Re: Re: How [not] easy it would be to . . .

From: Jen Piatek <jgreekpi_at_...>
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2004 01:48:28 -0400


Hi all,

Just a random lurker -- thought I'd throw in some thoughts here :).

First, so you can ignore my random thoughts :) -- I should complement Maxi on
beer choice :) (I travel to Houston/Clear Lake every March for a conference, and
I can say for sure that Shiner Bock is rather popular among me and my fellow
beer snobs...especially when the kegs at the conference contain either Bud or Shiner!)

I wanted to comment on the assertion that "if you let users mod the game, they'll
buy it" idea. First, that's a great idea -- for a game that is currently coming onto
the market. I'm not convinced that a standalone "build your own world" kit would
sell....

Why? Problem is, you need to take a look at the entire market. For example, the
wonderful shareware game series Escape Velocity. EV: Nova (the third in the series) has been out for a couple of years now -- it was nearly a year before the
first real "total conversion" was out...the mods that were available immediately
were cheats and ad hoc bug fixes (ok, my recollection -- but still). That's a long
time to wait for the creative minds to put something together -- it takes a lot of time
and effort to put together a "mod" that is equivalent to the original game (I would
be scared to ask just how much story text is in KoDP, nevermind art or programming
of choices and story branches). Can you really see someone paying $20-30 for
something they have to wait for, and count on someone else to make? EV is moddable without extra tools (for the most part -- I don't count ResEdit, it's
free) -- you just have to register the game to use the mods. And still...time.
(You'd need to do a comprehensive study of all the moddable games out there to show that this is or is not a viable business option -- anyone have that kind
of free time? :)). Are there more mods now for EV: Nova? I don't know: but there were a lot more ideas that had gone "vaporware" than had actually been
finished, last time I checked -- people with not enough free time. Is the same true
for EU II?

And -- another aside -- programming a mod is not the same as writing stuff for
the world! My S.O. is a big Glorantha nut, and he writes quite a bit in the universe (both for fanzines, and his website) -- and I will would hazard a guess
that he couldn't put together a KoDP-type mod....I suspect plotting the mod would
be difficult (i.e. you have to have specific consequences for specific actions, rather
than freeform writing of backgrounds and myths), and I think he would be uncomfortable with the programming aspect ("if A then B else C" -- that's not
necessarily how all these creative types think). [Of course, I think he reads this,
and I hope he tells me off if I'm wrong :)].

Please, though, don't take this as a slam -- it's a good thing to voice your opinion.
If the gods of gaming finance were to smile our direction, and allow creation of
a KoDP2, then it's good to have these ideas voiced. Just don't expect anyone to
run out and implement this stuff tomorrow -- programmers need real money now,
not just a few people saying "yeah, I'd pay for that". To be honest, I think a game
like KoDP benefits from having a "create-your-own adventure" ability, but I really don't think it would sell more units, or that it would necessarily sell really
well on it's own (ok, we'd all buy it -- all dozen people who've responded here...
that'd pay a programmer for what, an afternoon?)

--

"Decorate your home. It gives the illusion that your life is more interesting than it really is." -- C. Schulz

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