What's the secret?

[Cubies]

What's the secret to making a great game?

[Ratboy]

Experience ;)

[mahlzeit]

There is no secret. Maybe.

[Anthony Flack]

Making a bad game, figuring out what's bad about it, fixing it, and repeating the process more times than anyone else can be bothered.

Then taking everything you've learned, and starting the process again with a slightly less bad game. Repeat until you retire.

At the end of all that, some of your games may turn out quite good.

[papillon]

Magic pixie dust. I'll sell you some for $19.95.

[LilGames]

A very anal attention to detail is one PART of the secret...

[dmikesell]

Exactly 11 lines of code in every single method.

Honest.

[soniCron]

Well, if I told you, it wouldn't be a secret...

[michalczyk]

Detailed knowledge of the subject matter. Creative mind. Dedication. Hard work. (in that order)

[JPickford]

Meaningful choice.

[TheMysteriousStranger]

xenophobia, agoraphobia and pogophobia, in that order.

[PoV]

Understanding why a game or concept is bad. Not every idea can be shaped in to something meaningful to a player. Polishing a bad game is a polished bad game.

And giving the player something new, or something they havn't done in a while. So according to that theory, Duke Nukem Forever is gonna be great, 'cause it's been something like 10 years since we played Duke3D.

[stanchat]

What's the secret to making a great game?
Depends on what your definition of great is. Some games may be technically or critically perceived as great but in terms of actual sales greatness not much there. In the last 10yrs I think only a handful of games could be categorized as great. In my opinion for a Casual Game to be considered great one of the indicators has got to be shelf-life of minimum 3yrs. Meaning it still has strong potential to crack top 10 on most sites even after 3 or more years.


This is my category breakdown of :

GREAT GAMES <1%
VERY GOOD GAMES ~10%
GOOD GAMES ~15%
AVERAGE GAMES ~50%
BELOW AVERAGE GAMES ~20%
BAD GAMES ~5%

To answer your question I think it is strictly dumb luck once your game falls in the GOOD GAMES and above category I just listed. In December 2005 I liquidated (~$60k) some of my ownership in two cell phone stores (Downtown Chicago) that I am part owner, with the hopes of building a team to make our dream game. But to be honest after seeing how Reflexives (Mosiac: Mystery Tomb) game performed, It made me re-think the entire volatility of the Casual Game Market. In my opinion this was a great game but in terms of shelf-life I do not think it did so well ( correct me if i'm wrong ). I have since invested my money in a startup consulting company that creates niche Java tools for a imaging software package called Filenet.

As a true ROI endevour, I would feel safer taking my money and going to Vegas and blowing it on strippers, booze and gambling. At least I would have fun blowing my money.

[Gassey]

Being able to judge your own work objectively.

[Cyruz]

The secret is butter. Lots and lots of butter.

Seriously though. The secret is a good team. A brilliant idea can be ruined by one single team member not putting out the right material. Take Lunar for example; it was an excellent game but every time I heard that damn flying cat Nall talk I wanted to strangle someone. The voice actors failed the rest of the team.

That's why there is so many great indie games.

small teams = less people to screw everything up

When teams are small you can very easily pay close attention to the progress of every member. But when you have a massive corporate team upwards of a thousand people you just sort of stumble around in the dark doing what you are told and praying you don't misinterpret your directions.

[dxgame]

"What's the secret to making a great game?"

Behind every so called "great game" is great marketing, so I'd rather learn the secret to great marketing. ;)

[Anthony Flack]

Meaningful choice.

Oho! A specific game design answer. Probably worth talking about in more detail.

Behind every so called "great game" is great marketing, so I'd rather learn the secret to great marketing. ;)

You'd better find some people to make great games for you to market, then.

[Roman Budzowski]

I second the team (and team leader). Leader with clear vision and passion and the team able to make it come true.

It's not only Emmanuel's merit that Mystic Inn, Fairies or Atlantis are so great.

cheers
Roman

[Anthony Flack]

It was also the talent of John Raptis and the other involuntary team members?

[Fost]

love

.

[Roman Budzowski]

It was also the talent of John Raptis and the other involuntary team members?

Is that addressed to me? Check out the credits in those games to find out the answer :)

all the best
Roman

[Ste Pickford]

Making a bad game, figuring out what's bad about it, fixing it, and repeating the process more times than anyone else can be bothered.

Then taking everything you've learned, and starting the process again with a slightly less bad game. Repeat until you retire.

At the end of all that, some of your games may turn out quite good.

Pretty much perfect advice.

The, "figuring out what's bad about it," bit is often quite tricky.

[Rebrehc's Industries]

For that you may require the help of a truly honest friend, who has the class to warn you about the bad stuff that you just can't seem to see for yourself, and the tact not to completely crush your ego when telling you about it.

[Gassey]

The, "figuring out what's bad about it," bit is often quite tricky.

Exactly my point! :) When you're really involved, or really into your idea, it's so hard to step back and take a fresh look at it. And if you're working solo, it makes this even tougher.

[Ste Pickford]

I think we're talking about different things.

The problem with getting to close to your work (especially when working alone), and the need for objective and honest friends is all to do with identifying whether or not your game is bad.

Even with the difficulties mentioned, this is the easy bit.

Its figuring out why its bad, or which bit is bad, or what needs to be changed to make it better - that's the hard bit.

[DanMarshall]

The secret is Smack, and lots of it. And everyone knows that.

[JPickford]

Monkeys are always a good idea.

[soniCron]

If you put an infinite number of monkeys in front of an infinite number of keyboards for an infinite amount of time, eventually one of them would develop a Bejeweled clone. There seem to be a lot of monkeys around...

[LilGames]

Seriously though, remember to watch new players trying your game and try not to guide them.

After X hours/days/weeks of playing your game over and over, you will be TOO aware of every nuance, and thus too acclimated to the game's weaknesses. (For example: Bad controls won't feel so bad since you'll be so used to them, but they will be instantly noticeable by players).

[Artinum]

For that you may require the help of a truly honest friend, who has the class to warn you about the bad stuff that you just can't seem to see for yourself, and the tact not to completely crush your ego when telling you about it.

In the absence of such a friend, there are games reviewers.

[dxgame]

You'd better find some people to make great games for you to market, then.

It's been proven time and time again, in almost every media; movies, music, and video games. A sub par product with a good marketing campaign can generate more money than a high quality product with no marketing muscle behind it. Beta vs VHS for example. lol..

"What's the secret to making a great game?"

Perhaps the question should be "What's the secret to making a popular game?" Because "great" and "profitable" don't always go hand in hand. ;)

[Christian]

Do it from your heart.

Bad products dont last long, even if they are succesfull in a short period of time. The best products allways become classics, aim for making a classic.

[oNyx]

If you put an infinite number of monkeys in front of an infinite number of keyboards for an infinite amount of time, eventually one of them would develop a Bejeweled clone. There seem to be a lot of monkeys around...
An infinite amount of time isnt necessary anymore, if there is already an infinite number of random data generators.

No matter how short the timespan is. They will generate *ALL* possible byte combinations... and that infinite times.

---

The big secret is... that there is none, but dont tell anyone.

[LilGames]

Blair Witch Project ?

The purple cow ?

... :-D

[vjvj]

Dudes, you're all wrong. The true secret is the vast number of free alternative development tools out there!

With free development environments/compilers, Open Office, and Gimp, there's nothing stopping you from making an MMORPG on PS3 and Xbox 360! And Wii and DS!

GO!
FOR IT!

[JPickford]

Has anyone done a Massively Monkey Player RPG?

[vjvj]

Not yet, but I think there's a market for that on Xbox 360! And Wii and DS! :)

[JPickford]

Good. Cos my mate can get dev kits cheap.

[Anthony Flack]

It's been proven time and time again, in almost every media; movies, music, and video games. A sub par product with a good marketing campaign can generate more money than a high quality product with no marketing muscle behind it. Beta vs VHS for example. lol..

"What's the secret to making a great game?"

Perhaps the question should be "What's the secret to making a popular game?" Because "great" and "profitable" don't always go hand in hand. ;)

Why would you assume that someone who says they want to make a great game actually only wants to make a popular game? It doen't have to be purely a cash-grabbing exercise. I'd like to think that there are at least a few people left that care about the quality of their work, and not just fattening their wallets.

If I was faced with a choice of making the game better in my opinion, or doing something I didn't agree with that I knew would make the game more popular, I'd go with "better" every time (or I'd look for a third option). I know not everyone agrees, but if you don't, you probably don't care about games at all.

Now, as for your honest friend testers; they are great for finding out particular things like confusing instructions, or whether level 5 is too hard, and other broad structural things like that. But they can't tell you how to tweak your game to make it more fun unless they're experienced designers too. They are most useful for showing you how a typical player will respond on seeing your game for the first time - the one thing you can never, ever do is see your own game for the first time.

[impossible]

I honestly have no idea. But I can easily tell you all the secrets to making a bad game.

[GBGames]

I honestly have no idea. But I can easily tell you all the secrets to making a bad game.

VDs? Wakka wakka wakka!

[impossible]

VDs? Wakka wakka wakka!
No, VDs are the secret to getting a lot of search hits in Google.

[dxgame]

"Why would you assume that someone who says they want to make a great game actually only wants to make a popular game?"

Unfortunately the perceived success of video games are often based on their financial performance in the consumer market.

"It doen't have to be purely a cash-grabbing exercise."

I totally agree that money doesn't have to be the driving force for the inspiration of game development, especially in the indie dev scene. And there's nothing wrong with releasing freeware, or nosalesafteritsreleased ware, etc.

I personally would just rather develop a great game that also makes great money. More than likely it will never happen, but that's my goal.

[Anthony Flack]

Everyone would like to make money; or at least, nobody likes being poor.

But this is one of the only times in recent memory that someone around here has actually asked about making better games, rather than about increasing their profit. It's nice...

I also think that very few of us have actually managed to make a really good game, so it's largely untested as to how well you would do. Most successful indies get by with smart management of very average games. Most failed indies try to get by with very subaverage games that make the average games look good. Anyone who wants to make it in this business needs to have the skills necessary to create an average game, and with a few years' experience, most of us get to that stage. But to go beyond that and make a really good game is a very tough barrier to break through. I think so, anyway. It's kind of moving from developing your craft, to developing your art...

Good marketing can help keep a mediocre business operating, but I also do believe that if you did make a genuinely great game, it shouldn't be too hard to make it worth your while, financially. After all, at the level most of us operate on, we don't depend on getting 100 million dollars worth of sales. I think that a genuinely good game - the kind of game that you could imagine being your favourite game - would probably generate enough positive word-of-mouth to to be a "indie-level" success.

[Mike D Smith]

"What's the secret to making a great game?"

Behind every so called "great game" is great marketing, so I'd rather learn the secret to great marketing. ;)

For help with both doing great marketing and making a great game, read VGSmart's book The Indie's Guide to Selling Games (http://www.indiegameguide.com/). The first part focuses on marketing, the last part focuses on game design to create player motivation.

Great book, well worth the money I paid for it.

[Klaim]

When i hear about "great game" i translate to "cultural reference" , in the positive way of it.
If the game has a big impact on culture of the players and non-players, on media, then it is a cultural reference.

Now, what i think make a great game is about putting your own deep soul in it. But it's difficult to "feel" it for most people, maybe because society scheme need to "format" you... if you can't have a distant an schizofrenic view of your perceived world, thinking like an alien or something, it should be difficult to make something that will touch people deep mind.
Maybe the key is juste about exporting your deep feelings the most effectively in the mind of the player. That is my definition of art.

But if you want to make money, it's optionnal : just keep a scientific process to know what works and what don't. Look at Diablo for example. Diablo 2 is only about throwing a continue flow of data to the player for processing. Sometime after a big process to achieve there is a reward that equilibrate with the energy spent in the process. The flow don't stop, in a way that makke the player keep processing until something more interresting ( like a beautiful girl ) interrupt it's focused mind.
If you think like that, you can statisticly make a game that sells.

...

Ok, ok, that's true that monkeys are better...but...maybe ninjas can defeat them, don't you think?

[Uhfgood]

The secret to a great game is...Finish one.

What's so great about that?
First you prove to yourself you can do it.
Secondly if you didn't enjoy doing it, you would find that out.
Thirdly you prove to others you can do it.
Fourthly you may then wish to build another "great game".
Fifthly you may be able to get help the next time around if you wish it.
Sixthly you may be able to make some cash from it, if you want.
Seventhly you will be capable of judging what will make the next "great".

Any others i've forgotten?

[Brandon-Apok]

Ok, ok, that's true that monkeys are better...but...maybe ninjas can defeat them, don't you think?

What if you had Super Ninja Monkeys?

[Klaim]

Well, maybe we should be in our time and have Cyber Ninja Monkeys. With wifi and USB.

[Brandon-Apok]

.... And Wii controllers to beat people .... :-P

[DrWilloughby]

Lack of love.

Cold, hard logic.

[Davaris]

All the devs I know of that are successful, make very simple games (controller wise).