While everyone here making valid points here and there, I think the main mistake here starts when you think your game is good or the flaws are not that important.
I checked the game around youtube again and it got literally millions of views from some famous “lets play” guys. You don’t really need to know everything about marketing to get your game sold these days. But just 150 copies? I don’t think this is a simple “well, marketing problem shrug” case.
You could be a great painter. You could paint a great vase with roses with in. It would really look awesome. So good that people wouldn’t be able to figure out if it’s a photograph or a paint. But in the end it’s just a vase with flowers.
Back in old days we hardly had so many games. And those games were not creative, pretty simple things. People didn’t care because they knew there were limits back then. But now the story is different. There are Game Engines that you can get, some even for free. You, or me, got no excuse anymore about making a simple game. And you got no talent on specific something, vfx, sfx, animating? Well go ahead, hire someone.
It’s not about being good, or good enough, because -you- have the tools now. It’s about being different, and being different enough.
Also have a camera that doesn’t spin around like a madman.
Even though the gaming markets are saturated, the younger generation (12-25) consumes games at an insane rate. They buy them like crazy. They don’t even finish the games, they just get more, more, more! When I was a kid, I bought a game and played it for 3-6 months because thats all I could afford. And when I was choosing, I would only get something that Nintendo Power or Electronic Gaming Monthly said was good!
Just read both blogs and your analogy of DJ’s to the number of good games out there hit home.
I wrote a blog similar myself, I think people are looking at it wrong and giving up hope to easily. I don’t think it was ever easy to launch a successful game and I don’t think people should give up on the dream. If they keep plowing away they will eventually get lucky or meet interesting people that can help them along with their career or even develop a freelance gig for themself.
True enough but the fail to sell is in the question it’s self.
You ask the question “Is this game good enough?”
This is a closed ended question requiring a yes or no answer.
The question should have been “Would you buy this game?”
If you want to sell a game people will play being different has a lower percentage of success and if it’s your first to be released game then you can not afford the risk of innovation. Make the game that sells first and with the money you make you can then make the game you want as being innovative.
There is even a new word use in the world of Indy development called “Going Angry Birds” which is really the first nextgen game to win the innovation lottery.
Your question surely sounds better. But imagine it like this. You make an exact copy of Angry Birds gameplay and there is nothing new. Maybe better graphics, more optimized or w/e. Would anyone buy it even if it was for 2 dollars? Why should they? The same question could be asked about MMORPGs that copied WoW and failed or became free to play that almost noone talks about.
I strongly disagree with this. It’s not the percentage of success being low, rather the risk of achieving success is high. Noone asking anyone to invent gaming from very beginning. But small twists here and there are always welcome and can be more rewarding incase you do it right. People will only talk about you if you are doing something different, regardless of you success or not.
Doing whatever everyone already does won’t get you far incase you fail. But if you try something unique and fail you might be known better and you can actually learn from your mistakes for the next time. And also people will be able to critise on what you tried different which will let you see where you have done wrong or right.
To be honest, I don’t expect something amazing from a 3month work of an indie game. Hell I would even support it if it was 2 dollars or so. But the guy who wrote that article about the game he worked on said it took 3.5-4 years to finish. You would expect him to do something different. Or well, expect him to realise that the camera is in unacceptable condition instead of going “well, we did a good game.”.
actually its pretty much still the same. In the 80s before the internet, games sold by word of mouth. There were very few gaming magazines. If your friend had played something awesome he would encourage you to buy it. It’s the same now only its done via social media. A good gameplay video segment can work wonders for your product provided people believe its real gameplay and they can see themselves playing it. Currently there is massive distrust of magazines and websites with people believing they have been bought to give good reviews so they trust friends on people on YouTube who have similar tastes.
