For the past several years working with different teams and companies I noticed there is definitely a strange pattern happening I’d like to reflect on in this article.
(Not) A bottle of milk.
I found games as very strange products.
On one hand, we have a lot of weird games with ugly graphics, made years ago which millions of people enjoy every day since release. On the other — there’re a lot of technically amazing games released each year, which failed and no one plays them after a short period of time.
Why does that happen?
There might be dozens of reasons, but I want to talk about the core of the game — WHY this game exists.
For some reason, the analogy of the bottle of milk always appears in my mind. Let’s say you’re heading home after the work day and your partner text you: “Hey honey, there’s no milk left in the fridge, please take a bottle or two on your way back”. You’re going to the grocery store, take a random bottle of milk close to the entrance, pay, and leave. Done. The milk company did a sale. Just because you need milk. Any milk. If there will be another company milk – you’d buy it instead.
This approach doesn’t quite work with games. People didn’t go the Steam (or any other platform) to buy a random strategy game just because they want a new strategy game to play today.
Most players choose carefully what to play.
You can say – “Hey, but I buy a lot of games on Steam sales!”. And you’re right – we all do. But how often do you play all these sales games? I bet most of those games are piled up in your library and will never be played 🙂 It’s a fast and attractive deal, like a pack of chewing gum on the checkout counter. There is a good explanation for these “short deals” in “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek, take a look if you haven’t yet.
Start with WHY
The general idea is simple and very deep. Companies that keep their focus on their initial idea in the long term are more successful than teams who are focusing on the final product. People buy “why”, not “what”. They buy the idea of the product, not the product itself.
The more I read this book and look at the examples Simon provides the more I found similarities I saw in the game industry. Players buy the idea of the game – the core feeling developers wanted to share – not the fancy graphics or brand (but it really helps to sell the copies in short sales).
We can see the tendencies of the past few years when players are less and less attracted to the conveyer AAAA games and more AA indie titles become successful and noticeable.
Players choose what to play. They have to decide they want to play that game. Not because of its genre or huge sale discount (but because it really helps to bring attention to the game). But because they found something in that game. Something that catches their mind.
It might be a tragic story that makes you cry. Or amazing combat animations. Or fantastic open-world environments, that take your breath away. Or satisfaction with beating another boss with your clan after several hours of fighting. It’s always emotions.
We sell emotions. Players buy the emotions. These emotions tie us to the game characters or worlds and form communities. And games with strong communities last longer.
They do buy not your game, they buy the WHY of your game — the reason WHY developers made it. Because games aren’t only software applications, but also art assets — there is always a strong influence of the developer’s vision exist. And the more clearly the developer understands the core of his game the clearer it becomes to the players.
I believe the games (like any other art) which have a strong understanding of their WHYs tend to be more attractive to players (and lead to higher revenues for companies).
How to achieve that? Why some companies are making better games than others?
The team is the key
I believe the team is the most important thing. In game development especially.
The team’s inner emotions are translated to the players. If a team is passionate about the game they’re making – it will be a cool game. If not – not. Sounds simple, right? If fact — I found it’s the hardest thing to achieve.
Only people who are passionate about racing can make an amazing racing game to share that engine roar and heavy acceleration.
The team who are passioned with love to mechanical engineering can make another “crazy mechanic simulator” etc — you’ve got the idea.
We’re making games we loved to play ourselves for the guys and girls who share the same interests and ideas.
The team is the engine that moves the car on the road. And when it’s working right – this car will have a long ride and could achieve its destination 🙂
Sadly not every game is made with passion and with good thoughts of bringing joy to others. I knew a lot of cases, where the team doesn’t care about what they were doing. And it always happens without having their WHY.
With general products, it might not be such a big deal (like with milk example), but with games… players feel as if the game is lacking something every time. If it doesn’t meet their expectations. No matter how technically good or bad the game is. You cannot fool players.
Technically, you could, but only for a short period of time. But this will not build a strong relationship between the players’ audience and the game and developers’ company. As soon as they notice tricks — they’ll leave and go play any other game.
When game pillars patch players’ expectations — they play the game and tell their friends. it forms the community. The community grows and keeps the game alive (as well as the developer company).
Even if the game is developed as a commercial project at its start – there are some ways how the team could find something common between each member which they’d like to focus on and share with players.
- Clear development processes.
Have things clear and understandable for every team member you work with. Split complex things into smaller ones. Have manuals. Make all useful information easily accessible to everyone in the company. Don’t let the tools distract from actual development — they should make the process easier.
- Strong company values.
Why this team can be called a team? Not just because you work together. Teams always have something in common. This is as a collective WHY. Everyone should know and understand why he’s doing what he’s doing.
- Focus on the game pillars.
It’s very easy to distract by everyone’s cool ideas and lost yourself developing something just for developing. It’s a good practice for game directors to write down game pillars and check every feature – does it make any pillar stronger? If not – there’re probably other things that fit the game better.
- Communication.
Every team member is important. Everyone has questions. Everyone could be lost and need help. It’s easy to lose yourself after a while if questions aren’t answered, the general direction is unclear and company and game basics don’t repeat by the leadership team. It’s a very hard job for managers to keep their teams informed and motivated, but it should be done by every lead on a regular basis (you need to fuel your car every so often, you know).
Conclusion
Anything done with love is better. Players feel developers’ intentions and don’t stay in the game if their expectations don’t match with developers’ ideas.
Why should they love your game if you don’t?
The first step to a successful game is to fall in love with it by yourself. Others will love it too ❤️