Industry Trends and Standards
Games are games, and a good game is a good game. Long before video games were invented, the game of chess came into being. Chess didn't update over the years as the game industry was updated. But if chess were invented today, it might look a bit different. It might follow today's game standards and trends, and it might have started as a video game.
Industry Standards and Trends
For video games, the leading industry standard is a 3D game. The leading trends are 3D games with multiplayer elements.
I haven't made a game that featured any of the two elements above.
As with chess, a good game doesn't need to keep up with industry standards and trends to be popular. It just needs to be a fun and interesting game. I made my games the way they are because I enjoy those types of games. The only rule I had for myself when making a 2D game was "no pixelated graphics." I had to draw everything by hand, and that actually takes quite a bit of time to do.
I can safely say that I have not made a game up to industry standard yet. The games I made be classified as "indie" in the sense that they break away from the mainstream.
But there is a catch: when I started making these games 8 years ago, Mobile Gaming was still very new and not very capable of 3D graphics. I've always targeted mobile devices as the platform for my games, and so in a sense, I was making games on par with mobile game standards.
But Mobile Game Standards Are Higher Now
Nowadays, mobile games are running Unreal Engine and Unity and kids are playing full rounds of Fortnite on their phones. Mobile game standards have changed, but my games have not changed with them.
I'm proud of the games I've made. Bad Blaster had a cartoon aesthetic, Revolve Ping Pong had an arcade aesthetic, and Robot Ops has a flat design and cute aesthetic. Moreover, the games themselves are exactly as I wanted them to be, and they aren't limited by being in 2D.
However, going forward, I will be making my games closer to the industry standards. There are a ton of indie developers making dozens of 3D games and releasing them on Steam and other stores. Some of these people are very prolific and release multiple titles a year. The smaller mobile games like the ones I have made are usually released by developers very quickly, and they seem to churn them out on a monthly basis.
What This Means for My Games
I'm going to have to get up to speed on modern game development. In addition to coming up with great ideas for games, I'm going to have to keep up with industry standards and make 3D games using modern game engines and tools. The environment is different than when I started, and making Robot Ops has reinforced my love for making games.
If I want to continue, I have to level up.
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