I read Seth Godin's Purple Cow last year and it was a revelation: it made me realize I had lost my way as a game maker and artist.
The main thrust of the book - in a sea of white cows, a purple cow will stand out. Don't try to be like everyone else, do something remarkable. Literally "remarkable" - as in, people will make remarks about it. News about your product will go at least a little bit viral.
When I read it, I had been making game-jam-sized games like We're No Angels and sixty second shooter, and wondering if there was anything I could do to make sixty second shooter more succesful, but I had to be honest with myself: sixty second shooter is fairly unremarkable. It's just a mash-up of a couple other genres with programmer art. Sure, there are a few remarks one could make about it:
- it's actually really fun (but fun isn't enough, of course, there are thousands of really fun games out there)
- it used new technology (but, hey, the players don't care)
- barriers to entry are low - as long as you're running chrome the load time is nearly instaneous, it won't take too much out of your day, you don't need to sign in and give me an e-mail address (but so are a thousand games on Kongregate)
Which is a big part of why I'm stepping up and making Energy Hook. It's the most remarkable project I can think of that we can do with almost no funding.
Also, Purple Cow has given me a lens with which to look at other people's games. I often will give people feedback on their games and almost always the first thing the games have me asking is, "What is remarkable about this? Why should I play it, and talk about it, when there's a thousand other games out there?"
Because, wow, the game market isn't a sea of white cows. It's a technicolor ocean of all shapes and colors. To stand out, your cow has to be a frickin' ultraviolet light.
So - here's something we can do. Put a link to the website for the game you're working on in the comments, and, in just a few sentences, tell us why it's remarkable. What makes it purple? Go!
I have to absolutely agree; however to be pedantic an ultraviolet cow would be invisible. Perhaps you mean a luminous one?
Posted by: Johnfredcee | January 02, 2013 at 11:25 AM
I was imagining one of those black lights you see at raves (or in my daughter's bedroom), so, yes, luminous.
Posted by: Happionlabs | January 02, 2013 at 11:59 AM
The interesting thing that comes to mind for me is Dungeon World. It's not very remarkable: hacking some hot indie system to do D&D is pretty standard. But, at least by RPG standards it's taken off dramatically.
Godin isn't wrong, but there are many more factors to success. I think the only one you can really plan for or aim for though is being a purple cow.
Posted by: Olde_fortran | January 04, 2013 at 04:28 PM
DW is remarkable, though! Hell, just in the way that one reviewer acted like it was blasphemy against the old school! HOW DARE YOU GET YOUR APOCALYPSE WORLD IN MY D&D!?! I could list a number of other remarkable things about it as well (just by skimming the internet for remarks people have made.)
Though that is where Godin's stuff does break down somewhat for me - it's easy to find what makes something 'remarkable' after the fact of its success. And some things I think are remarkable don't succeed.
Posted by: Happionlabs | January 04, 2013 at 04:42 PM