They do tend to be safe, but not always. I don't think Assassin's Creed and Oblivion were terribly safe, they were large projects, but very focused and innovative in their design. Oblivion is the opposite of the game driven my marketing, people are still buying it to this day and it was practically a launch title. Word of mouth is pushing it now.
As for smaller games, Aquaria is two guys in their basement, and it's completely brilliant. The days of one guy making an awesome game really aren't gone (look for the game Dwarf Fortress, it's absolutely brilliant, and it's one crazy guy using ASCII graphics) but the difference is that you can be a dedicated computer gamer and still not even hear of some of these one-man projects. You need to be specifically tuned into the indie scene, or glued to the Penny Arcade forums. One guy is likely not going to make a game that can penetrate the mainstream market, but one guy can definitely make a living off their games. See Dave Gilbert and his adventure games, or Jeff Vogel and his many hardcore Ultima-style RPGs. ideally, you have at least three or four people, like the Moonpod or Introversion guys, enough spread out skills that you can really make a reliable living,
no subject
Date: 2008-05-19 06:56 am (UTC)As for smaller games, Aquaria is two guys in their basement, and it's completely brilliant. The days of one guy making an awesome game really aren't gone (look for the game Dwarf Fortress, it's absolutely brilliant, and it's one crazy guy using ASCII graphics) but the difference is that you can be a dedicated computer gamer and still not even hear of some of these one-man projects. You need to be specifically tuned into the indie scene, or glued to the Penny Arcade forums. One guy is likely not going to make a game that can penetrate the mainstream market, but one guy can definitely make a living off their games. See Dave Gilbert and his adventure games, or Jeff Vogel and his many hardcore Ultima-style RPGs. ideally, you have at least three or four people, like the Moonpod or Introversion guys, enough spread out skills that you can really make a reliable living,