reading more.. and there was this part of a writeup in my game magazine (GameDeveloper) that i simply feel has finally put alot of my thoughts into one good piece of writing.
Read on:
There are songs that are kind of catchy. Others you just can’t get out of your head. And then, ever so rarely, there are those songs which are so memorable, you could swear you had heard them before. Song taste is highly personal–different people react to different songs in different ways– but the breakout hits are the ones that resonate on this level with a large number of people.
Creating a breakout hit is no easy task, in part because the songwriter’s instincts can often be wrong. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith was reportedly surprised that “St. John” from Permanent Vacation was met by collective yawns from concert-goers. He thought he knew what made a hit–the song had an interesting riff, topical lyrics, was meaty to play live–but somehow just didn’t reach the fans. Today, the song is a footnote in the band’s music catalog.
All creative fields are like this. Sometimes films and books just catch fire from nothing. Sometimes, sure-handed directors stumble. Pop radio is full of songs like “The Macarena” and “I’m Too Sexy,” all done by bands that later proved to be one-hit wonders unable to repeat their success. This is true of games as well.
- Damion Schubert
It’s not easy making games. Not easy making “that game that sold billions of dollars in revenue”. Only 1 game gets that recognition…out of a whole barrage of hundreds of other titles developed and released under the same hardship and labor.
Even then, if you did successfully launch that “One-hit-wonder” game that has everyone talking about, everyone itching to squeeze that few minutes out of lunch break just to play your game… repeating this success in a sequel or follow up game will be no easy task.
I’m sure this ‘concept’ applies to all other fields of work aside from the Entertainment fields (ie. real estate, automotive, etc).
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