set of Twitch influencers is relatively static, presumably you could just cater to the exact peculiarities of their tastes in games to the exclusion of the wider market, the way that some authors try to cater to the exact peculiarities of the tastes of a particular editor.