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Masters of Doom and Deja-vu
Posted by spaceghost on August 01, 2003 at 08:46 AM | Comments (7)
Ever get that feeling? The glitch in the Matrix? The feeling of Deja-vu that is just so strong you can't shake it from the front of your brain? After finishing the new book, The Masters of Doom, the story of how John Romero and John Carmack (Surgeon John and Engine John) started id Software, defined the First Person Shooter (FPS) and changed the game industry forever, I get the feeling that history is about to repeat itself. Glitch in the Matrix.
The story of the two Johns is really about people pursuing their dreams without knowing the "rules" of the video games business. After all, how can 2-4 guys making games out of a rundown lake house take on EA, Nintendo, or Sega? No question about it, what they were doing was supposed to fail. From game development to distribution you just don't make games this way. So why were they successful?
The first thing that id Software had going for them was vision. They wanted to make games they wanted to play and believed that the fast action, first person perspective game framework would change the way people experience virtual worlds. But, at the time, the video games industry was focused on 2D fighters and platform games. That's what consumers want, not this Wolfenstein 3D stuff....
The second thing id Software did was to leverage a relatively new distribution model called "Shareware". Give the player a little bit for free and charge them for the rest. This distribution allowed id Software to become the most successful publisher in Shareware history and almost instant millionaires. By leveraging a new distribution model and following a vision for game design, id Software beat the odds and the big boys. So, will history repeat itself? Is there still room for small developers with vision in the multi billion dollar video games industry to rock the world?
I believe that the wireless market will prove to be the fertile ground for small game developers to change the system and make their mark. With the wealth of Java development tools, cheap hardware, and a brand new medium, the market is almost demanding that someone shows how revolutionary mobile gaming will be. Today, most mobile devices have become "wireless consoles" where games are just downloaded to the phone and played there, negating the handsets most important characteristic: it is a wireless device that can be connected to something else.
The possibilities that wireless game devices open up is seemingly endless. Location based interaction, multi platform connectivity, persistent world communications, game groups that change depending on your physical proximity to other gamers, character/environment maintenance, and the list goes on. And the market is wide open! There is no one clear leader in this new video game space! Anyone with a new idea, vision, and can see how a new distribution model might work could emerge as the new thought leader.
Hmmm....did you see that? Deja-vu...
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Comments
Comments are listed in date ascending order (oldest first) | Post Comment
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smalltime developer for small device
I believe strongly that for a small time, indie developer. mobile java games are the best bet to compete against the big bouys of the games industry.
as mentioned in the article, codebase is relatively small meaning a 1-2 person team can make a relatively good game, given the resources of a mobile device.
secondly, the game offers a new domain which has up till now not been fully exploited. It allows people with new vision and creativity to break the mould of gaming. This plays into the hands of the smalltime developer.
On the negative side, Ive already seen big studios jumping on the band wagon and producing some impressive games. The amount of money, experise and research they can spend on groudbreaking technologies for limited devices, makes a smalltimer's playing field a bit uneven.
Another point, is mobile device technologies are moving so rapidly that we are already seen full-blown 3D games that require a specialised team of 3D artists and multimedia experts, which again sidelines a smalltime coder who can only draw stickfigures that he/she learnt in playschool.
soo.... in conclusion, I do see space for a foot in the proverbial doorstep, but time is short and that foot could very well get squashed in the door...
Posted by: larry on August 04, 2003 at 06:21 AM
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smalltime developer for small device
The problem was never content creation or programming being a barrier to entry: it was marketing budgets, shelfspace, advertising, and press awareness. The big boys have still got all that sewn up. It's going to be an uphill battle.
Cas :)
Posted by: princec on August 04, 2003 at 03:19 PM
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smalltime developer for small device
Remember, is Software used sharweare and word of mouth for the gaming community to create the success they had with Wolf3D. They out marketed the marketers. I don't think ANYONE has any of that sewn up. A more recent game to achieve success through "viral" marketing was Serious Sam.
There is a wealth of games available for J2ME devices that one can download just by doing a Google search that doesen't even go through the carriers, so there is a real opportunity for a small team to compete in the "sewn up" games market.
-SG
Posted by: spaceghost on August 05, 2003 at 06:40 AM
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DOOMed to relive the present in a wireless world
I was thinking about what Chris M. posted about the future for wireless and it occurs to me that a wide open future is probably more elusive than we all hope. I am concerned because it seems like content aggregators (increasingly includes traditional publishers) are dominating mobile providers' menus which makes it next to impossible for indie developers to provide games that will be visible enough to get noticed. When Doom defined a new genre, the innovative PC gamescape was not yet obfuscated by publishing giants. It was possible for a small team to make a big noise. Nowadays, the new dev guys 'n gals usually need introductions to decision makers from trusted industry agents who take a nice percentage of deals. And from what I hear, mobile aggregators demand a far more substantial cut than most agents. And far from the even playing field of commonly addressed websites, we are fast approaching a world of heirarchically enforced content where a truly innovative game may be buried 4+ menus down. How will people be able to find independent games when the standard method for finding them is based on a non-level playing field? I think there is a real danger that the barrier for entry will get to be too high for up and comers with big ideas.
Posted by: aaron_in_austin on September 24, 2003 at 08:40 PM
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Ever get that other feeling?
You know, the one that suggests Chris may never update this blog again?:)
Bill
Posted by: wrswaney on October 20, 2003 at 06:59 AM
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