Hello Thomas. I think that easy games are very cool, by easy I mean not having 4 sets of 3000 keystrokes. alt and f tell you this. ctrl+t tells you that. f tells your the direction you're facing. Fun games, I'll admit, are usually hard, at least for me, and a game that's easy just has no replay value. For instance, LWork's judgment day has a very nice replay value because you earn stuff for doing certain things. And maybe you do it wrongly and have to do it again because you screwed something up? Well, frankly, that's what I call fun, I call fun stuff with replay value. I call fun challenging with a simple/medium user interface/keyboard controls. How about the rest of you, listers?
On 8/6/07, Thomas Ward <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Che, > Yeah, I think you are correct in saying most blind audio gamers want > easy games they can just run and play without having to learn a complex > game like Rail Racer or even STFC for that matter. > When I began STFC I wanted a good Star Trek game that was similar to > Trek 2000, but had a much more advanced AI for enemy ships, more > weapons, a cloaking device, and several other things Trek 2000 simply > didn't have. However, during the initial public beta stage I got several > responces on and off list that the game was too complicated, the game > was to hard, it was boring etc. I soon discovered that other than the > die-hard Trek fans and those in to challenging games most blind gamers > didn't want a game they have to learn to play by trial and error. The > key to winning or loosing STFC is strategy. Like in Chess or another > strategy game you learn over time and practice which strategies will > help you win, and which ones will cause you to lose. Sometimes you have > to take calculated risks. Let one ship get blown up to make sure the > other ship is able to get back to a starbase and live on to fight > another battle and so on. > However, since releasing Montezuma's Revenge beta 1 I have had much more > posative responce. The game is far simpler than STFC only requiring a > gamer to walk, run, climb, and jump through the levels. It has been > easier to create, and I think it is do to the fact Montezuma's Revenge > is allot easier to play in it's own way. > When Troopenum 1.0 was released I heard Dan and Justin had lots of sales > of that title and Troopenum II did almost as well. That game compared to > Rail Racer and STFC is basically a simple space Invaders type game. > Like you I am left to conclude while there are apparently many gamers > asking for games like ToomRaider, Half Life, Mech Warrior, etc the > numbers and reality shows the simple arcade games still are doing > better financially in most cases. Though, STFC and Rail Racer are nitch > markets anyway so it is completely possible it is those games don't have > wide apeal do to the fact strategy and racing games are not as in > demand as arcade and FPS games are. > I know GMA did really well with Shades of Doom, but even with SOD now > and then I see some grumbles the game is to hard etc. > So what are we suppose to do as developers? Make simple games like > Pacman, Space Invaders, are we suppose to push the audio games market > into a wider world of more and more complex games? > > > Che wrote: > > Just to make sure it is clear, Rail Racer itself isn't on hold, only > > future expansion and development of it, such as more online chat features > > and additional upgrades to the Racer. As far as the online track uploads > > and sharing, and the tournaments, they will go on. > > For me, the sales were dissapointing, I was hoping to move at least 200 > > units, but it turns out I overdeveloped the game and deep and complex > isn't > > neccessarily what the blind gaming community wants unfortunately. > > I did everything I could to make Rail Racer the most replayable blind > game > > available, including free online play, an extensive career mode, a track > > editor with an online track upload system, online posting of results, and > > the first web based tournament system for the blind. There simply is no > > accessible game out there with the amount of features Rail Racer offers > for > > replayability. Despite all that, only around 120 copies of RR have been > > sold, and this is very unfortunate, as it doesn't encourage developers > such > > as myself to put the kind of time and energy into a project that leads to > > immerssive and involving game play. > > At any rate, my plans for some more involved games, such as an Apache > > helicopter simulation have pretty much been canned, as it just isn't worth > > the large amount of time it would take, when I could do 4 simpler games in > > the same amount of time. > > Some of the problem with Rail Racer is due to the fact a lot of blind > > gamers just aren't into racing, and I have to wonder how this is going to > > affect the success of USA Raceway when it comes out. > > I think probably Raceway will be more well received, as it is easier to > > relate to todays Nascar racing than a futuristic environment such as Rail > > Racer is set in. Additionally, I think RR is probably a more challenging > > racer to get used to than Raceway will be, this is something I thought > would > > be a selling point, but I am afraid the opposite has turned out to be the > > case. Blind gamers don't seem to want a game with a steep learning curve > by > > and large, they just want to be able to start a game, jump right in and > get > > cracking without having to practice and get used to the nuances of a high > > speed vehicle on complex tracks. > > Anyhow, I have learned an incredible amount by developing and releasing > > rail racer, and the things I have learned will help tremendously in my > > future titles, though I will probably not create something as feature rich > > as RR again, at least not in the near future. > > Finally, regarding Raceway, I hope no one takes what I have stated here > as > > any kind of slam towards that title, I assure you I will be buying it > myself > > at the first chance, and I would hope Thomas would include me on his beta > > team for the game, as i did with him for RR. I am confident Thomas will > > give us a great game we can all have a lot of fun playing, I think his > work > > on Final Conflict and Monty shows that he is one of the top developers we > > have. > > And if you haven't given RR a fair chance, I urge you to give the demo > > another try. Ask anyone that has played in the Rail Racer tournament and > > they will happily tell you what a great time we have all had competing > > online with it, it has truly been a killer gaming experience. > > Later all, > > Che > > Blind Adrenaline Simulations > > Games by one of us, for all of us > > www.blindAdrenaline.com > > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Gamers mailing list .. 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