[casual_games] RE: Business models

[Jamie Carlson]

Sorry about before... Sent the e-mail in the wrong format (Oops! - I will 
try PlainText this time).
See below for my response to Brent and Allen:


Brent and Allen,

One fear that I have personally is that the much lauded "potential for 
significant financial gain" that exists in the Casual gaming market will 
someday (soon) be exploited by the retailers and by the larger game 
publishers. My point being that I really enjoy the current climate of 
Casual gaming, and hope that it continues to grow while still fostering 
it's unique approach to sales and distribution. I think that's why it 
appeals to me so much; the fact that any talented programmer and artist can 
create a compelling experience and succeed in this space with no assistance 
other than perhaps a small business loan and a well-advertised website.

With respect to Greg Costikyan's article (and his preceding GDC "rant") the 
thing that I absolutely love about the casual gaming space (as it exists 
today) is that innovation has still not been deterred and the fun/addictive 
games can perform quite well in the marketplace. That is Greg's primary 
gripe with the retail gaming industry, which is to say that unique and 
innovative games are at a disadvantage in the marketplace (Psychonauts is 
the current and often cited example of this trend).

For casual games, sure there are the "me too" games (I think I've exhausted 
my "Match 3" quota to fill multiple lifetimes) but the inherent 
"familiarity" to those games is not the only requirement for success. As 
long as the audience can quickly grasp the core gameplay mechanics, then 
innovation in casual gaming is certainly possible and often rewarded with 
the casual consumers' dollars (Gish is a great example of this. I think) . 
Currently, the development budgets are still moderately low in relation to 
the potential earnings, and that potential audience is pretty gigantic (by 
any standard) - so innovation is not only possible, it's advantageous so 
that you may separate your game from the others... this is generally not 
the case with the current retail gaming market.

My point is that I am envious in many ways of the Casual game developers, 
because coming from the retail space it's been an uphill battle for our 
team to gain the resources from any publisher to produce many of the novel 
and compelling games that we would like to pursue with our resources. So if 
you are all considered "Indie" developers then I'd be willing to trade in 
my "Professional" status in a heartbeat to create the games you guys 
make... They're absolutely great!

(which I understand was not your opinion, Brent ... just me trying to be 
mildly humorous - a weak attempt I know, I apologize  :-) )

- Jamie

P.S. We are working on a few casual concepts and prototypes that we hope 
will see the light of day (hence the reason why I subscribed to this 
excellent mailing list). Who would have thought that a military simulation 
developer would be trying to break into the Casual gaming space, huh?  Ah, 
the irony...

P.P.S. Allen, excellent work on "The Escapist"... it has become one of my 
favorite gaming reads on the 'net. Lots of thought-provoking stuff there on 
a weekly basis.

------------------------------------------------------------------
   Jamie Carlson (Sonalysts Inc.)
   Producer / Designer
   jcarlson at sonalysts.com

   Sonalysts Combat Simulations
   http://www.sonalystscombatsims.com
------------------------------------------------------------------



>From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org] 
>On Behalf Of Allen Varney
>Sent: September 1, 2005 10:14 AM
>To: casual_games at igda.org
>Subject: [casual_games] RE: Business models
>
>Brent Lowrie wrote:
>
>    (((This is the unknown that most new developers fear and having access 
> to this sort of information would help more new developers break out of 
> indie development and into commercial deals.)))
>
>    "Break out of indie development"? This makes indie gaming sound like a 
> second-string, minor-league affair. I argue indie game developers are in 
> a far better situation, both economically and culturally, than the 
> increasingly beleaguered developer of retail computer games.
>    For a discussion of the benighted state of retail game development, 
> see Greg Costikyan's article in the current issue of The Escapist magazine:
>
> 
><http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/8/3>http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/8/3
>
>    And to see why I think casual-game designers are far better off in the 
> long run, see my article "Casual Fortunes" in the same issue:
>
> 
><http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/8/14>http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/8/14
>
>-- Allen Varney
><http://www.allenvarney.com/>www.allenvarney.com