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IMAGINARY AUDIENCE
Posts
calunio
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CloseI guess it's pretty common for developers to imagine a fictional player while designing a game. Imagining his reactions, his frustrations, his comments, his likes, dislikes, and keeping his tastes in mind when making some design choices. I mean, some people say (though I'm not sure I believe them) that they make games for themselves, and their target audience is themselves. But most developers make games for other people to play. And they take (or should) their player's characteristics into consideration when making games.
My question is: who are your target players? Who do you expect to play your game? Who is your audience? I'm asking this because I sense there's a tendency in RMN games to take RMN members as their target audience (thought it's obviously not always the case). RMN userbase (especially posters) have a very specific taste for games in general, and I don't think it's representative of "all players" outside RMN. What I'm thinking is: making a game for RMN people is not the same as making a game for all players, or for traditional players, or for underground hipster players, or for your inner-circle friends and family.
Though you may want as many people as possible to play your game, there's usually a specific audience that guides your decisions, even if just in your mind. Who are they?
My question is: who are your target players? Who do you expect to play your game? Who is your audience? I'm asking this because I sense there's a tendency in RMN games to take RMN members as their target audience (thought it's obviously not always the case). RMN userbase (especially posters) have a very specific taste for games in general, and I don't think it's representative of "all players" outside RMN. What I'm thinking is: making a game for RMN people is not the same as making a game for all players, or for traditional players, or for underground hipster players, or for your inner-circle friends and family.
Though you may want as many people as possible to play your game, there's usually a specific audience that guides your decisions, even if just in your mind. Who are they?
author=calunio
My question is: who are your target players? Who do you expect to play your game? Who is your audience? I'm asking this because I sense there's a tendency in RMN games to take RMN members as their target audience (thought it's obviously not always the case). Who are they?
I don't aim at developers but mostly gamers tbh. JRPG gamers to be exact and girls. And people that like drama and tragedy and a different from the norm gameplay like the dept. heaven cult fanbase. But most of the time if there's someone out there that is like me when it comes to games, then that's my target audience!
Although this wouldn't represent the totality of my angle when making games.. I do honestly tend to assume that if somebody is playing an rpgmaker game they've probably got some pretty low standards either because:
a) They're part of the community and know what to expect.
and
b) They're playing a crappy snes-era-looking game on the PC made by a total nobody amateur instead of some hip indie game or a triple-A COD Box 360 title.
So with that in mind as my imaginary audience member's attitude, I try to subvert expectations as much as is possible and play with those expectations. This doesn't mean "make a glorious looking rpgmaker game" but rather it would hypothetically mean that if the game looked crappy you'd make it super-engaging in some other way so that people would mentally double-take and be like "Wh-what?! This dodgy amateur thing is actually engaging me! This is an outrage" :P - But actually be surprised and pleased at the same time - Hopefully giving them something to take away from the gameplay experience.
I guess when I make and test play any project I'm working on I tend to keep my mind in pretend mode as I pretend what it would be like as somebody with those quite low expectations and cynicism and try to acknowledge that before attempting to engage them on a deeper level (Oh my god this sounds so ridiculously pretentious).. But I think it's something we all do if we have any idea what we're doing whatsoever, we try to keep the pulse ticking over in terms of player engagement as the game unfolds, taking note of when we go off the mark and then changing it up to reign it back in to maximum engagement with the player.
...If that made any sense whatsoever - I'm not sure.
a) They're part of the community and know what to expect.
and
b) They're playing a crappy snes-era-looking game on the PC made by a total nobody amateur instead of some hip indie game or a triple-A COD Box 360 title.
So with that in mind as my imaginary audience member's attitude, I try to subvert expectations as much as is possible and play with those expectations. This doesn't mean "make a glorious looking rpgmaker game" but rather it would hypothetically mean that if the game looked crappy you'd make it super-engaging in some other way so that people would mentally double-take and be like "Wh-what?! This dodgy amateur thing is actually engaging me! This is an outrage" :P - But actually be surprised and pleased at the same time - Hopefully giving them something to take away from the gameplay experience.
I guess when I make and test play any project I'm working on I tend to keep my mind in pretend mode as I pretend what it would be like as somebody with those quite low expectations and cynicism and try to acknowledge that before attempting to engage them on a deeper level (Oh my god this sounds so ridiculously pretentious).. But I think it's something we all do if we have any idea what we're doing whatsoever, we try to keep the pulse ticking over in terms of player engagement as the game unfolds, taking note of when we go off the mark and then changing it up to reign it back in to maximum engagement with the player.
...If that made any sense whatsoever - I'm not sure.
I never tried to design games that go with the RM community's main stream. Because that would be boring, it's as simply as that.
In the old days I tried to mak gam for fans of the RTP. But it also became as boring as cliche RPGs.
If I could do everything I want, I would add p0rn pics etc to my game and make it as bloody and perverse as possible. But I want do stay inside of RMN's rules of course.
So I would say my current projects are a combination of my own taste, RMN's taste and the taste of a special quite small outside RMN audience.
In the old days I tried to mak gam for fans of the RTP. But it also became as boring as cliche RPGs.
If I could do everything I want, I would add p0rn pics etc to my game and make it as bloody and perverse as possible. But I want do stay inside of RMN's rules of course.
So I would say my current projects are a combination of my own taste, RMN's taste and the taste of a special quite small outside RMN audience.
I honestly tried to make a game that I would enjoy first and foremost (because otherwise my motivation would just fizzle out completely and I would never finish the game).
In a more general and broad sense, I often just try to recreate the magic I experienced when I played RPGs as a kid and by extension my audience is those who had experienced the same. So I am targetting the Nostalgia Crowd more often than not.
In a more general and broad sense, I often just try to recreate the magic I experienced when I played RPGs as a kid and by extension my audience is those who had experienced the same. So I am targetting the Nostalgia Crowd more often than not.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
My first game, which I will not be submitting to this site on account of shittiness, was made for my friends. As a result, the playable characters all had the same names as my friends. I probably should not have spent an entire year on it and turned it into a 30-40 hour long epic like I did, but oh well!
With my more recent RM projects (Vindication, Iniquity & Vindication), I do not make games for the RM community specifically. I make them for people who download and play indie games, because I don't really make any distinction between RPG Maker and other types of indie games. I also guess I make them for people who are familiar with RPGs and are pretty good at them, because holy shit my games are kinda hard sometimes! I get fed up with how easy and stale the gameplay is in many RPGs. Someone who hasn't played a lot of RPGs would probably not appreciate that aspect of my games, they would just get a few game overs and ragequit.
With UOSSMUD, the game is online and has active players, and I have to admit that a fair amount of new content gets effort put into it specifically because it will be fun for the existing long-time players. Obviously I also create content for potential future players and for general use by everyone; I don't mean *all* the content is made just for the oldbies. But I think it would be foolish not to try to keep the players we have, so sometimes I will set aside my plans to write new low level missions, and instead work on rebalancing the way the cyborg race scales after level 100 (a race which requires a level 100 human to even unlock). In addition, being a fangame, it's obviously designed with maximum nostalgia in mind. I want people to walk through Narshe and feel like they are really in a shitty online version of FF6! We even have quests that are riddles, that are practically impossible to solve unless you remember certain details about the original games.
With my more recent RM projects (Vindication, Iniquity & Vindication), I do not make games for the RM community specifically. I make them for people who download and play indie games, because I don't really make any distinction between RPG Maker and other types of indie games. I also guess I make them for people who are familiar with RPGs and are pretty good at them, because holy shit my games are kinda hard sometimes! I get fed up with how easy and stale the gameplay is in many RPGs. Someone who hasn't played a lot of RPGs would probably not appreciate that aspect of my games, they would just get a few game overs and ragequit.
With UOSSMUD, the game is online and has active players, and I have to admit that a fair amount of new content gets effort put into it specifically because it will be fun for the existing long-time players. Obviously I also create content for potential future players and for general use by everyone; I don't mean *all* the content is made just for the oldbies. But I think it would be foolish not to try to keep the players we have, so sometimes I will set aside my plans to write new low level missions, and instead work on rebalancing the way the cyborg race scales after level 100 (a race which requires a level 100 human to even unlock). In addition, being a fangame, it's obviously designed with maximum nostalgia in mind. I want people to walk through Narshe and feel like they are really in a shitty online version of FF6! We even have quests that are riddles, that are practically impossible to solve unless you remember certain details about the original games.
My audience is one that thinks the NES is the best gaming console of all time, Castlevania fans, and jRPG fans who dislike traditional jRPG protagonists.
Zephyr
1241
My MGS game was obviously aimed at Metal Gear fans. As it is similar in style to A Link to the Past, I was hoping to reel in some Zelda-fans as well.
It deals with the game I create, when I make a religious game like I am now, I want religious people to play, though anyone could if they wanted. If I made an exploration game like Yume Nikki(I did not create that game), than I would target the people who like exploration games, and if I make a fan game of some kind, it would be for the fans of that topic, it could be anything. But as long as I post them here, it's going to usually be for the audiance who plays my games, on the RMN.
My game is geared towards zombie and survival game enthusiasts.
As well as anyone really wanting to just not play a traditional fantasy RPG.
As well as anyone really wanting to just not play a traditional fantasy RPG.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
I think obviously everyone's game is aimed at people who like that genre of game, I... don't really think that was the point of the question here. Maybe I misunderstood the OP though
Right (to LockeZ), I imagine it would have to be destined (whatever creation) to some kind of soul mate, some one who would generally have the same aesthetic (in a very global sense : intelligence, subtility, etc.) sense as I.
Brent
0
author=Deacon Batista
I never tried to design games that go with the RM community's main stream. Because that would be boring, it's as simply as that.
Yeah, me too. I don't like making what seems to be the standard norm here at RMN *cough* *cough* *cough* -- RPG's!!!
author=calunio
My question is: who are your target players? Who do you expect to play your game? Who is your audience?
* Myself
* Myself
* And...Myself!
Sure, the odd friend or two will play my games, but most of them are too werid or way out of the norm to be played by anybody else. Also, most people at my workplace don't care for video games, so they don't really care. I mostly do this for myself, actually, even if it can be a bit lonely at times, but meh.
author=LockeZ
I think obviously everyone's game is aimed at people who like that genre of game, I... don't really think that was the point of the question here. Maybe I misunderstood the OP though
The thing is... maybe you're making a DBZ fangame thinking of DBZ fans... but how would you get them to play your game? If you post just here, you're not likely to reach a fair DBZ fanbase... they just won't hear about your game. Some people know ways to "spread" their game more. Some don't. There's really no point in making a game for audience X is it will never play it.
When I made Marvel Brothel, I was aiming at Marvel fans. I posted the game on GW, but didn't get that much of a reaction. Than I tried some Marvel communities, but my posts were completely ignored. I was almost unsuccessful, if not for the fact that the game got "discovered" eventually. But it's a tricky choice to make.
Dyhalto
7536
Difficulty is my hardest thing to imagine for other people. Since I know the mechanics, and I selected the stats and AI, I know what to expect. What seems hard to me may be outright impossible for other people.
For all other aspects, I just imagine myself as a noob. I'm just a casual player giving the free game a try. Looked good in the previews, so...
For all other aspects, I just imagine myself as a noob. I'm just a casual player giving the free game a try. Looked good in the previews, so...
author=ShortStar
My game has 6,000 downloads... but I'm sure in its life its only had 40 commenters.
That's because your game style is RMN's favorite. Traditional classic J RPG. That's RMN audience, and that's the likely audience of every single game posted here. So unless you really work on getting your game "out there", you shouldn't expect any game that strays too much from that to get much attention here.
Other communities have much different tastes. Former GW was not so RM-centered. Some indie communities (like TIG) barely know what RPGMaker is. They wouldn't play your RM as "another RM game" like we do, they would play it as "a new game", which is both good and bad. Good because they won't even know if you're using RTP, or 3-tile rules or random encounters. Bad because they expect your game to be interesting, not just a home-made RPG.
That's because your game style is RMN's favorite. Traditional classic J RPG. That's RMN audience, and that's the likely audience of every single game posted here. So unless you really work on getting your game "out there", you shouldn't expect any game that strays too much from that to get much attention here.
Dude, 6,000 downloads is a preposterously huge amount of attention!
But I mean, I guess you're so spoiled that you can't be expected to know that. : P
Edit:
BTW I actually had an answer for this topic, I just didn't share it because it would have left me so wide open for a zing and I couldn't think of any way to phrase it that wouldn't.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Downloading all of Despite's games now
