   Does Good Game Design imply Popularity?
  Is this true : "Good game design => Popular game".I always thought that a game designer can directly influence the popularity of a game : if he does a good job at game design, the game is enjoyable and so players like playing it and so it becomes popular.But is this belief really true? Are the most popular games on the market right now also some of the most well designed games? (of course, I don't mean the relationship is strictly linear. i.e. "most well designed" = "most popular")Can we aim to make our game popular through good design?   
  You can certainly design games to appeal to a larger audience. Whether or not this results in good game design kind of depends on how you define 'good'.   ;  I would suggest that good design contributes to popularity, but that it cannot be the sole cause.  The best designed game ever will not be popular if noone knows it exists.Designing for mass appeal can at some times have negative effects on gameplay.   ;  In my opinion it is like movies. Good(=award winning?) film projects are often not "very" popular. People like to watch polished, good looking popcorn movies instead of watching 5x oscar winning movies. Sure, there are enough examples of good gamedesign and high popularity, but I would be careful about a direct connection between good game design => popular game. Ok, maybe not a fact,but in my opinion the following things sells best:1. Sequels (FF XXXI)!2. High quality visuals.3. Hyped games.--Ashaman   ;  Your players may not agree about what constitutes good design.  Designing for maximum popularity is in some ways the opposite of designing for artistry or technical excellence, since most people have lousy taste.   ;Quote:Original post by sunandshadowYour players may not agree about what constitutes good design.In particular, I think that while there is often consensus about bad design, what is good design starts to vary significantly depending on intent. An RPG requiring button-mashing combos might be considered poor design just as a fighting game where all blows are resolved by dice rolls would be, yet each system is good in its expected context.Good design could be considered to be the high quality of execution of an idea or theme, and therefore you'd expect the popularity of games with similar ideas and themes to be roughly proportional to the quality of the design in each case. But if other ideas are more interesting or resonate with a wider audience, you have things that cannot be so easily compared.   ;The marketing and release timing of a game will also contribute to it's popularity. As the player base grows, the requirements for a game to be considered popular grows. "Beyond Good and Evil" is an example of a really well done game (critical success), that did not do very well at market (popularity).   ;Quote:Original post by GirsanovIs this true : "Good game design => Popular game".Not always. A great game design though will always lead to reasonable popularity these days.Quote:I always thought that a game designer can directly influence the popularity of a game : if he does a good job at game design, the game is enjoyable and so players like playing it and so it becomes popular.Certainly more popular than if it wasn't fun.Quote:But is this belief really true? Are the most popular games on the market right now also some of the most well designed games? (of course, I don't mean the relationship is strictly linear. i.e. "most well designed" = "most popular")You never asked about the corollary. If a game is well designed, it'll probably be popular. If a game is popular, that doesn't really say too much about how well it was designed.   ;Quote:Original post by KylotanQuote:Original post by sunandshadowYour players may not agree about what constitutes good design.Good design could be considered to be the high quality of execution of an idea or theme, and therefore you'd expect the popularity of games with similar ideas and themes to be roughly proportional to the quality of the design in each case. But if other ideas are more interesting or resonate with a wider audience, you have things that cannot be so easily compared.I would think one of the more important elements of good design would be selection of a good theme/concept in the first place.  I can't count the number of well-executed lousy ideas there are among published games.  But again it's all about taste.  Humans' taste naturally varies widely.  Even the best ideas are going to be disliked by at least half of all gamers, and probably a lot more than half of non-gamers.  Bland familiar ideas will be acceptable to the largest audience, while experimental new ideas will be more intensely interesting to a smaller audience.   ;  Popularity = MarketedAudience.Size * Appeal;Appeal = GameQuality * MarketedAudience.AveragePreference(Genre);GameQuality = DesignConceptQuality * ImplementationQuality;:D   