Monday, April 30, 2007
Casual Games and the Evoloution of the Video Game Market
Gamers, and certainly game designers, often split the video game industry into two halves. Casual games and Real-Games. Casual games are notable for the lack of sophitication, simplistic gameplay and control techniques and poorer graphical quality. Real games are the cutting edge of game design, with up to date graphics, complex design and, often, lengthy gamplay. Many people who are familiar with games see Real Games as supperior, I believe that this is an industry trend that is driven by the fact that most games are designed by 18-35 males for 18-35 year old males. What this has led to is a culture of exclusion for other demographics. Spending money on realistic physics may attract a small section of the market, but it will mean absoloutly nothing to the majority of potential buyers. It makes little sense, more and more games competing for the same market along side spiraling costs is not a stratagy that can pay off in the long term. If you ask someone who plays games to design a game, they will come up with an idea that they want to play. And games will eat themselves.
Traditionally the majority of the industry’s focus has been on “real” games targeted at the adolesent to mid-thirties male audience. This makes very little economic sense. Casual games attract a much wider audience. Predominantly female and over eighteen, the casual games have the potential to open sections of the market that have eluded games designers for years. Nintendo recently release of the Wii and DS, both consoles that steer away from the model of traditional gaming, has left them with a year on year profit of 77% (link : http://uk.ds.ign.com/articles/783/783710p1.html), a new high for the company.
Casual games, while being much less costly to produce, also sell for much less. This is because the level of content provided is much lower than a traditional game. A possible way forward is to create games that have crossover appeal, the instant fun and accesability of the casual game and the sense of immersion that is prevalent in more hardcore games. A simple method of creating such a game is to employ a context for the gameplay. Storylines or narratives can be introduced as the reason for puzzle or quiz games. Characters could be used to personify the abstract nature of a casual game giving it a hook that would lead to wider acceptance among gamers.
Possibly this could lead to a wave of casual gamers desiring more complexity from their gaming experiences, moving the industry toward something that is similar to the current Real-Games. However this is something that would have to be consumer led, and a great deal of the industry has shown an inability to develop the kind of global market awearness needed to react to such a trend.
Gamers, and certainly game designers, often split the video game industry into two halves. Casual games and Real-Games. Casual games are notable for the lack of sophitication, simplistic gameplay and control techniques and poorer graphical quality. Real games are the cutting edge of game design, with up to date graphics, complex design and, often, lengthy gamplay. Many people who are familiar with games see Real Games as supperior, I believe that this is an industry trend that is driven by the fact that most games are designed by 18-35 males for 18-35 year old males. What this has led to is a culture of exclusion for other demographics. Spending money on realistic physics may attract a small section of the market, but it will mean absoloutly nothing to the majority of potential buyers. It makes little sense, more and more games competing for the same market along side spiraling costs is not a stratagy that can pay off in the long term. If you ask someone who plays games to design a game, they will come up with an idea that they want to play. And games will eat themselves.
Traditionally the majority of the industry’s focus has been on “real” games targeted at the adolesent to mid-thirties male audience. This makes very little economic sense. Casual games attract a much wider audience. Predominantly female and over eighteen, the casual games have the potential to open sections of the market that have eluded games designers for years. Nintendo recently release of the Wii and DS, both consoles that steer away from the model of traditional gaming, has left them with a year on year profit of 77% (link : http://uk.ds.ign.com/articles/783/783710p1.html), a new high for the company.
Casual games, while being much less costly to produce, also sell for much less. This is because the level of content provided is much lower than a traditional game. A possible way forward is to create games that have crossover appeal, the instant fun and accesability of the casual game and the sense of immersion that is prevalent in more hardcore games. A simple method of creating such a game is to employ a context for the gameplay. Storylines or narratives can be introduced as the reason for puzzle or quiz games. Characters could be used to personify the abstract nature of a casual game giving it a hook that would lead to wider acceptance among gamers.
Possibly this could lead to a wave of casual gamers desiring more complexity from their gaming experiences, moving the industry toward something that is similar to the current Real-Games. However this is something that would have to be consumer led, and a great deal of the industry has shown an inability to develop the kind of global market awearness needed to react to such a trend.
Risk can be seen as the template for modern real-time strategy games, if not in execution then certainly in ambition. The basic principle, or positioning troops and re-supplying forces works well in videogame form. RTS games almost always use a similar method of gameplay, option the right units in the right place, while building more units to back them up, using resources gained from the map. In Risk these resources are gained from the amount of land you occupy. While it is rare then some games follow almost identical principles, Dawn of War for example.
Risk does differ in terms of its combat simulation. Based on dice roles, a small group of troops can hold out for a long time against a superior force through sheer luck. This is not something that many gamers would look favourably on. Superior numbers of equal strength units are enough to defeat almost any enemies that you will encounter in an RTS game.
Perhaps saying that Risk inspired the RTS genre is incorrect, as I can find no developers who have said it influenced them directly. Both are examples, though, of games that seek to exploit our fascination with war and combat. They are simply at different stages of technological strength. Hnefatafl (a board game played in northen Europe, mentioned in many Viking sagas) would be an earlier example than risk, Chess even earlier than that. This fascination with combat is something that has been prominent over a great many videogame generes, displaying that the desire to re-create war is more ubiquitas than we may wish to imagine.
Risk does differ in terms of its combat simulation. Based on dice roles, a small group of troops can hold out for a long time against a superior force through sheer luck. This is not something that many gamers would look favourably on. Superior numbers of equal strength units are enough to defeat almost any enemies that you will encounter in an RTS game.
Perhaps saying that Risk inspired the RTS genre is incorrect, as I can find no developers who have said it influenced them directly. Both are examples, though, of games that seek to exploit our fascination with war and combat. They are simply at different stages of technological strength. Hnefatafl (a board game played in northen Europe, mentioned in many Viking sagas) would be an earlier example than risk, Chess even earlier than that. This fascination with combat is something that has been prominent over a great many videogame generes, displaying that the desire to re-create war is more ubiquitas than we may wish to imagine.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
My approach to running an evening class in games appreciation would rely on finding games that people who didn’t usually play video games could associate with. Invites could be sent out to existing classes that ran courses with parallels in video games.
Many adult education centres run classes in military history, so perhaps the first week would centre on historically accurate RTS games such as Praetorians. Similarly Film or Literature groups could be invited to a session that featured games that had become notable for their narrative approach. Deus Ex, Fahrenheit or Fable. The third week could centre on simulation games, a much looser genre definition. Perhaps Civilisation, Microsoft Train Simulator and the Sims, as a final attempt to attract more people to try the class.
Once attendance had been established the first week of the course would be dedicated to culturally important games, that is games which have become part of the fabric of our culture even to people who don’t play games. Pac Man, Pong, Sonic and Tomb raider are examples of games that it would be easy for the majority of the population to relate to because of the familiarity of the brand names. This would be an important step. Establishing a point of reference in the world of video games would allow the class to move out and expand their experiences without them becoming overwhelmed by it.
The final two weeks would be concerned with criticaly acclaimed titles that they may not have heard of. I would exclude out those that use violence gratuitously to avoid distancing the class from the subject matter. Ico, Okami and Black and white would be good steps as they are all accesible, inteligent and easy to control.
Hopefully attendance would be high enough to justify a second term.
Many adult education centres run classes in military history, so perhaps the first week would centre on historically accurate RTS games such as Praetorians. Similarly Film or Literature groups could be invited to a session that featured games that had become notable for their narrative approach. Deus Ex, Fahrenheit or Fable. The third week could centre on simulation games, a much looser genre definition. Perhaps Civilisation, Microsoft Train Simulator and the Sims, as a final attempt to attract more people to try the class.
Once attendance had been established the first week of the course would be dedicated to culturally important games, that is games which have become part of the fabric of our culture even to people who don’t play games. Pac Man, Pong, Sonic and Tomb raider are examples of games that it would be easy for the majority of the population to relate to because of the familiarity of the brand names. This would be an important step. Establishing a point of reference in the world of video games would allow the class to move out and expand their experiences without them becoming overwhelmed by it.
The final two weeks would be concerned with criticaly acclaimed titles that they may not have heard of. I would exclude out those that use violence gratuitously to avoid distancing the class from the subject matter. Ico, Okami and Black and white would be good steps as they are all accesible, inteligent and easy to control.
Hopefully attendance would be high enough to justify a second term.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
The origins of Second Life
Second Life was created with the intent of mirroring the Metaverse from Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash. A virtual world where people were free to do as they pleased. Not a game in the traditional sense, Second Life still owes a great deal to a number of video games.
The earliest MMOSG (massivly multiplayer online social game) was Habitat. Playable on the Commador 64’s online service, Habitat was an online enviroment developed by Quantum Computer Services (who later became AOL) and Lucasfilm Game. Growing out of Quantum’s chatroom service, Habitat was the first attempt to develop a persistant, graphic based, social online enviroment. The game shares Second Life’s ambition of creating an enviroment based around creating and socialising, rather than conflict or aggression.
Another game that appears important in the relisation of Second Life is The Sims. The Sims proved to a sceptical world that there was a market for games centered around the development of avatars in a non fantastical setting, opening the gate for the possibility of a game like second life becoming a success.
Second Life is a very different game to either of these but owes them a great deal in terms of design and gameplay.
Second Life was created with the intent of mirroring the Metaverse from Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash. A virtual world where people were free to do as they pleased. Not a game in the traditional sense, Second Life still owes a great deal to a number of video games.
The earliest MMOSG (massivly multiplayer online social game) was Habitat. Playable on the Commador 64’s online service, Habitat was an online enviroment developed by Quantum Computer Services (who later became AOL) and Lucasfilm Game. Growing out of Quantum’s chatroom service, Habitat was the first attempt to develop a persistant, graphic based, social online enviroment. The game shares Second Life’s ambition of creating an enviroment based around creating and socialising, rather than conflict or aggression.
Another game that appears important in the relisation of Second Life is The Sims. The Sims proved to a sceptical world that there was a market for games centered around the development of avatars in a non fantastical setting, opening the gate for the possibility of a game like second life becoming a success.
Second Life is a very different game to either of these but owes them a great deal in terms of design and gameplay.
