Innovation vs accessability
There is a big secret to innovation that I've found over the years, and if I may be so pretentious I'd like to share it.
Pretend your game isn't innovative.
This may seem like a weird thing to say, but the fact is that innovation does not promote accessability. Accessability is someone looking at your game, and within the first screenshot and title being able to say "I know what that is. I like that. Let's try that." Then within the first 10 seconds of playing "I know what this is, I'll keep playing." After they have their bearings in the world, that's when you hit them with the innovative parts.
Accessability is key.
The whole Tolkien / DnD world space is instantly recognizable and highly accessable. You know what to do when someone who looks like a dwarf comes to you as much as you do when someone who looks like a goblin does. Sequals are highly accessable for the same reason.
Or use subject matter that is instantly understandable to people even if it is new to gaming. What about a D-Day Landing role playing game? Or a game based in a Santa Claus universe? When players enter, they immediately have some idea of A: who they are, B: who the good guys and bad guys are, (even if this changes over time), and C: what they are supposed to do. They should be able to tell this from the screenshot, the title (Santa vs the Martians) or a one sentence summary.
Having the hook to a larger thing that people really care about, like holidays or issues of national pride, are also useful.
Games have to be accessable to a degree that non-interactive mediums do not. In a story, one can read about what the main character is doing without having to know the rules of the universe they are doing it in. A player could not make the right decisions for the Dread Pirate Roberts through the first 30 minutes of The Princess Bride without knowing that he is really Westley. A player wouldn't survive for any length of time in Hellraiser: the game, if they didn't know the rules of the box. Don't be so original in your setting that people won't know what to do.
Ironically sometimes it is easier to be innovative with a big publisher. When we fail in the market (and we do sometimes) we don't exactly lose our house like an independent developer would. Of course, we don't get the call on whether or not we get to be expressive, but that is a different issue.
Pretend your game isn't innovative.
This may seem like a weird thing to say, but the fact is that innovation does not promote accessability. Accessability is someone looking at your game, and within the first screenshot and title being able to say "I know what that is. I like that. Let's try that." Then within the first 10 seconds of playing "I know what this is, I'll keep playing." After they have their bearings in the world, that's when you hit them with the innovative parts.
Accessability is key.
The whole Tolkien / DnD world space is instantly recognizable and highly accessable. You know what to do when someone who looks like a dwarf comes to you as much as you do when someone who looks like a goblin does. Sequals are highly accessable for the same reason.
Or use subject matter that is instantly understandable to people even if it is new to gaming. What about a D-Day Landing role playing game? Or a game based in a Santa Claus universe? When players enter, they immediately have some idea of A: who they are, B: who the good guys and bad guys are, (even if this changes over time), and C: what they are supposed to do. They should be able to tell this from the screenshot, the title (Santa vs the Martians) or a one sentence summary.
Having the hook to a larger thing that people really care about, like holidays or issues of national pride, are also useful.
Games have to be accessable to a degree that non-interactive mediums do not. In a story, one can read about what the main character is doing without having to know the rules of the universe they are doing it in. A player could not make the right decisions for the Dread Pirate Roberts through the first 30 minutes of The Princess Bride without knowing that he is really Westley. A player wouldn't survive for any length of time in Hellraiser: the game, if they didn't know the rules of the box. Don't be so original in your setting that people won't know what to do.
Ironically sometimes it is easier to be innovative with a big publisher. When we fail in the market (and we do sometimes) we don't exactly lose our house like an independent developer would. Of course, we don't get the call on whether or not we get to be expressive, but that is a different issue.
posted by Chris at
4:10 AM
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