Posted April 08, 2018
Experimental games are always going to be risky. Same goes for games that are primarily meant to be art.
We may not all like platformers or FPS or RPG games, but there's a known audience for those types of games. Things which don't fit into an established niche are going to be risky because you don't just have to create an enjoyable game, you also have to find ways of letting players know what the game is about before you can even think of trying to get them to part with their money for it.
It's kind of sad, but sequels are always going to have an advantage, as are games that are in established markets. It doesn't mean that people shouldn't create experimental indie games, just that they shouldn't expect to make much money doing so.
People also forget that before Super Mario Brothers was released, the team making it spent tons of time watching real players play and seeing what the players actually did rather than what the designers expected them to do. Changes were made to make the experience more enjoyable and ultimately, the game was a massive hit. They had a good idea to start with, but they spent a massive amount of time figuring out how to cater to their audience.
The other lesson here is that you have to do a lot of research ahead of time about what sorts of games people are willing to pay. This isn't much different from being a screenwriter where the good ones will typically pitch their idea to virtually anybody they can corner before they start actually writing the script. Because it doesn't much matter how great the story is, how likable the characters are or how clever the plot twist is, if you're trying to sell Springtime for Hitler, you're probably not going to have much of a market for it and in some parts of the world, such a work would be illegal.
We may not all like platformers or FPS or RPG games, but there's a known audience for those types of games. Things which don't fit into an established niche are going to be risky because you don't just have to create an enjoyable game, you also have to find ways of letting players know what the game is about before you can even think of trying to get them to part with their money for it.
It's kind of sad, but sequels are always going to have an advantage, as are games that are in established markets. It doesn't mean that people shouldn't create experimental indie games, just that they shouldn't expect to make much money doing so.
People also forget that before Super Mario Brothers was released, the team making it spent tons of time watching real players play and seeing what the players actually did rather than what the designers expected them to do. Changes were made to make the experience more enjoyable and ultimately, the game was a massive hit. They had a good idea to start with, but they spent a massive amount of time figuring out how to cater to their audience.
The other lesson here is that you have to do a lot of research ahead of time about what sorts of games people are willing to pay. This isn't much different from being a screenwriter where the good ones will typically pitch their idea to virtually anybody they can corner before they start actually writing the script. Because it doesn't much matter how great the story is, how likable the characters are or how clever the plot twist is, if you're trying to sell Springtime for Hitler, you're probably not going to have much of a market for it and in some parts of the world, such a work would be illegal.