Xboxist

3 Lessons Developers Can Learn from the Top Live Arcade Games

Microsoft has released a list of the top-selling Xbox Live Arcade games published in 2008, which you can find at the bottom of this post. These are the lucky games that rose to the top of a massive heap of other releases to generate both profit and fame for their creators. If you are a small indie developer hoping to make it big on the Xbox Live Marketplace, there are some important lessons to be taken from these successes. Continue reading to see what will help take your game to the top of the list in 2009.

Lesson #1: You can win big with an original idea
Like the Apple app store, the Xbox Live marketplace is flooded with all sorts of content. Some of it is good, and some of it is bad, but there is nothing to guarantee that good content will find its way in front of customers’ eyeballs. The best way to make an impact and draw gamers to your product is through word-of-mouth. The only way that news outlets and gamers will build buzz about your game is if it offers something newsworthy or unique. Braid was a sure winner here because it offered a compelling story to journalists – a hand drawn game of exquisite beauty designed by a lone programmer on a mission. To top it off, the game contains some of the most innovative and brain-twisting design in ages.

Screenshot from Braid on the Xbox 360.

Lesson #2: If at first you don’t succeed…
The number one selling game last year was Castle Crashers, developed by The Behemoth. When Behemoth made their first game for Xbox live, Alien Hominid, it was not very well received. But the developer was able to go from a mediocre seller to a top hit by finding out what worked in the first game and refining their presentation until they found something that worked. Castle Crashers is by no means an original idea (see above) but it has a very polished art style and rock-solid gameplay.

Lesson #3: Retro favorites are that way for a reason
Even if you don’t have an original idea in your head, you can still make a killing on Xbox Live. Nine of the top-selling games from 2008 were re-releases of old titles. This knowledge has to tell you something. Gamers love the familiar, and faced with the choice between buying something they already know and love (such as Bionic Commando) they will go that route instead of trying something new. One way to make a successful XBLA release is to take all of the ingredients from retro games that you like, and build a new title around those gameplay concepts. The ongoing popularity of Geometry Wars is proof that the strategy works.

Castle Crashers is decidedly retro, but brings an old genre up to date.

Xbox Live Arcade Sales Charts for 2008:

1 Castle Crashers
2 Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
3 Braid
4 A Kingdom for Keflings
5 UNO
6 Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
7 Fable II Pub Games
8 Duke Nukem 3D
9 Bionic Commando: Rearmed
10 Worms
11 SOULCALIBUR
12 Portal: Still Alive
13 DOOM
14 1942: Joint Strike
15 Bomberman Live
16 MEGA MAN 9
17 N+
18 Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3
19 Marble Blast Ultra
20 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

[Source: Major Nelson]