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View Profile FlukeDude
The programmer formerly known as souled

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Why the hard workers lose

Posted by FlukeDude - January 20th, 2008


Line Rider. Cursor*10. Just two examples of amazing ideas, that will or have reached millions of views. Simple concepts, but well done and clever. And look how that pays off: Line Rider reaches over 25 million views, the beta still receiving thousands of views a day. And just search for Cursor*10, people are already calling it the big Flash game of 2008.

Oh I almost forgot, FPA: World 2 came out. Apparently the creator spent something like 2 years making this, and although it got a better score than Cursor*10, think of the amount of hours spent on each one. It's still obviously a fantastic game, but you can almost cringe at how long it took to make. And the code is probably as ingenious as Cursor*10's concept, but it doesn't pay off as well.

PALADIN: the Game was great, but it wasn't a success. It was chunky, it could have been so good, but it was too much work for 2 people. And that's where I come in to say this:

Flash games should be simple and clever. You don't need to spend hours of time working on an RPG, that's what video games are for. A brilliant concept always wins, even in video games (think of Portal). I have decided that my games of this year are not going to be super ambitious, they will (hopefully) be simple and clever. Even if the hours spent thinking take as long as the hours spent coding an RPG, at least you can think in the sunshine, not have your eyes bulging in front of a screen.


Comments

youre totally right. Flash games should be a simple concept not a drawn out long ass RPG.

And could i interest you in a free copy of the internet? I print them out in my basement.

Sure, though I've already got a few

I agree with what your saying, in the end its all about the target audience, be it highly judgemental 10 year olds or not. But still, a good concept is more luck than hard work, we just have to understand what will work and what wont.

Yay Souled ;)

I guess a good concept is partly luck, but it's also about trial and error. Some people may make what they think is a clever concept when it isn't, but because they've made an engine for it they don't want to quit it.

Yay crushy ;)

So you are basically saying Jazza and Adam Philips works sucks, because they spent too many hours to make their masterpiece...

I disagree. Think about a original concept. Now think about this original concept being implemented in a month and in a day. Which will be better.

Of course, hard work is not everything that make a good work but it surely helps to make the difference.

Sure, there are many people that make original crap and get high scores here in NG. But don't confuse a high review or score with good work. It is not always the same. for example, the 1st and 4th most viewed flash here in NG are very crappy hentai games.

By the way, don't matter what you think, Paladin WAS a success. It have 4.3 score which is quite a feat, and it is one of the best action side-scrolling flash games ever made.

I'm not saying they suck at all, and I'm talking about games here, not movies. All I'm saying is the people who spent hundreds of hours creating Flash games recieve the same or less views and score as the simple, clever ones.

And I'm not saying people shouldn't do that if they want, I'm just pointing out how it seems to be. And I don't think Flash is the best way to make huge ambitious games at the moment either.

Paladin may have been successful, but it seriously wasn't a major success. In fact compared to the hype I'd say it was a slight let down.

Games like Cursor^10 have their moment, but it soon wears off. I bet you in around a months time that Cursor^10 will be out of the top ten and back into obscurity once the concept wears thin and people try to recreate similar games.

Whereas games like Fancy Pants Adventure 2 and Paladin will be around for a while and will be stand out games for other flash developers. People will still be playing them in years to come. They have replay value unlike most games.

People creating these big games are constantly pushing the boundries for what can be achieved in flash and without these kind of people to inspire us to push further with our stuff flash libarys would be full of little ten-a-penny mini games that would be forgotten about the next day.

For most making games isn't about recognition but as a hobby, for the makers to look back on and think 'wow, I made that'.

I speak not from experience because as of yet i haven't created anything large enough to call a sucess but one day I hope to.

Inspiring words. But still, Line Rider's going to be played more than those games. If people enjoy making big games as a hobby, that's fantastic, but not everyone does...

To be fair Line Rider was the first of its kind. It probably would of been alot of hard work for the game's maker, and he constantly updating things to keep things fresh. Its one off those games that can be played thousands of times without ever being exactly the same, so I wouldn't really class it as a small game.

To me it just seems lazy for you to say that you won't be to ambitious with your game making in future because a good concept always wins. The chances of you coming up with the next Line Rider are very slim.

I'm not bashing you opinion because you do have a valid point in someways, I guess people will just keep on doing whatever they want, which is what Flash game making is all about.

Exactly. I just know I won't enjoy making a huge HUGE game.

The thing is, even people who hit it big with those small time games aren't trying to hit it big. Line Rider started out as a simple internet toy, that the creator made for fun in his free time. He didn't do it for popularity or money. Cursor*10, the REAL creator of that didn't even bother to put it on any mainstream website.

Good ideas in small packages come along once in a blue moon, and most of the time people aren't trying to make money or popularity off of those. If you make something you're proud of, it doesn't matter what medium it's in or how big it is, you should be happy. Brilliant concepts are good, but hard work, determination and that fuzzy feeling you get when you've made something awesome and huge are all things that I shoot for.

Flash may not be the best thing to use to make huge ambitious games, but if that's all you have it at hand, have at it. Not everything is about the pay-off.

I would rather be a game designer making 35k a year rather then be the regional manager of McDonalds making 55k year.

Actually that is quite true. I guess it's time to make a new topic >.<