What puzzles me [disclaimer: never really finished anything useful] is why people who want to make money, but are also interested in creating original games, don't simply bite the bullet and sate the market's demands. For example, most people seem to think that 'match-3s' are easy to produce, and evil incarnate (and I don't dispute this), but won't write them, despite this apparently being what 'the market' wants.
If the market wants it, and it's easy, why not do some hack-work and write a match-3? If that's what sells, and it makes you decent money (and nothing stops you putting your own twist on it for your own interest), why not do it? The profits gained, assuming you can meet the quality standards required, would allow you to write the games you want to write, which may of course sell much less.
Artists throughout the centuries have had to compromise to some extent (not that I believe the 'games are art' argument)... even my beloved HP Lovecraft agreed to ghost-write for the great Houdini, and was overjoyed at the financial gain involved, despite his distaste for the pulp fiction 'standards' he had to accommodate to make a living.
Argument reduced to nothing: why not do some hack-work to make money in order to fund your own interests? (See initial disclaimer... it's just an argument that seems reasonable to me.)
If the market wants it, and it's easy, why not do some hack-work and write a match-3? If that's what sells, and it makes you decent money (and nothing stops you putting your own twist on it for your own interest), why not do it? The profits gained, assuming you can meet the quality standards required, would allow you to write the games you want to write, which may of course sell much less.
Artists throughout the centuries have had to compromise to some extent (not that I believe the 'games are art' argument)... even my beloved HP Lovecraft agreed to ghost-write for the great Houdini, and was overjoyed at the financial gain involved, despite his distaste for the pulp fiction 'standards' he had to accommodate to make a living.
Argument reduced to nothing: why not do some hack-work to make money in order to fund your own interests? (See initial disclaimer... it's just an argument that seems reasonable to me.)