tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10293499.post112540450646871939..comments2024-02-13T17:30:02.808-08:00Comments on Design Synthesis - structure.function.relation: Genre, Genre, Who's Got The Genre?Deaconhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03676351336106101412noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10293499.post-1126046144371118412005-09-06T15:35:00.000-07:002005-09-06T15:35:00.000-07:00PS: I see my trackback never registered here. You ...PS: I see my trackback never registered here. You can see the Ghost Master post mortem that your post inspired at http://onlyagame.typepad.com/only_a_game/2005/09/post_mortem_gho.html<BR/>although I have to say, I got *seriously* off the original point. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10293499.post-1126045795261930662005-09-06T15:29:00.000-07:002005-09-06T15:29:00.000-07:00Hi Rama. I scribbled a quick comment in this blog ...Hi Rama. I scribbled a quick comment in this blog before going off and writing a huge post at my own blog explaining (I hope!) all the issues that I thought Johnny Pi wanted answering in connection with Ghost Master and genre (amongst other things). Then I trackbacked (trackedback?) to this post. <BR/><BR/>Never meant it to look like I was hiding from discussion or anything, nor that I was on the defensive (although I was tired when I scribbled the comment!). I assume, from your comments at least, that you thought I was offended by something Johnny wrote - I assure you I wasn't. I will sometimes shrink from discussion, however, because there are only so many hours in the day and I can't tackle everything. :)<BR/><BR/>Genre is certainly more than a tool for marketing. I'm pretty damn sure I never said that genre is only a tool for marketing, though. The discussion has become fragmented by being split across three different blogs, however, so my apologies if my argument is lost in the shuffle somewhere.<BR/><BR/>It hadn't occured to me that people conflate 'sim' with 'strategy game', but you're right it does seem to happen quite often. It doesn't fit with how I think about those two genres, but that's the trouble with genre terms, after all - we all use them differently. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10293499.post-1125758922233333002005-09-03T07:48:00.000-07:002005-09-03T07:48:00.000-07:00Inviting discussion and shrinking from a counterpo...Inviting discussion and shrinking from a counterpoint to your idea just doesn't really work. I mean, if you want discussion you need to put out some ideas and more often then not, someone will see some aspect of those ideas on which they disagree. By having your ideas on a blog, with comments, you're more than likely going to get harsh responses from time to time. If you take it as a personal affront and it wounds you, I'd suggest you stick to a regular paper journal, or disable comments or somesuch. I think it can be interesting to look back on a failed project, and most unsuccessful games are indeed failed projects because they impact the lives of the development teams in negative ways. Very few people can afford to be altruistic in their game making and those that can rarely do such things because game development is such a long and sometimes painful process. I think genre is more than a tool for marketing. Genre is a context with which you distinguish yourself from others. Even a haunting sim still includes the base of sim which people in the gaming world recognize as a word to associate with strategy games.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10293499.post-1125675271441573802005-09-02T08:34:00.000-07:002005-09-02T08:34:00.000-07:00Did diverging from genre make it a "bad" game? Not...Did diverging from genre make it a "bad" game? Not at all. It got 90% review in PC Gamer (US), the reviews on Amazon are hugely positive and, perhaps least importantly, I still think it's a great game.<BR/><BR/>But it didn't sell well, in large part because it didn't get marketed *at all*. And as a direct result, Sick Puppies, a development studio with incredible potential, no longer exists.<BR/><BR/>Do I think we should have conformed to genre? Well what freaks me out is that we termed it a 'haunting sim' throughout production, yet many strategy gamers insisted on drawing comparisons with strategy games instead of with sim games. Why this happened is still not entirely clear to me.<BR/><BR/>What would have changed the fortunes of this project? Having a better publisher. Everything else is just fallout.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com