(This article covers ground similar to Ryner's selling your game topic, which I highly recommend reading as well.)
While this applies to comedians and game makers alike, take it with a grain of salt. If you are new to game making and can't "start strong and finish strong" then it is much better to be pancakes then the reverse.
Lets look at an imaginary game starring John. John is a standard hero who's parents died in a fire set by evil Imperial soliders. To defeat them John must traverse multiple fields, killing random ants and slimes for no real reason, to get a magic sword and topple the evil empire. Now you may sound skeptical, but wait! John dies at the end! This is clearly above the foolish "cliche" ideas littering the board. This is UNIQUE!
...but, you don't want to ruin your story, right? So, instead, this is what you post:
Don't expect too much excitement for your game. But lets say you finish and upload it anyway. (Even though almost everyone who's first posts pitches their game never actual does anything.) How many people, do you think, are going to download, unzip, put on the max drive, work with a crappy blue-bottom disk, upload, and uncrush? Numbers are thinning out. But a few probably will. And what do they get? They get to fight ants. They get to go through rushed together dungeons to get to this imperial castle. They get to fight through a generic RPG to get to your "exciting end."
Poor John's gonna die, but is anyone going to see it?
Now, I know you can't explain that John Dies at the End. So whats an aspiring game designer going to do? Actually, one small amendment could help a lot:
John dies at the beginning.
Suddenly, you've got a game staring a dead guy. Maybe he goes to a foggy, boring, flat purgatory. Turns out John wasn't the complete hero, and he goes "down under." Lots of rock, lava, red sky, and such. Maybe you'll have to fight your way through hell. What abilities does a dead guy have? Does he even fight at all? You have to get a magic sword to become king of hell by killing the demon overlord - but the swords owner was a paladin, and resides in heaven. So you've got to fight FOR good, and slowly make your way to heaven to get this sword and free hell from this demon overlord- or take it over, if thats your thing.
You know what the best part is? This is not spoiler content. John dies at the beginning, so you can talk about it. Now, which one do you think people would rather download and play?
And this has even more benefits then you think. You're working so hard on this beginning, so people who take the time to download your game are greeted with a high quality start. And since you're not rushing to get to this glorious "end" so people like your game more, you can make a much higher quality game when you're not pumped on making the end.
No doubt some people in the first camp are smirking. But what about the end? That game is doomed to be pancakes. And who will think about the sequel when the last impression stinks? Looks like you've wasted your John dying limit!
How DOES the game end? You've got a guy who worked to get to heaven. Suddenly he has to realize that, well, maybe he doesn't belong in hell at all. Maybe he's a good guy. Yet, he got some friends working his way up- does he have to bring himself back to hell after all this work to save a bunch of criminals and murderers? What if his own killer is down there? And lets say he does go back to hell. This John, who has his flaws but is overall a good guy who made some mistakes, now has to start murdering innocent people in heaven (and where do dead people go when they die again?) just to go back to hell.
Don't you get it? When you've got an exciting beginning, when you've got good characters and a neat conflict, the ending writes itself. My challenge to aspiring game designers here- take every idea for your game, every awesome character, conflict, villain, location, and monster you can muster, tell us all about it here, and make sure we see it all within an couple hours of playing the game. The ending? You're not allowed to think of the end. Get the game going, and it will end when it wants to.
Originally posted by Mitch Hedberg
Lets look at an imaginary game starring John. John is a standard hero who's parents died in a fire set by evil Imperial soliders. To defeat them John must traverse multiple fields, killing random ants and slimes for no real reason, to get a magic sword and topple the evil empire. Now you may sound skeptical, but wait! John dies at the end! This is clearly above the foolish "cliche" ideas littering the board. This is UNIQUE!
...but, you don't want to ruin your story, right? So, instead, this is what you post:
My game stars John. John is a hero who's parents died in a fire set by evil Imperial soliders. To defeat them John travel the world and defeat monsters to get a magic sword and topple the evil empire. I can't say any more, but let me say theres a HUGE twist at the end.
Poor John's gonna die, but is anyone going to see it?
Now, I know you can't explain that John Dies at the End. So whats an aspiring game designer going to do? Actually, one small amendment could help a lot:
John dies at the beginning.
Suddenly, you've got a game staring a dead guy. Maybe he goes to a foggy, boring, flat purgatory. Turns out John wasn't the complete hero, and he goes "down under." Lots of rock, lava, red sky, and such. Maybe you'll have to fight your way through hell. What abilities does a dead guy have? Does he even fight at all? You have to get a magic sword to become king of hell by killing the demon overlord - but the swords owner was a paladin, and resides in heaven. So you've got to fight FOR good, and slowly make your way to heaven to get this sword and free hell from this demon overlord- or take it over, if thats your thing.
You know what the best part is? This is not spoiler content. John dies at the beginning, so you can talk about it. Now, which one do you think people would rather download and play?
And this has even more benefits then you think. You're working so hard on this beginning, so people who take the time to download your game are greeted with a high quality start. And since you're not rushing to get to this glorious "end" so people like your game more, you can make a much higher quality game when you're not pumped on making the end.
No doubt some people in the first camp are smirking. But what about the end? That game is doomed to be pancakes. And who will think about the sequel when the last impression stinks? Looks like you've wasted your John dying limit!
How DOES the game end? You've got a guy who worked to get to heaven. Suddenly he has to realize that, well, maybe he doesn't belong in hell at all. Maybe he's a good guy. Yet, he got some friends working his way up- does he have to bring himself back to hell after all this work to save a bunch of criminals and murderers? What if his own killer is down there? And lets say he does go back to hell. This John, who has his flaws but is overall a good guy who made some mistakes, now has to start murdering innocent people in heaven (and where do dead people go when they die again?) just to go back to hell.
Don't you get it? When you've got an exciting beginning, when you've got good characters and a neat conflict, the ending writes itself. My challenge to aspiring game designers here- take every idea for your game, every awesome character, conflict, villain, location, and monster you can muster, tell us all about it here, and make sure we see it all within an couple hours of playing the game. The ending? You're not allowed to think of the end. Get the game going, and it will end when it wants to.
Comment