Jerma on What Makes Games "Take Off"

I really don't think I can explain with words how true these words are - you might need to watch the video for yourself to understand.

Also, SMITE Beta in the background, but that's another topic altogether. The main point that Jerma is trying to get on in this video is what makes a game like Shantae or Sonic the Hedgehog "take off", as it were (bringing these two up because they're the most popular topics at the moment, but again, I digress).

Nice vid, certainly some tasty food for thought within.

I don't see much reason to not agree with word-of-mouth and easy access being big parts of what makes a game great. Innovation certainly seems to help as well, but with how far games have come, it makes you wonder just how many more unique ideas people will be able to come up with. Not to mention unique ideas that will really take off.

Taking some time to reflect, I think the biggest reason I've looked forward to Shantae's new adventures is because they are adventure platformers, a genre I enjoy which have been done quite a few times, yes. But they also boast unique characters and mechanics that keep them from being total rip-offs of any one adventure platformer. I do believe in innovation via presentation, and prefer using the term 'tribute' over 'rip-off', unless of course the game in question is just bad and lacking any character to help it stand out in any aspect

I think that the way companies advertise does make a difference. Offering goodies like free demos before your game is released is nice too. But even so, I don't think either of those will make as much difference as the things he's talking about here.

It seems like early games on the NES had a better chance of taking off. Part of this is because there was a limited selection at the time, so people "had" to stumble on the ones the liked. That could also have to do with innovation, since many ideas were so new. Something worth noting, though, is how many games and ideas DIDN'T take off in that collection. Gyromite was as original of an idea as anything else, but it's not that great of a game and isn't as well remembered as Super Mario Bros. (Disclaimer: Never played Gyromite, only seen footage.)

Word of mouth is definitely a powerful tool, and a lot of companies just pray that something of theirs will "go viral". Who wouldn't want free, fast advertising from people the potential buyer trusts, after all? I think this is the biggest way for something to gain popularity. If someone is taking the time to praise or advertise something when they're not getting paid for it, there must be something they really enjoy about it.

One last thought I have is that it's never too late for something to catch on and become popular. Any new game released is a new chance for a series to catch on. A few videos of an old series could be enough to spark new interest in it. I really want to think of an example here, but I don't know one off top of my head!