Game Design :: Choosing a Genre

Among the first things you need to do when creating a new game is to choose the genre for the game. With all of the genres out there, this could potentially be a difficult decision. However, most established game developers have chosen only one or two genres that they will make games for, so they don't have many to choose from when creating a new game. For the new developer, or an established developer that is choosing to branch out into another genre, the choices can be more difficult to make.


So how do you choose a genre? First of all, you need to think about what your programmers and designers are capable of doing. It is a whole different matter to make a RTS game versus a FPS game, for example. Just because you can make a great game in one genre does not necessarily mean you can make a great game in another genre. That said, without trying, you really won't know. If you are a new developer or one who is just branching out, it can be very useful to create short demos in some genres you are interested in to see how they turn out and if it looks like your employees can create something that will sell well.

Beyond seeing what you are capable of making, you also need to look at what you actually want to make. Even if you know you can create a perfect RTS, you might not like the genre or might feel there are so many new games in the genre that your chances of making a game that stands out will be too low. There may be other reasons you don't want to do one genre or would like to do another. Although this should not be the only reason you make a genre choice, it should not be disregarded either. People always perform better when they are doing something they want to do. If your programmers and designers and artists and everyone else involved aren't interested in the genre or the game itself, the final product will not be as good as if they love it.

Depending on who you are, the order of the choices you make when choosing what kind of game to create may vary. Some will choose the genre before piecing together the outline of what the game will be about. Others will get a general idea of what the game will be about before choosing a genre that will work. If you already have at least a general idea of what the game will be about, then you also have to base the choice of genre on the game itself. Although not impossible, it may be difficult or may not make much sense to make a Match 3 game if you want your game to include racing or shooting as an example.

Another consideration that you may or may not care about is how full the genre is of new games. Obviously, if there are a lot of games in the genre that have come out recently, or are coming out soon, it will be harder to make your game stand out in that genre. Whereas if you make a game that is in a genre that has few or even no new games in it, you have a much better chance of making your game stand out and sell well... assuming the genre is at least somewhat popular at the time. For example, among casual gaming genres, Match 3 and Search and Find games are overflowing with new games. If I wanted, I could play a new game from each of those every week without missing a beat. There are so many new games coming out in those genres because they are very easy to make. However, because there are so many, it can be very difficult to sell them. Just playing demos at an hour each from Reflexive, I could keep playing new Match 3 and Search and Find games regularly and never even have to pay for them. And because there really isn't an "ending" to those kinds of games, at least not one that really matters, just playing demos is enough for many people. That really limits the number of people actually buying those games. On the other hand, it can be very difficult to find a quality RPG coming out, so RPG fans swarm over new RPGs if they look like they are well-made. You can still choose a genre that has a lot of games in it, but it would be a much better idea to avoid those and work on a game in a genre that isn't quite as packed.

Game popularity is tied strongly with genre popularity. If a genre is popular and has a strong following, you can have more games in it and still have good sales. If a genre isn't very popular and only has a small following, even a few games may be too much for it to handle and still maintain high enough sales to make a profit. Genres also have different types of people who are interested in them. Some people absolutely love FPS games and hate RPG games. Others love RPG games and hate FPS. Some are lukewarm to both, but really enjoy casual games. Keeping that in mind, you also need to decide who you want to make your game for. There are hardcore players and casual players. There are players who like the gameplay to follow that of older, established games. Others want gameplay to be new and aren't interested in what worked well in older games. There are a lot of gamers out there and they are all different, with different opinions of what makes a good game and what genre(s) are fun or not. Even so, you can consider the type of player you want your game to focus on. That choice will play a very large role in how your game is designed. One thing to be very careful of regarding your players is choosing to change which gamers you want your game to be designed for if it's part of a series. If you've already made two or three games in a series focusing on hardcore gamers, it can be a serious mistake to make the next game in the series focused on casual gamers. You might get some new players, but you risk alienating all of your older players who have played all of the previous games.

When choosing a genre for your game, you can also choose to combine genres or even make a game that almost defines its own genre. Combined genres work very well at getting fans from each genre to buy the game, but you have to be able to combine the genres as seamlessly as possible and make the game work well with each genre used. It doesn't help your game if you cut out a lot of what makes each genre great for its fans. Consider if you tried combining an RPG and RTS game, and in doing so, you didn't include a story or any real character customization. You would quickly alienate the potential RPG fanbase that you're trying to draw in with the combined genre. If you instead decide to make a game that basically defines its own genre, you really have to do a great job at making it become something people will really enjoy. Anytime you try to make something that's new, you risk a lot because you don't have an established fanbase to draw sales from and have to hope the hype you generate and the word of mouth after it is out is enough to get the sales you need. That being said, if you can pull it off, you have a great potential of having a game that will be popular for a long time because it won't have any real competition.
 
There are other reasons you might choose one genre over another, but these are the main considerations that should be made. Whatever you choose for the genre, do whatever you can to make your game turn out great. That usually means making it unique in some way as well as making it fun to play.