Lucky Day
Daywatch
I was going to post this as a response to Magerette's thread on the potential impact of Bioshock but I pulled it. It's an idea that I've been developing for a few months now:
One thing I've noticed in a trend of successful games is digging up the past.
Games like Pirates, Bioshock, Civ IV are based on previous designs that were highly successful and there's a concerted effort in them to duplicate what worked in those games and up date them.
Older games like Might and Magic VI, Wizardry 8, Diablo, Heroes of Might and Magic, Civilization 2 and Fallout were very successful in bringing the spirit of their predecessors to the now. They were so successful their predecessors are almost forgotten as sales for those new games dwarfed the originals.
Even moderate success can be found with games like Freelancer and Space Rangers.
Rather than churning out the next FPS, RTS, Diablo clone, Fighting Game, or JRPG, I think in this age of skyrocketing costs developers should look to the past successes and pitch them to publishers.
These games offer new experiences to new players away from the repetition of games that only offer the same thing in a different flavour. Such clones have to offer something extra special to do well and spewing out sequels tends to just dilute the brand. Lara Croft is a great example of this.
One thing I've noticed in a trend of successful games is digging up the past.
Games like Pirates, Bioshock, Civ IV are based on previous designs that were highly successful and there's a concerted effort in them to duplicate what worked in those games and up date them.
Older games like Might and Magic VI, Wizardry 8, Diablo, Heroes of Might and Magic, Civilization 2 and Fallout were very successful in bringing the spirit of their predecessors to the now. They were so successful their predecessors are almost forgotten as sales for those new games dwarfed the originals.
Even moderate success can be found with games like Freelancer and Space Rangers.
Rather than churning out the next FPS, RTS, Diablo clone, Fighting Game, or JRPG, I think in this age of skyrocketing costs developers should look to the past successes and pitch them to publishers.
These games offer new experiences to new players away from the repetition of games that only offer the same thing in a different flavour. Such clones have to offer something extra special to do well and spewing out sequels tends to just dilute the brand. Lara Croft is a great example of this.