October 2, 2003

• Stop Reinventing the Wheel.
  
  Guy pitching an idea to me: "Hey, I have this great idea for a character for a story/videogame!"
  Henry: "(Oh great. Here we go again.) Oh yeah? What about it?"
  Guy: "I wanna create this character that is an ordinary guy like you and me!"
  Henry: "Just like you and me?"
  Guy: "Yeah! Nothing special about him at all; In fact, he's not even good looking!"
  Henry: "You want an ugly guy with nothing special to be the main character?"
  Guy: "Yep! No one has ever came up with this idea before. It'll be great!"
  
  Actually, such ideas have come up way too many times. But there's a reason why such characters never made it to the final phases: No one wants to read about an average guy, on top of that, not visually pleasing. Majority of the people already know what being average is like.
  
  It frustrates me that a person who can't even name the great videogame titles in gaming history gets in my face about "thinking outside of the box" when he/she doesn't even know what's inside it.
  
  "Being different" alone is a horrible excuse to create a character. There are certain limitations the general public is willing to accept when it comes to new and different things.
  
  A good example would be the Chrysler PT Cruiser: It's definitely different. But is it well-received by the general public, you know, the people with the spending money? Hell no. You may argue about how much you like the PT Cruiser, but you CANNOT argue against the fact that it sold so poorly, Chrysler had to repackage the 2.4 liter engine (with a turbo) into the Dodge Neon SRT so the assembly line investment isn't completely wasted.
  
  We live in a world of commercialism, where demand drives the supply. No publisher I know is willing to risk picking up a title that is about a character who is just a regular folk, because it won't sell.
  
  Whatever ideas you may have, it's best to do some extensive research and filtering - like understanding the history of the market - before you dive into its development head first.
  
  You heard it here first: A Wolverine FPS game is a stupid idea. A game like that does nothing for its genre. It just satisfies the geek in you.
  
  

  • 3:34 pm
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