A little perspective ...
by Jeremy Alessi · 06/16/2006 (9:06 pm) · 3 comments
A few blogs ago I stated that the game business is a crapshoot. Now maybe that's not the best thing I've ever said and maybe it's not true, although I'd still debate it for fun ;)
Another thing I said was that it doesn't matter how much time you spend on a game and that in fact the less time you spend on it the better. If you can't make a good, clear, concise, fun, and COMPLETE game in a month then as an indie you're probably doing something horribly wrong.
The perspective that I'm talking about is Aerial Antics Vs. Beach Ball Break. Beach Ball Break seems likely to sell more copies than Aerial Antics and I think it took me (alone) only 2 weeks to make whereas we put in about 10 months for Aerial Antics initially and I've put in many more since.
Now personally, I dig Beach Ball Break and all. It's relaxing and easy which was my goal. However, I really love Aerial Anitcs and would rather play it than Beach Ball Break. Of course, that really doesn't matter. Perhaps 3 years ago when I designed Aerial Antics I just didn't have the skills to exectute the game properly and so what I see in the game was never actually passed on to the end user or to most end users anyway ... (I've had some people tell me some amazing things about the game). I'm still working on that all the time!
... I'm just kind of flabbergasted though! I'm thinking that if I had just released the initial version of Aerial Anitcs that I made solo that perhaps it would have sold just as well somehow ... who knows. I can say that I would NOT be as proud of it ... but of course I'd never know what the game as it exists now would have been like, so I guess I still would have been proud of it ;P
I'm just saying that knowing the game as it is now and knowing what it was before Adrian came on board, I'm much more proud of what we accomplished with those extra months we put in. I'm sure the game would never have been featured in Computer Gaming World, showcased on G4, or published by a company I respect as much as Garage Games!
None of that changes this 'little perspective' though. From a financial point of view so far Beach Ball Break has made me more money per hour than Aerial Anitcs. Right now my head is really spinning because this 'little perspective' runs so deep. Part of me is thinking ... WEEeelll I did make the initial version of Aerial Antics in about the same amount of time as this initial version of Beach Ball Break ... so maybe that's the determining factor? If I decided to put months of time into Beach Ball Break's presentation and graphics as I did with Aerial Antics would it sell better? I don't think I'd ever take the chance to find out :0
It's just really interesting for me and making this very simple Beach Ball Break game is teaching me things on the most basic of levels which I totally jumped over with Aerial Antics. Making and marketing a super simple game is a great experience but I don't think it would be so interesting to me had I not started out with something larger.
Overall, Mousetrap Arcade and games like Beach Ball Break are just my tools to learn the marketing side of games better so my future games will be great from a 'passion' perspective but also from a 'this is a business' perspective. I'm not going to just settle for making a tiny living selling tiny games even if I could. My aspirations are still very high (I once told Jeff I wanted to be the best there ever was) but I'm not going to get there without really digging into the fundamentals. The games I respect the most are the simplest titles. Games like Tetris, Geometry Wars, and Orbz are truly amazing games that didn't take a year to make and more than likely they were solid games within the first week of development.
Is it possible to completely understand the game business and get it right from all angles in a balanced manner, or ... is it all just a crapshoot ;P
Another thing I said was that it doesn't matter how much time you spend on a game and that in fact the less time you spend on it the better. If you can't make a good, clear, concise, fun, and COMPLETE game in a month then as an indie you're probably doing something horribly wrong.
The perspective that I'm talking about is Aerial Antics Vs. Beach Ball Break. Beach Ball Break seems likely to sell more copies than Aerial Antics and I think it took me (alone) only 2 weeks to make whereas we put in about 10 months for Aerial Antics initially and I've put in many more since.
Now personally, I dig Beach Ball Break and all. It's relaxing and easy which was my goal. However, I really love Aerial Anitcs and would rather play it than Beach Ball Break. Of course, that really doesn't matter. Perhaps 3 years ago when I designed Aerial Antics I just didn't have the skills to exectute the game properly and so what I see in the game was never actually passed on to the end user or to most end users anyway ... (I've had some people tell me some amazing things about the game). I'm still working on that all the time!
... I'm just kind of flabbergasted though! I'm thinking that if I had just released the initial version of Aerial Anitcs that I made solo that perhaps it would have sold just as well somehow ... who knows. I can say that I would NOT be as proud of it ... but of course I'd never know what the game as it exists now would have been like, so I guess I still would have been proud of it ;P
I'm just saying that knowing the game as it is now and knowing what it was before Adrian came on board, I'm much more proud of what we accomplished with those extra months we put in. I'm sure the game would never have been featured in Computer Gaming World, showcased on G4, or published by a company I respect as much as Garage Games!
None of that changes this 'little perspective' though. From a financial point of view so far Beach Ball Break has made me more money per hour than Aerial Anitcs. Right now my head is really spinning because this 'little perspective' runs so deep. Part of me is thinking ... WEEeelll I did make the initial version of Aerial Antics in about the same amount of time as this initial version of Beach Ball Break ... so maybe that's the determining factor? If I decided to put months of time into Beach Ball Break's presentation and graphics as I did with Aerial Antics would it sell better? I don't think I'd ever take the chance to find out :0
It's just really interesting for me and making this very simple Beach Ball Break game is teaching me things on the most basic of levels which I totally jumped over with Aerial Antics. Making and marketing a super simple game is a great experience but I don't think it would be so interesting to me had I not started out with something larger.
Overall, Mousetrap Arcade and games like Beach Ball Break are just my tools to learn the marketing side of games better so my future games will be great from a 'passion' perspective but also from a 'this is a business' perspective. I'm not going to just settle for making a tiny living selling tiny games even if I could. My aspirations are still very high (I once told Jeff I wanted to be the best there ever was) but I'm not going to get there without really digging into the fundamentals. The games I respect the most are the simplest titles. Games like Tetris, Geometry Wars, and Orbz are truly amazing games that didn't take a year to make and more than likely they were solid games within the first week of development.
Is it possible to completely understand the game business and get it right from all angles in a balanced manner, or ... is it all just a crapshoot ;P
About the author
#2
I don't think anyone can get the business down to a complete science. And the pursuit of such goals is what gives us EA and other 800 lb gorillas. There is a vibe and a flow with all popular culture, including games. Independant developers are better able to get a feel for that vibe, start developing something that compliments it, and then slip into that stream with a game that resonates with people. That's my take on it, anyway.
@Midhir
I've been looking for a Helm of Market Prescience for ages, but all I seem to find are crummy vorpal weapons.
;)
06/17/2006 (7:58 am)
@JeremyI don't think anyone can get the business down to a complete science. And the pursuit of such goals is what gives us EA and other 800 lb gorillas. There is a vibe and a flow with all popular culture, including games. Independant developers are better able to get a feel for that vibe, start developing something that compliments it, and then slip into that stream with a game that resonates with people. That's my take on it, anyway.
@Midhir
I've been looking for a Helm of Market Prescience for ages, but all I seem to find are crummy vorpal weapons.
;)
#3
As I said currently, I'm dabbling with marketing with Mousetrap Arcade and smaller games like Beach Ball. I'm just reading my statistics (based on a large number of supposedly proven games) and seeing what really goes down. So far from what I can see the 1% conversion ratio is crap and that's for any game. The only thing I can think of is that it really matters where you 'pluck' your players from. Perhaps if you are pulling in people from certain sects you convert better and if so I've got to find those sects.
Riding the wave of popular culture is one thing. Of course finding a surf board that suits your riding style is another. At the moment I'm essentially shopping around for a board with which to ride the ever crashing waves of the game business.
At the moment I'm engaged in no fewer than 3 separate ventures with games. One is essentially an immediate endeavor but with a realistic long term goal, another is slightly more 'out there' but it has short term nearly immediate goal as well as a very high aspiration long range goal, and the third has a medium difficulty milestone followed by what is at least as difficult a long range goal as the second project if not more so. I'm like a plant with ever expanding roots ... they've beginning to tie into many things at this stage ... hopefully one of them is a great source of sustenance!
06/17/2006 (8:53 pm)
Yeah, I agree. I don't really want to break it down into something formulaic. However, I'd really like to know that I'm going to do OK, or have some notion of how a game will do. Aerial Antics was just a big slap in the face to quite a few people ...As I said currently, I'm dabbling with marketing with Mousetrap Arcade and smaller games like Beach Ball. I'm just reading my statistics (based on a large number of supposedly proven games) and seeing what really goes down. So far from what I can see the 1% conversion ratio is crap and that's for any game. The only thing I can think of is that it really matters where you 'pluck' your players from. Perhaps if you are pulling in people from certain sects you convert better and if so I've got to find those sects.
Riding the wave of popular culture is one thing. Of course finding a surf board that suits your riding style is another. At the moment I'm essentially shopping around for a board with which to ride the ever crashing waves of the game business.
At the moment I'm engaged in no fewer than 3 separate ventures with games. One is essentially an immediate endeavor but with a realistic long term goal, another is slightly more 'out there' but it has short term nearly immediate goal as well as a very high aspiration long range goal, and the third has a medium difficulty milestone followed by what is at least as difficult a long range goal as the second project if not more so. I'm like a plant with ever expanding roots ... they've beginning to tie into many things at this stage ... hopefully one of them is a great source of sustenance!
Torque 3D Owner Jesse Liles