Less is More (4k Games)

Java4k.com is cool. 60+ games, all under 4k. Sure, they wouldn't play on my Commodore Vic-20, circa 1984, but don't hold that against them.

4bsolution. Collect the glowy things. One of the prettier games, hence the photo.

Programming with such strict restraints is a fascinating, and entertaining, exercise. Each designer needs to focus on what is essential to the game's appeal, disregarding all else. Simple can be extraordinarily fun, as anyone who's played with a ball can attest.

Well Done!

YoVille's Got It Goin' On

Yoville Hits 6.6M Monthly Uniques Across Facebook And Myspace

With 6+Million users, no wonder it's crowded

I have to say we're looking very closely at YoVille's success. We feel ourWorld does a lot of things better than YoVille (not everything, but a lot) , and we're very excited about our upcoming Facebook launch. Hopefully, there'll be a few players left for us.

I'm looking forward to a three way battle between YoVille, ourWorld, and SmallWorlds. May we all win!

-Adam!!!

Rate Classic Games!

And why not? Choose from my list or add your own. Rate from best to least best (they're all great!)

Rate Classic Arcade Games on Squidoo.

Where does Donkey Kong rate?

If anyone votes, I'll post the results here, in a while.

-Adam!!!

A Comment on Games

Almost all virtual worlds include games. Typically, playing the games is the avatar's 'job' and by doing so players can upgrade their visual representation with fancier looking avatars and fancier looking virtual living spaces. In essence, the players are buying status.

If this mechanic is the centerpiece of your VW's economy, for the love of pete, please make sure the games are fun.

Is it better to have games that use the player's personal avatar and are fully integrated into the world itself if they aren't fun? No.

Best: Fun games, fully integrated in the world.
Okay: Fun games that aren't directly connected to the virtual world.
Disaster: Un-Fun games, integrated or not.

-Adam!!!

Welcome to ourWorld

What's the point of having a blog if you can't shill for your new employer? This is the start of my second week here at Flowplay and they've (we've) launched a cool new gaming site called ourWorld

My title is Customer Experience Manager, so I'll be in charge making sure every little thing you see, do, and experience on the site is either perfect, or has being made perfect on the 'to-do' list. If it's not perfect, I'm also the person who'll be making it right.

Unlike other game aggregate sites, where there's simply a list of games, ourWorld is a beautiful, avatar based, WORLD, and games are the featured attractions. It's very much like an online theme park.

It's brand new, there's tons of content still in the pipe, and you get a lot of play out the free membership. Check it out! My avatar's name is Wylde, and if you ask, I'll be your friend.

Oh, if you have suggestions about the site, or find something that isn't perfect (and I'm sure you will), don't be shy about letting me know.

Hint: Level up by spinning the prize wheel.

Thanks!

-Adam

Facebook Experiment

Since I just spammed all my Facebook friends, I figure I might as well commit all the way and post here too. The point of Facebook is to bring people together, after all. I decided I'd use its event organization tool to spread the word about Western Allied Robotics' next tournament, Seattle Bot Battles 6.




I just checked, and there are no gaming tournaments listed in the Seattle area AT ALL. Is this a mistake? I think it might be. It seems like people who belong to gaming fan groups would be interested in finding gaming events in there area. Given how easy it is to set up an event (SBB6 took me less than an hour) and invite a lot of people who are probably interested, it seems like a no-brainer.

Am I missing something?

-Adam

Tribes - Another Take

It's no big secret that I'm a democrat. I find the presidential race both facinating and exciting. All of the candidates were surprisingly strong, capable, and interesting. The final two democrats, particularly so.

But that's not what you hear on talk radio.

Instead of hearing "I like person X for reason Y", we hear versions of "I hate person X for reason Y". For a while it was disheartening to me. Don't these people know the two leading candidates are two sides of the same coin?

Than it hit me, these are the same sorts of hyperbole filled discussions I read on gaming message boards. Console Wars. Board gamers "hate" Collectible and Video Games. Console Gamers "hate" World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft players hate sunlight...(kidding!)

People are emotionally invested in the choices they make, and the more emotion they invest, the more difficult it is for them to accept opposing viewpoints. Criticism of their choices equates to criticism of them, and that can cause folks to lash out in response. This most often manifests in the anonymous worlds of radio and the internet, thankfully. I've haven't heard about fist fights at the political caucuses and game conventions tend to be peaceful affairs.

Bring it home Adam!

If you're releasing a new game that going to go head to head with an existing game with an existing fan base, be aware that you're not just competing with that game, you are indirectly attacking the choices made by the fans of that game. They will resist, even if your game is better, because quitting their game is like admitting they made a mistake playing it the first place. That's one of the reasons it's so much easier to launch a new game in a genre dominated by one product when that product is in decline (WoW replacing Everquest). When fans are making the decision to quit on their own, being the fresh, new thing is exactly what they want and where you want to be. The rest of the time, you're better off finding new customers who are looking for entirely new experiences.

-Adam

Scorched Earth

Collectable-type games have emerged as one of the most profitable genres in tabletop gaming. Probably THE most profitable. Unfortunately for game publishers, it seems to be getting harder and harder to succeed with this model every year. Now, it was always hard, but lately nothing seems to have legs. Remember the World of Warcraft TCG? I'm told it was huge. It's probably still a good seller, but huge? No. I thought the new Pokemon Collectible Minis game would be a big hit with the younger players. It wasn't (discounted at my local games store.) It may be that Pokemon has finally worn out its welcome, but I really think there's something else at work.

1) Established brands (Magic, Clix, ect.) still dominate. There's simply no room for any other brand to get significant traction.
2) Slow economy. Other forms of entertainment, particularly electronic, provide more entertainment for less money.
3) Scorched Earth. Greedy rarity schemes and failure to successfully promote secondary markets have created an industry with a reputation for ripping its customers off, one $4 pack at a time. This mindset, more than anything (IMHO) is preventing quality collectible games from reaching the fan-gamer. These games are now being dismissed by gamers out of hand.

Whether or not a collectible game can overcome this stigma is hard to say. My guess is that it won't, because I don't know of any publisher whose willing to sacrifice short term sales to create a stronger product overall. I've never worked for one who would.

Rares sell packs, they say. To much crap in the pack kills games, I say.

-Adam!!!

MMO, the Next Generation

World of Warcraft - Huge. Why? It's just Everquest, but better. Well, it is (was) the next generation of MMO. There was a gap between EQ and EQ2 and WoW jumped in there right when EQ aged and lost traction and EQ2 hadn't caught on (for a variety of reasons.)

There will be a time when WoW no longer holds up. Will WoW2 replace it, or will a new game by a new developer fill the gap? My guess is that Blizzard and every other developer who wants to release an MMO is working to identify that gap, and hit it with the best product they can. Blizzard's goal is to make that gap as short as possible, reducing competition's chance to wedge themselves in there. They've got a huge advantage...just like Sony and Everquest did.

I'm curious to see what supplants WoW. I'm glad I don't work for a company who's trying to shoot that gap (besides Blizzard, at least.)

Other sure fire hits: New Coke, Playstation 3, Everquest 2, and Godfather part III.

Most people are only going to pay $15 per month for one game. The best game. "Best", however, is defined by a lot of factors, many external to the game itself.



-Adam!!!

It's a Bird, It's a Plane!

Super-Fans

Most games have them. All successful games do. The Super-Fan. The 1%ers. The folks that are REALLY, REALLY into it.

Super-Fans build fan sites, some so elaborate they rival (or best) the publisher's site.
Super-Fans participate in on-line forum discussions, chats, and blogs. If the publisher doesn't host such things, the super-fans start their own.
Super-Fans buy EVERYTHING, and often more so their friends (or local deserving kids) can have your game too.
Super-Fans volunteer at conventions and run local events. (If you help them, sometimes even if you don't.)
If your Super-Fan owns a store, it's probably a top seller of your game. (With Clout, the stores where the managers/owners loved the game sold piles of chips. Unfortunately, there weren't near enough of those stores!)

At the Tangled Web, Clout tournaments were huge. The manager was a super-fan.

The key to getting the most out of Super-Fans is to understand why they are Super Fans (beyond you're game being awesome, I mean.) Like most people, they like being a part of something, and you're lucky enough that they chose you're game community to be a part of. What do they want in return?

Stuff? Sure, but not really.
Appreciation? Yes.
Recognition? Absolutely!
The inside scoop? Hells Yes.
Super-Fans want you to know who they are and they want to be a part of what you're doing.

Everything you can do to make being a super-fan an easier thing to be, will pay dividends. They'll have an awesome time, you'll sell a lot of games. In the game industry it means having communities tools in place. It means having customer service and/or organized play people that communicate two-way. Super-fans put forth extra effort. It's your job to recognize that. Shouting at them through boilerplate, press releases, and ads is NOT communicating. That sort of thing is for the customers, maybe the regular fans, NOT the Super-Fans.

Are Super-Fans worth it? Of course. Even if you're really into the games you're making, they're more into it. With TCG's, the average Super-Fan knows more about the games than the average employee at the company publishing the game (a fact many Super-Fans I've met don't like, but hey, it's their passion vs. our job!)

Also, Super-Fans are awesome to hang around with at conventions!


-Adam!!!

Boxes, Little Boxes

Before I spout about Super-Fans (the most important 1% of your customer base) I think I'll digress a bit.

Adam, how can you put all these people in broad categories? Well, of course, I can't. This isn't about individuals. Ideally, you should make decisions about your games that meet the needs of each individual customer, individually. If Allen from Wichita needs large type, and you could get it for him, you'd sell a game to Allen. Barney wants a cheap game and doesn't care about color or fancy graphics. Teresa not only wants high quality art, but she's an artist and wants a way to include her art in the game. Sadly, that's just not possible (yet.) You can't please everyone. Also, you can't choose who's going to like your game. That's their choice. What can you do? You can choose who YOU WANT to please, and you can make decisions based on that. If you don't choose, you're leaving it all up to luck. I don't recommend that. (Making a game for people who are just like you is a choice, and it can be a fine one, if you're cool enough. =-)

It's not just acquisition and retention. That's too simple. It's essential, but not adequate. That doesn't cover fans, and fans are the most important element to the success of a game. You can't just target fans, either, because they people don't start as fans. If you go up to a stranger on the street and say "join my fan club, you'll get special content nobody else can get." your success rate will be dismal. If you ask a customer who's just made their first purchase that same question, you'll find a slightly more receptive audience. If you ask somebody who buys everything you make, the response will overwhelmingly positive. Ask the right people the right questions. Give the right people the right benefits. That's all I'm saying.

-Adam!!!

Fanatics, gotta love 'em!

Fans

It's likely that fans are your most important customers. Unlike normal customers, who may like your products and may purchase again, fans DO like your products and WILL purchase again (assuming you have other products to purchase.) This is great news, but they still need care. Special care, at that.

Fans understand you and your products. They assume you understand them in return. This may or may not be the case, depending on whether or not you stumbled across something they like (luck) or sought them out (strategy.) If you lucked into a successful product that gathered an unexpected fan-base, you better listen extra close to what they say. The chance of that luck holding out is slim. If you've gathered your fan-base with successful strategy, chances are you're more in the ball-park, but you still better listen to what they say. Listen, and act where you can based on Fan input.

Fans, unlike normal customers, have an emotional investment (as well as financial) in your product and/or company. Your success reflects well upon their choices, so they want to see you succeed. They also want more of whatever it is you do, because they like it. It's all good.

If you don't succeed, some fans will turn on you (regular customers don't care enough to), which is part of the emotional aspect of fandom. Working for Wizards, we canceled a lot of products, and it was always rough. When Clout ended, I was totally surprised at the positive reaction from our fans. They were upset, of course, but unlike Wizards fans, Clout fans knew we didn't have choice about whether to keep kicking the Clout horse or letting it go. It's not mindless emotion, gamers are smart people. Treat people right and it you'll be surprised how it comes back to you (often in unexpected ways!)

As I've written before (Viral, Hardcore, or Vanish), if you've sold any games at all, you've always got fans. When you're struggling, all of your customers are fans. They're often the first to arrive (early adopters) and the last to leave. If you have enough fans, you're bound to succeed, even if your game is never a huge hit.

Because fans are so important, and such a powerful part of your customer-base, I think it's essential to communicate to normal customers how they can become fans. Reward them for fan-like behavior. Make being a fan significantly cooler than being just a customer. I don't know how, exactly, it's YOUR game. =-)

Next: Super-Fans

-Adam!!!

Giveitaway Giveitaway Giveitaway NOW!

Tourists

Does your game company give things away for free? I bet it does.

Who are the people who download your demo, and play it over and over again?
Who are the people who play your website's free web games?
Who are the people that scour the convention floor for freebees?
And they haven't bought ANYTHING!

They are Tourists, and one of the best ways to get their attention is with free stuff. What you do with that attention, is up to you.

Some Tourists will never buy anything, no matter what you do. That's okay. Treat them right, but don't let them get in the way of potentials. The people who are interested in what you're selling. With them, you have their attention, you have something they're interested in. Now what?

That, of course, depends. We're selling trading cards. I think the biggest hurdle with a trading card product is making that first sale. That's a major threshold moment in your relationship with that person. That first sale elevates the person from Tourist to Customer. Everything Changes.
All your customers start out as tourists. The attention you get depends on how interesting you are to look at. What you can do with their attention determines how many become customers.

Next: Customers

-Adam!!!

The Old Man's Got it Going On

Who in gaming doesn't respect Richard Garfield? I know I do. In the early days of Magic I think I could call him friend, though I suspect acquaintance is probably more accurate.

What strike me as interesting about Richard is, in addition to being a game design genius, is how he thinks about the way people play. (or is it the way he thinks about how people play?)

This interview really knocks it home how it thinks not only of the game, but of the gamers. In my experience, it's a rare combination.

"I also was scared of becoming a creator that wouldn't let anyone else contribute creatively. Instead, I tried [giving] the big picture for where I wanted to go and allow people to get there, creatively, on their own. I tried to offer advice and opinion rather than command, so that Magic grew with the best of many rather than the best of few."

This sort of thinking is actually both revolutionary and very rare. Many of the designers I know are vastly talented (more so than I) but often tend to be either independant maverics or a small cabal of independant maverics. The idea of allowing others to contribute to their games ranges from distasteful to horrifiying. Allowing the public to contribute, unthinkable.

Creating games that allow people to participate in front-line creative roles remains my dream. I'm not sure Richard was going there, but I think he'd appreciate the goal.

-Adam!!!

More than meets the eye? Hells Yes!

Just to be clear, I'm totally going to see Transformers. That doesn't change the fact that the Slate review is HILARIOUS!

You know the way a grade-schooler, attempting to recap the plot of a recently seen movie, will backtrack, repeat himself, get lost in trivia, then skip forward to the final fight scene, all the while sputtering adorably about how cool the monster was? The story line of Transformers proceeds something like that.

Um...to stay on topic...well...WotC's making a Transformers Game. Knowing nothing about it at all, except this, I suggest not buying it.

-Adam!!!