Comments on: Doing More With Less: Short Videogame Design

By: Zylatov Sisters is Done (free, no install necessary, and no microtransactions) | HobbyGameDev

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 06:48:22 +0000

[...] better this way for student portfolios, and partly because I wanted to follow my own theory that with varied content, everything should be unlocked. This resulted in a very flat game design, like a row of pinball tables to pick from, rather than a [...]

By: Chris DeLeon

Chris DeLeon — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:59:51 +0000

There will always be a market for known quantities; consumers respond well to things like westerns, romance novels, and Halo/Madden sequels because they know exactly what they’re buying, there’s little to no risk of mismatch between expectation and reality. To that extent, gameplay that has already proven to be a money maker isn’t going away. We’ve already seen an over saturation of World War II first-person shooters, Bejeweled clones, and Zynga, and unless all people suddenly change overnight (widespread cultural epiphany?), I expect that pattern to continue. To some extent, experimental and explorative work is seen as an exercise in figuring out what people like, after which companies with the money to win in open warfare competing by sheer production values attempt to win by being the best at a known thing.

GameStop bought Kongregate – so far as I can tell – not to invest money into making Kongregate more like GameStop’s outdated model, but because it knows that the market of tomorrow looks more like Kongregate than GameStop. In terms of potential, GameStop’s business model is like the pay phone (or, let’s be nice, the land line), and Kongregate’s is like the mobile phone; if it were the other way around, GameStop would not have bought them.

As production costs are driven down, though, and new generations of developers are taking their high levels of procedural literacy and comfort with technical design challenges for granted as part of their everyday world, we’re increasingly less reliant on funding to discover and develop innovations. In other words, I don’t think that we’ll see more funding for innovation – I just don’t think it’s going to matter.

By: Josh D

Josh D — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 17:48:24 +0000

I agree with you for the most part, Chris. It seems like the cinematic-style video games are left to bigger developers, while the more experience-driven games are championed by independent studios or individuals. At least, that’s how it was. Now that Gamestop owns Kongregate, do you think we’ll see more funding for innovative gameplay or gameplay that has already proven to be a money maker?

By: Size Doesn’t Matter Day « Retro Dreamer Blog

Size Doesn’t Matter Day « Retro Dreamer Blog — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:40:36 +0000

[...] Chris DeLeon of HobbyGameDev [...]

By: Parade of Rain » Blog Archive » Size Doesn’t Matter Day

Parade of Rain » Blog Archive » Size Doesn’t Matter Day — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 02:24:30 +0000

[...] Chris DeLeon [...]

By: Game Length vs. Price « The Pocket Cyclone

Game Length vs. Price « The Pocket Cyclone — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:01:39 +0000

[...] Chris DeLeon of HobbyGameDev [...]

By: arowx

arowx — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:35:47 +0000

In a nutshell I think it’s the experience that counts and not the duration…

http://blog.arowx.com////blog1.php/2010/08/17/does-length-matter

By: Size Doesn’t Matter Day | TunaHQ

Size Doesn’t Matter Day | TunaHQ — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:10:01 +0000

[...] Chris DeLeon [...]

By: 2D Boy: I love you, 2D Boy! » Blog Archive » Too Short

2D Boy: I love you, 2D Boy! » Blog Archive » Too Short — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:24:01 +0000

[...] Chris DeLeon [...]

By: Games from Within | Forget Length. Give Me Awesome

Games from Within | Forget Length. Give Me Awesome — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 16:04:59 +0000

[...] Chris DeLeon of HobbyGameDev [...]