Aaa vs. Indie. Problems of choosing games.

Kurt Shilling, a former baseball player, fulfilled his dream – he created a game that met his requirements and was intended for him. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning . However, he did not have enough funds to implement this idea, and he had to seek help from EA.

Nevertheless, according to the millionaire, he was delighted with his brainchild. But the players did not appreciate his creation, and the project did not bring the expected profit. Thus, we can say that Kurt created this game exclusively for himself.

If a person does not have tens of millions of dollars, he will have to look for entertainment among existing games. Production determines demand for ordinary people. But how to choose a suitable game?

Suitcases!!1

The first thing that comes to mind is game journalists. They play games and analyze them. Instead of spending hundreds of hours on the game, you can just see an interesting review. Or enjoy a cheerful stream with people that you have known for many years. But is everything so cloudless?

How many games that have been released over the past year you know? 50? 100?
On the Stopgame website.ru published 53 video reviews and 107 text materials. In the results of the year 118 games were mentioned, and in the refund – 148. But these are only those games that were considered. And Steam was released 14,531 games.

It turns out that we are told literally about 1% games. It is assumed that game journalists watch all games and choose the best. Perhaps it was once, but now there are too many games that can be seen.

Alexei Makarenkov, former editor -in -chief of Gamery, said that game journalists and bloggers receive games from publishers. And publishers do not work for free. That is, in fact, we are offered to choose from the game for which we have already paid.

It is worth noting that if the StopGame site itself does not directly receive money from publishers, this does not mean that it is outside this scheme. The number of views of reviews depends on the popularity of the game. PR campaigns of popular games are usually financed. Even if an overview of the unpopular game is made at the highest level, the number of views will still be low.
This means that YouTube channels, such as Stopgame and others, are forced to create content not about the most interesting games, but about those that are in demand due to financial investments. The reasons for popularity can be different, but game journalists often have time only for publishers.
Where in this equation is the pleasure of the game? Nowhere, it’s just a business.

Are publishers not striving for successful sales? After all, good games find their customers. Large publishers have the opportunity to attract talented developers. They can create high -quality games with excellent animation, an exciting plot and a lot of content.

Many people acquire games precisely because of this. However, there are games that do not have all these qualities, but nevertheless are very popular. For example, Vampire Survivors cannot boast of outstanding graphics or animation, but sold in huge circulations.

Do large companies really know how to create a game that will like people? Perhaps it was so ten to twenty years ago. However, more and more of poor -quality games have been released recently, and management has been making ambiguous decisions.

I would like to believe that publishers think about profit, and not guided by erroneous judgments. But what are us, players, the matter of their profit? We are playing not in order to enrich the publishers, is it not so?

Corporations strive to find a universal formula for making a huge profit. After 2008, the variety in the gaming industry has significantly decreased. Budgets are growing, and there are fewer innovative projects.
In 2012, Far Cry 3 surprised everyone with its formula, but Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora could not repeat its success.

Alexey Makarenkov – a graduate of the named after n. AND. Pirogov. He is sure that players value new experience in games. However, if they are faced with monotony, this can lead to “game burnout”. On my own experience, I was convinced of this and was able to get rid of this state, following the recommendations of Alexei.

However, the main problem of the “universal formula” is https://4crowns-casino.co.uk/ its excessive standardization. After all, all people are unique, and the words “I like this game” can hide a variety of needs and characteristics of character. Therefore, the universal formula simply does not exist. Games that would be interesting to everyone without exception will actually not be fascinating for anyone.

In the modern world, corporations are faced with a serious problem: they strive for maximum profit and optimization of production. Sometimes this desire leads to an endless improvement in performance and expanding the market, no matter how paradoxical it sounds.

The system of joint -stock companies suggests that the profit will increase. This leads to the fact that games are becoming more gambling.
Games use our general deep characteristics of the body, which appeared even before the animals developed the mind. In pursuit of performance and massiveness, they eliminate everything that interacts with the cerebral cortex. Script, narrative, complicated in the understanding of mechanics. Only popular images from third -party works leave.

Already now you can observe such trends that even the most liberal governments cannot prohibit. Apparently, they do not want to saw the bitches on which they are sitting.

On the other hand, the desire to lead everything to a single standard gives us the opportunity to communicate. People with different problems and characters can find common interest for conversation.

Marketing by multiplayer games is vital. They are inconceivable without a large number of people. In an unpopular game, the search for partners can occupy hundreds of times longer than time, or even playing at all.

Despite the fact that large -budget games often are action action from a third person, they are still different from each other. Advertising convinces many people that the game will give them vivid emotions. This belief and anticipation cause the players the release of endorphins. And sometimes this anticipation is justified: AAA-Gigra really bring us a lot of positive emotions. However, this does not always.

Small games

Fortunately, in the world there is Gabe Newell and his Steam. Unlike other platforms, he created a platform on which you can publish any game. This makes it possible to even create and show their creation with a small budget for developers with a small budget.

Due to small budgets, the variety of games on the platform is much more. Contrary to the widespread opinion about the “Day of Steam”, high competition leads to the fact that most games are high -quality. I recently convinced of this.

In March, I acquired games released on March 1. This is a great way to find and try what you really like. Such a search for games gives me (other such crazy ones I don’t know) great pleasure. In addition, I found games that meet my interests and needs.

But it seems only to mine. Ilya Sharifov, for example, called these games inexpressive. Lyaden described my selection as a level of flash drives. According to reviews, only a few dozen people purchased the games that I liked. However, these are games that I really liked, turned out to be more pleasant than popular games released this year.

However, this method of the game can be quite costly (I spent about 15,000 ₽). We have to sort out dozens of games (not without pleasure) to find some of the best. If you want to save time and money will have to succumb to advertising. By advertising, I understand any external impact that encourages us to buy a game. It can be a trailer, cover, meme, blog, or even a friend’s advice.

Demoovers.

Gabe revived the tradition of demonstration versions of games. Now everyone can download the demo versions of games for free and try them out. This allows the players to make their opinion on the game based on their own emotions.

Of course, developers can use demo versions to demonstrate only the most interesting aspects of the game. However, despite this, demo versions remain a great way for players to choose a game without exposing third -party opinions.

Rely on the opinion of a similar person.

A popular way is to find a friend, blogger or streamer with similar interests. Many bloggers, in fact, are game journalists, they try to be in trend and discuss the most popular games. However, there are those who are more focused on their personal preferences.

If your friend, streamer or blogger liked something, then you may like it too. However, it is worth considering that neither a friend nor a blogger can know all games, and can also be affected by advertising. Without advertising, you may not get the same sensations.

Even if a person liked something, we are all different. You might not like your differences. In addition, tastes can change both a blogger and you. Bloggers must understand that their audience is growing up and change accordingly. But they do not always get into the target.

It is also worth considering that even the review that we watched after passing the game can affect our emotions. I want to write about this separately, as this is an important topic. While I ask you to take my word.

Choose a certain genre, a series of games, developer.

Many people prefer games of a certain genre, a series of games, developer. If you liked the game, this means that the developers know their business well and know how to create exciting projects. Therefore, choosing the games of a certain genre or developer, you can be sure that you will get the maximum pleasure from the gameplay.

However, there is another aspect. As I already mentioned, Makarenkov claims that we get the main pleasure from finding new patterns in the world around him. The use of these laws also brings satisfaction, but to a lesser extent. Over time, the pleasure of this process may decrease.

That is why over time, interest in the genre/series/games of one developer can fade away, and the brain gradually weaned from new impressions. This situation can be aggravated if a person plays only one game. Although the game updates can help, they are often intended for all players at the same time, and you can not always “get to the beat” with developers. As a result, a game or a series of games can simply get bored after a series of updates. In this case, you will have to look for an alternative, and this is not always the strength and time.

Tops of the games.

Judging by the latest The Game Awards, the ceremony is more valued for announcements of new games than for presenting awards.

In my opinion, this is not the most successful way to choose a game. It would seem that if the game is called the “game of the year”, then this is the best choice for pastime. However, in practice, this is not always the case.

The choice of games is very limited. And sometimes we see in the lists of nominations such misunderstandings as Starfield in the category of innovative games.

The most popular game constantly wins in user votes. Even the most popular game is not suitable for everyone. Of course, if you are asked what game to lose, you will immediately occur to you “Witcher 3” or “GTA V”. But the popular does not mean universal.

It is worth mentioning the problem of nominations. Game genres are constantly developing, and this article illuminates this topic well. I recommend everyone to read it.

Nikolai Dybovsky, Ice-Pick Lodge Game Designer, notes that the game design in games is changing about every few years. And new genres and sucks are constantly appearing. Nominations change less often. Many games either do not correspond to them, or their correspondence seems artificial. For example, Hitaman 2 in 2018 received only 2.58% of the vote in the action category!

I studied all the ways of choosing games I know and I want to share my thoughts. The more games you find yourself without relying on someone else’s opinion, the higher the likelihood that you will find a game that you really like.

It seems to me that blogs usually read experienced gamers who combine various methods and rely on their experience. They use these methods to find games that will give them maximum pleasure.

However, even experienced players cannot completely avoid problems related to the choice of games. Therefore, I want to wish everyone who reads this article it is easy to find games that will bring you joy and satisfaction.