Level Up.pdf

What to Do for an Encore?
What to Do for an Encore? 425
If your game reviews well or sells well, or if your publisher can afford to pay
you a second time around, then you may get to make a sequel. Publishers
like sequels. Now that I have worked for both a developer and a publisher, I
think I have a good perspective on sequels. Just like in Hollywood, they are
safe(r) bets: proven intellectual property (IP) that doesn ’ t need to be
explained to the audience: “ if you loved the first one, you ’ ll love the
second! ”
It ’ s easy to understand why that is appealing to a publisher, but it ’ s not
without its problems. Sequels often sadly seem to represent a missed
opportunity. Some teams just “ phone in ” or rush to make their sequel,
creating retreads of the last game. Sequels should be treated as an
opportunity to get it right. The first time you make a game, you are limited
by several factors: you have to build a team, build an engine, figure out
just what the heck this character and the gameplay is going to be. Get the
whole thing to work and actually be fun. Then you hope that the audience
is going to like and buy it. Once you ’ ve finished that, you ’ ve licked the
hard part — especially if you ’ ve sold well enough to warrant a sequel. You
should start your preproduction with the driving desire to make the game
perfect 4 .
4 OK, odds are you will never obtain perfection, but it ’ s not a bad goal to shoot for. Then
again, it didn ’ t help Duke Nukem Forever , did it?