Mint Berry Crunch Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 (edited) Is it a must to have graphics in your browser games? I speculate that most of the market has moved towards the Zynga and Travian style of games; heavy with graphics and client side scripting. Do people agree or do you think having a text based gameplay with supporting static graphics (maps, icons, logos etc) will suffice? Edited May 30, 2013 by Mint Berry Crunch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razor42 Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Personally I think there is still room for just plain textbased games an that graphics are not imperative! Although all my upcoming projects are more graphically featured :P I just feel that text based games have been done over and over again and are all to similar and things are advancing now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mint Berry Crunch Posted December 27, 2012 Author Share Posted December 27, 2012 (edited) It's reassuring to hear that but in this day and age with mobile and tablet apps many graphically-intensive games are being churned out and possibly raising the expected standard of the consumer. As I say this pure speculation and it may well be that the maturer audience still favour rich gameplay with text based. Edited May 30, 2013 by Mint Berry Crunch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Djkanna Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Personally, I'd rather have an intriguing well thought out game over an aesthetically pleasing, yet boring (game play wise) game. I think there's still a market for simple not so graphically intense games, though that could change within the next couple of years. Times change, technology advances, it's interesting, as graphics have gotten better, game play has gone to the s..ts: Take Microsoft Flight for example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Razor42 Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 The best thing is to include both in my eyes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Octet Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 I think in the modern age, you can get away with not having graphics, or having limited graphics (such as a small image alongside a text based game) however I think you shall struggle to get any real audience. You shall find a select few who are either nostalgic and want to play text based games again and the few who still appreciate their charm and the work which goes into designing a good story however for the majority of online gamers then I think graphics make up over half the experience. Personally, I would enjoy playing a well made text based game, however it isn't the first thing I would enter into 'Google' (other search engines are available) when looking for a game to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srachit Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Well my opinion is that graphics do help, but they should not be your primary concern, rather you should focus on content. I remember Alain had made a game a while back, it wasnt your conventional bbg, nor did it have any graphics, but it still managed to get the attention of everyone he showed it to. It was a simple treasure hunt game, where you go from one website to another. This is just an example of why I believe you should first focus on content and then think about the graphics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mint Berry Crunch Posted December 27, 2012 Author Share Posted December 27, 2012 (edited) All very good points, I think it's quite clear that gameplay >> graphics, however from our general discussions I think it's a common assumption that every game we attempt to make will have the best gameplay we can come up with as developers (or at least, sufficient for interest from our audience). Graphics could be considered purely as polish, but I think it's important to take into account the fact that aesthetics can significantly affect the amount of people who are drawn into your game - we all know how important graphic design are for websites in conveying professionalism, and a browser game is just a website in the tangible sense. Then again, that is just basic graphics and not graphics that is inherent in the gameplay. For my own project that I am planning, I will have a interactive map that shouldn't require too much client-side scripting but will probably require a decent designer that I would need to contract out to create, along with a whole bunch of small icons and logos. Detailed artwork and backgrounds probably won't be spent on until full release, if that time should come. Edited May 30, 2013 by Mint Berry Crunch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srachit Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Well true that you need graphics to entice players to try out your game, but also keep in mind that just having fancy graphics might give you players, but it will hardly ever give you active paying members unless there is content to back it up, Also having a good play means more people recommending it to their friends and I feel word of mouth is a pretty strong advertising method and conversion rate of visitors to active players will be higher. Your game does sound interesting and I am looking forward to see what you do with this "interactive map", keep us updated :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mint Berry Crunch Posted December 27, 2012 Author Share Posted December 27, 2012 (edited) Well true that you need graphics to entice players to try out your game, but also keep in mind that just having fancy graphics might give you players, but it will hardly ever give you active paying members unless there is content to back it up, Also having a good play means more people recommending it to their friends and I feel word of mouth is a pretty strong advertising method and conversion rate of visitors to active players will be higher. Your game does sound interesting and I am looking forward to see what you do with this "interactive map", keep us updated :) You will have to wait several months; I need to finish my studies first. Edited May 30, 2013 by Mint Berry Crunch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkbonline Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 As my experience currently, both graphics and content are important. It will be always the best to prepare both. Even though your game has good content it is so difficult to appeal to the newbie without good graphic. This is my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JordanD Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 Some of my favorite browser games over the years have had little-to-no graphics and personally I don't mind at all. However, I think I'm in a very small group of people. I started playing text-based browser games around 2003 and don't really play very many any more. I'm actually working on a text-based game right now. One example of a game that does have lots of graphics, but very very amateur graphics and also has a huge playerbase is Kingdom of Loathing. Those players don't care that the graphics suck. They prefer it that way. I think if you have a great game, you could find the right people who don't care about graphics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srachit Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 http://makewebgames.io/showthread.php/41150-A-little-fun-of-mine This is the game i was talking about earlier, looks like alain has still not removed it! Try it out, its fun and graphics = text. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KyleMassacre Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 http://makewebgames.io/showthread.php/41150-A-little-fun-of-mine This is the game i was talking about earlier, looks like alain has still not removed it! Try it out, its fun and graphics = text. Lol. I cant even get the first question right. Back on subject: I think that graphics are good. Now with that being said you dont need to go overboard either, its just like I see all the time here KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srachit Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 42 the answer to everything? Really now? :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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