ST2 and Midcore Gamers

[tenbsmith]

The "midcore demographic may be the future of mobile game marketing, according to leading developers." The article goes on say that successful developers of casual, mobile games (e.g., Candy Crush) are now developing top selling midcore games.

To what degree will ST2 appeal to midcore gamers? How can the TB increase that appeal? (I'm sure the TBs have already considered this, but I'd enjoy a discussion on the topic.)

Midcore gamers "...enjoy video games, but make time to play around their busy schedule. Adults who grew up playing video games and wish they could play more often choose a midcore title to satisfy that craving [males outnumber female]. A midcore title is ... more challenging than a casual game, requiring strategy and skill to level up your characters and rank among worldwide players. For this reason, this demographic is more invested in their gameplay progress than" with casual games, where the goal is to solve puzzles.

The majority of people on this discussion board and on the ST2 alpha are probably hardcore gamers. And their feedback will not always reflect the perspective of midcore gamers.

Midcore games "...include MMOs like Clash of Clans and Game of War, RPGs like Nuclear Farm and complex match-3 games like Kill Me Again: Infectors and Star Trek: Wrath of Gems. While many midcore games share similar visual styles with casual titles like Candy Crush and Angry Birds, the main differences lie in the ability to level up a character, the strategy required and a sense of competition." Midcore game "session times range from short to mid-range."

ST2 definitely includes the ability to level up a character and requires strategy, I'm not sure about competition.

The quotes above are from www.alistdaily.com/strategy/mobile-midcore/ . 

[athios]

I think most of the TB Games probably already fall under this category. You can sort of pick up any game, quickly learn enough to play in short/medium bursts and have a decently enjoyable experience.

You then have the option of crawling down an insanely deep rabbit hole to see all the bits and bots and intricacies of the behind-the-scenes game mechanics until you are drowning in data/formulae/strategies. That gives an entirely different experience for those who are into this, but isn't required for basic enjoyment.

I think the choose-how-deep-you-wanna-go approach is quite versatile. But, as you mentioned, most frequent posters on the forum here are probably in the hardcore category, so I'm not sure how people in the other categories see this...

As described in depth in one of grävling's posts on another thread, individual psychology plays a big role as well in how they perceive games.

[Officer Genious]

I noted the same thing talking about balance with aliens.

[johndramey]

Whoa, wait a minute. I guess I'm a midcore gamer, haha.

Especially with their HoS and on games, I feel that the TB games are imminently midcore-able (?). I love delving into the nitty gritty of the games, but I only pick up and play them for short spurts. I have never played any of their versions on PC (aside from 1 hour of HoS to leave a review on Steam), and basically never play for more than, oh, say, an hour at a time at most.

I'm guessing that the TB are mainly building for this demographic, while including things like Ironman as a way to appease the more hardcore demographic.

The beauty of the TB games is that, while they can be very hardcore, they don't require total nerding out to get to be a master. I'm not quite at the level of handling ironman nightmare HoS, but I'm confident enough in ST2, BF, and ST4X that I can do it there.

[xdesperado]

%@$$#@$%%$@$@%%×%
Sorry can't use the language on forum I would in a real life conversation if someone started spouting this drivel.
Honestly "Midcore"? Get a grip and find better ways to waste your own and others time then trying to come up with new ways to try pigeonholing various things be they games, gamers, music, books whatever.
The TBs make fun to play games that have been built to allow individual gamers to approach them in a variety of ways and to play them in as casual or as hardcore a fashion as they like. That has been one of their strong points with all their games and they are taking pains to make it even more true as we progress through ST2 and into any future titles they may develop.
When developers/game companies start developing games based around "targeted demographics" be they age, gender, or heaven help us "midcore" you start seeing a loss of creativity and the inevitable reskin/clone of some other truly innovative developers work.
Thus we end up with a market flooded with Candy Crush/Angry Birds etc. Look alikes because some clown, who probably hasn't played a game since he/she was in kindergarten playing tiddly winks, says they've done a market survey/analysis whatever.
Honestly we'd never have gotten ST RPG let alone the rest of the TB games we have already if they would have listened to such garbage because practically every media outlet at the time had long declared turn based, strategy and RPG games dead dead dead, so forget about something that had even elements of all 3 being even close to a viable product.

[fallen]

Lol some strong feelings there xdesperado

Interesting discussion for sure. Consider the list of games that were provided, "midcore games" seem like a slight uptick from casual games. There is a small, fuzzy strategy layer put on top to make it look more like a real game, but its pretty slim. Then again, I haven't played much of these games.

I like my games hardcore (http://blog.tresebrothers.com/2011/03/hardcore-games-youre-going-to-die.html)

[tenbsmith]

I agree that TB games have historically fit the midcore market well. The ability to play for short or long periods of time is a big plus for me. I also like the lack of button mashing, fast-twitch stuff, especially for mobile. If I have to fast twitch, I want a controller, not a touch screen. (I think I broke my last phone playing a fast twitch game on it.)

Xdesperado how do you really feel about marketing and midcore? ;-)
Seriously though, I think we're all glad the TBs design games they'd like to play, instead of based upon marketing etcetera. The TBs stay true their vision, which is awesome. On the other hand, once you know what you want to make, then is a good time to think about how you will sell it and to whom. Design to the vision, but include UI and other elements to get at the midcore gamers. For example, a quick start menu that doesn't require a new/casual gamer to make all the captain design choices. The deeper gamers can still design their own captains and have all those meaningful decisions.

Did Templar Battleforce sell more on Steam than on mobile? If so, it may be that the TB audience is more hardcore than midcore. The article I cited was about mobile midcore, but I imagine Steam is more hardcore.

It seems to me that TB games are coming at that market from the deep end of the pool, whereas games like candy crush jelly are coming from the shallow end. TB games are closer to the deep end, the games like candy crush jelly closer to the shallow end.

[ntsheep]

As my human age is 38 years old right now, I believe I fall into the Midcore Life Crisis gamer section. I'm glad the TB's make such great sport car alternative games. I'll take a red Leviathan Templar suit please

[Alex Fury]

I'm probably in the midcore-hardcore range. There are multiple games I play in a day. One, MPQ, partially because I'm one of the commanders, and so stay VERY active with that one. I've been doing more gaming than books for a while. But I'd see most Trese Brothers ones as more midcore, because of the extreme ease of put-down/pick-up. Even if the med and harder levels may be more ' hardcore gamer ' difficulty on the whole

[Tchey]

The article's "midcore" definition is my "casual shit" definition. Super repetitive clickers, most of the time, with mechanisms to keep the player busy enough so it can't go play another game, but still is accomplishing nothing and then has nothing to share, as a story or game's experience. It's like the main TV/Radio/newspaper channels : full of emptyness. Keep people busy so they don't think too much.

[slayernz]

I strongly fluctuate between hard and soft ... err in relation to game playing that is. I maaaaaaaaaaaay have gotten a bit over-zealous at times with ST RPG, but didn't go all out and develop companion apps or spreadsheets to help me optimize every action or turn. I never mastered every single element of the game (I still don't like boarding).

In saying that - is it the style of play - the number of hours of play - or the depth of play that earns you a soft, mid, hard, stupidly-insane, or TB Groupie gamer title? Most, if not all of us here play for enjoyment. If we're not enjoying something, there are a bajillion other things out there that are more than willing to take up your precious spare time. Things like other mobile phone games, PC games, console games, work, or maybe even family (no, that list is NOT in priority order ).

Cory and Andrew are creating games that suit that mid and upwards type gameplay, which is an outstanding place to be. You want to focus on games that are somewhat easy to learn and play, but provide almost infinite amounts of replayability, where you learn and discover more and more over the course of your interaction. If that's not enjoyment, then you're one sad kitty cat.

I've somehow fallen out of playing games on my phone - during work, I'm busy ... well working (ish). Although I'm teaching myself how to write Excel VBA (ha, ST RPG Excel anyone? ... anyone?). At home, I'm doing family stuffs and wifey insists I sit with her during the evening without a gadget in hand. I need to get back into TB games again - but when you're out of the habit, it's hard to re-adjust again if you know what I mean. That means I'm pretty much on the soft side (again, GAME Play people )

I want to love STF - I want to find it every bit as compelling as the original. I need to find time to get immersed. The admittedly small amount that I have played so far hasn't been nearly enough.

[tenbsmith]

I hear you slayernz , real life is getting in the way of my gaming too.

[Officer Genious]

Same. I'm balancing school, work and writing, and good God this shit is hard.

[resistor]

I quit my job last week, so I'm enjoying a brief respite from the problems you people are facing

[ntsheep]

Oct 10, 2017 19:21:41 GMT -5 Officer Genious said:

Same. I'm balancing school, work and writing, and good God this shit is hard.

If I can do it after coming back from an accident, you can make it just fine. Saw the Dr for the final time today. He said my knee is just fine and I'm good to go. I work full time now through the week, go to college twice a week at night to learn welding, and then still work one weekend a month at the flea market. Sure I don't have the time I did before to play TB games and watch anime, but that just makes it more fun and special when I can do those things. Lately I've been back to playing CK and thinking of writing more Lonewolf adventures.