All Games Are Crap part 2

Not content with writing about games being crap just once. I home come back to do it again.

So if it isn't the good or bad in games that allow them to do well, what could it be. Why is it that some games do so well compared to others in the same or similar fields. Well to start with i want to say, advertising. Yup, as simple sounding as that is, it is not simple. In fact there are many aspects to advertising a game. From the posters and artwork you see, to screenshots and carefully leaked ideals of gameplay that the new game brings. some may say that advertising (and marketing) do not play a huge role in the selling of a game. I have to refute that idea right away. Why would a large publisher spend 2 million dollars advertising and promoting a game if it did not need to?

In the end a game must be seen by the potential buyer to actually get them to buy it.

Of course advertising a game that has a big 30 million dollar budget is a nescessity, as seen by the huge budgets i just mentioned. What would the sales be like of Darksiders for example if they had not spent so much on blanket advertising and marketing. Just getting that game to E3 must have cost a fortune, and in theory that is just an industry event (yeah right!).

Of course we have a microcosm in the Xblig area. Though all the devs know that visibility is still the key component in selling games, whether they be bad or not is less relevant. Having 10K downloads and selling just 5% is much better than 2K downloads and selling 20%. Of course i do believ something else...

Quality of presentation and gameplay, including music makes a better conversion rate.

This also includes crap games. It is possible to have a simple game that will do well because of it's presentation. I would offer up a particular Avatar game as evidence, but they have had plenty of press recently. The point is that it looks nice enough, the gameplay is ridiculously simple. Yet their conversion rate is high, and why not.

So what can Xbligs do to get the word out about their game? That is a good question and i have been working very very hard this year to try and get word out. I have failed, but i try. One recent group has apparently resorted to publicising their new application by ridiculing the Xblig community through Kotaku. this appears to be a brilliant move. Unfortuneatly i am not very good at that good cop bad cop and being the bad guy thing.

So far the only answer i have to the visibility is to have an Avatar in the title and game. so i will continue to play with them until i have a good game to put them in. I cannot just put them in for the sake of it, like a number of current Avatar games have.

Well thats all from me, Get a huge budget and maybe it will pay off, i have tried spending, but cannot seem to find the Xblig buyers.

Good luck to everyone else

G'night

Pretty Instructions

Today i finally got around to upgrading my Help/Instructions page. I already think it scrolls in a nice way, and also has a nice fade out and in at the top and bottom of the screen (or near it). I think it looks very nice and professional, however i have always though that my Instructions screen was a bit bland. The main reason for that i believe is the fact that the Instructions (every line!) are all single color.

So slightly off white text is the order of the day and it looks ok i guess. Anyone that has read this blog for any time will realise i like a bit of color in my life. So today i finally got around to fixing up some color into some lines. So far the system is a bit primitive. I am able to color any single, but whole line. So this is great for headings that are already Capitalized and are now in a more stand outish color.

I may go further and make it so i can recolor in the middle of lines. This isn't really too difficult now i have the String.substring() and String.Compare() under control. It was a bit of a trial to get right at first as i am a veteran programmer that started writing in machine code. So I tend to view memory as memory, laid out in whatever fashion it is. I do not really view data as types per se. This of course means i am a pointer using Freak, that it seems is TOO dangerous for folks to program with in Xna. To be honest i am sure it has more to do with managed language control than any useful prevention. So will i recolor partial lines? I don't know, maybe if i have a good reason too.

And that brings me to why the hell did i waste time on colorizing a few lines in the Help section of my game, that hardly anyone will ever read? The reason is of course that every aspect of a game should be given attention. Why should i short change people that want to read the help section. Same goes for the Credits section. It should be as good as you can make it. It oddly enough could be the deciding factor on why peolpe buy your game. Not overly likely i know, but what if even just 0.5% of people that picked up your game saw the excellent credits, would that make a large percentage of them buy it? I'll let you decide your own course. Mine is set... I want this game to be great quality and that means everywhere.

G'night

Blogs By Shin

Shin has an excellent Blog that he updates regularly. I would recommend people read it as he keeps it simple and to the point. the point being reveiwing games mostly.

He points out obvious stuff about games that have been recently released. Though sometimes he will talk about older games and memories.  along the way Developers, especially new ones could learn a thing or two about making games. Making Whole games i should say. What i mean by this is actually highlighted by his most recent post... here is the link

Digital Quarters

The post i am referring to is about a recently released title into the Xblig universe 'Old School racer'. This is a pretty good game, one of the few (regretfully i cannot seem to find enough time for playtesting session, each one takes me approximately 30-45 minutes). Oops enough about my lack of time. I commented on this game quite extensively. The reason is simple. It was a nice game when first presented but was lacking a lot of touches. Touches usually come under the quality label, and I listed a whole slew of things. Then i hoped to be able to do a second pass when the frist one was addressed. .I even mentioned i hope he didn't rush the title out and finished it. Alas i agree with Shin on this one. The final touches are not there, though i have to say that a lot of extra time was spent on developing this game. When i saw it, it never had nitro boost and a set of the other features like multiple bikes.

It is aok to spend time adding more content, no, please add as much as you want. Then when you have tired of this or it has met your size criteria, go ahead and then spend as much time developing the touches on top. This is a great example of a lot of time spent on features and not enough anywhere else.

Shin told it like it is. Great job mate and keep up the blog posts, i always love to read them. Maybe when ya get ya hands on my next game you will give me some sold thoughts. Though if ya complain i'll maybe cry ;)  Nah! Honesty in reveiwing for me always. Though i do have to say that ... Well talking about reveiwers is actually another post for another day...

Now go see his blog, and maybe learn something!
G'night

The Force Unleashed for Xbox

I have ben watching my son play The force Unleashed now for a few weeks, helping him when he gets stuck etc. What a wonderful game it is. so complete in so many ways. What everyone must realise is that so very few of us will ever get to work on such a great title.

I have been very lucky and worked on some big titles, but to be honest most of them have not entranced me the way this one does. It sets a bar of quality for full price titles. It has so much in it from a detail perspective and the storyline is epic. Truly a wonderful work of art (oops did i say art, lol).

What is so special?
1. The story is excellent
2. It is star wars, thru and thru
3. The controls are complictaed, but only end up that way
4. there is an excellet tutorial/training segment
5. Enemies etc move in a familiar way
6. The scene and landscapes are truly stunning (oh man i said truly again!)

I have listed on a few things, but oh man.. the number of people that must of worked on this title must be staggering.

Good job LucasArts i applaud you. now time for bed, that is enough TFU for one night haha (yeah, i am playing it now too :S)

G'night

Quality level pt2

So i figured I should go into some of the things that make a game seem higher quality to me. Now of course this is my personal list, and everyone elses will be different. I aim to do 10 examples, but as i am writing this off the cuff, who knows what will be typed below...

So on with the list,
1. Nice splash screen. Not complex, but suitable for the game. First impressions count of course. Nowadays i would have to upgrade this to a nice Video splash screen showing your company name/logo and the name of the game perhaps.
2. Thumbnail, ok maybe this should have been number 1. All i need from this is to be able to read the games name. Honestly the ones i see that i have no idea what they are for. such a waste of possible recognition.
3. Main menu should come on after the splash screen and be somewhat entertaining. Now i know that sounds like a lot, but it just means... Don't be a static main menu. animate something, and you had better be playing music!
4. A player should KNOW which menu item he has selected, if they have to think twice (is it the highlight or lowlighted item), then you have done bad!
5. Moving through menus should work with both joystick and buttons.
6. Moving through menus should have a sfx or even a ditty. confirmation of feedback is very important to new players. One could also animate the transitions too.
7. 'B' or 'Back' button should always allow me to get back from any menu level i am in. Though i do have to say design parameters can outweigh this one. If there are no good design considerations, then do em both.
8.  Fade in and out, or at least transition in some way. Hard cuts time after time is harsh. Though once again can be used if designed properly.
9. Graphical glitches should not be apparent. I know this sounds obvious. But i have tested a number of games with graphical glitchs in them in peer review, and it is not a failable issue.
10. Reactions to gameplay. All things should react in some way to gameplay happening. For example a blood splat when a flesh character is hit, or bolts fly off when a robot is damaged. Dust can come up from landing from a jump etc. every one that is put in makes a product feel so much more than it's parts.
11. A game should have animation. This is not a comic, so animate something. My 3rd title was a comic and quiz and while the comic was on the screen there were scaling and alphaing stars in the background. If you have a game that has trees, have leaves fall. It does not take much to add those niceties that make people wanna stay. The more you add, the better your initial impressions will be of your game.
12. Balance the music with the sfx. It takes so long to get this part done i dislike it. However the time spent makes the game so much better for everyone.

Ok, so i am guilty of course for not doing all these all the time. Though i do most of them and more most of the time. I know you are maybe reading this and thinking that most are stupidly obvious, so why then are they not being done in so many games on Xblig? Laziness or just not knowing? I think it is mostly the latter. When it is your own baby and you are so close to it every day, it is hard not to just ignore the shortcomings.

G'night

What Quality Level?

If you are a game developer then you know this question... Or do you?

'The question is 'what quality level should i make this game' It can also be followed by extra questions like 'What can I afford' or 'how much time do i wanna spend on this game'.

I do believe though on Xblig that most of the developers do not actually ever ask this question of themselves or their game. I think they just work on a game with some basic ideas of what they want to put together and when they get bored of it they just put it out there for peer review. now i won't judge all of my fellow devs, as that would be wrong. In fact i know quite a lot of them trying hard every day they work on their game to answer the quality level question. the question has gotten a lot more difficult to answer lately with the power that 1 dollar games appear to have. so many good games have come out at this price point that i really think this is not the first evaluating criteria for answering the question. So what is ?

Well I think the first one is of Design, or more importantly labelled as vision. Some devs do not appear to have much of a vision for their game apart from taking one of the sample apps and making something that was their own. Or a way for them to learn Xna. I believe the quality of thos eproducts tends to speak for itself, though i know several games done in this way that have a nice feel and quality. Back to Design, just how much design work are devs actually doing before writing code? Any.. Some.. or Most? I would love to know the answer, but only so i can se how they all turned out compared to how they went about the design. Of course i also feel that people who design on the fly tend to stray a long way from their time and feature budgets.. but that is another topic for another post.

Another criteria for what quality level should your game be has to do with how you view yourself, or your company. What is acceptible to put out under your name? This is a tough one has has so many factors put in it. Take one of the devs i respect Kris Steele He started Abduction Action and the main game he appeared to have made rather quickly (so his blog and comments seem to read). then he found ways to up his quality level o what is a fairly simple game. Even simple games can speak quality to players who demo them. He added quality because he felt like it should be there. I love this kind of thing, i feel it is about pride and confidence in your product. If you don't have these then qhy the heck are ya publishing your code?

Tere is always more that can be added to up the quality of a game. This makes it very difficult to know when to stop. A lot of Xblig games do not have SFX when the selctors or menu highlights are moved around. this is a pet peave of mine as it is so easy to do, but so many games don't do it? Why.. I am not sure. One theory i have is that these devs do not know that this is something that adds quality to a game. And with so many brand spanking noob devs in the Xblig marketplace there will be a lot that do not notice these kind of things... yet! I say yet, because i have a lot of confidence that these things will be changed. These simplistic yet noticable items will slowly be commonplace (tbh, they are already).

Has anyone else noticed the amazing amount of quality games that have come out this year? The number is much higher than last year and this gets me very excited as i buy more and more Xblig games. I wish the world would take more note and see what Xblig games are doing and how far they have come. And for shocking basement prices too!

I never got to cover all the things i want to talk about for quality, Maybe my next post talking about this subject will label a bunch more, and compare good with bad decisions.

If anyone readin this has any comments on how they decide the quality of their games, please post away. I would love some feedback.

For Sorcery games Xblig games the decision of quality is one of pride. I have a list of things that i have to do on my games, but i also have a list of things i do not care about. I value the opinion of my peers in playtest and review and try my hardest to accomodate what i am told isn't good enough in their eyes. currently this is the best way to view the quality of your game for Xblig. Sales will not do that for you and are not very related to the quality of a game at the moment. I wish that was different of course. I have reports from my fellow peers that make me very happy. They tell me they think the game is a worthy addition to the Xblig catalogue, and that makes me profoundly happy. Some devs however, couldn't care less and just want to get it out... Is this the quality level you want to be known for ?

Thanks for reading
G'night

A Shooter Decision Followup

I have done it. I have made a decision, and one that i am happy with. Or at least think i am at the moment.

I ground down the issue to as few Major questions as i could. Then tried my hardest to answer them truthfully. I had help from other XBLIG Devs (thanks DrMistry, theBigDaddio) and a few friends (Jeff and Paul). So without further ado here are the questions i distilled it all down too.

1. Will people who buy the game feel ripped off with only 13 levels?
2. Will this negatively effect my downloads of the game?
3. What effect will this have on the View of Sorcerygames overall quality?

I had a lot more questions at first, but am very happy now with only three that i care about.

So..
1. I think people will not feel ripped off. They will spend a single dollar and get a game that if they are good they can play through the whole thing in about 35-40 minutes (still gotta test exactly how long). I think this is great value for money, as it will take them some time to get good enough to actually do this. So realastic time this game is worth must be about 3 hours or more.
2. I do not think the number of downloads will be effected by the number of levels. Noone knows how long the levels are etc, so a number is just a random piece of information. Though i do believe that there is percieved value in a higher number. (i have 100 levels etc!). In the end the quality of the gameplay is what will sell this game. As that is what it is designed for.
3. This one concerned me the most and in the end cost me the most sleep. I have decided though that quality can be measured in various ways. For this title it will not be the graphics or the effects all over the place (like my other title Pellmell was). This one is about the pure simple addictive gameplay experience. This is where I believe the game shines. Yes, i have SFX on button presses and i will have other quality type stuff in there, bought music and shared hgh scores etc. So for 1 Freakin Dollar this game is gonna be a great addition to the Sorcerygames portfolio.

So there you have it. I have made my choice. I have already designed level 13 and it is in. It makes me giggle when i play it, so i must like it a lot. Now i just need to create level 12s level aliens triggers, and the levels are first pass done. Maybe i'll get time to look at the leaderboard sharing code soon. Not that i am looking forward to that work, bah! But someone has to do it.

Thanks for the input everyone,
Laters

Making better Blog + A Shooter Decision

I have been quite active over the last couple of months trying to improve my Blogging skills. So far i have introduced Pictures, this i loved, and a picture can speak a thousand words. Then recently i aded my first video. Ok, so these are a bit more time consuming to create, Also Youtube will only allow me so many videos per my account (8 i think), so not sure waht will happen with that when i get really going. In the last and a couple of previous posts i have introduced coloured text. I wasn't sure what it would come off like, but tbh i am quite happy. The effect is much better than i expected. Now i just need to work on refining what i highlight, and with which colours.

So far i hope you would all agree that my blogging is getting better and not worse in the visual department. I am not so certain from a creative standpoint though. Simply because i get no comment reactions, so it is hard to know what to do. Till i have a better direction i will carry on with my meandering writings.


Really Important Decision to be made...

On a more serious note, i am in a quandry over 'A Shooter'. It was supposed to be a 1 dollar game, but the time i am putting into it are expanding this. The gameplay is exactly what i wanted, and i think aweome. The issue i am having is what to do with it. I can see i have a further 9 levels to create, and i am not sure anyone will truly appreciate the work i will have to put in to finish them properly. I still have a lot of work on the overall balance for the existing 11 levels. So my thoughts are... So far there is about 25 minutes of gameplay so far. So if I add just 1 more level, and then maybe do a special Boss for level 13 (seems appropriate), will the game be any worse for it ? I do not think so, and it will have about 35 minutes of gameplay too at that point. I think the sales will be exaclty the same as if i have 20 levels. I can always do a sequel if people love the gameplay and mechanics, but at this time i think i am just overdoing it.
In all Seriousness.... What Do YOU Think?

Quality or size vs Price point

It seems i am no good at balancing my price point with what i view as my quality (yes that include how much is actually IN the game).

I should clarify that i am no good at the 80msp priceline, or 1 dollar a game. I play flash games on the PC (ok, my son and daughter do and i join them). Anyway i like those games. They are 1 dollar games in my mind, very easy to pickup and put down. Trolley dash etc.. Well one issue i find is that a dollar game could quite easily be an experience that is less than 8 minutes. Or have nothing really extra over it's initial offering except that people would need to play for longer to see the extra upgraded wheels etc. Ok, so i guess that is extended gameplay...

So what do i do, the costing for my latest game was to be within a certain time period or amount of work that it will feel aok at 80msp. But as i work on it, i find that i cannot stint on quality items like fading things in/out. or cross fade. Or time things so they look nice and not too abrupt. I want sparkles or effects surrounding everything i do, even if they are so subtle like footsteps in dirt producing dust etc. Not that anyone noticed in Pellmell for example.

So what to do? Well i will carry on. I am a gameplay designer and programmer first and foremost. I love that job. And wish my day job consisted of such things. There it is all a lot more technical or management work. So i will continue on this way and maybe one day i will find a balance of smaller workload and quality output to match the lowest price point. Until then i will take the hit. Or get some real graphics and make the game 3 dollars, which is where it is headed (if i get graphics haha!).

Laters