I was curious about the genre spread of published works and WiPs, as well as the general preferences of forum-goers. So here is 30 seconds of market research material.
Question 1: If you have written a CoG/HG, or if you are currently writing a WiP which might become a CoG/HG, which conventional genre would you place the story in?
Romance
Thriller/Action
Sci-Fi
Horror
Western
Young Adult
Childrenās
Fantasy
Literary
Mystery
0voters
Question 2: When reading CoGs/HGs, which conventional genre interests you the most?
Romance
Thriller/Action
Sci-Fi
Horror
Western
Young Adult
Childrenās
Fantasy
Literary
Mystery
0voters
Question 3: Which genre do you wish was better represented, either with better quality releases or simply greater quantity, with CoGs/HGs?
Romance
Thriller/Action
Sci-Fi
Horror
Western
Young Adult
Childrenās
Fantasy
Literary
Mystery
0voters
Question 4: Which genre do you think is over-represented in CoGs/HGs, meaning youād like to see fewer releases in this genre?
Although The Magicianās Task is in the high fantasy genre, Iād also consider it a romance story. It would be nice if we could choose multiple options but I know from experience that those polls can never be edited anyways.
Yeah I canāt edit them, and frankly I prefer making people decide āWhat shelf would my story be on if it was stocked in a bookstore?ā Because unless youāre a huge name and get placed on that front table by the entrance, youāre only getting on one shelf!
Or āWhat shelf do I race for first when entering a bookstore?ā
Iām currently reading a thriller about a sketchy private investigator and then next on my nightstand is a sci-fi novel about a woman who teleports.
As for that Romance voteā¦come on, itās getting an entire section all to itself. Besides, while it is greatly appreciated and is a big part of the CoG games, I generally fail to find interest in games that focus solely on that. To me, itās more of a side thing than anything; really nice to have, but I can live without it if the story is good enough.
Thinking on it, Iām so much less reliant on genre here than I am with novels. Most of my favorites would not be on the same shelf, and I would avoid that shelf like the plague if they were, because I avoid the crap out of zombies and Westerns and high fantasy (urban fantasy is the best. High fantasy is dull to me). I look more at the mechanics and scope of the game, as well as the ability for character interactions.
This is me (although Iām less likely to go without some form of romance). I really canāt do romance as the core concept though. Probably because I find most conflicts associated with romance genre to be either annoying or too weak to hold my attention. āOh no, your love life is bad? Well at least your house wasnāt crushed by aliens.ā
I have always been a fan of mystery genres and I think that Highlands, Deep Waters did well in making it an enthralling piece to wade through (obviously a given, because it was explicitly stated, even with the smooth integration of Lovercraftian elements). This will obviously be personal preferences, but I think that CoG and HG will benefit tremendously if there was a rapid increase in publications of interactive fiction that focuses more on crime and the survival aspect of horror elements.
Focusing solely on crime is a plus too, as does game ideas that centre around the exploration of the legal system. I would also like to highlight the potential benefit of implementing more sandbox features in future publications, as opposed to just merely adding more player choices that only ever amount to altering the percentages of stats and character trait percentages, at best. Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven did this well (and I am referencing this game because I still have not played its predecessor). While frankly it might be more tedious to implement code-wise, I think the potential enhancement to player experience far outweighs the ātediousnessā factor that we always use as the metric for making decisions with our coding.
Just my thoughts, coming from someone that likes open world, single player RPGs.
Buh. This is why I dread having to pick a single genre, especially when it comes to our game. Hard to sum up an āurban fantasy about young adults with humor, action, and also maybe some mystery and some mythical elementsā type series in one or two words.
Canāt think of any one I would discourage, though. Sometimes Iām surprised by what catches my interest and what doesnāt on here.
Yep thatās why my vote went there in the last poll. I know Iām in the minority in thinking that way, but there seems to be a convention that games have to have romance regardless of the story type and even if theyād be better without it. (Thereās a few games that have obviously thrown in a scene or two because they felt they have to and it makes the game worse not better if itās not well intergrated into the story).
@MizArtist33, I thought SYP! was a classic example of urban fantasy! Donāt those stories usually have young protagonists, humor, with some mystery and āstrangenessā tossed in? Sounds like you check off most of those boxes!
@Jacic, I also agree that many CoGs/HGs are ill-served by their attempts at romance. It almost always feels tacked on. Iād love to see more stories that ignore romance entirely and focus on platonic relationships, family relationships, even professional relationships. Or ābirds of a featherā relationships! Talon City!
And looking at the data, I havenāt checked to see who selected what, but the results so far look like, āWe write fantasy! We read fantasy! But wait, thereās too much fantasy! Less fantasy!ā I wonder if all the people who didnāt vote fantasy as their favorite in question 1 ganged up and voted against fantasy in question 4? That would be like a little nerdy civil war.
@Eric_Moser What happened to the ālegal thrillerā category?
More seriously, I wish there had been a general āHistoricalā category. Weāve had a few of those and I would love some more.
And I do write fantasy, and I read fantasy (but I read sci fi and āliteratureā and mystery and stories translated from cuneiform and basically anything thatās not romance or slice of life)ā¦but I voted āless fantasyā. More Slammed! and Divided We Fall and even Vampire (history, if somewhat adjusted!).
ā¦In my own defence, I do write historical fantasy so Iām halfway to filling out the genre Iād most like to see more of? Iāve been toying with Scottish Highlands 1886 or Paris 1910, not fantasy, but for later. Much later.
The book Iām working on now (is fantasy) is set in 550 BCE. Although I struggle to do it well in a ChoiceScript game, Iāve found, because people donāt expect or want too much exposition of the setting too quickly; it gets in the way of the choices and the action and the game-ness of it all. But in a completely different era, in a completely different culture, particularly one not very thoroughly studied by most of the English-speaking worldā¦
It can be quite maddening to try to figure out how to explain a totally foreign world that doesnāt have the advantage of much genre-convention without going over 200 words or so before the next interesting choice. At least, I struggle.
I also wonder if English or English-translation games in general tend to lean heavily towards fantasy, science fiction, and maybe thriller/horror? Even the point-and-clicks, to some degree. Maybe that has something to do with it?
Honestly, it really surprises me how little sci-fi tends to be represented in the COG/HG lineup. There arenāt very many, and even fewer that I genuinely enjoyed (not to insult other peopleās work, of course.)
So yeah, I wouldnāt mind sci-fi getting a little more spotlight.
ā¦ Yeah, thatās pretty much my thoughts, too. I tend to like romance in IF when itās an optional sub-plot. If the entire story is based around romance, though? Ehā¦ Pass.
To be fair, not everyone voted on every poll. I know I didnāt mostly because while Iād love to see a good science fiction Choicescript story I neither dislike or prefer a certain genre. I prefer good stories and resent bad ones. Like I donāt really care for Westerns or the Napoleonic era, but I enjoy both Tin Star and Sabres/Guns of Infinity. And a dozen or so people seem to be the same way (or their preferences plain arenāt represented of course; I canāt actually speak for them).
Right now I donāt really have a favorite genre, provided they come with a good story and / or elements I find interesting they are all more or less equal. The only two genres Iām not a fan of are those related to the 18th century, aka Napoleonic area, and the Roman Empire. I also donāt like games and books that have a strong emphasis on military themes, though I am ok with war elements (might sound contradictory but it really insāt).
Thereās an over-abundance of fantasy games around here as well, wouldnāt mind seeing something different for while or at least fantasy with some kind of twist in it. Sci-Fi, Horror or even Survival themes would hit the spot right about now.
Haha, you may be right. Like everything else in my life, Iām probably overthinking it. Though I think the āyoung protagnoistsā is where the lines starts to blur a little for me, since I donāt think thatās necessarily a hallmark of urban fantasy (though it can be), but starts to overlap with YA in some ways. My favorite urban fantasy author, Christopher Moore, almost always has his main character as an older or middle aged adult, though sometimes a support character or two can be younger.
Perhaps my broader point is how many subgenres of āFantasyā there are, which may be why you got such a glut of votes for it across the board. Yet, if you look at some of the CoG/HG games, they arenāt 100% comparable. There are many high fantasy stories, itās true. But again, having to include stuff like SYP in it will still inflate your numbers.
Iāve never read a conventional romance novel and I donāt plan to, but Iām kinda the same way. When it comes to Interactive fiction, I enjoy reading and writing romance elements. I suppose I like romance subplots in non-interactive stories, too.
