Reflections based on Wanderer
The other day there was the release of Wanderer: War Song, a strange project that made us wonder why such games are still appearing on the mobile market.
The gaming industry has changed a lot over the past five years. Social games appeared, followed by mobile games for touch devices. New niches have turned the traditional idea of games in general. Retail began to give way to digital distribution, which opened up new horizons for developers. Games have begun to transform from the end product they have been since Pong into a full-fledged service.
And at such a time, on the advanced platform, which is iOS, Wanderer: War Song comes out, a project that is rather a kind of homage to products from 10 years ago than a modern mobile game. Wanderer is distributed for money, there is no IAP in it, the slowing down Unreal Engine 3 is responsible for the graphics, and its gameplay is an awkward slasher, in which there is still more from Infinity Blade than from Rune.
It is better to play “three-in-a-row” on mobile devicesIn principle, the desire of developers to bring a genre dear to their hearts to the mobile platform is understandable, especially since many hardcore players who own mobile devices constantly whine about the lack of worthy projects on iOS and Android.
Neither the first nor the second for some reason do not want to understand two simple things concerning “real hardcore” in the mobile market.
First. Touch control, especially when it comes to the user’s work with three-dimensional space, requires a radically different approach than on the same consoles. It’s not just about the sticks, but in the absence of triggers, action buttons, some kind of uniform standard of arrangement and, banal, the impossibility of physical interaction with them. Duplication of all this functionality as sensory analogues aggravates the situation, since the game significantly loses in ease of control.
Here it is convenient to play action games on it In short, games for mobile platforms require a special approach to UI, and this, if we talk about three-dimensional projects, implies a complete rethinking of mechanics.
There is a way out of the situation – the rejection of the usual cliches. One of the best examples is The Room quest. The British, instead of putting the user in the center of the world, as the authors of such games usually do, made a riddle the center. The developers of another Lili quest did not completely solve the problem, but they abandoned sticks and any buttons, thereby giving players the opportunity to get to know the world of their own game better.
Lili is not the most convenient project, but it is a pleasure to explore the world in itThe second “simple” thing is money.
The pricing policy of most companies in the mobile market, as you know, is reduced today either to a complete refusal to pay for downloading the game, or to ensure that it costs no more than a few dollars. Otherwise, the user is unlikely to download it.
Considering that today the graphic capabilities of smartphones and tablets are not so far from the capabilities of consoles, it is clear that the budget of a high-quality project aimed at a hardcore audience may well reach $ 20-30 million. Only now, at a price of even $ 6.99, it is unlikely to pay off.
But this problem is temporary. Along with the growth of the market, high-budget games will appear that do not require social activity from the player, aimed at deep immersion. However, most likely, they will look quite different. In turn, all sorts of gamepads to tablets and smartphones will not take root. Why does your favorite device need crutches?
Yes, and a few words about games as a service. Today, many are afraid that we are losing classic games, that soon, as in the last Dead Space 3, everyone will have to buy weapons and additional stages in single-player games for real money. There are also two points here.
Dead Space 3 turned out to be a scandalous project because of the IAPFirst of all, despite the presence of TV series, people continue to go to the movies for movies, right?
I mean, the two approaches will coexist. Secondly, if the game is good and you want to continue playing it (or get additional experience in it), then why not pay again?
