Man this forum really needs a multiquote feature.
RHE wrote:My question to this discussion is: Do we talk about people with talent only and why there games lacking of something or why there's a lack of talent? Or is this purely a gameplay discussion?
I mean it's obvoius that most homebrew games don't reach professional game quality but in most cases they don't even try. When they reaching an professional level, then theres no reason for being homebrew anymore. So, when you try to be on a professional level and have some talent, but don't reach it, then it has mostly something to do with a lack of budget.
Personally I would exlude not so talented homebrew makers from this discussion, because it would make a thread of it's own.
I'm interested to hear about anything anybody has to say as to why a homebrew game would be perceived as
less than a professional game. Someone without talent will never make something great, however many of the things they do wrong are easy to correct. I'm really talking about everything that applies to homebrew projects.
However I don't agree that budget is what keeps homebrew games from reaching the level of professional releases.
RHE wrote:
Yes, it's about time and budget. I mean talent is an important factor as everyone knows but time can hardly compensate a complete lack of budget also. I just think that with budget Blue Wish Resurrection could look and play like ESPGaluda as even gameplay needs budget.
Time
can compensate for a lack of budget, if the talent and skill is there. By this I mean that it may take a single person several years to complete a game since he will have to work on it in his free time while working another job. Budget only allows you the luxury of working on your project full time. If the artists involved with BWR had the talent/skills to create stuff on the level of ESPGaluda then it would look that good.
RHE wrote:
Are you talking to me? Wink
I was only abused by poeple who don't play the games they're critizising. Normally those people are diligent enough to avoid this but with Last hope somehow they felt free to do that. So, I'm not sure if you can say that most independet devs lack of right attitude per se.
This wasn't directed specifically at you; it's an issue that I think a lot of independent creators get caught up in. It's important to remember that amazing, top level games rarely come out of nowhere. They come from teams with years of experience hitting their stride. Even companies like Raizing and Cave didn't have incredible first games, and those teams were made up of developers that had cut their teeth on previous games in the genre.
So when a new creator gets all butt hurt about his first game not being perfect it's just incredibly arrogant.
monkeyman wrote:
I'd say a lack of playtesters.
You can do all the individual elements right but it won't necessarily come together to make something fun.
Agreed, and this goes back to what I was saying about the creator needing to be an experienced player that will enjoy endlessly playing and tweaking his game. And then on top of that getting an outside group to test would further improve things.
BulletMagnet wrote:
Putting aside for a moment the fact that "quality" means different things to different people, while you're obviously right that how something's marketed doesn't affect what's actually in it, it can and often does affect the reception the product gets,...
Marketing comes later in the process. I thought about what you bring up below while I posted before, but as far as this discussion goes I'm speaking about the actual nuts and bolts of the game design. The game itself remains the same regardless of how the public perceives it.
which, from the creator's standpoint especially, is really all that matters - you can create Objectively The Best Game Ever, but if no one bothers to buy/play it, your work's been wasted, regardless.
Not really. A creator should have a strong passionate vision that they are trying to bring to fruition. Certainly there's the desire for the public to enjoy it, but first and foremost he should seek to please and entertain himself.
In any event, people can frequently be made to overlook a title's faults if it's presented to them in a certain way - sometimes you're not even aware you're doing it, but in some cases you'll openly say to yourself and others, "yeah, A, B, and C suck about this game, but it has X, Y, and Z, which I really like, so I put up with it." So yeah, marketing doesn't actually change anything about what's "right" or "wrong" with a game, but it can make it a good deal more difficult for many to see the aforementioned clearly, and thus have far-reaching effects on a game's reputation and ultimate success, which, again, are all that truly ends up mattering, from a purely "practical" point of view at least. And of course the producer of a game isn't the only one who can "market" it in this way (peers, reviewers, etc. can also contribute to this effect), but it still happens, even to "niche/hardcore" types, a la the "stereotypical shmupper."
This really has more to do with branding and selling of a concept to the player. I think that this kind of iconic design and appeal is hugely important, but no amount of marketing will save a truly horrible product except to the lowest common denominator. This stuff really comes from the product itself and the marketing becomes an extension of that. As far as creative works go anyway.
Turrican wrote:
That's a wrong question: there are good and bad games, and they belong either to commercial releases and homebrew scene. So the only possible answer is: nothing.
It's implying that homebrew isn't as good as pro, but of course there should be an agreement on what actually makes a game "good".
In theory you're correct, but the fact is that homebrew games are perceived to be generally of lesser quality than commercial games. This topic is an attempt to dissect homebrew games and find what is commonly missing.
Also, in the age of bedroom coders, the most creative and sensational stuff the industry ever had, the big hits were all basically "doujin"
This doesn't make a lot of sense. There may be a minor language barrier issue, but saying that the biggest hits throughout gaming were mainly doujin is pretty silly. I agree that there are many independents taking risks big companies wouldn't, but they're doing it on such a small scale that it doesn't amount to much. And I don't mean sales here, I mean by not creating something that feels like a full, complete game.
I think another possible answer to give is this - when a development team creates something unique, compelling and gorgeous, the chances that it will be commercially released are higher. They'll want to make a living out of their passion and a return from the time spent on projects. Therefore "quality" might be a sort of natural criteria to divide the fields. It's not necessarily so, but it's statistically a proven trend.
Again, it's not that the criteria of what is "good" changes when viewing homebrew vs. commercial- it's an attempt to verbalize the things that keep most homebrew projects from reaching the level of a commercial game.
Does anyone have any specific little things they feel are often missing from homebrew projects?
"The art director is always listed as the art director in their games. The programmer is always listed as the programmer."