Length of game influences buying?

[Lys]

@kgold

It certainly is interesting to think about the pricing of Choice of Games; I sometimes boggle at the fact that Choice of Magics is $7 when I’ve picked up classic games like the Grim Fandango remaster for $2.50. But one economic principle is supply and demand, and there just aren’t that many suppliers of choice-based IF.

I completely agree with you.

I see Interactive Fiction like Choice of Games as a niche genre. This means it doesn’t necessarily appeal to a large crowd (the kind that would look at a $7 text game and go ‘that’s not worth it’). However, there are enough people who do appreciate the writing, the interaction, etc. I mean, if there wasn’t a market for it, then CoG wouldn’t have made it beyond the first year.

@kgold

I don’t think it’s for lack of available talent, but because having text-based games go toe-to-toe with major studios sounds insane on the face of it, so most people who could produce them, don’t try to produce them.

I agree, there is quite a lot of talent available, but the means of producing it is also a limiting factor. I mean, just writing and coding at the same time takes time and effort that many people might decide to focus elsewhere. Obviously, the same applies here for visual novels which is where I see it.

@kgold

Should there suddenly be an IF craze, it might ironically devastate the companies involved. I think this more or less happened to Atari, where overproduction and lack of quality control brought the good game producers down with the bad.

Quality control is definitely another factor. In a way, you can see this in the visual novel community. So many people are now involved, that except for the occasional major success, or companies with an established fanbase, other mechanics are now being explored. Winter Wolves Games makes rpg-like mechanics; other novels have been going the…er…tantalizing route with adult-rated pictures (though this also has a diminishing point of return).