Tips to Game Developers (part 2)

With incredible improvements in technology over the last few decades, games have become so impressive visually that some of them are almost indistinguishable from movies. Developers should remember, though, that realism doesn’t equal fun. Just like movie directors got caught up in the use of the boost in CG special effects in the 90’s, game developers can also get caught up in what they are able to include in a game. Some developers lose sight of what makes a game fun and instead focus on making it look incredible with astounding amounts of detail, realistic physics, and full-motion acting. There are some games where player involvement is minimal and simple, with button-timed events and possibly a few choices available to make along the way. A game needs to empower the player to feel like he/she is making a difference in the game world each step of the way, rather than having a small vote during a mostly passive experience. Other problems can occur when developers add in things that detract from the overall fun. For instance, it’s seldom fun when a game character has to interrupt normal gameplay and search for food so his steadily draining health doesn’t reach zero, just because he needs to eat at regular intervals.

Tips to Game Developers (part 1)

Last week I talked about some of the struggles game developers have in the gaming industry. What is the answer for game developers? It sounds simple: Make great games! But this is much easier said than done, and many who try will fail. However, I think there are a few essential elements that are necessary for a game to have a chance, and though some games have done well without a few of these, the chances of success are notably increased if they are present. Many gamers have full-time jobs, families, or are busy in school, so they might not be able to sit down with the same game day after day. They might play several different games before they get back to your game. Games that don't allow save-anywhere but require large chunks of time investment to get to a “save point” are less likely to appeal to busy people. If your game doesn't include solid save options and quest logs to point a forgetful player in the right direction when they get back to your game, it will likely be abandoned. Those of us who have spent money on a game and faced this now scout reviews for indications of these features in your games. It can be a deal-breaker.

The Tides of the Video Game Industry (part 5)

What can a game developer do? Gamers look beyond the game itself, considering not just the genre/type of game or how it looks, but also how it stacks up against other games being released, how many hours of content it boasts, how large of a file size it is, and of course, price. As a consumer, I end up mentally assigning a price to a game I'm looking at based on how it appears to compare with other games I've seen and/or played. Even if the game is something I'm interested in, if my mental price-tag says the game is only worth X-amount of $, I'm not going to consider buying it until it hits that price or lower. The crazy thing about this is, sometimes we're only talking about a $5 game! It's ridiculous that someone wouldn't be willing to shell out $5 to try something new, but because there are so many other options available, and because this stuff adds up, gamers exert a self-discipline that emerges from the judgment of what they think the game is really worth, and they won't budge until it hits that price.

As a game developer myself, I know the difficulty of pricing, because to remain profitable--or at least recoup the money originally invested in making the game--the product sometimes needs to be priced out of range of what others might ascribe as “fair.” The gaming community usually doesn't think about the difference between small, independently produced games and games produced by huge companies. For that matter, the gaming community also doesn't consider the difference between crowd-funded games (and the quality boost crowd-funded games enjoy) and those that are independently funded. They bring their judgments of a “fair price” from their total game purchasing experience, which includes all of the above. Surviving in this industry is a precarious and volatile existence. Next week, though, I'll talk about a few things that are likely to give game developers a boost in their chances!

The Tides of the Video Game Industry (part 4)

One trick that indie-game companies use is a stealth fake-out approach. They don't let anyone review their game before-hand. They are very secretive about their game--you may have never even heard of it until you see it available on release day--and they use flashy advertising with amazing-looking art or even feature an attractive woman somewhere in the game art or in a screen-shot of the game. This approach relies on impulse buys, where gamers see that the game isn't too expensive, the art catches their attention, the description sounds cool, and maybe it looked good from a few screenshots or limited videos of gameplay that were strategically released online. Thankfully, most online stores have rating systems that buyers can use to rate the game they bought, and most gamers will come back and rate a bad game with low marks to warn others away. But often, it's too late—the developers have made the sales they needed on that first day before the reviews came out, and if you're not wary, you might end up buying another bad game someday by the same developer if you forget your first experience with them!

The Tides of the Video Game Industry (part 3)

You may have a gamer friend that you've tried to convince to get a game you like, and your friend responded with something like, “I've already got a huge backlog of games I bought that I haven't played yet.” I remember a few weeks ago there was a sale online and I bought 3 different games for a total of $11 for all three. These three games used to be priced at $60, $30, and $20. I haven't solved any of them, but I do put a little time in on one or the other once in a while at the end of a work day, if I'm in the mood. Two of these games were indie-games, and they were released less than a year ago, so seeing such a huge price drop made me think about indie-developers and how they survive. Like the big game companies, the indie companies rely heavily on the sales of the initial release week. Unlike the big game companies, though, they don't have huge marketing campaigns with tons of money to hype their game. Sometimes, they'll be lucky if they're even noticed among the 10 to 20 other indie games being released that same week, and they'd better hope they're not going up against a major game title put out by a large developer!

The Tides of the Video Game Industry (part 2)

One thing that major developers are doing to avoid being lost in the crowd is something they've always done—push their product with huge marketing campaigns. Developers know that the first week of release is the most important, because within a week there are other new game releases that might distract potential buyers away from a purchase. Reviews also come out lightning-fast these days, so quick that often a review can be found online the day before (or even earlier) a game is released. Some of this is because companies send advanced copies out to reviewers hoping to increase their chances of good sales on release with positive reviews. Of course, there are always a few reviewers that put out positive reviews because they're being paid to do so, but for the most part, you can find a good selection of reviews on a big title around the release date. Another thing big companies are doing to avoid losing their initial release sales is the offer of pre-order bonuses. If you pay for the game before it hits the shelves (or online stores), you get extra in-game items and sometimes things like artbooks, plastic figures, CD's with soundtracks, and other physical swag. All of this is being done to ensure stellar sales at release, because gamers are easily distracted by the wide array of new products that are available, and the lower prices of indie games can easily lure people away from full-priced releases by major developers.

The Tides of the Video Game Industry (part 1)

The video gaming market is a lot different than it was a few decades ago, though that goes without saying. However, beyond the obvious changes that advances in technology have afforded developers, there is a new factor that has become much more prominent and continues to grow with each passing year. We now have access to such a vast selection of games for quick download that it isn't uncommon for a gamer to have a library of hundreds of games, many which have been played for an hour or two and then quickly forgotten. With games available as digital downloads, some even find themselves deleting unfinished games to make room on their hard-drives for something newer they'd like to try out. The “shelf life” of a game these days is extremely short, and it's rather common to see even major game titles going on sale only a few months after release. How are gaming companies handling all this, and how has the consumer influenced marketing approaches?