Making something completely different

[Mark Fassett]

I'm about to release (in the next few weeks) my game Derelict (http://www.laughing-dragon.com/derelict.aspx) , and I've started thinking about what my next game will be. Derelict is basically an action game, not much strategy to it, but I really have a desire to make strategy games, or at least, make games that require lots more thinking than Derelict does :)

This question presupposes that Derelict will be successful, but has anyone ever finished their first game, had it be successful, and then moved in another direction? How did you manage that transition? Did you keep your customers, or did you have to find new ones?

[patrox]

What is a successful game for you ?

sells zillions, make people happy, self satisfied with the game ?
Ok all 3 ;) ?

pat.

[Mark Fassett]

Didn't think I'd have to define successful. :)

For me, a minimal level of success would be 40-50 copies a month. That would be the point at which I'd start to have enough customers that I'd be concerned about producing a product that wouldn't sell to them.

[svero]

I think it's easier when you're starting out to stick to a genre that works for you. But first you have to find a genre that is working and selling. If derilect did poorly it might be a mistake to make more games of similar kind even if the customer base you have is for derilect.

With Twilight everything I made was different and very few titles followed naturally from one game to the next. I think that made it more difficult for us to grow the company, but now we have a more diverse audience which is maybe not such a bad thing.

[Redclaw]

Did you keep your customers, or did you have to find new ones? Both. Repeat business is very important to cultivate, because once the person has bought their first game, they are much more receptive to buying futher ones. But at the same time, old customers do drift off for a variety of reasons outside your control, so a steady supply of new ones is also needed to keep going.

That's not to say you couldn't go off at a completely different tangent for each game you do, but since that would almost be like starting from scratch each time, I think it would be harder to do successfully.


If derilect did poorly it might be a mistake to make more games of similar kind even if the customer base you have is for derilect. I think that would depend on why derelict did poorly. For example if it was a great game but sold poorly because people just couldn't handle the controls, then doing a similar game where you took that into account could potentially be quite successful.

[Mark Fassett]

I think it's easier when you're starting out to stick to a genre that works for you. But first you have to find a genre that is working and selling. If derilect did poorly it might be a mistake to make more games of similar kind even if the customer base you have is for derilect.


Well - if Derelict does poorly, then I won't worry about it :)