Gfk, have you thought about doing a golf-sim with a full career/lifestyle element such as New Star Soccer? I'm talking real-life players, real tournaments, real courses (with fudged names of course).
NSS has been selling solidly for 18 months and shows no signs of giving up the ghost (touch wood). People love the fact that it allows them to live the dream; score the goals, make the headlines, get the pop-star girlfriend. They love buying virtual items (cars, jewelry, mansions) despite the fact that they have little effect on the "game". It took about 2.5 years to get from NSS1 to NSS3 (from part-time hobby to full-time indie) and over that time I built up a dedicated fan-base, got my head around basic marketing, selling and so on. A key factor in the games success is that people want to use their own name in the game. Using leaked codes means they have to use someone else's name. Where's the fun in that?
I guess I was lucky in that started out with a game I was passionate about and it turned out that other people wanted to buy it. I'm often asked if I'll be making New Star Cricket, New Star Rugby etc so I'm sure that if I made a golf or F1 game it would sell well. Thing is, I'm only really passionate about football, so I'm not sure I could do justice to other sports. For me, it's all about the passion.
NSS has been selling solidly for 18 months and shows no signs of giving up the ghost (touch wood). People love the fact that it allows them to live the dream; score the goals, make the headlines, get the pop-star girlfriend. They love buying virtual items (cars, jewelry, mansions) despite the fact that they have little effect on the "game". It took about 2.5 years to get from NSS1 to NSS3 (from part-time hobby to full-time indie) and over that time I built up a dedicated fan-base, got my head around basic marketing, selling and so on. A key factor in the games success is that people want to use their own name in the game. Using leaked codes means they have to use someone else's name. Where's the fun in that?
I guess I was lucky in that started out with a game I was passionate about and it turned out that other people wanted to buy it. I'm often asked if I'll be making New Star Cricket, New Star Rugby etc so I'm sure that if I made a golf or F1 game it would sell well. Thing is, I'm only really passionate about football, so I'm not sure I could do justice to other sports. For me, it's all about the passion.