Miles708
Member
Exactly, but it's too specialized. They wanted a casual game generator that everyone can partake in but ended up with a game that's at it best when it lets you fulfill your creative curiosity. But that's only gonna cater to the people who are willing to spend time creating and enjoy the learning process, which is simply put too few. It's almost like they thought most people bought LittleBigPlanet because of the creation tools but forgot that the majority bought it for the great visuals and charm. Without that charm, the creation tools would mean little. There is gonna be a part of the audience that will enjoy browsing the stream of games, but the games aren't good enough to draw in enough of that crowd. At least not so far.
Dreams is the most fascinating game I played the entire generation, I spent 50 hours making a game, ended up realizing I needed another 200 hours to simply make it passable and stopped working on it. I was a bit frustrated by the whole thing at the time and talked down the game, but after I thought about it more, the truth is I enjoyed those 50 hours a lot, it was incredibly engaging, and even though I didn't realize it at the time, making that game WAS the game.
Yes, the editor IS the game, that's the most interesting thing and the real deal. I keep thinking that Dreams is one inch away from being a revolution, but somehow this inch is still missing.
For the rest of your post, I agree again, but I think the audience could be made wider simply by adding A LOT of charming starting-templates: driving, platforming, shooters, arcade, sport etc. It's surprising they didn't do it already, really.
It would make the game much more approachable, while also giving it a less "liquid" and more recognizable identity.