Would just like to point out that Mutant Storm was in no way a financially sucessful game in shareware. The developer has mentioned several times that it's online sales were terrible (though retail sales were better). It was/is on reflexive, and it is right near the bottom if you sort by conversion or best selling.
The reason why is that the game is not suited to the casual market. It's a great game but it's not for this market. It's really hard, there is no music, very retro graphics and sounds, and the controls are far from easy for casual players.
To be fair, its something far more important than a financial success, and to be honest - a lot depends on what your definition of financial success is. Its a
long term success. It may not pull in thousands of pounds a month like Big Kahuna Reef, the conversion rate may not be impressive in terms of how much a puzzle game on Reflexive can turn over but it makes regular sales on the most important factor *anyone* in the games industry can ever ask for - good word of mouth. So much so, that it was one of the first games signed up for the XBLA and the 360 XBLA *and* warranted enough good faith to have a sequel commissioned.
PomPom get constant good press, MS2 *is* an eagerly awaited release for the 360 by a huge amount of people. I'd sooner the PomPom route than the Warblade route anyday - constantly updating the same game for the rest of your life, churning out screensavers to top up your income just seems so cold and soul destroying to me (as someone who pours myself into games first with no concern for any particular market), and here's the clincher - people know who PomPom are.
A foot in the door is worth two in the bush or something
specifically tailoring a shooter to the casual market could be seen as cutting off your nose to spite your face - or, to put it another way, its eliminating your actual market for the game.
I don't think you need to lose one market to please another, I think it's perfectly possible to do both. Will adding mouse control make hardcore shooter fans less likely to play? I doubt it as long as you keep the keyboard and gamepad controls. Adding an easy mode won't ruin it for hardcore players if they can still play on Hard. I love those hardcore games like Raiden and R-Type, but I also love casual shooters like Heavy Weapon.
I've already stated in a previous post that any game that wants to sell should be accessible to all and with a smooth difficulty curve. Its not just about setting controls and easy modes - its about nothing more than the purest of the pure - good game design. That, my friend, is what seperates the men from the boys, the wheat from the chaff etc...
It's also important for me to note that starting a website and selling your game without portals and affiliates is not easy. If you don't care about how much money you make and am prepared to work for several years until your own site gets a strong user base, with little pay, then thats fine. But making games that appeal to the casual market it the only real way a new developer can get started and actually make some money for their efforts early on.
Any business needs to be tended to and nurtured, and every effort put in to making it a success. You wouldn't expect to open a shop tomorrow and find yourself with a 10,000 pound turnover straight away, so why should an online business be the same? Plus, if conversion rates are more important to you than the game itself then that really really begs the question of wether you should be making games at all or should instead just pull up a van outside the pub and sell trainers to passing people or just become a 419 scammer instead.
Going the portals route is all well and good, but as theres a concerted move to minimise developers credits wherever possible, how on Earth are you going to make a true name for yourself. You'll be nothing more than "the bloke who wrote that game I got from Reflexive". Whilst portals do *some* things good, they also do an equal amount of harm to the market and anyone starting up as they take advantage of those who want a get rich quick scheme and invite a load of chancers to attempt to get their lucky break. If you're in this for the long haul then portals should only be considered as extra revenue streams and not as your main market. And I know how hard it is to build up a website from scratch, please don't take this the wrong way - but I've been on the internet and around computers an *awful* long time, in fact, longer than you've been on the planet. This doesn't by default make me superior, nor is it meant to - its just a way to illustrate that I've seen the market shift, I've seen behemoths fall and I've seen the markets slump and rise and technology change. Keeping on top of all that and making the best game that you can is, in my eyes, infinitely more important than catching a few quid in the first few months of development. If you're not prepared to put the effort in and accept the hard work, then you deserve nothing more than the fleeting few months of fame that you'll get.
(on Platypus) Personally I felt it handles pretty clumsily, with my mouse anyway. Much more accurate movement with keys or the joypad.
But that is pretty much the best selling shareware shooter ever. If you wan't to make money then you sometimes have make what the market wants, rather than what you want. It sucks but it's a fact of life.
Have you got any figures to back that up please? I prefer to deal in cold hard facts with regards to something being proclaimed the "pretty much best selling shooter ever" and would dearly love to see some evidence to back that up. Until then, please don't be offended if I just assume its one more person on the internet making things up. I'm more than open to having the facts presented before me though
And heres my "it sucks but its a fact of life", the market is *not* always what people would have you believe. Do your own research and find out exactly how many people aren't alligned with this so called market and you'll be surprised. Just because none of the portals tap into a market doesn't mean it doesn't exist, nor does it mean that it isn't huge. It just means theres a whole load of people who's needs aren't being met. Are they any less "market" ?
The portals will have you believe that <x> is the market, because they're in the business of convincing people that its the market where the money is - as, wait for this, its how they make their money!
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Last Edit: December 30, 2005, 02:04:30 PM by oddbob »
Well, I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, Doctor, and I'm happy to state I finally won out over it.
SHMUP-DEV » SHMUP DEV FORUMS » Business and Marketing
Molding a shooter into the Casual Market
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