It used to be simpler 8 to 10 odd years or so ago, the online gaming market wasn’t as cramped, cutthroat and saturated like what it is today. In today’s unforgiving industry, a LOT of games get designed, put on the proverbial closed beta axe and (around 80% to 90%) will never get to see the light of day. This may be due to the fact that most games are just rehashes or old gimmicks or, sadly, clones of more popular AAA titles. There toooo much fantasy titles out there. The teams that tried to stay away from them are also having a hard time.

Only the innovative designs strike a big chance of seeing their titles go past the betas and earn money in the “commercial” stage. A like-the-rest-of-em game may be a modest hit but if another similar title comes up with better graphics, it’s difficult to start all over again and retain players.

Here’s my unsolicited advice for the design/developer talents out there… some ideas off the top of my head on how to make things work…

(more…)