Cool, right now i'm waiting on the place that handles buying 3dGS pro, i was shot down 3 times trying to buy it on the 12th, so i'm waiting to see what the problem was in trying to buy it. Can't wait to start making games with the ever popular JIGGLE! :p

I dont think the gta series is successful because of booze, violence, and sex. I think primarily a game like that is successful because it allows the player to do whatever they want in a virtual world. I think it is the escapism of games which gives them appeal.

For example if you made a game about going into a bar and shooting people and having sex it would not be as fun as gta because in gta you can go anywhere_you_want, which = freedom/power/escapism for the player.

Its playing god that makes people happy. Killing is just another way of playing god. If you kill an ai you have exerted full power over that ai and that makes people happy.

In a game such as gta they can do anything they want, and therefore they fulfill their fantasies.

But you are right to a certain extent, violence and sex do appeal mainly to men. A game like sims 2 appeals to a lot of women also, but for the same fundamental reasons; they like to find their utopia, their perfect world in a game.

I believe in this economic climate the small independant developer has an edge over the AAA developer.

1. System requirements. Most independant games run on older systems. As people are squeezed that new $2500 system they planed to buy to play that new wizbang AAA title goes to the back of the line.

2. Innovation. AAA titles with cookie cutter game design are over in bad economic times. A 3d shooter that can be finish in 15 hours is not going to be people's pick when the game buying budget shrinks. They will want replay value and quality. Bioshoch was fun for 20 hours and then it was over. Mount & Blade however a small husband and wife team's release- offers hundreds of hours of replay value as well as modding possabilities.

I fact I would say Mount & Blade is the best game released this year. Like the classic Darklands it trusts you into a medevil world with no storyline or goals but what you make for yourself. The combat on horse is the best I've seen by any title. Including big house AAA titles.

If your gaming budget is limited it makes all the more sense to buy a game like that- and even if you go untouched it still makes all the sense because unlike every title coming down the pike this game is different.

Value and innovation no longer exist in the game industry except in the independant world.

We don't need another 3d shooter wannabe but rather more games like Mount & Blade.

you know, if you are creating a game the first thing to do is:
1.) you have a potential skill to do whatever it takes because if you are not serious to do it, you have no longer to developed a game.
2.) you must have a wide imaginations for creating a models, textures and techniques that you cannot see in other games. you must have a originality for developing a game.
3.) you must know that it is hard to developed a game, everyone does, including me, and my group(because our thesis is game development in college level), have a problem to developing a game because you need a long time to study it and analyze what the functions of gamestudio have.


i hope this tips will help you to developed a game. ^_^

from: Philippine Game Developers.