How Third-Parties Can Make Good Games AND Be Successful

I can't believe nobody's thought of this yet. It's so obvious and so simple. All they have to do is put one of the following words or phrases on the box:

Trainer, My _____ (eg, Sims, First , Personal something), Party, Game, Active, Sports, Wii (or, if legal rights get in the way, We), Fitness or Sonic. Putting a "Z" at the end of a word where it does not belong seems to help as well.

Sometimes it even works to put a random group of those words together, Like Game Party, or here's one I invented: My Personal Sports Game Trainer: We Party with the Stars in an Active Fitness Game, featuring Sonic...z?

Then they just need to put pictures of idiots having fun on the box, or throw a bunch of random toys or sports equipment on there and they're set.

You know what's brilliant about this? It doesn't even matter if the game has nothing to do with what's on the box. It could have a picture of a monkey throwing a bowling ball at a laughing family while they're all holding Wiimotes, but when they open it up it's Madworld. They will pick up the game, expecting some crappy game, and instead they'll get a good game and they'll be like "Wow, games can be good?"

You know what else is brilliant about it? Nintendo's been talking about bridging the gap between new gamers and old, well here you go. Trick the "casuals" into buying good games. There's your bridge!

There. The Wii is saved.

Now share your opinions.

And here it was I thought you actually had something serious to say. Sepewrath

[QUOTE="Sepewrath"]And here it was I thought you actually had something serious to say. bob_newman

And here it was I thought you actually had something serious to say. Sepewrath

EDIT: voted for tacos

I love Tacos.

[QUOTE="Sepewrath"]And here it was I thought you actually had something serious to say. BrunoBRS

EDIT: voted for tacos

PLAN B: Make successful games good. garrett_duffman

[QUOTE="garrett_duffman"]PLAN B: Make successful games good. alexh_99

[QUOTE="alexh_99"][QUOTE="garrett_duffman"]PLAN B: Make successful games good. bob_newman

[QUOTE="garrett_duffman"][QUOTE="bob_newman"] More safari?alexh_99

I respectfully disagree; DS:E would have benefitted from far more safari. I think more people would have been fond of that kind of setting and atmosphere. :P

In all seriousness, though, I'm with Sepewrath on this one in the sense that I expected something in-depth and serious than this. Who knows how many games are out there with the words that you speak of, and most of them are only considered "successful" because of the low-budget that are being used for these games, not entirely off of amazing sales. I doubt outcome would be as favorable with games that have a profound developing cycle and budget behind them, not to mention that fooling consumers into buying what you want them to buy isn't good business. A parent isn't going to be too pleased with getting a game like Madworld for a child when he/she was expecting something completely different. :P

RE: Dancing with the S.T.A,R.S

c'mon you know you want it

In all seriousness, though, I'm with Sepewrath on this one in the sense that I expected something in-depth and serious than this.

Madmangamer364

That's my point. There have been countless threads talking about what we think will sell games, how to market them, etc, etc, etc...but none of us know what we're talking about so I might as well just come up with something rediculous and farfetched. Makes just as much sense to me as an "in-depth" analysis.

Plus, I'm tired of the same old threads with the same old arguments. This was more fun to make.

I made a serious thread about this in system wars. Probably not the right place to do it though. I haven't checked since I made it.

I lol'd at this, thanks for bringing out the funnies.

Here's a serious response to the topic title. This leans towards more of the "success" side of how 3rd parties can gain revenue.

I know quite a few people who are into the Moder Warfare's, the Devil May Cry's and the Street Fighter 4's, but have 0 clue, ZERO clue about so much content on the Wii despite actually owning one. They tell me they got sick of Wii Sports after 2 days and Mario Kart is "kinda fun". They say they're not into Mario a whole lot, but when I ask them "have you heard of No More Heroes, Deadly Creatures, NyxQuest, Lost Windsor that Wii has the best version of Geometry Wars" they look at me as if I'm talking about ther wrong platform. One mate I know even triedcorrecting me by saying "Nah, I'm not into the party games."

People are always referring to Wii Sports as simply "the Wii" as if it's the only damn thing the platform plays. There needs to be aggressive marketing of such titlesthat convince people that Wii has stuff that caters towards their taste but still being utterly exclusive. But not every avid gamer looks up kotaku or gonintendo every week.

That's where 3rd parties are tripping up. They're being placed in the same boat as Carnival Games and Petzzzzz. So many boxarts to much-loved games look absolutely pathetic (LKS, DC, Z&W) in trying to convince any browser on its awesomeness. The other factor is when it comes in very limited stock (ie. A Boy and his Flop) so the game goes not only unmarketed, but unnoticed. What was the point of making the damn game?

[QUOTE="Madmangamer364"]

In all seriousness, though, I'm with Sepewrath on this one in the sense that I expected something in-depth and serious than this.

bob_newman

That's my point. There have been countless threads talking about what we think will sell games, how to market them, etc, etc, etc...but none of us know what we're talking about so I might as well just come up with something rediculous and farfetched. Makes just as much sense to me as an "in-depth" analysis.

Plus, I'm tired of the same old threads with the same old arguments. This was more fun to make.

Understood. Looking at it from such a perspective does make the thread look a little more appealing. Knowing the kind of member you are, I just wasn't expecting something like this, since you often bring up superb points, IMO. Plus, I have to admit that I've heard the "add "party," "fun," "Wii," etc. suffix" thing too many times already. :P

That's where 3rd parties are tripping up. They're being placed in the same boat as Carnival Games and Petzzzzz. So many boxarts to much-loved games look absolutely pathetic (LKS, DC, Z&W) in trying to convince any browser on its awesomeness. Optusnet

[QUOTE="Optusnet"]That's where 3rd parties are tripping up. They're being placed in the same boat as Carnival Games and Petzzzzz. So many boxarts to much-loved games look absolutely pathetic (LKS, DC, Z&W) in trying to convince any browser on its awesomeness. clicketyclick

LKS, Z&W, and A Boy & His Blob all went for the kiddy look to lure in gamers (a sort of serious take on the trick that the thread proposes) and they didn't do well.clicketyclick

Oh but I didn't mention anything about it looking "kiddy." I actually avoided that because it usually doesn't work out so well on the Wii, as your examples prove.

I'm talking boxarts like this:

My theory is that there's just so much going on in those images that it confuses the "casual" into buying it. They're fooled into believing that there's a lot to do in the game when the box is covered with goings-on.

My theory is that there's just so much going on in those images that it confuses the "casual" into buying it. They're fooled into believing that there's a lot to do in the game when the box is covered with goings-on.

bob_newman

My theory is that there's just so much going on in those images that it confuses the "casual" into buying it. They're fooled into believing that there's a lot to do in the game when the box is covered with goings-on.bob_newman

[QUOTE="Optusnet"]That's where 3rd parties are tripping up. They're being placed in the same boat as Carnival Games and Petzzzzz. So many boxarts to much-loved games look absolutely pathetic (LKS, DC, Z&W) in trying to convince any browser on its awesomeness. clicketyclick

I voted Tacos! =BCrisis_Eye

[QUOTE="garrett_duffman"] that because people dont play what they look at. they play what they know. clicketyclick

My theory is that there's just so much going on in those images that it confuses the "casual" into buying it. They're fooled into believing that there's a lot to do in the game when the box is covered with goings-on.

Tacos. Third party developers state their efforts aren't supported by consumers, yet they haven't released games that are close to as quality and polished as efforts on the other consoles. Simply making a game mature won't produce sales, and neither will spinoffs of a different genre (Extraction, which deserved better.) All the Call of Duty games released on Wii have reached, or will soon reach, over a million copies.