Re: Different vs. too different was Re: Reviews (was RE: [GD-Design] Indie games?)

[Mickael P. <mpo...@ed...>]

Brian Hook wrote:
>> it to some publishers their reaction was : "Turn based ?!? No one
>> wants to play that ! It's long and boring ! Make your game real time
>> !"
>
> And this is largely what publishers said to Chris Sawyer when he was
> shopping around RC Tycoon.  Specifically, they were deriding the fact
> that it had no competitive aspect, lots of little people, and no
> blood or violence.  They felt such a game simply wasn't relevant.
>
> So there are always opportunities when the big publishers simply
> refuse to believe that some market segments exist.

Or simply considering the monthly cash spended to keep a big publisher alive
it's not viable for them to even try to publish something for these market
segments ?



>> hmmm... what about the "rewarding" factor in the game. It has been a
>> long time paradigm to reward players with better graphics, more
>> demanding enemies and improved items to keep him playing.
>
> That's not rewarding as much as it is simply providing progressively
> greater challenges.  Obviously you want to do that, but at the same
> time you don't want to save your best stuff for the few players that
> find it by finishing a game.
>
> Basically, first impressions count.

On the Atari ST I had a game (forget the name) that had a nice way to keep
you motivated to continue the game. Instead of having an endless number of
levels, it proposed "rounds" in "leagues". The end result is exactly the
same, but you know that you had to finish a serie of 5 rounds to end the
current league and move to the next one. Each end of league displayed a
small screen with statistics and comments about your performance and also
some fun animation around that, a little bit like in Bomberman when you see
your character wininng with all other behind him in very bad shape.
Every each "leagues" you had a specific screen telling you how good you
were...

This way you still get the impression you had something new to discover, and
it makes the game more interesting.

    Mickael Pointier