Are COG Readers Tired of Fantasy Games?

That tracks with what I’ve heard about university writers not liking genre fiction.

2 Likes

Not me. I don’t like straight-up modern normal games but otherwise I’m pretty open, and a good fantasy story is always one of my faves.

That said, one thing about the fantasy settings is that they tend to be most of the big sagas. These are the five-book (well, one is now planned to be six books and counting) series where each entry is bigger than War and Peace. They’re CoG’s version of the big-ass Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster. And they have that part of the market pretty much locked down when I think there’s space for more.

Hm. We need a sprawling sci-fi epic. Twelve-book series from the get-go and probably ballooning bigger than that, inspired by Dune and Foundation. Someone better get on this. :grinning:

13 Likes

Unfortunately, I’m more in the Star Trek / Babylon 5 / Mass Effect camp myself.

6 Likes

The beauty of space opera is that you can use all of the above for inspiration at once.

5 Likes

I don’t think people are tired of fantasy games so much as they are tired of so many of them feeling so similar. After a while it starts to feel like they’re all just cut and paste from the same few templates. I also think that some of it is really a desire for smaller stories. Not every one on every play wants to have world ending/saving stakes. Sometimes you just want to get the kid to school, or the house renovated, or run for city council or open a restaurant or meet a nice person and get through the first date after your divorce. Something small, something calm, no catastrophes.

21 Likes

I think there might be a writer here that does that to the point that we can absolutely predict how his stories are gonna go and I think he has several games out there are imo, pretty badly written.

Dear lord yes. Give me some politics and history and stuff like that. That’s the sort of thing I like. I’m not a fan of fantasy or horror and even less when the genres I really like such as the above seemingly have to have the fantastical elements mixed in.

1 Like

Would totally love to write a series though, just with my setting. :laughing:

3 Likes

Fantasy has always been popular ever since COG started releasing games. It’s just the subgenre popularity that changes from time to time. There’s been waves of superhero, fantasy pirate, zombie, high fantasy, magic high schools, vampires etc. Often seems to coincide with what’s popular at the cinemas/books.

Superhero has been very popular for a while, given it feels like there is going to be a downturn in the number of superhero movies being made going forward, I suspect we’ll gradually see less superhero games filtering through as they get finished and less are started.

14 Likes

I’m still holding out hope @Eric_Moser’s Community College Hero series gets finished.

8 Likes

As for myself as long as the game is good…I’m not really bored with fantasy.

3 Likes

I hope so. :slight_smile:

11 Likes

Depends… I’ve been getting tired of PG fantasy stuff. A lot of it tends to feel samey with similar goody goody character archetypes that are spammed over and over again.

Gimmi plot twists, WTF moments, violence, meaningful choices, and content that makes me curious.

13 Likes

Always is. But I’m bored with magic, kingdoms, monsters, knights, etc. and I’m looking for more unusual themes in stories.

Also in modern fantasy always the same types of creatures - vampires, werewolves and witches. And maybe demons.

There are so many other more interesting species from folklore and mythology that never appear in Interactive fiction (or these WIPs never get released. Example: Folksaga).

8 Likes

I wouldn’t say I’m completely tired of fantasy, but I would really like for fantasy to blend in to my timeline for a change. Why must fantasy always go hand-in-hand with swords and sandals? Guns, bombs and cars would make for a welcome change.

6 Likes

Would say I am far more tired of paranormal romance than high fantasy because the former is definitely the genre that gets oversaturated.

High fantasy being so prevalent in interactive fiction is obviously because physical gamebooks in the 80’s used it most, followed by science fiction and horror/Lovecraftian. Roleplaying games also have those three genres as prevalent.

3 Likes

I cant speak on the matter of if the fabtasy games are oversaturated. But i personally fall into the slice of life modern day preference since I have never really enjoyed most fantasy settings.

1 Like

I like fantasy and will always give a fantasy IF a look, but whether or not I stick with it depends on the premise intriguing me and the writing hooking me in.

4 Likes

I love fantasy, but I will never touch a slice of life game.

Other genres that are not fantasy sure, but slice of life? Nope, those I find snooze worthy.

3 Likes

I suppose the advantage of a slice of life game is that it’s the genre that can most easily get away from the typical generic teenage or twenty something chosen one in many other genres. Characters get to have some history more than blank slates…

5 Likes