[casual_games] The Making of Casual Games

[Wade Tinney]

What I said was the "typical" retail experience. Yes, there are people
who download demos and read reviews before making a purchase (just as
there are people who buy downloadable games before trying them). But I
think this is not the most common pattern. I don't have much data to
support or disprove this assertion. I will point out, however, that XBox
Magazine has a circulation of just over 400,000, which is obviously only
a fraction of the total number of Xbox users. 
 
Wade
 

-----Original Message-----
From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org
[mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of machaira at comcast.net
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 2:53 PM
To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
Subject: RE: [casual_games] The Making of Casual Games


How many retail games these days don't have demos? Every PC game I buy I
usually play a demo for unless it's a trusted developer. Even then I
read reviews before I buy. For Xbox, I've usually played a demo from
Xbox Magazine before I buy it.
 

-------------- Original message -------------- 

> 
> Hi Dora- 
> 
> There are a lot of questions wrapped up in this one, but I'll bite off
a 
> little piece of it to start the discussion going. 
> 
> One fundamental difference in making a casual, downloadable game (such

> as those my company produces) is that players can try the game before 
> they decide whether or not to purchase it. So, unlike the typical
retail 
> experience, players are not financially invested in the game when they

> are playing it. They haven't shelled out their hard-earned cash. I 
> believe that that financial investment (in a retail game) makes
players 
> give that game more of a chance; they *want* to like the thing they
just 
> paid money for. They don't want to be disappointed or to have to go 
> through the rigamar ole of returning the game. They'll slog their way
up 
> a steep learning curve, or attempt a badly tuned early level dozens of

> times, or put up with a frustrating control scheme for MUCH longer
than 
> someone with no financial investment. 


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/casual_games/attachments/20050722/cfaf0d24/attachment.htm