Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

trying to answer, and I’m not just talking about offering Everquest action figures
to set on top of your monitor while you play either. I’m talking about physical game
elements that are directly connected to a gaming experience, and that help to grow,
augment, and expand that experience.
Toys and Card Games Go Online
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Toys are using games as online components, and so are card games. Some of these
games grew in popularity as card games among card game players, and others are
card and web games built on well-known properties like Harry Potter or Dungeons
and Dragons. It’s important to understand that games these days are often part of an
entire licensing package. If you have a hit show like SpongeBob SquarePants, the
majority of the revenues generated by the show will come from product licensing.
You will license the manufacture of everything from night-lights and picture frames
to video games.
For your most successful card games, you will want to support and grow your
player base by offering an online version. A good example would be Magic The
Gathering. The online setting offers all kinds of new opportunities to build play for
card game players. This tends to be a slightly smaller audience, so you don’t necessarily
see tons of online card games available.
There are many novel and unique challenges to “porting” a physical game like
Magic The Gathering online. It’s unclear whether games that are perceived by players
as being physical and portable will have much success in an online format. Efforts
will continue to be made in these areas only if significant player numbers support this
kind of development with their purchases. There is no guarantee that they will succeed,
and maybe are best left alone.
Keep in mind, too, that many successful game designers helping to build content in
the digital age can trace their roots right back to paper and card gaming. Other modern
game designers have little or no experience in paper or card gaming.
Many popular toy franchises have had plans that incorporate games and online
elements at one point or another in the recent past. As of late, much of this work has
been slowed down or entirely cancelled by our current economic conditions as
companies set their focus on known and repeatable results with much less tolerance
for experimentation.
Toy franchises like Lego, which experienced success with its Mindstorms series
(http://mindstorms.lego.com/) before the economic downturn, were able to create
and support new fans with their online offerings.
There will be new opportunities in the coming years for game developers to
participate in the creation of game elements that support various toy and card
games. Undoubtedly, there will also be growth in the numbers and types of successful
toy and card games that will require support from game developers.
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Getting Started in Game Development