Game Developers

Hey guys!

I have noticed sense the Unity iPhone release that many people on the forums have focused large amounts of attention at the iPhone. I just wanted to remind everyone in the community including myself that we are not just interested in playing with toys and making money, but we should want to make a great product of entertainment!

As I learn more about game development, the more I start to understand that its not about the hardware or how it looks, but how the game is played and what the core concepts are. A good game idea comes before the beautiful worlds and assets and even before character concepts and stories.

So start to think not of what your game will look like in the end as that will come naturally. But think about how your customer is going to interact with it, and what will make them come back to play more.

The more we follow that comment, the better our products will be. The better our products are, the more money we make indirectly.

*Steps off the soap box*

Jake Fletcher

 

Absolutely!

Some good rules to follow are:
- that style does not make up for a lack of gameplay
- and that no amount of "prettification" makes up for a game that isn't fun (style over substance)

My 2 cents.

 

Whew... I was afraid that my comment was not going to be well received. Thanks for your reply! I just thought I would spread some knowledge Ive picked up in the past couple months!

Jake

 

Hey Jake,

I actually think that comment's worth being stickied so every newcomer gets to read it and all the people who have been here get to remind themselves of what *really* matters every once in a while. Thank you for posting it!

I'm noticing the same shift which I would call a shift from

towards something more along the lines of

(I'm exaggerating and simplifying, of course ... well, in some cases actually maybe I'm not exaggerating).

Of course, it's cool to make money and there's nothing wrong about it - but in my opinion, the primary motivations for creating something usually can be felt in the final product. And usually, something that was created primarily to make money feels cold and shallow, while something that was primarily created for the love of creating feels ... well ... lovely to play with ;-)

I think if we can put as much love into creating our games as UT is putting into creating Unity, we'll be creating some lovely games - and at the end of the day, creating something lovely is by far the most rewarding way of making money, isn't it?

Sunny regards,
Jashan

 

<dramatisation>
I you're not looking at creating new and unique games, perhaps you should consider writing a mod for the game you're trying to duplicate?
</dramatisation>

One note though: Remember that unity is being used to create other applications than games.

 

Grrr..... :evil: .....stop quoting me.

The problem is that almost all gamers buy AAA titles and nothing else. Although, casual gaming is clearly on the rise, but the amount of shovelware out there is a bit sickening and clearly made for money (the Wii is the biggest victim of this). So yes, if one could make a truly hearty effort at making their games, then it could make waaaay more cash than those shovelware titles ever could.

But decent graphics and solid framerates make the experience even better.

I agree with the OP. It should be Stickied since it's a good message. :wink:

 

That's completely wrong, actually. More people game on computers than consoles, and more computer gamers play downloadable casual games than AAA titles.

Anyway, unless you have a 100-member team and tens of millions of dollars, it is utterly futile to compete with AAA games. Somehow I get the impression that you don't have either of those.

--Eric

 

Well the point isnt that graphics sell a game. The point is to consider your game play before you make the graphics. Graphics more or less get people to buy your product. Guitar hero has horrible graphics, but the game-play is fun, and looking at it from a graphics standpoint, is not a AAA game.

On another topic, graphics help out with the immersion of the game. Which can add to your experience, but does not necessarily reflect on your game play.

 

What infomercial said is completely correct, actually. But you are correct that more people play games on computers than consoles, and more people play casual rather than AAA. Casual games are not usually geared to sway the "gamer" classification of people in the first place, because its next to impossible to compete. But then, you guys are talking about vastly different audiences, with much different concepts in mind. .. just my two cents.

 

I'm using "gamer" to mean "someone who plays games"...I guess you're using it to mean "hardcore gamer"? Definitions are such fun.

Also, as far as the topic goes, I think one of the reasons for focussing a lot on the iPhone is because of the distribution. Being able to bypass traditional publishers pretty much entirely is nicely empowering. Not really about money so much as being able to do your own thing and have nearly as much chance of getting seen as anybody else, for a change. Of course the app store is flawed in some serious ways, but it's still quite playfield-leveling.

--Eric

 

Correct, but again, dont just design a game to make an iPhone game. Conceptualize a game to be fun, then see if you can make it into an iPhone game...

 

I love you dude...I wish every game dev team thought like you did.

P.S. Your homepage doesn't work for some reason. :?

 

haha thanks... My homepage doesnt work because I didnt pay the bill *smile*... Oh well, I will get a better one up eventually. Right now I am fighting to keep my day job at Boeing (I got a 60 day warn notice). But once im past that little blip then I will be back on track.

Maybe when I get laid off that will be my chance to shine though!

Jake