Category: Games

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata
“no dedicated gaming systems are worthy of existence unless our games give consumers unparalleled fun.”

I think we’re beyond the tipping point for many consumers. Their new devices, whether those be from Apple, Google or Amazon (or any of the minor manufacturers), are multi-function. They write emails, they surf the web, they facilitate art and music, they provide a medium for education and they also play games.

Pecking on a DS touchscreen while also trying to use the console buttons is an exercise for frustration. I reckon we may be seeing the last generation of dedicated handheld gaming platforms.

Some beautiful thoughts on the development of gameplay:

Games have been largely about collision for the past 30 or so years — collision-based games where you have to dodge something to survive, or pass the finish line before somebody else.
…
Now they’re getting a little more emotional, more psychological. The games are more conduits to interact with each other, rather than to tell them a story.

Of course, because making games more like movies is actually a step backwards. It’s old-media-think rather than new-media-think. It’s like when someone spots a new way to display information (augmented reality) and the first thing they think of is how to use this to advertise cars. Games should depend on their differences, not their similarities to old media. That is their real strength.

That changes everything about how you market to your players, how you interact with your players. [Free-to-play] means you have a constant dialogue with your players, and that you’re making sure they’re aware of what’s going on in your game.

This means developing multiple channels of communication. It’s not about demanding access to their Facebook wall or the ability to use their account to auto-tweet – quite the opposite. Give them reasons to follow your Twitter account and participate in your other media channels. Think about what will make them watch your YouTube gameplay videos. Think about the activities in your game and whether they can still play and interact within your world when “not actually playing your game”.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for developers to find their way into the market. The new revenue models also offer new opportunity to design games. It’s up to whoever is nimble enough to make the most of that.”

A company being agile enough to respond to the market and having the resource (in people, in talent) to be capable of responding is vitally important. Finding the right people is the number one issue in developing every business.

From thealistdaily:

The NPD Group is reporting that 59 percent of total game play is done on a mobile device. Part of their Mobile Gaming 2012 report, they say that app gamers who play most often on mobile phones are important because 23 percent of these app gamers only play on mobile devices.

It really brings into question the definition of a hardcore gamer.

This is a list of the open tabs across my devices. Pretty much articles I am reading or intend to read over the next day or two.

• What is the Free-to-Play Business model? – pretty much essential reading (written by an intern) if you’re working on a F2P game model.
• And another on pretty the same subject – Monetize that $hit
• “If you think of (Curiosity) being the biggest mystery posted to the digital world, Cooperation is the biggest cooperative effort the world has ever known,” said Molyneux.
• And another GamaSutra article on AI which describes the tabletop RPG as the best game ever made.
• And finally…geek pr0n:

Jonathan is a Game designer, previously of Braid, now of The Witness. Partner in IndieFund.

Dear iOS devs: please make some games I want to seriously play. If you do this you are allowed to charge money. Preferably at least $5.

— Jonathan Blow (@Jonathan_Blow) August 11, 2012

The economics of selling games is complex.

Developers give away games to get up the charts, to gain users, to get reviews. But they need to earn a crust too. Jonathan seems to be asking for developers to make games worth paying for. While I applaud the concept (and it is but a concept because there will always be dreck on the stores), it does little to resolve the core issue. What is a fair price for entertainment?