Post by onmyoudo on May 9, 2014 13:56:00 GMT
The following is a copy of a post I made in the update 2.0.5 patch on the 22cans forums, and Graystone asked if I would cross-post it here.
It seems that 22cans staff check this forum too, so double visibility! What are your thoughts on the reasons behind the current situation, and the best path forward?
Okay 22Cans, here's the thing. You kickstarted for a god game by Peter Molyneux. This induced a certain expectation in a lot of people, the expectation of revisting the style popular god games by Peter Molyneux, i.e. Populous and Black and White, but updated, with new mechanics and ideas, and taking advantage of the better technology available today. This expectation was unavoidable given the circumstance.
However, and in hindsight perhaps this was to be expected, Peter's idea was actually to innovate his way through something new with only the most superficial similarities to god games of the past, perhaps in an attempt to more align the new game with "modern tastes" rather than attempt to reinvigorate the dead genre of god games proper.
Part of where this fell apart was the marketing, I believe. If this had not been heavily marketed on people's assumptions, (Peter M., references to Populous/B&W, GODus) then it could have just been what it was originally intended to be - a mobile micro-transaction based waiting game. This could well have brought cries of "how the mighty have fallen" from those who post such things on internet forums but would have otherwise passed by as a success or failure rather than a controversy.
The next hitch was the PC. There's a lot of stigma attached to PC gaming, for various reasons. Firstly the recent resurgence of PC gaming has done a lot for its reputation as a gaming platform, and coupled with the lackluster technical specs of the new consoles - and of course, Steam - has arguably started a second 'golden age' of PC gaming. The issue here is that there could be no greater difference between the PC Gaming and mobile markets. PC gamers, possibly with fond memories of Populous or hearing stories about how great those games used to be, would expect an actual game that holds their attention for hours at a time, engaging and challenging them. Mobile gamers want something to distract them for 30 seconds with bright colours and buttons to press while they poop or otherwise wait for something. Both of these things have a time and place, and for the most part those times and places are not compatible.
The second problem with a PC release was Early Access and propogation, as well as Peter M's high profile. Everyone knew Peter was making another god game (see first point about expectations) but all of these people were in the 'Expectations' section of the market, i.e. PC gamers. When the effectively mobile game was released, this created a backdraft of negative press both official and unofficial, and now everyone knows Godus is a mobile game rather than a PC game for PC gamers. Trying not to sound segregationist here, I just don't believe both markets want the same thing from a game.
All this leaves us here, on this forum. 22Cans are trying to fix the communication issues, you're trying to improve the game mechanics, you're trying to make Godus a viable PC game. That's all great. The two facets of the huge problem with this are 1) most of the feedback and hence the people you are trying to cater to are the PC gamers, and 2) is that you're not designing a PC game, you have a mobile game framework and you're trying to merge PC game mechanics into it in response to that feedback. Neither you nor the consumers can know the true outcome of this before we get there, but from the PC gamer perspective it does not look entirely promising.
To avoid this post coming across as entirely negative, I would like to say that Godus has some things going for it, not least the apparent dedication of the team working behind it. I'll continue to follow it in the hopes that the end product will deliver what I really want, a god game of the old guard, but that's just what I want. 22Cans really needs to do whatever pays their bills, and if that's creating a mobile micro-transaction based game, so be it.
However, and in hindsight perhaps this was to be expected, Peter's idea was actually to innovate his way through something new with only the most superficial similarities to god games of the past, perhaps in an attempt to more align the new game with "modern tastes" rather than attempt to reinvigorate the dead genre of god games proper.
Part of where this fell apart was the marketing, I believe. If this had not been heavily marketed on people's assumptions, (Peter M., references to Populous/B&W, GODus) then it could have just been what it was originally intended to be - a mobile micro-transaction based waiting game. This could well have brought cries of "how the mighty have fallen" from those who post such things on internet forums but would have otherwise passed by as a success or failure rather than a controversy.
The next hitch was the PC. There's a lot of stigma attached to PC gaming, for various reasons. Firstly the recent resurgence of PC gaming has done a lot for its reputation as a gaming platform, and coupled with the lackluster technical specs of the new consoles - and of course, Steam - has arguably started a second 'golden age' of PC gaming. The issue here is that there could be no greater difference between the PC Gaming and mobile markets. PC gamers, possibly with fond memories of Populous or hearing stories about how great those games used to be, would expect an actual game that holds their attention for hours at a time, engaging and challenging them. Mobile gamers want something to distract them for 30 seconds with bright colours and buttons to press while they poop or otherwise wait for something. Both of these things have a time and place, and for the most part those times and places are not compatible.
The second problem with a PC release was Early Access and propogation, as well as Peter M's high profile. Everyone knew Peter was making another god game (see first point about expectations) but all of these people were in the 'Expectations' section of the market, i.e. PC gamers. When the effectively mobile game was released, this created a backdraft of negative press both official and unofficial, and now everyone knows Godus is a mobile game rather than a PC game for PC gamers. Trying not to sound segregationist here, I just don't believe both markets want the same thing from a game.
All this leaves us here, on this forum. 22Cans are trying to fix the communication issues, you're trying to improve the game mechanics, you're trying to make Godus a viable PC game. That's all great. The two facets of the huge problem with this are 1) most of the feedback and hence the people you are trying to cater to are the PC gamers, and 2) is that you're not designing a PC game, you have a mobile game framework and you're trying to merge PC game mechanics into it in response to that feedback. Neither you nor the consumers can know the true outcome of this before we get there, but from the PC gamer perspective it does not look entirely promising.
To avoid this post coming across as entirely negative, I would like to say that Godus has some things going for it, not least the apparent dedication of the team working behind it. I'll continue to follow it in the hopes that the end product will deliver what I really want, a god game of the old guard, but that's just what I want. 22Cans really needs to do whatever pays their bills, and if that's creating a mobile micro-transaction based game, so be it.
It seems that 22cans staff check this forum too, so double visibility! What are your thoughts on the reasons behind the current situation, and the best path forward?
