To make a bad game, you first off need to have your priorities straight.
- Profits
- Cash flow
- Revenue
- ease of programming
- policing company ownded 'forums'
- and the list coninues...
and then somewhere down towards the bottom of the list is blah blah customer experience / fixing bugs n stuff.
Now don't get me wrong, I understand devs gotta eat, and shouldn't work for free, but if you wanna make a good game, you cant use the priorities I've listed inthe order above.
now, when making a bad game, the best and sneakiest way to get people to start playing, is to make it free. I know, I know, i used the F word and some of u greedy devs cringed, don't worry, we'll discuss why this is even better. People don't like to spend money, so by claiming a game is 'free' you get them in the door, and they get to play something that seems fun and exciting and best of all 'free'! to top it off, give them some 'real money' so they get a feel for the instant gratification spending money brings. Oh man, this is just the start.
As the players progress in the game, and once they start to feel a sense of accomplishment and ownership in the game, you have to develop lots of pressure to purchase the in game money. make it feel like they're grinding to a halt and their only salvation is purchasing in game money. But still, make it feasibly possible to go on without it, just so they feel as though they've made a decision.
Now here is the best part. once they've been playing a few months, and they've got their friends playing, we really screw them over. Jack up the prices of everything, make it so they either spend money, or they will eventually be food for those that spend money. Maybe not now, but eventually they will get into a scuffle with another character. If they wanna hit harder, all they have to do is spend money. If they want to be hit softer, all they have to do is spend money. They wanna expand? all they have to do is spend money. do you see the pattern developing? And its best to hold this interaction off until they feel committed to the game, so their emotions come into play, and they're more likely to make rash decision and impulse spend.
now for some social manipulation...
Do some experimenting with the prices, I mean really jack them up high on random new accounts. So people who've invited their friends to come play won't even realize they are pressuring them to spend a lot of money on the game just to keep up.
I know i mentioned early company run forums, and that may seem like a headache you dont feel like dealing with, but it is one of the best tools for squashing complaints. how so? you control the content! you think a thread makes your game look bad? Close it! and you also don't even have to offer any real support for the game! just throw players at your forums, appoint some fanboys as mods, and let them try to figure out the complex mess we've made!
And updates... Bugs should never be a priority UNLESS they hurt our bottom line. In fact, they should be completely ignored for as long as possible. A great way to avoid dealing with the bugs is by releasing new ways to spend money. This should ALWAYs be your priority when making a bad game. Your devs should constantly be finding new ways pressure and squeeze the money from your players.
Give them that feeling, that everything they've built and created over the months in the game will be wasted if they don't spend, always give people who spend money on the game an advantage, and prioritize developments that pressure players into spending money, and I guarantee you'll have made a BAD GAME.
