I agree with Cara that the opinions of the players are what really counts. I don't have a degree in marketing, but it's always fascinated me. In order to market something, even if you've established that the majority wants Product A, you still have to establish what it is about Product A that so many people like.
There were electronic games that didn't make it because they were set in the universe of a novelist who wanted everything in the game to happen exactly the way it did in the novel. Hitchhiker's Guide, with the first move being to turn the light on in the room or the game doesn't happen, definitely comes to mind here. So there are things that do not work, no matter that there are some people who probably love that particular game because it follows the storyline flawlessly. So I think maybe the points are being made at cross-purposes. I think it's valid to consider what "the crowd" likes, and give that equal importance to some quantifiable factors that go into game design. the two branches aren't mutually exclusive. Teresa “Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”—Groucho Marx On May 15, 2014, at 12:37 AM, dark <d...@xgam.org> wrote: > Hi Tom. > I agree on the characteristics and on your thoughts regarding games and > inovation. > > However, player base can also be a fickle guide, sinse a lot of other factors > such as documentation, advertising, recommendations etc can have a large > impact on the community. > > One example of this are the Zero site games from shard workshop. I personally > thought both the original game and it's expantion were exceptionnally well > put together, with a variety of missions and targits, and weapons it took > real skill to use, and I'd recommend anyone interested in flight simulation > action type games to give them a try. > > however, for some reason everyone forgets about those games. I have no idea > why. They are available on windows, they have a low cost, a good demo and > comprehensive instructions and podcasts, indeed in terms of what developers > should be doing I'd say shard workshop did everything right. yet for some > reason the games haven't taken off (if you'll excuse the pun), and I'm not > sure why. > > Then of course there is the nastier capitalist, or competitive monica of > factors other than good design contributing to a game's success. Despite > audiogames being a very small community, at the same time I have noticed this > happen. > > To take one example, wecurrently have two available audio versions of > backgammon. That from Azabat software which can be bought as a stand alone > game, or on their disk, and pontes backgammon. > > Of these two, I'd say from a design perspective Pontes is very much superior. > While it lacks the graphics of the azabat offering, it has changeable sounds > and ambience, online play and text chat, the ability to change display of the > board and it's points, ability to play in a number of languages (even play > online against someone speaking another language), with the possibility to > create more language packs, and a variable computer opponent that provides a > real challenge, and several game modes. Yet unfortunately Azabat gets the > distribution and publicity. > > So, while I fully agree that there are! characteristics of good games, I'm > not absolutely certain whether the corrilation between what games get > distributed and played and what games don't is exact. There is undoubtedly a > rough corrilation here, sinse certainly games like shades of doom, Swamp, > entombed and other inervative titles have done well, however I don't think > discovering the characteristics of good game design is just a matter of > lining up all the best loved games and trying to find commonalities. > > Beware the grue! > > Dark. > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
