RPG Development Article

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Written by BuckGB on December 3rd, 2002

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Now, because I know how witty RPG fans are, I'll head you off at the pass and state that this is not me complaining about the sales on Arcanum, or blaming the ignorant masses for not appreciating/buying my game (as some other developers have done). I'll take the blame for the success/failure of Arcanum myself. On second thought, I'll take credit for the success part, and blame Anderson for the failure part (that would be Jason Anderson, artist/designer/scapegoat extraordinaire). I'm making a more general argument here, about a hypothetical "great" RPG. Hell, let's get out of the realm of hypothetical and talk hard facts - I don't believe either of the Fallouts have sold over 500,000 units. I see people clamoring on the boards all the time for more "Fallouts", but which do you think a publisher is more interested in, a Fallout (app 300,000 - 400,000 worldwide over its lifetime) or a Diablo 2 (1 million units in a week)? (Highly un-authoritative numbers, by the way). And to add insult to injury, the most difficult elements to add to a game (reactivity, in depth dialogs, multiple paths) are the things that define a great RPG (for me, at least). Take out those time consuming, stressful-to-get-right elements from an RPG and it is easier to sell. In other words, the things RPG fans clamor for are what keep RPGs from becoming best sellers.

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