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[diegzumillo]

Terrible title but I couldn't think of anything better, I don't know what adjective to use.

I find myself highly judgmental of a game that tries to be more visible by being over-the-top with whatever. Like that hatred game. Or a game with blatant nudity. Or a game with farts and butts, you get the idea. But I wonder if it's really fair. I mean, it works. People look at it. If you are trying to sell a product this sounds like a good strategy. Unless that's the only thing it has to offer, then the attention will be followed by poor reviews etc.

This thought occurred to me after looking at one of my own games. It's a simple 3d rocket game, with orbital dynamics. It's not completed, so I never expected it to get any attention. And it never did. But it totally would (maybe) if I changed the context to Little Farting Prince: Orbital Dynamics Is For Assholes and replace the rocket by a guy farting. To replenish fuel you have to collect cabbage. It's kinda funny but absolutely cheap! (or whatever better adjective exists) but the game would be the same, and I like it.

Any thoughts on this?

[Zorg]

In my opinion, it's art to create a game with a strong individual graphic style without using these cheap selling strategies (mostly violence and nudity). I'd like to see more games without these mechanics, which only seem to exist and are put in games to attract pubescent males(?).

Edit: I tend to ignore these kind of games and hope the 'cheapness' would not be that successful. Maybe 'Mount your Friends' is a good game. I'll never know because i don't want to support it.

[diegzumillo]

That's how I feel about it too. I guess it comes down to art as a product versus art for art. It that makes any sense.

[Moth]

lmao well your farting prince idea isn't explicit in the way hatred is, it's just gross. I think the term, rather than cheapness, is exploitation- and in your case I wouldn't say a farting prince would be exploitation in the way hatred clearly is, but rather it would be seeking what I would call "concept notability"

for instance, imagine if someone took Earthbound from the SNES and took out all of the humor and cute, cartoony designs, replacing them with generic low fantasy sprites- leaving the game mechanically unchanged but aesthetically turning it into a tolkein derivative slog with no sense of creativity. Earthbound's draw is in its concept notability- its style, vibrant imagination and story- not its gameplay, and I wouldn't criticize that in the same way I would criticize hatred by calling it cheaply exploitative.

[OccamsRazor]

I think Moth basically nailed it - you want your game to be notable above all else. It doesn't necessarily have to be the cheap, exploitative stuff that you've been referring to, but you need a hook or a draw at some point.

So yes, gaining attention by going for pure awfulness like Hatred, or the shock and awe factor of nudity or explosions or explosive nudity is certainly one way to get that attention and notability. But it's not the only way, and its almost provably not the best way. I'd almost say notoriety is a better term for those games.

I think for every 'successful' game you see that makes it on the back of one of these concepts, there are a hundred other successful games that are notable for much better reasons.

[ironbelly]

There was a good panel discussion at PAX this year on "Clickbait" game titles. I dont know if there's a video of it anywhere, could be worth trying to find though

It's a sad monster we've created.

[Aliencube]

I think my immediate reaction is that there is an art in itself to being over the top. Just look at someone like Jeremy Clarkson.

I think part of the problem in games is that you have a lot of people putting their own spin on the same story. The game gets stretched and tugged in many different directions.

That said, I agree to a certain point. A lot of games use things like nudity for shock value but don't think about what it says about the characters, scene, or general impact. The opposite end of the spectrum is game of thrones that uses nudity in an incredibly deliberate manner.

[chaosmore]

...but the game would be the same, and I like it.

I found it strange that you liked it despite farting prince is just as cheap as Hatred imo. I'm interpreting the word "cheap" as "effortless", so replacing the rocket with a farting guy is just as cheap as coating your game with the word "HATRED". A more controversial example would be 5NAF, I personally don't think that game is actually good, but it's definitely very cheap.

I think what we would agree upon is that we can accept something that feels cheap, but is complex or clever nevertheless? For example one of my favorite game, River City Ransom, has only one type of enemy, but people like the combat system so much that today it's consider one of the cult classic. A game that felt just as fun even you picked it up after 10 years or so, it speaks volume as to how delicate the game is designed.

[oahda]

No, it's not funny if you're older than five. Cheap is indeed the correct word. I wouldn't advice you to do it just to get attention. Like you said yourself, while you'll probably get it, it's not good attention. I don't agree with "all coverage is good coverage" or whatever (I know the word isn't coverage but I can't remember the right one ATM). It might be if all you care about is money, but not if you care about what you're actually making and presenting. I wouldn't play it nor recommend it, at least.

[IBOL17]

Honestly, if you're not totally morally opposed to trying it, then actually do it as an experiment, and track the results live in this thread ("live" being a relative term meaning over the weeks that it takes place).

I agree it is a sad state of affairs. Gameplay is #1 in my book, but it is not "eye-catching"...

[ProgramGamer]

Gameplay by definition is kinesthetic, so yeah it's not and can't be eye catching. But selling a premise or a fantasy is a big portion of making an audience for your game, so I'm not against making a game look flashy or eye catching if I know it's going to be good once people actually get their hands on it.

Also I want to see a post mortem on "Little Farting Prince: Orbital Dynamics Is For Assholes". Make it happen pls