6 Ways to Ensure Your Game Blows (Away the Competition)

by SithLordJim

© Jim McIntyre

“`By making sure your game follows these Six Basic Development Steps, you will be sure to create an amazing title that will be enjoyed by the mindless masses for years to come. The more awesome you want your title to be the more of these steps you will want to follow.

6. Feign being exclusive.

“`Simply mentioning the fact the game could have some ‘exclusivity’ will ensure a fast, rabid response from fans on both sides of the fence. It will create huge platform wars, get the tile right up there on the Google & Yahoo Search engines and ensure much heated debate on forums across the globe.

Of course it’s not “excluisve” mind you, it’s just that you’ve had “thoughts” about it being exclusive, or you “forgot” to mention other platforms when being interviewed about your up-coming title. This gives you leverage to get fans really excited about your title. In doing so, you’re creating months or years of fanboy loyalty on various forums and gaming websites.

Best example: Assassin’s Creed

Honorable mentions: Unreal Tournament 3 & Haze

“5. Make Your Story-line Convoluted.

“`Gamers do not really want to understand what is going on. They merely want action, explosions, and bloodshed. Storyline needs to more than just take a backseat to these things, it needs to be forgotten about completely and then pointed at every now and again when you drive past it. For example, if you have an explosion in your game, players will not want to know the source of the explosion, or even the motivations behind the person who caused the explosion.

It is important to hint that there is some storyline somewhere. In our example you could have your main character say something along the lines of “I wonder who went and set off that there explosion?” Of course never reveal who actually did as this will give the player too much to think about, and will likely detract from their experience.

Best example: Kane and Lynch: Dead Men

Honorable mentions: Gears of War & the Halo series

4. Do what everyone else is doing.

“`Whatever is being done lots is a good indication of what gamers really want. So if you do the same thing as everyone else you will give gamers what they want. It will also help to create a sense of familiarity for the gamer.

To truly rake in the sales simply create a sandbox environment where the gamer plays as a muscle bound, gun toting, cover using, brute with a dark past, who gets stronger throughout the game as he levels-up.

Best example: Turok

Honorable mentions: Army of Two & Spiderman 3

3. Repeat, reiterate, and then do the same thing again.

“`Repetition is safe. If someone enjoys doing something the first time they are sure to enjoy doing it the next hundred times. Variety will simply confuse the gamer, instead just have them repeat the same task over and over throughout the course of the game. That way they will just keep having fun, rather than getting frustrated over doing a task that is new to them.

Best example: Assassins Creed

Honorable mentions: Devil May Cry 4 & World of Warcraft

2. Release “Extra” content.

“`This will make sure that the cash is still flowing months after the initial release of your title. Either get content that should have been included in with the actual game or simply create a small amount of content that is worse than what was in the actual game and slap a price tag on it. Gamers like to feel that their game is still being tended to by the developers, and so are happy to spend money to obtain this feeling.

Best example: Oblivion

Honorable mentions: Gears of War & Halo 3

1. Base it on a movie.

“`By doing this there is no way that your game can not be absolutely awesome! This also means less work for you as a developer, as you will already have the characters and plot in place. All you will need to do is sprinkle in a few mini-games, cut-scenes, and some collectables and you are good to go.

Best example: Spiderman 3

Honorable mentions: Pirates of the Caribbean 3 & The Simpson’s Game

© Jim McIntyre

Filed under: Console gaming, Xbox 360 Tagged: | building better games, game developement, game humor, game humour, make yourgame better, making high profile games, sell more games