11–20 of 280 posts
> You also need to have a good title that is both memorable/catchy and describes the game well. I feel like "get the goat" was just screaming to the be the name of this title. (they even use this term in some of their marketing)
Throughout the article I kept coming back to how generic the name sounds. It conjured pictures if the digital slot machines that are free mobile games, with gameplay loops mostly consisting of waiting or paying money to skip wait timers. The name "Toto" being associated with gambling sure doesn't help either. I would've never clicked a link with that name no matter how good you make your game look.
A lot of genuine effort and care went into this but with an uninviting name and, by their own admission, a complicated control screen, no amount of art or advertising would've convinced me as a consumer to buy it.
This would've been a smash hit on a flash games site, and it would've probably sold well if Ouya had succeeded.
One thing I find interesting is that online multi-player wasn't added as a feature during development. I understand how overworked the lone dev must've been, but adding an easy way to play with friends would've surely boosted sales.
I also wonder if the game would've gotten more sales on a handheld. I think the 3DS might've made this a great little party game, especially if you follow the "stream a limited version of the game to your friends" model that made DS local multi-player so interesting. Now, with the Switch out, with its built-in local multi-player features, the game might've gotten a popularity boost as well.
It's sad to see a game made with so much love fail, but with problems in do many key areas I'm surprised it took them this long to admit defeat.
2 years spend on Ouya Flash looking game. No, it wasnt the title or marketing.
Yeah, they spent a good chunk talking about a distinctive art-style of games they liked but the game looks derivative of so many 2d platformers
Consider indie titles like Minecraft and PUBG taking off with completely ripped off assets and game ideas because they made a great version of an existing concept. Minecraft had the visual style of a 2005 bargain bin game and PUBG is the blandest of bland models and art design coupled with a good implementation of their earlier mod. You don't need to be all that original, gameplay or art style wise, to make a game successful.
I don't think this particular art style was all that common on the PS4 or Xbox One. There was a lot wrong with the way they presented and marketed the game, but I don't think the art style is that much of a problem.
2 years spend on Ouya Flash looking game. No, it wasnt the title or marketing.
This comment is a little mean-spirited. This looks like an indie game that I would have expected to have launched during the time period that this was written, and it's a pretty good post-mortem on how the game was made, marketed, and where it failed.
Disagree. I think it genuinely looks significantly worse: it's so thoroughly brown, and the blocky level design looks like a zillion super mario clones. That seems like a bigger factor to me; yes, it matters that you can't tell what's going on looking at the gameplay, but that would be much less of an issue if it looked good/interesting.
I wonder how much it would cost to port to Switch as "Get the Goat" (or maybe King Goat, Goat King, Capture the ... Goat, ...). To capture that couch co-op long tail.
It's interesting how the marketing of other games impacts, particularly around naming.
The Stegosaurus tail link was possible more interesting.
At least for me, the name is an immediate "no".