A little me in Metro

http://www.metro.se/se/article/2008/05/13/13/2009-61/index.xml

Attract vs alienate

So here's something to consider.

For each decision you make, how many potential customers do you gain vs alienate?

It's kind of obvious, that you want many people to play your game, so start thinking about how many players you think you may alienate with your choice rather then speculate what people want. It's a bit scary but very useful. Many ideas suddenly seem less awesome...

An example could be deciding art style: Everyone will be nude vs everyone will not be nude. Alienate vs attract - A lot of guys would be attracted but shitloads of people would instantly be alienated and would never go near the product. We'd better go with not nude. (I'm not trying to make a statement - just proving a point)

When in doubt you can try this as it often points you in the "right" direction.

A really good game

This is as simple as a tip. A game you should play if you haven't already. It's called Mount&Blade and I've been playing it for 3 days straight. Why is it cool? it has mounted combat, and it's damn good!

Observe how the horse's head respond to player input much faster then the body. Major discovery.
http://www.taleworlds.com/

Comments

I've changed so that anyone can post a comment. We'll see how it works out.

I'm touched - this is so fantastic somehow

http://www.mazapan.se/games/BurnTheRope.php

You need to hear the entire song when you complete the game.

The ancient gamer - Life

He who think of games as merely pressing buttons, might think of life as placing one foot infront of the other.

Africa!

How har can it be? Our beloved earth has a limited amount of climates, 90% of all games feature a climate of some sort, a setting with some terrain so we should have seen all climates and settings a fair amount of times, yes?

NO

We have forgotten that little something called AFRICA. I can't remember playing any game with an african setting. So why is this then? My first thought was that the general market for video games wouldn't identify with an African setting. But then I thought, countless movies takes place in Africa, we see it on nature shows on TV and see it on the news. In the end I can't help thinking we discriminate Africa not out of racism but out of fear. How do we portrait their daily life, coulture and habits without being prejudiced and ignorant, how do we write story and dialogue to reflect a continent of which we know so little? And perhaps the most difficult question, how do we shoot African charachters dead without it tearing up emotional wounds? And by all means, the game doesn't have to be about shooting anybody anyways.

Well, I imagen the only way to show the proper respect is to bring Africa in to the game on the same terms as everybody else.

Kudos Far Cry 2 for taking the leap!


How's this for a setting?