First off, this is the second time I've written this post so it will
probably be of lower quality this time around. My browser decided to
glitch
and I lost a very lost post, that was probably a full page if not a page
and
a half.
As one of the new guys in the community, relatively speaking, I debated
even
commenting on this topic. I wasn't around for the "golden era" so my
perspective is extremely limited compared to those who have been around
long
enough to see the bigger picture.
That being said, I don't doubt things have slowed down with audio game
development to some degree, I believe that is normal. I do, also, agree
with Dark that a well made game can still use old ideas.
Recently I assembled a list of the audio games and tools I have released.
I
was honestly shocked by how short that list was! I kept thinking I had
left
things out, and it took me a while to accept that the list was accurate.
The reason I felt like I had done more is because for every game/tool
I've
released, I have 2 that were only partially finished. While developing a
new game, if I discover existing games that use the same general idea, I
will get discouraged. The same is true when I read that someone else is
currently developing a game with a similar style. In those cases, I will
just push my project aside and start work on another. Part of the way
through that design, there's always a chance the same thing will happen
again.
Even if only half of the other developers are like me, that is a lot of
developers holding off on projects because they are searching for a
unique
idea. Sure, if we stuck with it our games would be different in some
ways,
but they are still similar to something already out there. I always ask
myself the question, "Why waste time when I could be making something
totally unique?"
Over the years, many audio games have been created, and they represent
many
different game styles. For anyone trying not to repeat an existing game,
this means our options are getting smaller and smaller all the time. New
ideas are tricky, and they take longer to develop than the games based on
old ideas. It is only natural for things to slow down because of this.
I
believe that this would still be true even if the old classic game
companies
were still around. They probably rode out the market until the trends
started to change. It was a smart move on their part, if that is what
they
did.
New ideas also run the risk of being rejected. I released Daytona to be
unique, and many people played it, but also many more didn't even care to
try it. That's not meant to put anyone down, but it is just a reality.
The
more new and unique you make a game, the more likely it is that you've
narrowed down on your potential player base. For this very reason I set
my
combat game aside because I didn't have faith that my player base would
be
large enough to help me support the ongoing server costs. I'm also
fairly
certain my next Daytona game will be completely passed over by a sizable
portion of the community simply because it requires the mouse to play. I
built Lunimals to be as close to "standard" as I could, and I'm sure its
recent popularity speaks loudly in support of my theory.
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