When I see a bombed out city mixed with technology on the graphic of your recruitment thread... thats post-apocalyptic.

Use all the industry buzz-words you want...but saving characters, leveling up, collecting loot...online...if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

if too much of a genre == oversaturation then yes.
especially after the Quake/Doom FPS craze that has lasted almost 10 years and running.

i'm waiting for the games that concentrate more on AI and alterable content then on super-photorealistic graphics (unless it's a mech or Gundam game [grin]).

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Original post by Kazgoroth Genre is overrated. Make a good game, then let the fans put it into whatever classifications they like.

My response to this is a little like touching a hot stove. I want what you say to be true, but I'm afraid that thinking like this will seriously get you burned.

There are a great many people who'll figure out and enjoy a game, regardless of category. But they are the minority. The majority of players need some sort of mental hook based on what they already know. This is the core of how marketing works, and its why they try so hard to associate something new with some idea or concept you already relate to (such as coolness or sex).

In the years I've been on gamedev, I've seen this born out time and time again. If I had a dime for every time I posted and got back "that doesn't fit in that genre!!!!" responses I'd be rich enough to be done by now. [rolleyes]

I've even almost missed great games because I couldn't classify them, and I big on experimenting! Project Eden, for instance, is probably one of the better games nobody played, I think mostly due to poor marketing (you look on the back of the box and might think it's a fighting game, when in fact is a puzzle-action adventure). Same from Beyond Good And Evil.

I think you have to connect with what people can relate to, and then bend the rules once they're already in. Otherwise you're just asking for it.

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Original post by neopangaia i have been working on my game for almost 5 years now. literally about 12 hours a day on average (self funded).

Thumbs up to another brother on the path. I wish you the best of luck. It most certainly isn't a path I'd recommend others to follow (the lifestyle hit, crap jobs and stress are enough to turn away all but those with a strong stomach and psychotic will [smile]). But given a life of only so many breaths, what the hell else are you here for?

btw, smart move focusing on basics before graphics. It's harder to recruit people without visuals, but code doesn't age as badly as graphics do.

Thanks a lot. Tons of people from investors to just family and friends that don't understand game programming are like "where are your screenshots?". I try to tell them taht to do a "demo" when there is no game engine or code is a waste of months of time I don't want to waste.

You're right. Right now I would lieterally take ANY job ANYWHERE just to be able to finish the game. Before I started I was a 70k a year Project Manager, now I would take a 9/hour job anywhere including botswana if it was offered.

The most important thing to me is to fulfill my potential as a human being. And luckily or unluckily for me right now, i see that as finishing this game. I don't feel badly though. I am about two months away from a screenshot or two (maybe even a video clip.. woohoo!)

Your post made the last few months of torture worthwile. Gosh all the months that were wasted just experimenting with different engiens and switching betwen them alone was probably a year and a half or more.

Thank you

Here's my theory, there's so many post-apocalyptic games because most people don't have above average nor above median imaginations and/or sociology rules us all.

Most of us have internet access and personal computers. Otherwise how would we make games? So it's safe to assume we live fairly comfortable lives in relative stability. When we try to think of something outrageous and beyond that with which we are familiar, we are drawn toward what we would call the antithesis of our lives, some post-apocalyptic wasteland.

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Original post by neopangaia Thanks a lot. Tons of people from investors to just family and friends that don't understand game programming are like "where are your screenshots?". I try to tell them taht to do a "demo" when there is no game engine or code is a waste of months of time I don't want to waste. You're right. Right now I would lieterally take ANY job ANYWHERE just to be able to finish the game. Before I started I was a 70k a year Project Manager, now I would take a 9/hour job anywhere including botswana if it was offered. The most important thing to me is to fulfill my potential as a human being. And luckily or unluckily for me right now, i see that as finishing this game. I don't feel badly though. I am about two months away from a screenshot or two (maybe even a video clip.. woohoo!) Your post made the last few months of torture worthwile. Gosh all the months that were wasted just experimenting with different engiens and switching betwen them alone was probably a year and a half or more.

I think managing your morale is more important than any other factor when you're engaged in a hugely difficult endeavor. We get so many competing influences, people telling us what we should be doing or how we should be living, that a focus on motivation becomes your anchor. Else you'll just be tossed about with the wind of opinion.

I don't care what your game is, I'm looking forward to playing it! [smile]

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Original post by RolandofGilead Most of us have internet access and personal computers. Otherwise how would we make games? So it's safe to assume we live fairly comfortable lives in relative stability. When we try to think of something outrageous and beyond that with which we are familiar, we are drawn toward what we would call the antithesis of our lives, some post-apocalyptic wasteland.

This sounds like a darn good explanation. Have you heard of what are called "First World" problems? They're things like, "Dammit, the parking spaces are too small for my SUV!" or "Those lazy welfare recipients are preventing me from buying a second house!" Contrast with Third World problems, such as "Will I be able to find clean drinking water tomorrow?" or "Will foreign invaders bomb us to oblivion?"

I've met a great many culturally ignorant game designers, which I think is the prime reason why we get variants of the same thing, over and over. While this is true in sci-fi, I believe it's even more prevalent in fantasy (which I think is more popular). People do get annoyed when I say this, but you can create only from what you've experienced and learned, and if you're too lazy to learn about the rest of the world, your creative ingredients will be severely limited.