Category: Video Games

Businesses that aren’t looking to the future

Netflix and Gamefly

Both are good companies. Both are worthless companies.

In the near future you will not have to rent movies or games on disks, so what will these two companies do? Offer downloadable titles? But how will they compete amongst the giants who will offer similar services? Amazon, Apple, Sony, etc.

Both Netflix and Gamefly will become worthless but nostalgic nonetheless. This is the company model that you want to avoid. Why would you ever think about short-term!?

Would we have Amazon, XM Radio, Microsoft, etc if they all thought about the short-term? No, I don’t think so…

Sound and Music

They are the most emersive elements in the game. That is why they are so important. Sound effects and music are able to bring a player into your world and make them stay. 

Also music is one of the best ways to advertise! If you have a great tune people will get it stuck in their heads and think about it whether that be humming or whistling. Eventually someone will ask them what tune that is. Just look at the Mario theme, if you start to whistle it around your friends they’ll start to join in. 

Instant Gratification

Truly the only job in this industry where you receive instant gratification is Public Relations/Marketing. You get to setup the parties, spread word of mouth, deal with the sales of your game, etc. In comparison to the other jobs this one is much more fast paced. The only problem is that once the game has been released, after a while you’re not needed anymore unless there’s a new project being released soon. So job stability is definitely that that high. Your in the department that the company cuts from first. :( 

PR Analysis: The Divine

The Divine PR was an official announcement of the game itself. Sent out late 7/17/06.

The Divine homepage recevied over 500 vistors, over 1000 page views in first full day of release. The second day it over 400 visitors, over 1000 page views.

You Google ‘The Divine’ nothing comes up. ‘The Divine Game’ has a couple sites on various pages. ‘The Divine Packom Interactive’ has every page about the game.

Now the ordeal is that many of these pages are in foreign languages. In something that I did not expect at all. We have more foreign websites than English websites. So it appears that we could be missing the boat because we won’t be offering the game in all of their languages.

Website Presentation

Your pitch is your website. Whether you are looking for a publisher or a distributor, the first thing they’ll see is your website. When you release your game your website will be the first thing a player interacts with. You must at all costs make the presentation of your website as simple and professional as possible, while maintaining the game’s atmosphere.

If your game is a horror game, the website should be dark and graphically run-down. If you have a puzzle game, the website should be bright and colorful.

No matter what the layout looks like it doesn’t matter if the visitor can’t find what they are looking for. Any page besides News, Forum, Screenshots (Media/Downloads), Purchase, Contact could be pointless. You want to keep things organized and clutterless. If your visitor cannot find what they want in 5 seconds your website layout sucks.