Raising the bar.

What is with the influx of all these minigames?

Why aren't game developers in SL aiming higher?

I know there are capable scripters, builders and texture artists. But the only type of games I see are minigames, or also known as Arcade games, such as Tetris, Pong and various short-term puzzles. I think SL is a superb platform for more than just that, SL has severe technical limitations compared to different platforms, but it also has advantages that no other place has. I could see someone making a full fledged real time strategy game for instance. I could see all sorts of heavily scripted games coming into place.

Are people just really short sighted? I hope not.

Do people need more resources available to them maybe? I have recently open-sourced my geometric and interpolation libraries which are incredibly useful for games (links in my signature).


A good couple of games could bring in new users into SL, looking for that missing edge that has been plagueing new users for something to do.

I would like some interaction from other developers, I would be very glad to provide scripting help towards the efforts of someone making a Proper Game and not Just-Another-Bloody-Minigame-Ripoff-Of-Another-Minigame.

</rant>

a) Cost of land (you have to pay US$75 per month to play the RTS, or up to US$195 for larger maps. Eep!);
b) Difficulty in creating a good business model for a game (pay to play excludes many people, and can lead to negative network, if the game is multiplayer);
c) Impossibility of an SL game competing for users with the RL game market (because of lag, an SL RTS couldn't even compete with Starcraft for playability and responsiveness, and that's a really old game now);
d) Lack of motivation due to the above (why spend hours scripting an RTS, that many SL users wouldn't be interested in, when you could instead make a 'mod' for an existing RTS and have access to its existing player base all of whom are RTS fans by definition?)

Bluntly, I think it's because SL tends to appeal to the more casual gaming market.. so people are writing casual-style games.

Doc Boffin and I have been working on an original trading card game for years - give Combat Cards a try sometime.