Comments on: Form AND Function http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/56/form-and-function/ Phil Steinmeyer's rumblings on the game biz, programming, and life Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:48:14 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: doho123 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/56/form-and-function/comment-page-1/#comment-153 doho123 Sat, 18 Feb 2006 02:27:35 +0000 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/56/form-and-function/#comment-153 The theme-ing of games presents some pretty amusing situations in some cases. After being a big fan of Super Puzzle Fighter, I was messing around with some concepts and eventually figured out how to take the basic mechanics and create a casino game around it. Of course, being very similar to all of Tetris game in play style, it could really be based on any popular puzzle games. But what happened? The person in charge decided that we should theme it off of a license...SPAM! Which we did, and it was shown first at a trade show as SPAM. There was some logic to this at the time; at the time the SPAM slot machine was a big earner and it made some sense to continue the brand. Regardless of the "function" that the game had which might imply a different theme. However, circumstances caused some philosophical changes to occur, and the theme was re-done as, well, something more familiar. Now that the game is out in casinos we've got the playable demo up on our website at: http://www.ledgaming.com/Gems_WildTiles/html/index.shtml The theme-ing of games presents some pretty amusing situations in some cases. After being a big fan of Super Puzzle Fighter, I was messing around with some concepts and eventually figured out how to take the basic mechanics and create a casino game around it. Of course, being very similar to all of Tetris game in play style, it could really be based on any popular puzzle games.

But what happened? The person in charge decided that we should theme it off of a license…SPAM! Which we did, and it was shown first at a trade show as SPAM. There was some logic to this at the time; at the time the SPAM slot machine was a big earner and it made some sense to continue the brand. Regardless of the “function” that the game had which might imply a different theme.

However, circumstances caused some philosophical changes to occur, and the theme was re-done as, well, something more familiar.

Now that the game is out in casinos we’ve got the playable demo up on our website at:

http://www.ledgaming.com/Gems_WildTiles/html/index.shtml

]]> By: Phil Steinmeyer http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/56/form-and-function/comment-page-1/#comment-150 Phil Steinmeyer Thu, 16 Feb 2006 15:48:05 +0000 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/56/form-and-function/#comment-150 Yeah, I thought of that. The problem is that if you try to make the same story fit either gender, then it's bound to be a bit watered down. If you start changing elements (i.e. if the player is playing as a girl, then THIS happens, otherwise, THAT happens), then it gets more complex to develop. Overall, I could have probably lived with that issue, either with support for both genders, as mentioned, or by telling it from the women's perspective and abandoning most of the 30-40% of the casual game audience that's male. But the other two issues are still there. Overall, it just seemed like too much of a battle. Yeah, I thought of that. The problem is that if you try to make the same story fit either gender, then it’s bound to be a bit watered down. If you start changing elements (i.e. if the player is playing as a girl, then THIS happens, otherwise, THAT happens), then it gets more complex to develop.

Overall, I could have probably lived with that issue, either with support for both genders, as mentioned, or by telling it from the women’s perspective and abandoning most of the 30-40% of the casual game audience that’s male. But the other two issues are still there. Overall, it just seemed like too much of a battle.

]]> By: bc http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/56/form-and-function/comment-page-1/#comment-148 bc Thu, 16 Feb 2006 14:01:21 +0000 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/56/form-and-function/#comment-148 you can solve number 2 by giving the player the option to use 1 of 2 avatars, either the guy or the girl and just make the story the same for both you can solve number 2 by giving the player the option to use 1 of 2 avatars, either the guy or the girl and just make the story the same for both

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