Tailoring for platforms

I've had a few stray thoughts about games over the past week.
Claiming to want to make a AAA Mobile games is stupid.

If we look at budgets and earning, I just don't see a company investing as much to develop an IP on mobile on the same level as GTA V or Destiny, would be hard to get a return an investment as well - would mobile gamers pay console prices? Subscription based payment? Enough spending on microtransactions from whales? I know I wouldn't

Other areas would also lack. Graphics might come closer to claiming the same FPS or polygon counts, but you are still talking about a much smaller screen.

Would areas such as AI, storytelling or multiplayer support offer similar experiences as the big budget titles.

Controls will be different, and I think that trying to emulate a gaming pad on a touch screen is a lazy solution and a drawback on most games.

I think most people will agree that developing for specific platforms gives the best result.

That last thought reminded me of the other game related thought I had this week: facebook games are all the same.

Well, sort of. They come in several categories, all of which have a lot of samey games within them. The one I'm think about in particular is the strategy games: they all have base building, in all of them you have time counters for various resources, and they all have a real time element where you attack other players or NPCs. I guess they are still profitable enough to spew out, but I abandoned such games and have stayed away.

I think this platform could use some fresh new ideas tailored specifically to it.

One last thing - I've started entertaining the idea of getting a master's in game design from a South Korean University. I don't know which ones have good programs, what my chances are or if it will finally land me a job. I do like the fact there is a full ride scholarship including studying the language for a year and that it will give me a chance to revisit the country.

There's more pressure from my parents to just find a job, which is a breeding ground for these wild ideas, time will tell if this will take root.
Casual Connect Tel Aviv is next week, maybe I'll gain new insight there - I'll be volunteering, attending session, networking at parties, and hopefully collect some good swag. :)

Building a Village

Sketched out a rough idea of how the game could work. How a player wins made a big contribution to this.


The game would start with only a few places to populate with workers: A central hub (village center) which can hold any number of workers in it, and will perform some sort of general action everyone might need to do at some time. I'll need to think on what that might be, probably something to do with excess goods.
There will also be a number of areas in which a player can add raw good cards to his deck.
With enough raw goods, a basic factory could be built corresponding to each raw resources, allowing to pull processed good cards. If a forest produces wood, the sawmill will make planks, ore from mines to steel, etc.

With enough processed goods, the advanced buildings (selected by players before the game began) may be built next. Advanced building will allow to pull cards with various abilities, such as pulling more resources, linking cards together or improving worker abilities.
A player will want to focus on his own buildings, but can use buildings his opponent built to improve his deck. Perhaps I will award the owner of the building.

Once a player builds all his advanced buildings, he will need to focus on building his (or her) totem (or monument, temple, etc.) The first to finish this final building is the winner.

Card Ideas

Been thinking of the cards for my facebook worker placement deck builder.
The Dominion formula has players buying cards with currency. My idea has a player drawing cards from sending his worker to the appropriate spot.
Certain cards (character) will give you the ability to relocate your worker, enabling the player to pull more cards into his deck, as well as giving special abilities and allowing for combos.
A different type of card will be resource. These will be needed for expanding the tableau from which you can build your deck.

An example would be playing a villager from your deck, moving him into the sawmill to draw a wood card. On the next turn, a builder card will be played, moving that worker to the city hall to build a forge, from which you could draw steel cards.

These cards may need more abilities to offer deeper gameplay and prevent skipped turns.

Worker Placement Deckbuilder for Facebook

Still thinking about my solution to the ultimate facebook game, with neurons firing on all cylinders.
From the mechanics of the game, such as how the cards and board will interact with each other, how I'd like an experience that is has more interaction and less "multiplayer solitaire," to whether I want the board game elements hidden under the interface.

I'm also giving a lot of thought to the theme, trying to figure out something outside the usual fantasy or sci-fi, with such things as building a voodoo village, Somali pirates or monsters hidden in plain sight a la Monsters inc.

Thinking about how everything you can buy with real money could be had with enough hard work, and how it needs to be functional but not give a massive advantage.

SimCity Social is Dying

SimCity Social, the facebook game I am currently putting the most time into will go offline June 14th.
One of the first quests I played in said game was connected to the London Olympics, so it's not quite a year.
I had played Restaurant City for much longer, before it went down (another EA/Playfish game) while some other games, such as Pet Society (coming down the same time as SCS) I played because it felt like a waste of time, while others, like Monster Galaxy have become unplayable as facebook and browsers updated.

Is all this trouble an indication of the state of social games? Will more studios be as troubled as Zynga? Will the model of ingame microtransactions change to something else?

Guess I'll be waiting to see how it folds out (including what game I'll be addicted to next) think about new financial models, and keep dreaming I'll find a job in which all-night gaming marathons are an important part of research.