I Used To Be A Video Game Snob

Ok,

If you haven't been at GDC or paying attention to the market for the last year, you might not know that Farmville (a game on the popular social media platform Facebook) has between 75 and 80 mil monthly users. You might not know that iPhone apps and iPad apps have become the "big" market to reach. I used to scoff at those games. When Mafia Wars hit MySpace I was like, "No way am I going to play that, let alone try to design something comparable." Now, anyone who ignores the success of the Social Media platform would be foolish at the very least.

There are plenty of developers that want a piece of the social media or mobile media gravy train. Most industry leaders have cautioned against an independent developer spreading their focus across too many markets. Simultaneously, producers of AAA titles are trying to figure out how to remain relevant in the modern gaming market.

I tend to agree with Andy McNamara, Editor-in-Chief of Game Informer magazine, "Hollywood delivers both blockbuster movies and low-budget TV programming. So can games."

There are so many doors into the industry for independent developers that a company could find themselves unable to choose one door to go through. Although the future of gaming as an industry may be wide open, the future of each developer will be more of a singular path. This market or that. Do too much and you'll lose your ass. Too little and no one will take your company seriously. Focus on the market you have access to, and the games your team will enjoy making.

Social games may be making a lot of noise as a new market, but don't forget that Modern Warfare 2 made 1 billion dollars last year! There is a place for you in the market. Take it! Decide what need your company can fill and fill it. Now more than ever is the time when developers can decide to whom, exactly, they want to cater. I say cater my friends, cater! Demographic is the name of the game and your game just got a whole... lot... bigger.

Just a Note

Sorry for dropping of the face of the map for awhile.

I've had my head buried in all kinds of research from software development to business management to market metrics to games to... You get the idea.

Game research has been my favorite of those of course.

My next few posts will be about the stuff I've been researching, starting with social media games.

Thanks for reading! I'll see you soon.

The Banality of Evil Characters

I rather enthusiastically entertain the notion of a game that lets you play as an evil character. The concept of strolling into your favorite RPG village and laying waste to all those familiar yokels is appealing. Playing a power hungry megalomaniac also has a nice ring to it. However, when playing an evil character your acts become banal when you've slaughtered the same village 10 times, or chopped the head off of every passer-by, or even gone on several rampages against the authorities(i.e. police, guards, etc...)

For an act of atrocity to truly feel atrocious, it has to be being observed from the perspective of someone who considers themselves good. They also need to see the one committing the act as good prior to the act.

If you go along robbing and killing everyone you meet, everyone will expect that behavior and in time come to accept their plight as the oppressed.

So how do you create a world for an evil character, where the acts of evil mean something? How can an evil character be seen as anything but evil? And how do you create things for an evil character to do that don't become boring after the first couple times the player does it?

The game industry has yet to satisfy these questions with any current games. Maybe you or I can find them.