I noticed that there is a rising demand for slice of life games set in the modern world. It made me wonder if people were no longer interested in fantasy games or if the cog market was already oversaturated with fantasy games and people wanted something different…
Which do you prefer to read: interactive novels set in a fantasy world or the real world (present day)? Do you think there is a market for fantasy games in the current day?
As someone who played these games quite literally from the very first one released…honestly, yeah.
honestly, yeah.
is it “yes that you are tired of fantasy games” or “yes that you love fantasy games”?
Both.
Some readers are. Others are not. Same as with any genre.
I would say that I’m tired of “chosen one” style games, which includes a fair bit of fantasy.
Not really. Depends on author.
I do prefer modern and advanced than older. Unless high magic is applied.
Don’t care much for low magic fantasy for a specific reason. That alone is a different subject matter.
If the story sounds interesting I’ll read it independently if it is set in the real world or in a fantasy one, but I’m more fond of fantasy/science fiction in general.
What I’m tired of is seeing the same playable races over and over again instead of something more unique. I swear every one of these is you either choose between human or humanlike, or monster with a human form which you stay in most of the story.
Also,
why are these two the only options?
hmm, thats true, I’m being too limiting. What options would you add?
I like romance in Games, and the romance in slice of life games is often more defined, so for me it is not the fantasy genre but the save the world and romance is an afterthought that I dislike at the moment.
I would play almost every genre, as long as the romance is good( and with that I personally don’t mean angst) and belongs to the main story, not just be there to have checked romance.
Real world games can be historical, and possibly even twenty minutes into the future (the latter one tends to resemble real word too much for me to consider it anything else than real world, but your mileage may vary). Fantasy worlds aren’t necessarily medieval, but on the other hand you didn’t mention anything about historical era in that one… on the third hand, you could totally have a slice-of-life present-day fantasy game. Then there’s sci-fi, and also games set on alternate Earths, which may include fantasy or other speculative fiction elements or just plain alternate histories, so they’re not really “real” world, but I wouldn’t count them as fantasy worlds either since they are still a variant of Earth, although they can still be fantasy games… (or superhero, or dieselpunk, or what-have-you… dieselpunk superhero, hmm.)
I will always be open to fantasy games as it’s been one of my favorite genres my whole life (I’m particularly partial to low fantasy over high fantasy IFs as I find more variety and fresher takes in the worldbuilding).
I’m bored of “chosen one” narratives and I actually dislike isekai/transmigration stories, or games in which the protag is overpowered. Those just aren’t for me and I may try them but likely won’t buy.
I am also a big fan of slice of life games in any setting because there tends to be a big focus on characters and the relationship between them. That’s a big thing I’m looking for when I’m trying out a game: characters I want to get to know better and spend time with (romance is not required).
I don’t think the demand for fantasy is exhausted by any means. There have been lots of popular second-world and real-world fantasy games released over the years and I don’t see them going anywhere. There are also lots of WIPs with a wide variety of settings, magic levels and types, etc, and plenty of people get excited about them.
(Out of interest, some recent second-world fantasy I’ve enjoyed are Stars Arisen, Siege of Treboulain, Crown of Sorcery and Steel, Heart of Battle, Ink and Intrigue, and Their Majesties’ Pleasure; some recent real-world (or real-world-ish) fantasy I’ve enjoyed are Social Studies of the Doomed, Thicker Than, Professor of Magical Studies, and The Dragon and the Djinn.)
There are some contemporary romance/drama ChoiceScript WIPs, but not many have been released, so it’s hard to say how they compare in saturation levels. It’s always a bit tricky to gauge trends from WIPs because hype and trend cycles go so much faster than they do for released games.
Overall though, as far as I’m concerned the more the merrier and there’s room for all kinds of fantasy and contemporary stories. I personally love to see a variety - if the plots and characters are enjoyable and the writing is to my taste, I’ll happily be along for the ride.
(I don’t know where my Creme series stands in the fantasy/slice-of-life spectrum; I imagine different people would have different opinions, as it’s a historically-inspired setting in another world with no supernatural elements.)
Overall, I just want good stories, whatever genre they may be. Fantasy, sci-fi, modern day slice of life, fusion genres, horror; I’ll take anything if it’s good.
I think both have their place in the market. As a player and a purchaser of IF I am happy to consume both. And there obviously is overlap with urban fantasy. From a marketing perspective, I think fantasy demand ebbs and flows, but is still very solid, judging by the sheer magnitude out there.
I think for writers/creators wondering on whether to make a fantasy themed game or not, it is good to remember that there are a lot of different flavors of fantasy. From cozy to dark and everything in-between, there are choices to be made, plenty of tropes to twirl and make new, and I wouldn’t really worry about one story being to similar to another - there’s plenty to go around.
Now as to why some games sell and market better than the next, well, that’s the zillion-dollar question, but I doubt anyone has the magic answer to that yet. What is hot one day might be droll the next, and I think if one keeps an eye on what others are doing, trends can be noticed sometimes, but it will be interesting to see where it all goes next.
Side Note: At the university I went to, a lot of my creative writing instructors I had actually forbid us from writing any speculative fiction, as they felt it was not real writing - so I want to strongly condemn that idea. Fantasy writing is real writing; a lot of the writing is gorgeous and has real literary merit, often above and beyond so called real world fiction.
I mostly enjoy high fantasy (as in with mqgic elements) fantasy stories but that can be as much historical or alternate universes as it can be urban fantasy.
It’s less a setting thing for me and more a ‘how escapist can I get with this’ thing.
I like fantasy for the magic and worldbuilding and interesting species a creator comes up with.
I want a game to show me something different because currently the real world is kind of depressing.
If that’s a job I have never done or a place I have never been that works as well as fantasy for me.
But fantasy thqt has magic in it definitely gets a bonus from me.
If it’s low fantasy I kind of miss the magic, you know?
That’s the most tun part for me.
Scifi is more a human condition thing for me but in relation or cobtrast with something entirely different and I tend to enjoy stories with aliens or robots or AI the most.
I’m not tired of fantasy by any means; some of the most exciting, entertaining, and original games of the past few years are fantasy. I think there are a lot of subgenres and opportunities within the fantasy genre that haven’t been fully explored yet. I’d love to see more high fantasy set outside the standard Tolkienesque/D&D world - drawing on the rich lore of other cultures, like The Dragon and the Djinn. Or otherwise-realistic historical low fantasy, like The Ghost and the Golem. Or even traditional fantasy settings that employ magic in a different way than we usually see, like the plant magic in Siege of Treboulain. And while cozy fantasy and romantasy are huge right now in the publishing world, CoG/HC haven’t quite caught up yet - I’d love to see more games coming along in those subgenres.
I’d also like to see a broader variety of stories being created. I’d love to see more interactive mysteries or thrillers. I want more slice-of-life and realistic historical games. I’d like more literary and cerebral games too, although that may be more of a me problem than a vast untapped market.
I am tired of it myself because it seems like most games that has been coming out or is a WIP has some fantasy elements to it. But the one thing I am absolutely sick to death of is seeing WIPs that’s all about supernatural things, specifically vampires.