Game Design, Programming and running a one-man games business…

Promoting a genre-less game

cliffski

There’s a big problem in doing PR and marketing for Kudos 2. It has no genre. The nearest it gets to a genre is ‘like the sims’. But even then, the Sims has no genre. Most hardcore gaming sites have genres such as Strategy,Arcade, RTS, FPS, Adventure. Kudos is none of these. Some might consider it a strategy game, but many sites assume a strategy game is an RTS, or at least some sort of combat or war game. Most strategy sites are bulging with screenshots of Elves and Tanks, hardly the same genre as Kudos 2.

Then there are the casual sites, where the taregt market for Kudos 2 also overlaps. The people who play games like ‘Diner Dash’ often quite like Kudos 2, IF they get to try it. The thing is, these sites also pigeonhole their games into ‘Time management’ ‘Puzzle’ and ‘Arcade’.

That makes me laugh, because what they really mean is ‘Diner Dash clone’ ‘bejewlled Clone’ and ‘Zuma Clone’. There is sod-all innovation in most of these games. But anyway, despite that rant, you will see again that Kudos 2 does not fit nicely anywhere. Sometimes it’s puzzle, sometimes arcade, sometimes its RPG or Adventure or strategy.

Nobody actually looks for Kudos 2, because they don’t know what sort of game it is. The best I can hope for is people expect it to be like an existing gewnre, but give it a go anyway. When people try it, they tend to like it.

Maybe next time I should make a game that more clearly fits in an existing genre. Right now I’m doing the very first bits of work on the next game, and it’s another strategy game. I have a nice idea for the game, and can imagine it being really cool. I just need to get the visual side of things arranged nicely…

18 thoughts on Promoting a genre-less game

  1. I hope you were joking when you want to make a game next time that “more clearly fits in an existing genre”! That’s exactly what the big name developers/publishers do to effectively quash innovation (well there are a few exceptions, like Maxis as you mentioned with “The Sims”) – they’ll look at a game and consider how they could market it and if the game is way out there or too different to an existing genre they’re unlikely to take the risk.

    Having said that though, I believe you’re correct in assuming that you’d at least get more coverage if your game *did* fit in a genre and more likely a lot of money. I cannot condemn that behaviour since you do need to make money in order to live :P but I thought the primary reason you left the big name developers was so you could work on your own stuff?

    I’d classify Kudos 2 as a “life sim” which is a very sparse genre considering you’ve got Kudos, The Sims, Alter Ego and a few others – it bears some similarities to Japanese games like “Princess Maker” too except it doesn’t have the awesome epilogues (I think they have like 80 “endings” in that game). I think if another Kudos game came out that would be a way of improving it IMHO :). It gives players a sense of achievement plus encourages replayability which in turn gives the game even more value!

  2. Don’t worry, I’m hardly likely to clone anything :D. I don’t think I had as much a problem with Democracy, which was clearly a strategy game that appealed slightly to typical strategy players. My next game (if I stick with the current plan) will be of a similar ilk.

  3. cliff, i am interested in your thinking behind what your next game will /might be : why do you wish to stick to “strategy / sim” type games ( for lack of a better word ) and not jump into action / rpg / puzzle games?( to name a few examples) One of the advantages you have of being alone is being able to make whatever type of game you please in whatever way you like : is it a case of sticking to what you know best or is there some other reason?

    (btw I am not criticising you at all just interested in your “motives”..)

  4. Lots of reasons. Partly because I know how to make sim games, and really enjoy playing them. Partly because thats what I’m known for, and I want to cater to my existing audience.
    Also I’m not sure it’s that easy for lone developers to compete in the other genres. The hidden object games seem to be very art based, and I tend to do more design and code based games.
    I’d love to do an RTS game one day, or maybe a shootemup game, but I’m not sure there is much of a demand for paid games in either genre from an indie perspective…

  6. …Kudos 2 is a sim? I don’t know how that escapes anyone. It’s a life simulator. Like The Sims. It simulates living. It’s… a sim.

  7. I think you can call it a life simulation game. In fact, I think that’s a game category on Amazon.com.

  8. Oh it’s clearly a sim, but very few websites seem to have a sim category now, especially the casual portals.

  12. I think a bit of the problem, unfortunately, is that the name (Kudos) doesn’t tell you anything about what the game’s about.

  15. The reason that “sim” is under-represented as a genre these days is because it isn’t a genre. Sim is just a big term meaning “like The Sims” (at which point developers throw up their hands about not understanding it really etc). There is nothing mysterious about The Sims. It is and always benn an rpg plain and simple. People get hung up on it because it’s not tarted up with fantasy stylings like a regular rpg and doesn’t bother too much with story but it’s an rpg nonetheless.

    And so is Kudos.

  16. I don’t know why they wouldn’t have “Simulation” as a genre. I would head straight for that category every time, because I would also expect to find “tycoon”-type games there, which are always fun for me. I find them interesting in the same way I find Kudos interesting.

  17. Actually, as a console gamer (lapsed PC gamer – I couldn’t be arsed to have to perpetually tweak and buy new PC components to run buggy games), I happened to stumble across this game as I was looking for something to rival my much loved freeware “Gamesbiz 2”.

    I think I used the term “simulation” to find it, but I have had to sift through a lot of non-simulation in order to find it. I have used the search “business game” extensively and found bugger all matching games!

  18. I don’t know If I said it already but …Excellent site, keep up the good work. I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks, :)

    A definite great read….

Comments are currently closed.