[casual_games] Definition of Casual Games

[Jeff Murray]

Hello everyone! My first post ...
 
Casual games are, in my opinion, games that COULD be AAA titles but just didn't have the budget. There, I said it. I don't like saying it, but there you go.
 
There is so much diversity in the games that are labeled 'casual' that there doesn't appear to be a particular 'formula' game structure to get the label other than; they are produced by studios smaller than EA's and bigger than my mate Jason's bedroom games company. At this level, replayability and play length are luxuries.
 
Advergames, of course, will always be casual games because they are meant to entertain for 5 minutes or so whilst getting the brand across ... like interactive commercial breaks produced on budgets just enough to pay for the developers lunch, hence they don't usually have much in the way of replayability ;) (NOTE the use of the word 'usually', as there always exceptions to the rule!)
 
In my mind, casual games are the void between no-budget (bedroom coder) gaming and AAA titles. The points raised about complexity, play length etc. seem to me to be side-effects of budget constraints - if you throw enough money at the dev team, they'll build the AAA version any day?!
 
Thems my cents, toss 'em in the fountain!
Jeff Murray
 
http://www.fuelindustries.com
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