Pat Sajack's Lucky Letters...is basically like a single-player Wheel of Fortune-Crossword game. Players are given a certain amount of letters to spell a single word on the crossword, and certain letters, if identified, reveal letters all around the board. There are clues and obviously the more letters uncovered, the easier the game is.
I am not much of a casual gamer, but I think that if I was this would be a good game. The first time is slow playing, but if you play it once you pretty much catch on to the game play.
One thing I was thinking of though, is that for people who don't actually like video games, wouldn't it be best for casual game designers to leave out the distracting graphics, sounds and music. I don't know. I appreciate causal games with minimal extras because they annoy me and make the game less desirable to play. I suppose casual game designers wouldn't be designing for me because they would want casual gamers to be people who would play games on a pretty regular basis, unlike me. But I guess it would also be worth the while of a casual game designer to create a minimalistic game that a non-gamer wouldn't mind playing on a regular basis. There must be many casual game designers catering with all types of mindsets.
I think that you hit on a key point, which is a matter of how people perceive games. I would consider myself to be a pretty avid casual gamer, as well as a part-time hardcore gamer, but I really only like certain games, in part because I don't like all the flashy graphics and annoying soundtracks that you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteAs a game designer, you can design for the current crop of gamers, which I agree is what many game designers are doing... they want to get a good share of the market as it is. Part of why I respect Nintendo so much is that they've really tried with the DS and even further with the Wii to expand that game market to new gamers, mostly casual gamers, who haven't liked all the flash of past experiences.
Perhaps, as a casual gamer, you just need to find that game made by a designer that isn't just catering to the masses as they currently exist, but is trying to push new ground and expand their market. As we all create our own casual games, that's certainly something to consider: do we want to aim for the current crop of gamers, or the much larger multitude of people out there that don't think they are gamers?
I guess it's really up to Sarah. Seems to become a decently avid casual gamer, but she's smart. It's not flash that she enjoys. It's engaging enjoyable play. She seems to dislike challenges, but she seems to persevere through them regardless, and even if she doesn't acknowledge it, that might be what gets her into games in the first place.
ReplyDeleteIn answer to your question though, I think that it would be good to do without the glitzy annoying animation and focus on an intelligent game. And I don't think Sarah is looking for a game she'll get hooked on. She wants to learn about Waterloo and no one wants to learn about Waterloo forever. I think we create really enjoyable and informative games that people could enjoy playing only once or twice we will have done our jobs! Plus, prospective students are always coming in!