What do you think about the new found popularity in simple casual games out there? These games obviously offer a huge potentional as far as marketing goes. My only problem is the chance of those types of games being massively produced just because it's popular rather than following the formula that made them a big success. Which in turn may do more harm than good to the gaming industry. At any rate, what do you think about these type of games? I also would like to know how many people on here wish they had a game that revolved around a large social network.
Farmville, because any game can be considered casuaul to an extent. At least depending on the person playing the game. Where as most casuaul and social games are setup to have this replay value that's based on short spurts of gameplay that is repeated over a period of time.
I haven't tried Farmville yet, but this is a case when I think I can predict that I wouldn't like it just from what I've seen.
Some casociual games are good, and some maybe not so good. Having the social tie-in certainly sounds great. Take Bejeweled Blitz, for example. Popcap took a simple concept and made it easy to compete with friends and play for prizes. Awesome! It's like a slightly more static version of Xbox Live's sense of community, I think.
But on the other end of the spectrum is stuff like Farmville. Whether it's in a class of games or is just a lonely member of its genre party, it seems like the game is just a collection gallery that prods users into spending money on unlockables. Whether the cause is the casualty of it or just the game's design, I don't know.
Social aspect: Cool. "Farmville-y" aspect: Mah.
In answer to your idea that it could cause harm to the industry because of me-tooers, I think that's the same with any fad. Look how many FPSs and Mini game collections have been released! We might be better off without a lot of them, but we carry on.
And also, would you even consider that the same industry? Are Facebook and gmail directly competing?
I think it's safe to say that one day it could offer stiff compeition simply because how can you compete with someone who is able to make money through different venues while also letting people play their games for free. Which to me is a win/win situation. More people are able to play because it's free and in turn they make more money.
But who's to say that feature has to be exclusive to games like Farmville?
Indeed, a lot of console games are already moving to digital distribution and nickel-and-diming with DLC.
I don't exactly like that right now, but the industry will adjust and figure out how to do it right. People will play what they like and not play what they don't like.
haha Well no one is saying the games have to be like Farmville. I was generally speaking about the idea of a game revolving around a never ending mechanic that's connected through a social network. There are some things the home console offers that I don't think can be duplicated through that type of format simple because it's not the same audience of gamers. However in a world where everyone is on the go and with short attention spans, it does open up a new door into a group of people I don't think consoles technically attract. It's also the only genre of games where the gender ratio is almost even. I'm mostly talking about how everything is starting to be implimented into one device that essentially does just about everything and how that not only effects how we go about making games but the reasons behind playing them.
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