Genre Generation

Games, Genres and Why Independent Games are Vital
by Greg Costikyan

I'm a fan of Mr. Costikyan's and think most people interested in game design should read just about everything here: http://www.costik.com/writing.html . Fair warning: this may color your thinking about games forever more.

As Mr. Costikyan says in his own blog about the subject, his talk was mostly a combination of things he's said before.

You can read Mr. Costikyan's Power Point presentation yourself. But I'll highlight a few points.

Mr. Costikyan speaks very quickly but very calmly. Pay attention or you just missed his explanation of exactly how badly you are screwed, indie game maker. He also has a deep and thorough knowledge of this history of games.

Genres in other media are defined by different things.

• Novels - themes (sci-fi, western, mystery, etc.)
• Music - nature of the sound (choral, emo, drums & bass, gangsta, the Blues)*
• Film - emotion (horror, romance, comedy)
  

* [I think the point he's made here is essentially right, but there is more than that going on. The blues isn't about the nature of the sound, it is about the structure of the music, following the "1 4 5" chord structure. I think music lends itself to multiple genres, for instance, there is a difference between Mississippi Delta Blues and Chicago (electic guitar) blues, just as there is a difference between big band swing and 'hard bop'. But this is quibbling. I don't know what "emo" means]

Game genres are best defined by their primary game mechanics. Thus, the "shmup" ("SHoot 'eM UP" - often in a space setting). Creating new game genre/game mechanics creates a whole new category of game. Innovation in games is led by new styles of play - this creates new audiences.

Nothing new in video games since 1996 (Rhythm games, Parappa the Rapper.)

There are many comparisons between Hollywood and the video game industry, but with rare exception, gaming doesn't have stars that can drive production of certain movies.

What's the future of gaming?
Genres will narrow, budgets will rise.
New titles need "sales velocity" to be successful in retail distribution and you've only got a two-week window.

"The game you've been working on for three years, if they don't nail the marketing right, you're fucked."

If you're trying to make a game of the type that the big guys do (FPS, RTS, etc), you're dead.

What to do? The things that EA are not.

What aren't they doing?

• Adventure
• Wargaming
• Sim/Tycoon style
• Non-FPS shooters
• 4X
• Shmups
• Tunr-based Strategy (Lase Squad Nemesis)
• Sports Management
  

Some old style games have no current analogy:

• Balance of Power
• 7 Cities of Gold
• MULE

Examples and Areas of Genre Creation:

• Technology Improves
• Physics
• AI
• Social Networking (Which current MMOs don't do really)
• Cross platform/marketing ubiquity
• Proceduraly generated content
• Subject Matter (SimCity, city management, etc.; however - marketing challenges)
• Business Channel (Magic the Gathering sold in comic book stores)
• Cominations (Dune II combined already existing game play elements into the first true RTS)
• UI (the Eye Toy)
• Evoked Emotion (Cloud)
• Actvitity (Crawford 'verbs are the allowed activities'; Play With Fire = "to burn")
• Mathematical Ideas (Scram)
  

Most experiments will fail. So fail cheaply and experiment a lot.

State of Manifesto Games: About to launch, probably in the next few weeks.

Recommended Reading:
Blue Ocean Strategy
Patterns in Game Design