Question about using one game and several designs...

JoshuaBenoit

First of all hello to the community here. I have been new to gamesalad for a few months now but i finally have the time to play with it and start making what i hope to be a masterpiece. But one thing i would like an opinion on from you all (and sorry if its been asked or talked about i didnt find it when i searched) is the thought of having one game template that you create and skinning it with different themes and sounds and maybe some varying game play elements to fit it in right. Is this something that could work? or would it be seen as a cheap shot to push more apps out the door? Any feedback would be helpful on this because its something ive been mulling over in my head lately.

JoshuaBenoit

thats more or less what i was thinking. essentially it would just be a different version of the same style of gameplay. Not a bad thing if done properly. So i guess its time to do it properly.

quantumsheep

JoshuaBenoit said:
thats more or less what i was thinking. essentially it would just be a different version of the same style of gameplay. Not a bad thing if done properly. So i guess its time to do it properly.

It's an interesting question.

I'm not particularly keen on the idea. Having said that, I don't think it's harmed the Robot Unicorn series!

QS

JoshuaBenoit

After several long hours of trying to find a way to bring that concept to life, I have decided against it. I feel like it is a cheap tactic that may hurt overall sales of my apps and im currently working on a few quirky titles while i hunt down some business partners. Ill be announcing my first game really soon so stay tuned!!!

apps4everyone

Interesting thread and feedback, because this is exactly what I intend to do with 'Sixty Six'.

I designed the whole thing so that I could replace the graphics and sound effects and make minor coding changes to essentially have a brand new game.

I would be aiming each version at different markets though.

I will let you know whether this has been a successful move or a disaster!

Simon

Shanemc

Every game out there baited a few are copies of others you should just make sure the story art music and events are different

Scoots

One thing to keep in mind is if an existing customer likes your game and decides to try one of your other games. He may be disappointed to find it basically the same game. All depends on how different you make the other versions I guess.

A3MG

We did this with a puzzle game, Puzzle Impossible, and our thinking was that not everyone likes the same thing. We did three versions, Space, Cats, and Dogs. I personally like the space one best, but it was easy to switch out the space images so I opened it up to friends and family to send me photos of their cats and dogs.

Have an idea for another version, I can kick one out in 30 minutes if I have 5 good 480x320 images.

The sales breakdown looks like
62 dogs (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puzzle-impossible-dogs/id409987928?mt=8)
45 cats (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puzzle-impossible-cats/id409987392?mt=8)
21 space (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/puzzle-impossible-space/id409986672?mt=8)

We also did this with valentine and anti-valentine apps
Valentine's Hearts - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/valentines-hearts/id413970396?mt=8
Emo Hearts - http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/emo-hearts/id415160265?mt=8

Crazy thing there is that although Valentine's Hearts outsold Emo Hearts almost 3 to 1, Emo Hearts is still selling after feb 14th.

- davey

apps4everyone

Very interesting - thanks Davey

JoshuaBenoit

Thanks for all the responses. I agree that if an existing customer decides to try another app and it be essentially the same there is some room for disappointment. I think it has its place for certain genres and thanks for sharing your experiences with it A3MG.

quantumsheep

I'm so sorry, I seem to have stumbled into the wrong forums. You lot are having a civilised debate!



QS

LumpApps

I find that whenever I build a game (I'm finishing one now and have two concept builds lying around to be developed when I'm done) I tend to want to do things different. I find new ways to do stuff. That is probably what I love most to building games. The hours of tweaking to get that actor move just the way I think is right.
So I probably wouldn't use it for a game.

On the other hand...
I have one app in the store now which is an instrument (pandeiro).
It was sort of a test for me on how things work with GS and the store.
Anyway, it is easy to give that one another skin and sounds to make it a different instrument and I think in that case buyers will no be disappointed.

mynameisace

quantumsheep said:
I'm so sorry, I seem to have stumbled into the wrong forums. You lot are having a civilised debate!



QS

Weird isn't it? Need to add some spice...

Erm..

Hitler 'n' that

Ace

tenrdrmer

quantumsheep said:
I'm so sorry, I seem to have stumbled into the wrong forums. You lot are having a civilised debate!



QS

I can fix that if you like.

Heres my take. It one thing and perfectly ok to make numerous games of the same type from the same code with different art and what not as long as you make new levels. For example If TSB takes zombie drop as is and changes the art and submits its really crappy cause you are potentially selling your existing customers the same game again. but There is nothing wrong with laying out all new levels and reuse the GamePlay code with new art. No biggie.