Niche game discussion
by Joshua Dallman · in General Discussion · 11/30/2006 (4:02 pm) · 5 replies
Thread to discuss issues relating to niche games, as raised in recent Ultimate Duck Hunting IOTD.
About the author
#2
(oh, and please no "I don't tell my idea because someone could steal it" posts. Ideas are nothing if you don't actually make a game out of it. Just to clear this up beforehand :-)
So come on, let's brainstorm here a bit :-)
11/30/2006 (10:24 pm)
After reading the original thread on the IOTD, maybe it would make sense to create a list of possible niche game ideas so people might pick their choice and create a cool new game. Jeff talked about lots of niche game types that were never converted to games so this might be very interesting to see what Jeff (and others) would think what those niche game ideas would look like. (oh, and please no "I don't tell my idea because someone could steal it" posts. Ideas are nothing if you don't actually make a game out of it. Just to clear this up beforehand :-)
So come on, let's brainstorm here a bit :-)
#3
Polo, water polo, would be a challenge to develope. Horses, need I say more?
Skydiving, cliffdiving, again challenge. Have to land on targets with all the forces of nature against you etc.
12/01/2006 (11:13 am)
Well heres a couple sports related..Polo, water polo, would be a challenge to develope. Horses, need I say more?
Skydiving, cliffdiving, again challenge. Have to land on targets with all the forces of nature against you etc.
#4
12/01/2006 (12:01 pm)
Horseback Archery is cool. Hell if it was a combat game, rather simple where each team has 8 player with Bows on horseback. Could be one fun little game. Its not niche as such tho. 
#5
Plus, I love things that I do not expect. I love the idea of Dimenxion. Algebra tutorial and shooter. Typing of the Dead has some of the worst voice-acting on the planet and yet it is a wonderful typing tutor. Coming from something that was 'Virtua Cop...with zombies' to a typing tutor is an interesting transition. Bridge Construction Set is a lot of fun...and I never thought that building a bridge could be fun, let alone a game about making them fun. And yet it is. It's not for everyone, definitely, but it is quite fun.
I was playing Contact the other day and thought, "wouldn't it be fun to have a combination sticker/drawing game?" Which was somewhat like an older idea I had about being able to rip up pieces of geometry and reconfigure them into other pieces. For example, ripping up a piece of the edge of "the world" and unwrapping it to create a bridge to an island out past the edge of the world. It ended up being about as intuitive as UV mapping in most applications: not at all. But for the sticker/drawing idea, to be able to see things, draw them (perhaps a bridge), and then peel your picture from the page and attach it to the world. Kind of like Graffiti Kingdom, but instead of raising monsters that you draw, you would manipulate the environment. But that led to a host of realistic problems like trying to figure out what the player was drawing (anyone who has children and has commented on their artwork understands that what they see in their art and what you see with your adult-jaded eyes is completely different).
And then there are things like Harvet Moon and Legend of the Fisher King (which would be an interesting 3D fishing game) and Legend of Blue (in the Survival Kids series). All of these titles are fun little niche games. Cooking Mama is a fun DS title that has a popular niche arena in Japan dedicated to cooking games. There are train conductor games, bus driver games (get those patrons to their route on time!), and a whole host of strange RPG's available in Japan. There are dating and love sims of Virtual people sims like N.U.D.E. Viva Pinata is a very strange little game for the XBox 360 which I have been enjoying a lot. hopefully things like Every Party will make it here, though Small did not (though Chibi Robo did). Odama added pinball to the strategy world. It's a strange combination that worked rather well.
Ideas of strange genres and intuitive arenas are out there, but it is making something work well where it counts. People get caught up in "does this engine have HDRi effects" or "Y rn't my nermal mipped logos not specmapped 2?!?!?" or which engine has feature x rather than making their game. I've played Game Maker and AGS games that I've enjoyed more than most commercial titles I pick up. In many ways I am a niche gamer who enjoys a commercial game now and then. But I love seeing smaller titles with a niche audience hit the streets, and it especially makes me excited when I see them hit a console like the 360 or PS2 or DS...even if it rarely happens in the US.
12/01/2006 (12:19 pm)
I am a huge fan of niche titles. I find them to be rather fun and engaging because they are different than my usual blend. And some of my favorite niches are those within mainstream arenas. I'm excited about Limbo because its dark silhouette art style and physics-based platformer (and seemingly no attack ability in a constantly hostile environment) gels well with me. Amanda hit the niche nail on the head with Aveyond. It's a hell of a fine old-school RPG--and it even allowed her to become a full-time indie and work on her next titles. And I can't wait to play them.Plus, I love things that I do not expect. I love the idea of Dimenxion. Algebra tutorial and shooter. Typing of the Dead has some of the worst voice-acting on the planet and yet it is a wonderful typing tutor. Coming from something that was 'Virtua Cop...with zombies' to a typing tutor is an interesting transition. Bridge Construction Set is a lot of fun...and I never thought that building a bridge could be fun, let alone a game about making them fun. And yet it is. It's not for everyone, definitely, but it is quite fun.
I was playing Contact the other day and thought, "wouldn't it be fun to have a combination sticker/drawing game?" Which was somewhat like an older idea I had about being able to rip up pieces of geometry and reconfigure them into other pieces. For example, ripping up a piece of the edge of "the world" and unwrapping it to create a bridge to an island out past the edge of the world. It ended up being about as intuitive as UV mapping in most applications: not at all. But for the sticker/drawing idea, to be able to see things, draw them (perhaps a bridge), and then peel your picture from the page and attach it to the world. Kind of like Graffiti Kingdom, but instead of raising monsters that you draw, you would manipulate the environment. But that led to a host of realistic problems like trying to figure out what the player was drawing (anyone who has children and has commented on their artwork understands that what they see in their art and what you see with your adult-jaded eyes is completely different).
And then there are things like Harvet Moon and Legend of the Fisher King (which would be an interesting 3D fishing game) and Legend of Blue (in the Survival Kids series). All of these titles are fun little niche games. Cooking Mama is a fun DS title that has a popular niche arena in Japan dedicated to cooking games. There are train conductor games, bus driver games (get those patrons to their route on time!), and a whole host of strange RPG's available in Japan. There are dating and love sims of Virtual people sims like N.U.D.E. Viva Pinata is a very strange little game for the XBox 360 which I have been enjoying a lot. hopefully things like Every Party will make it here, though Small did not (though Chibi Robo did). Odama added pinball to the strategy world. It's a strange combination that worked rather well.
Ideas of strange genres and intuitive arenas are out there, but it is making something work well where it counts. People get caught up in "does this engine have HDRi effects" or "Y rn't my nermal mipped logos not specmapped 2?!?!?" or which engine has feature x rather than making their game. I've played Game Maker and AGS games that I've enjoyed more than most commercial titles I pick up. In many ways I am a niche gamer who enjoys a commercial game now and then. But I love seeing smaller titles with a niche audience hit the streets, and it especially makes me excited when I see them hit a console like the 360 or PS2 or DS...even if it rarely happens in the US.
Zod