Irish based games

Doubt it…no money in it.

well we had the GAA game, based on an Irish license but not made by an Irish company, and Kapookie did release ‘Lorgaine’ based loosely in an old Irish mythical space.

Aphra.

Aye.

Exactly…

Edit: Kapooki are no more and the GAA game absolute rubbish

I think there’s room for someone to cash in on a game partially based on Irish mythology if it’s done properly. It’s not too far off Nordic mythology and we’ve all seen how well that’s done for itself. Sadly, for the next generation I don’t see a hit game being published. Perhaps one or two niche games released over the internet, but nothing more.

25% of people in the last American census claimed to be of predominantly Irish decent [/quote:047d41d5aa]
Claimed is the key word here. ;)

Just because someone says they’re from an Irish decent, doesn’t mean they’re in any way more likely to play an Irish game. How many of those ‘irish’ americans even know where Ireland is on the map ??

Just because someone says they’re from an Irish decent, doesn’t mean they’re in any way more likely to play an Irish game. How many of those ‘irish’ americans even know where Ireland is on the map ??[/quote:42c7a69595]

63%

Now you’re just making it up ;)

Now you’re just making it up ;)[/quote:ae3e2f7b1f]

I`ll let u in on a secret, i made up the 1st stat 2

should there be more Irish based games??[/quote:43f1f819a9]Only if the developers don’t care about making any money!! Indigenous Irish market isn’t big enough IMHO to even reach break even for most types of games…

Now something like a God of War title loosely based on Irish mythology… hmm, might have something there. Although if that succeeded )or even got green lighted) it would most probably be because of its similarity to GOW rather than being based on Irish Mythology…

well we had the GAA game, based on an Irish license but not made by an Irish company, and Kapookie did release ‘Lorgaine’ based loosely in an old Irish mythical space.[/quote:43f1f819a9]Lorgaine never made it past Beta, AFAIK

mm, I seem to remember Lorgaine being launched in Germany as a download from T online and then after a school shooting event in Germany it and other games were pulled. Then it was included in a CD in the States…but I stand open to being corrected and not sure if we are talking about a full commercial launch here.

Is it time for the Kapooki retrospective feature?

Aphra.

An Irish based game being released in Germany and in the US, but not making an appearance in Ireland…surely there was a marketing faux pas there?

I think people here are a little too worried about whether an Irish themed game would draw people outside of Ireland. I know marketing is important, but personally I think if a game is good, people will play it regardless of the setting. And I’m sure an Irish theme would interest some people, gamers like trying something a little different.

I think if a game is good, people will play it.[/quote:2b15631816]

I think I would have to disagree with you there. Sadly, for the so called ‘average’ ‘joe-soap’ gameplayer I don’t think the playability of the game has much has much effect on whether they buy a title or not. Call me cynical, but thats just the way I see things happening in reality, and from first hand experience i’ve seen it happening also many times before.

That’s kinda what I was getting at with the whole Irish setting. I can’t speak for the entire gaming populus, but if you’re doing anything (it doesn’t matter what it is) that goes against the grain in some way or is somewhat different then there is always an element of risk involved. Some ideas can and do work out, but the question is who will foot the bill if things don’t work out ? Its no wonder originality is in such short supply these days and publishers are so cagey about supporting new ideas, there’s just too much money involved in game development these days to be taking any sort of big risks!

Well thats my two cents anyhow. I think I’m gonna retire now for the night cause I’m after being out for a few christmas drinks and am feeling slightly worse for wear.. Forgive me if my posting has been slightly erratic! :)

I’d definitely like to hear though from anyone here who has worked (or is working) within the industry about their thoughts and experiences on what makes people buy games and what kind of game’s are sell-able and marketable to the general public. I mean its one thing making a game, but quite another thing getting people to buy it! :wink: Any thoughts on the ‘biz’ end of the industry would be great!

I think if a game is good, people will play it.[/quote:5368eb11ee]

I think I would have to disagree with you there. Sadly, for the so called ‘average’ ‘joe-soap’ gameplayer I don’t think the playability of the game has much has much effect on whether they buy a title or not. Call me cynical, but thats just the way I see things happening in reality, and from first hand experience i’ve seen it happening also many times before.
[/quote:5368eb11ee]

Agreed. There have been many games that have received critical acclaim and yet fall short on the sales front. Psychonauts immediately springs to mind.

I loved psychonauts. Such a cool game

I think if a game is good, people will play it.[/quote:a65928fc38]

I think I would have to disagree with you there. Sadly, for the so called ‘average’ ‘joe-soap’ gameplayer I don’t think the playability of the game has much has much effect on whether they buy a title or not. Call me cynical, but thats just the way I see things happening in reality, and from first hand experience i’ve seen it happening also many times before.
[/quote:a65928fc38]

Agreed. There have been many games that have received critical acclaim and yet fall short on the sales front. Psychonauts immediately springs to mind.[/quote:a65928fc38]

Yes indeed there have been! Oh god if there’s one game i’d love to see another sequel for, and which deserved far more sales than it got, then it would have to be Thief. I just love that game so much! The characters, the story, the setting, and the levels were just absolutley awesome- such imagination and enthusiasm were put into its design! Not to mention it was just such a great game to play. I mean I bought the orignal Thief only about two years ago (by which time it was well past its sell by date) but it still blew me away with its excellent level design and superb stealth gameplay. I never looked at titles like Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell the same way again because they only paled in comparison to the fun I had playing Thief. I guess when I really realised what a quality game it was came when I played it through the second time round (couldn’t resist! :) ) and discovered an entire house as a secret area on one of the levels.. It was the sort of place that you would really only find if you paid REALLY close attention to your surroundings but it was such a cool thing to find- kinda creepy too cause it was full of ghosts! Its that sort of extra effort whats put into games that i love myself (as a gamer) and which really distinguishes a good game from a superb game. I mean there was no need for the team to put the effort into adding in secret areas like that (which would be passed over by the vast majority of the people playing the game) but they did it nonetheless and it really made the game well worth while playing through a second time over- if only to try and find all the cool stuff I had missed the first time round..

But anyhow I think i’m going off on a bit of a tangent here anyhow and I do love my Thief! But needless to say Thief was not a commercial success and nethier was its sequel Thief II, which ultimitely resulted in the demise of Looking Glass Studios– the creators of the afforementioned games. Ion storm did take on the mantle of Thief with the third title, Deadly Shadows– but i’m sure we’re all too well aware of what happened there too. Deadly Shadows was still a great game, well worthy of the title of its predecessors. But I coudln’t imagine it done too well either commerically if Ion Storm too went bang also!

I guess the morale of the story is that while we can make absolutley superb games they can still bomb and bring a company down almost overnight if the commercial side of things is not paid enough attention to. I know it sucks, and i’d love to see every good title get the sales and general public acclaim it deserves, but thats business and the business side of things can’t be ignored either. I’m sure you can apply the sad story of Thief to many other games and companies within the industry also, which should have really done better than they had done.. Its not the first game to fall into this catagory and certainly won’t be the last!

The problem with the third Thief game was that it probably attempted too much. They tried to give an extremely open ended game but resulted in lacklustre middle sections as you traversed the streets heading to your next objective. Though in saying that the Cradle missions is probably one of the finest levels ever devised and was beautifully executed.

The problem with the third Thief game was that it probably attempted too much. They tried to give an extremely open ended game but resulted in lacklustre middle sections as you traversed the streets heading to your next objective. Though in saying that the Cradle missions is probably one of the finest levels ever devised and was beautifully executed.[/quote:e398329842]

Yeah thats true, i never really liked the street parts of the game much myself either. The way I always used to play the first two games was to clear an area of potential threats before moving on to another part of the level. That way at least I had my back covered- but it you couldn’t do that in the streets of deadly shadows because no sooner than you had gotten rid of a guard then another one would spawn to take its place, which was quite annoying really.

The cradle was awesome though.. I’ll never forget the first time I entered the lobby of the place and in the corner of my eye I thought I seen something moving in the room beyond. It was only a glimpse, but it really creeped me out, and when I looked for it the thing was gone.. :shock: Then there was those horrible things with the electrical wires all over them with their really weird, jilted movement.. Scary… I quite liked the level in the seaside mansion as well- that was pretty cool. In fact Thief is at its best I think when you have a big old mansion with lots of secrets and loot to be discovered.. 8)