For those anxiously awaiting further word of the reception to my first Spore Galactic Adventures … adventure, I am proud to announce it has been played a grand total of 32 times by other players thus far. NPD best-selling list, here I come.
Rather than rest on my laurels, I moved on and published my second adventure. If my first adventure was a conventional bug hunt, my second effort took the path less travelled. It’s a puzzle that combines two great things that complement each other so well: a classic board game and landmines.
To be more specific, it’s a chess-based puzzle that sees the player trying to navigate a giant chessboard while avoiding capture by chess pieces. Stepping on a square under attack by a chess piece results in an explosive death courtesy of an invisible mine.
Remarkably, it’s been played a total of 222 times since it was published. This would be reason enough for celebratory cartwheels given the response to my first creation yet there’s more to the tale than that. Hits and popularity don’t always correlate.
As of writing, the most popular user-created adventure has a user-rating of 828, and my second adventure is currently rated, wait for it, 5.6. (By contrast, my first adventure has a user-rating of 6.9.)
Mulling it over, there are certain insights I gained that I’d like to share …
Ancient board games may not be as popular with the videogame crowd as you might think.
It turns out using failure outcome text to insult frustrated players right before they’re given an opportunity to rate your adventure is not a good idea.
Invoking a name from Greek mythology in the introductory text is a good idea.
Everything‘s better with bongos. (The Incredible Bongo Band. Look it up.)
Spore Galactic Adventures, in a shocking oversight, doesn’t include bongo music.
You can put as much creativity, thought and passion into your adventure as you want, but it’s not going to be anywhere near as popular as an adventure titled “Easy Points 2”.
