[casual_games] Use of keyboard on casual games

[oscar oscar]

^_^

I thought alot of us got into the Casual Space because we couldn't stomach
having to play to market whims.

I know full well why money people do what they do, and why they chart trends
and tend to follow them. A successful trend can raise the probability that a
derivative product will be profitable...

Unless you've received a grant to design games AS art... or are just doing
game dev because you like it and don't care whether or not you'll make
cash... you need to "end result" a "viable product".

But starting off by saying "NO KEYBOARD, NO RIGHT CLICK!!!" is not
intelligent design... its playing to some assumed lowest common
denominator...

Saying that my mother, god bless her blackened heart... can't figure out how
to use a keyboard or a right mouse button... well its kind of insulting...

After all, We're not controlling a nuclear reactor here... we're making
GAMES. ;)

well.. I am working on a nuclear reactor game... different story.

oscar


On 5/30/07, Stephen Triche <Striche at yatecgames.com> wrote:

>

>  The problem is computer games, like movies, are a very expensive piece of

> art/entertainment to produce. As such, business will always play a bigger

> role in its creation than other, more traditional, mediums.

>

> What is "profound, engaging, and intuitive" is often a very personal thing

> and difficult to nail down for large audiences, making it risky to invest

> large budgets in what is not proven.

>

> You complain that it's the same old stuff that gets multimillion-dollar

> backing. Well, at least from the financial perspective, that's precisely

> what the multi-million dollar arena is for, the (mostly) sure thing, the

> paradigms that have proven themselves in the "minor leagues" of indie

> development.

>

>

>

> If someone is convinced that a new concept or paradigm is fun, then they

> should develop that idea on their own or with a small team. If it is really

> worthwhile, it should be fun even without a huge budget backing it. It takes

> work, sure, but work worth doing I think.

>

> It seems silly to complain in a generalized way about what

> people/organizations do with their large sums of money. If you think it's

> worthwhile, prove it on a smaller scale first. It's naïve to assume someone

> will fund a project on faith alone.

>

>

>

> Perhaps some clones are not so much clones as they are a proven indie idea

> being given its first bit-budget chance.

>

>

>

> That brings up an interesting question for a publisher.

>

> Giving an idea a chance is one thing, but do you give its developers the

> same chance?

>

>

>

> - Stephen Triche

>

> Yatec Games

>

> www.yatecgames.com

>

>

>  ------------------------------

>

> *From:* casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:

> casual_games-bounces at igda.org] *On Behalf Of *oscar oscar

> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 30, 2007 2:13 PM

> *To:* IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List

> *Subject:* Re: [casual_games] Use of keyboard on casual games

>

>

>

> In my experience... and mind you... I've only been doing as long as I have

> been doing this... ;)

>

> Publishers and Distributors are no MORE or LESS  insightful than Movie

> Producers...

>

> And if you are aware of the crap that gets multimillion-dollar-backing...

> be in on the Big Screen or in a 7-minute Downloadable... then you know that

> the people who control the purse strings, more often than not, chase

> TRENDS... not SATISFACTORY User Experiences.

>

> Further, many of the cats and kittens who say "so it is written, so shall

> it be" have neither written NOR read anything of relevance to the matters at

> hand.

>

> They just have CASH, they have their limited successes and failures... and

> based on the last 13 months of "this game did this much biz" they determine

> that your idea is SHITE or is GOLD.

>

> You can skew usage figures and Focus Groups to say whatever you deem

> necessary.

>

> "THEY" are not always interested in profound, engaging, or even intuitive

> "Player Experiences"

>

> They want what they perceive to be immediate, pervasive and viral

> dissemination of LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR  experience

>

> Interface Follows Design. And Design Follows Vision.

>

> If Vision deems "Unique" interface, then Design should the Vision.

>

> Of course, my rant has NOTHING to do with the economics of getting some

> quick-clone of "pick-three" or "sudoku" on crack on the top ten list of some

> nebulous "usage and ratings portal".

>

> oscar

> McDonalds makes

> more money off their

> Real Estate than they do

> their food... because the

> Real Estate is worth

> Something... ;)

>

> On 5/30/07, *Juan Gril* <juangril at jojugames.com> wrote:

>

> Pedro, that's why I'm recommending we start talking about "best practices"

> instead of rules. Your example of Super Granny 3 is quite valid (although

> you are reading the game-sales-charts data in a wrong way).

>

> Your comment on:

> "I will never like green strawberries if I never taste them, right? Yet

> they might be better that the red ones…"

>

> Is wrong because you are making an assumption that it has been an

> arbitrary decision, when it has not, as Publishers and Distributors make

> focus groups and user tests every week with real users, and they have

> already proved that most people who buy downloadable games have difficulty

> playing a game with a keyboard.

>

> And I'm going to give you my opinion after having watched many user tests

> why downloadable game buyers are having difficulty with the keyboard. Most

> downloadable games players (based on, for example, Popcap's survey of last

> year) have never been exposed to PC videogames or console games. The use of

> buttons (in a keyboard or in a gamepad) is completely foreign to them. But

> they use the mouse in the computers they use at work, so they are familiar

> with that form of interaction between computers and them.

>

> In web games sites like Miniclip or Addicting Games or Kongregate, you

> have a lot of people like college students, male office workers, and kids

> who all have played videogames. So use the cursor keys to play a game is

> something more natural to them.

>

> When I was saying before to design the game for the right channel, what I

> was saying is this: if you are trying to make money on downloadable games,

> it's a "best practice" if you design a game that it's going to use the mouse

> to be controlled. And if you have a game that's keyboard controlled, you may

> want to think about distributing it on another channel, as it may do better

> there.

>

> And no one stops you for putting keyboard control as an option on any

> casual game anyway, so have fun with it.

>

> Please keep in mind that I'm trying to avoid the use of the word "rules"

> as they can always be broken.

>

> Cheers,

>

> Juan

>

>

>

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