Game Discovery Newsletter
How The Third Place Became First Place For Gamers
The Game Discovery Newsletter highlights trends in games, indie titles you should know about, and lifting new voices in the industry. From games you need to play to ideas shaping the future of gaming, I want this newsletter to deliver something different than what’s on sites today. This form is still in the beta phase so if there’s something you want to see or have any questions, let me know in the comments.
As we enter the next generation of gaming, the talk around the next big trends in games fall into the categories of SSD or Ray Tracing to pump in more polygons through our retinas. And while yes, nothing quite takes your breath away like taking another step towards near photo-realism, games may be tackling an even greater feat that requires more than hardware alone.
I’m talking about the nearly impossible task of creating a community.
Developers are not only embracing the community through interaction and feedback in the beginning stages of the game, but they’re also building games around this bustling core of fans. Mike Rose talked to Gamesindustry.biz about creating games within the Discord server for Not Tonight to engage with the audience. Epic took the idea further by creating areas within Fortnite to watch movies or catch a concert with friends during the age of Covid. More than just setting up a social site and calling it a day, developers look to create areas for community to exist within the game.
Marketers refer to this as the third space. While the first space (home) and the second space (work), there’s a real fight across the digital divide to create a third space to bring people together. Games seem like a natural fit to bring in a particular group focused on a set interest, but anyone who has started up a Discord or gone live on Twitch can tell you that it take more than making a space to create a community. Trends point to games bringing people together for live events, or in the case of Blaseball, raising the dead.
Why does this matter?
One word – MONEY. Take Lil Nas X debuting a song in Roblox as reported by Rock Paper Shotgun. Understanding your core audience, how to connect with them, and the best way to deliver your message directly to them is nearly impossible on the internet with Google, Facebook, and Amazon fighting for every marketing dollar. As the audience moves from open social platforms to these new third spaces, companies look to find new ways to engage with these groups.
Around the Net
Every so often I come across items from the world wide web (does anyone call it that?) that you should check out to keep on top of what’s going on in indie gaming.
· Adam Millard dives into the brutal difficulty of Spelunky 2 to find out that the game fixes the curve for many players.
· While there have been many trailers this year, The Corridor may just win the award for “Most Innovative Trailer” by giving players a chance to try out this narrative game in an interactive world.
· It takes you 8 hours to drive from Arizona to Las Vegas, but the charity stream has been running for over a decade to help raise money for children in need. Check out this documentary about a joke that turned into hope.
· With the move to digital, archiving games for the future is more important than ever. Check out No Clip’s final tour of Oakland’s Video Game Museum and learn how you can help save it.
· Errant Signal continues their amazing Blip series by diving into game you should know about.
Games You Should Know About
November is coming up a little light when it comes to indies trying to keep out of reach of the console launches. Here are just some of the brave few you should check out this month.
Kingdoms: Reborn - 11/3
Tags: City Management, Resources, Ye Olde Times
Superliminal - 11/5
Tags: Narrative, Puzzle, Perplexing
Kosmokrats - 11/5
Tags: Physics-Based, Slippery Space, Comrades
Mobius Front 83 - 11/5
Tags: RTS, Turn-Based, US vs. US
Chicken Police - 11/5
Tags: Gumshoe Detective, Dr. Monroe, Animal House
Prodeus - 11/10
Tags: FPS, Retro, So Much Blood
The Falconeer - 11/10
Tags: Air Combat, Open World, Tough
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin - 11/10
Tags: Combat, Farming Sim, Rice!
The Pathless - 11/12
Tags: Open World, Momentum, Puzzles
Bugsnax - 11/12
Tags: Picture Taking, Bug Puzzles, Lots of Snax
Thank you for making it to the end of the newsletter, or at least scrolling to the very bottom to see if there’s anything hidden at the end. (There’s not.) Let me know if there’s anything you want to see in the comments, or you can reach me on Twitter @8bitwiz.
Play More Games.