Do casual game developers play casual games?

[moco]

It certainly seems like the lion's share of people in this forum know their games and I guess, like me, download demos of new games almost obsessively, to be aware of what's going on. But how many people here actually play casual games recreationally?

I've been indie for about a year (I worked on a few core market PC games and then a string of casual games before I got restless, decided to take a risk and go Indie, which happily I still haven't regretted) and I've never bought a game from any of the casual game portals, or even considered taking out a gamepass or similar. When I'm not playing wonderful Advance Wars 2 or Zelda on my DS I'm playing AOE3, CS Source, and occasionally I'll boot up Doom 3 if I'm really, really, really bored and the prospect of staring at a loading screen all night doesn't deter me.

There's a couple I'd perhaps consider buying - I found Reflexive's Mosaic more enjoyable than many full-priced games I've shelled out for in the past - but the closest I've come to actually buying a casual game is probably the original Rebound.

And no, I'm not just saying that because the new guy's trying to make friends :p

[LilGames]

I try to check out as many casual titles as possible, but only purchase a few... Meanwhile my recreational gaming habits range from those casual games, to AAA PC titles, PS2 and Gamecube action titles, and a couple DS games.

I'm a "moderate gamer" though, which means I don't invest all that much time and money into games anymore, but as mentioned, my tastes are rather broad.

[zoombapup]

I dont make casual games, but I really enjoy playing a few of them. Mostly the ones with abstract gameplay, like say diner dash, or the other queue-management games. Rather than say the bubble/match3 crowd.

I tend to play games like Albatross18 and the occasional call of duty..

[Pyabo]

I have a GamePass subscription from RealArcade and I've purchased a few "full price" indie games as well. At the very least, the GamePass is a great way to get ahold of games you'd like to study... why was Diner Dash so popular? Why did game X do so well? It's a cheap way to get a good look at the competition.

[Tertsi]

I'm currently developing a casual game and playing casual games almost every day. Not to test them but to play them. I used to be a hardcore gamer but now I play hardcore games less.

[joe]

I like AAA-games as well as casual games. The last game I bought was Atlantis:Sky Patrol. I always think that you should only develop those games that you will buy and enjoy for yourself. If you develop something you don't like yourself how can you suppose that someone other will like (and buy) it?

[Dan MacDonald]

I have a GamePass subscription from RealArcade and I've purchased a few "full price" indie games as well. At the very least, the GamePass is a great way to get ahold of games you'd like to study... why was Diner Dash so popular? Why did game X do so well? It's a cheap way to get a good look at the competition.

Hehe, why use gamempass, someone with your level of techincal affinity should be able to get all the full versions of RA games, it's not like the developer is getting a heck of a lot more if you buy it with game pass. ;)

That said, the only casual games I play are the ones made by acquaintences who let me try them for free :)

[moco]

As I thought, it seems that most people here play pretty much as their time permits. But herein lies my dilemma. As I get more and more involved in my own project I have less and less time to play new games. I find it pretty hard nowadays to strike a balance between keeping an eye on newly-released games as well as progress sufficiently with my own game. Is this a common problem? How do other people keep on top of this?

The best solution I've come up with is a play-lots-play-nothing cycle, prioritising the games that are relevant to my current dev, but that's not really working out. For me, being able to recall elements of games I've seen around or played is crucial, but at the same time, no-nonsense month-long spells of hard grind are the only way I can get anything useful done.

[zoombapup]

Ignore completely what anyone else is making, its out of your control and wont do you one iota of good if you see it or not.

If you think you are lacking in a certain feature, then sure, do a bit of research on how other games are tackling said feature. But I think actually using other people's games in order to sniff out the competition is a bad move.

[soniCron]

That seems like rather obtuse advice. :confused: What's wrong with knowing the current state of games? Why throw away the entire history of a medium?

[Sybixsus]

Hehe, why use gamempass, someone with your level of techincal affinity should be able to get all the full versions of RA games, it's not like the developer is getting a heck of a lot more if you buy it with game pass. ;)

:eek:



Apparently :eek: is not sufficient to count as a reply so I have to write rubbish down here.

[moco]

Ignore completely what anyone else is making, its out of your control and wont do you one iota of good if you see it or not.


I can understand where this comes from. Personally, I've come from a background of core market PC and PS2 games, where I heard "always keep your eye on the competition" so many times and from different people that I picked up the habit of doing it. But since the dev cycle of a core market game is usually much longer than that of a casual game - and the stakes are much higher - I can see why that need not apply neccessarily.

Legend has it (well - an old mate of mine, in a pub near Earls's Court, after one hour of dire ECTS and about three of rather more enjoyable drinking) that John Carmack and his boys shut themselves off from the world while they developed the Quake III engine. Whether it's true or not is something you'll have to ask John about, but I can see it working. I guess that the abstinence that Zoombapup suggests may well work for some developers. After all, there's as many dev methods as there are developers, right?

But Zoom: do you yourself totally shut out all this stuff? I don't think I have the nerve to even try. Maybe I've got some kind of obsessive disorder, but I myself need to play games to be able to make them. And the idea oftrying to put a game out without having some incline of what context it might find itself in kind of ... scares me. At least more than the Silent Hill movie did :)

[Pyabo]

Ignore completely what anyone else is making, its out of your control and wont do you one iota of good if you see it or not.


Er... Hmmmmm. OK.

:rolleyes:

Dan: evil! :p

[Dan MacDonald]

Yes sometimes evil dan rears his ugly head!

To be completely honest though, I didn't figure it out. Another developer showed me how to unlock RA trials (I don't even have the RA client installed) and I was disgusted at how easy it was. My 6 year old could do it if I showed him once.

[Anthony Flack]

I don't have much time to play games, and I have a lot of unplayed games sitting around. So I'm not likely to spend that time playing casual games, or indeed any game that isn't high on my list of current favourites.

At least, not "casual" in the sense we usually use it in. I played through Katamari Damacy, and that's an extremely casual game.

[svero]

Ive played and enjoyed quite a few. I find that casual games fill a different "play need" for me. That is.. I play casual games to relax, and listen to music or stream audiobooks or radio. When I play non-casual games the game itself tends to be an immersive experience and requires all my attention. One problem I have with non-casual games is that they sometimes require too much of my attention. They lack the simple interfaces and easy save & continue options of their casual counterparts.

[amaranth]

I do when I have time. I never really got into them until the task-based ones came about. Bejeweled is not my style, but I love Diner Dash, Virtual Villagers etc. I can never finish them, though. About halfway through I get inspired to make my own, and have to go plot and plan! :D

[Tom Gilleland]

I don't play casual game as they are commony defined like Bejeweled, Luxor, or Diner Dash. I hate Diner Dash, it is not relaxing at all. I get stressed trying to take care of everyone.

Casual games for me are Diablo II or some other older game that I've played through a bunch of times and I'm very skilled at. And that I can pause anytime. Regular games that I do play are things like Age of Empires, HalfLife 2, or Unreal Tournament. These games take my complete attention.

So basically I define a casual game as one that requires only partial attention, and Regular games as needing my full attention.

Tom