Hello, I wanted to post this because I've had this subject on my mind for quite a long time now, but I also figured it was about time that I actually get around to posting such a thing. This subject mainly concerns game development in general. (Please note that I don't exactly have the best grammar punctuation wise and forgive me for that and also spoiler alert: There is going to be a huge text wall!)
For the longest time I've noticed that during the game development phase that many developers want to stick to doing something for their game, mainly doing what they want for their game. What I mean is the focusing on what they want to see in the game and not what other people would like to see in the game, while developers would then gradually continue onwards to do whatever they want and then eventually decide to release the game to their own liking, but then quickly find out that the player base doesn't enjoy it like you do. Of course, I do realize that not every game that developers produce is going to be for everyone, it is quite inevitable that some people just won't like your game.
What does that mean then? Should developers seek to get some feedback from the general public to whom they are going to release it to or should they just continue on their course for the game they want? I think that seeking advice wouldn't be a bad idea, however if you are going to release a game for the general public to play that they are going to be the ones playing it and not you- in some cases, because there have been quite a few BYOND games (not going to mention said names) that have pretty much died off, because the developer wanted to do what they only wanted to for the game and never really played it much to see the 'players' perspective of the game itself. Because you can play your game as much as you wish and find it fun, but thats only because you developed the game yourself and know whats going to happen before it happens in some cases. Usually thats why developers like to have people 'beta test' their games for them, because heck the developers don't always know what the people want- it doesn't matter if its a singleplayer or a multiplayer game it still all applies in the end.
Sometimes in game development phase developers or yourself for instance may want to try to find something 'unique' that hasn't been done before or isn't from some other game. So many of a times some developers would try to add something from a previous game then slap on some new feature and call it 'unique', it doesn't always make the game unique in that sense. Think of lets say a Dragonball Z game and how some developers try to make it more 'unique' by adding some weird systems or something to make it stand out from the rest. Not every game has to be like that it can still be fun even with features that have been done before in other games such as a turn based combat feature for instance.
And finally, I did want to address was the use of subscriptions, item malls, etc in games. Its been a pretty common thing nowadays to associate the words "free to play" with something as "pay to win", because you see it everywhere even on BYOND which has been a feature for quite awhile now. Should this always be the case for games, so that you can just get money from the players? Not always, there have been quite a few BYOND games (again not mentioning the names) that have done this sort of thing- have gotten thousands of dollars and just use it on whatever the developer sees fit and not really caring about the game itself afterwards. On the other hand the developer does have a life and does need money to pay bills and such. Does this mean you should always just throw up a PayPal button on your Hub for a subscription? Heck no. If a game is going to be "free to play" it should atleast have all of the content be actually be free to the extent where you do not have to pay to unlock new content (in my opinion), rather if you do have the intention of an item mall or subscription reward- why not have some sort of cosmetics that you can purchase or something like that with an alternative in game that you have to earn through some 'hard' means.
(see: Path of Exile as it has all of the content available to play all content is available, but only side things to buy such as cosmetic items or pets that don't help you win against the game or other players)
ID:1269048
 May 20 2013, 10:54 am
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May 28 2013, 4:03 pm
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MasterLink2003
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Well was curious on what people had to say on this subject.
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I haven't had much experience with developers that didn't seem to care about what was best for the game, whether or not that included the players wishes because sometimes players have ridiculous demands. Examples?
As far as the Subscription and Micro Transaction business models, there's a video by a extracredits on penny-arcade.com that explains, in an easy to understand way, how these models would be most effective. I find that as long as the content doesn't give players unfair advantages, there's no problem with those systems. Some developers recommend only providing in game items that don't directly affect the users capacity for combat i.e Mega-BadA$$ZwordALPHA (assuming it's a combat intensive game), suggesting instead to provide items that restore health, or posses purely aesthetic value as you suggested, and allowing all purchasable items to be attained without the use of money (in this way the items pose the question, is the item worth my time getting or should I just buy it?). I never saw harm in implementations by games like DC Universe Online, in which they provided certain classes as DLC, simply because the other classes gave no particular advantage, only different powers. | |
You are forgetting that this is BYOND (Build Your OWN Net Dream). If someone wants to join your game that you have always dreamed of building, than awesome. If you want to play a game that is built by other people's suggestions, and catered to the players, than you are in the wrong community. Sure, there are some games on here that are created specifically for other players, but this is a place to build your own dreams. Not others.
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Just because a player likes a feature from some other game doesn't mean that it will be a good fit for whatever BYOND game you're trying to influence. For example, I've heard people say things like, "Add 'Feature X'; it works great in World of Warcraft / League of Legends / Skyrim / etc." But the point isn't to create a 16-bit clone of your favorite non-BYOND game, and different players will like features from different games, so suggestions like this will at best be downplayed and at worst lead to convoluted systems that sometimes look nice but add nothing to gameplay. Often there are reasons why developers might specifically NOT add these same features, even if most players agree that it would be a good idea to do so. If you want to play WoW/LoL/ES5/etc. so badly, maybe you should just go play that game instead...
"Pay to Win" and "Pay for Cosmetics" aren't the only two possibilities. It is possible to have an effect on gameplay without making it impossible for others to compete. The best examples I can think of are persistent team-based strategy games, in which cash will get you a nice start, but others will eventually be able to catch up to you. Another way to do this would be to have different tiers of gameplay, with some levels effected by money while others are not. (On BYOND, games typically focus on personal progression, so this might be a foreign concept to those in the anime crowd.) Personally, I think that paying real-life money for cosmetic features is a huge waste; I have occasionally dropped $30 on a "free" game, but only if I got $30 worth of perks in return. It's been rare in my experience to see a non-payer stop playing specifically because of others who have gained an advantage through money. More often, it's an added incentive to see if you can catch up to, outsmart, and/or surpass [that one rich bastard who buys every benefit possible] despite not having paid anything yourself. | |
Cavern wrote:
You are forgetting that this is BYOND (Build Your OWN Net Dream). If someone wants to join your game that you have always dreamed of building, than awesome. If you want to play a game that is built by other people's suggestions, and catered to the players, than you are in the wrong community. Sure, there are some games on here that are created specifically for other players, but this is a place to build your own dreams. Not others. I couldn't agree more. | |
That's the thing. We're not mainstream game designers. We're indie developers. Do what's fun for you, not sell yourself out to the masses. Keep in mind that you're here to hone your skills at a game developer, not cater to the community's every whim.
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