There are games with fantastic graphics, with environments which is just stunning. There are games with great combat and movement mechanics, games with really good AIs, games with lots of options to create and customize things, etc. Generally speaking all these things are important for a game, naturally depending on what kind of game it is. Putting a lot of effort in a combat mechanic for a puzzle game isn’t exactly what I would focus on for example, but I think you get the picture.
There is however one thing which is above all these things in my opinion, the game feel. It really doesn’t matter how amazingly rich the graphical details are, how brilliant the movement mechanics are – if it doesn’t make you get the right feeling.
This is for example why I liked Read Dead Redemption better than GTA, even thought they’re built on basicly the same engine. It had a much better feel and charm, and because of that I could also be indulgent with some flaws in the campaign story.
So if someone would ask me what’s the most important thing in a game; the answer is darn easy to provide. It’s the game feel. But if someone asks me exactly how you create a good game feel, or asks to me explain exactly what’s this feeling is about – the answer would be all but easy.
It’s like trying to describe why you’re in love with someone: “Well you know, she’s funny, good-looking, has a big warm heart and she makes me feel really special”, and when you think about what you’ve just said you realize these are words which could’ve also been said about a really good friend. There are things you just can’t describe with words, but you can feel them. And thank God for that.
The game feel is naturally the most important thing in Hattrick as well, and I also think the game feel is the main reason why Hattrick is a success and also why so many managers keep on playing year after year. That said, looking back I also have to admit that there may be times when it has been put in the shadows. Unintentionally and maybe not totally out of focus, but nevertheless. And even though I still think the game feel is really good in Hattrick, I’m also certain we can make it better.
The old saying “it’s all in the story” isn’t true for games, but the story is certainly of importance for the game feeling and to be honest we can become much better at telling a story. Just to mention one thing. But all in all, never forgetting about the game feel in everything we do is the best service we can give ourselves.
Cool Story Bro.
I so agree with what you are writing. I’m really impressed of how you managed to make the forum as good at it is today. Well except from that you can’t search but i understand that it’s hard to instate.
Anyway. I have visited a lot of different sites with big forums and nothing is compared to this of what i have seen. Very good categories. Not too much, not too little. A swedish site, http://www.blip.se had a nice forum some years ago, but nowadays everything is VERY categorised and this have resulted in low activity.
And too little catogories, like, not having any categories at all, can maybe create some chaos. And everyone will get confused.
And the idea of seeing the OTHER threads in the forum you’re on while checking out a thread is brilliant and practical. And it’s very good how easily you can see wich thread you have been writing in and wich thread you have been reading the messages in. Its also very good that when you have read like 50 posts in a thread with 150 posts that you don’t get to the start, but instead that you open the thread at the newest unread post!
And the maximum when you read a thread is perfect. And that you can change it after what you think is best is even more perfect. And that you can ignore some threads if you want to, or that you can choose what forums you want to see. In other sites all of the different subjects are there and you just have to search your way through to come where you truely belong.
I can go on forever. Seriously. Im very impressed. Thanks guys for beeing so smart and for thinking of so many little things that make it so better.
“Service Unavailable
HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable.”
This is great guys, keep up the good work!
Are we supposed to see this every weekend?
It’s a memory leak which is causing the hiccups we experience from time to time. But we’re on it now, and analysing what’s causing it. Hopefully it will soon be just a memory from the past.
How about now, is this (again “Service unavailable”) also a hiccough?
Yep. :/
I feel…it’s time to put that feeling in a book on Hattrick! 😉 Apart from that delayed project I still think you guys do a great job. I still like the feel and the community of the game. And your efforts in communicating with the managers, like this blog are great and certainly help with the game feel.
After 7 years I’m making a new start with my team: a brand new and challenging game approach. You still have me hooked, and that’s mainly because of the feel and the gameplay: easy to learn, difficult to master the game. Just make sure to back up on the changes that involve training and the match-engine now. There have been a lot of those changes lately and more of those are seriously hazardous for the game feel, long term team plans and therefore manager loyalty. You have a lot of hardcore fans that have played for a long time, don’t disappoint us.
And to end this comment with a positive note. You’re doing a great job, keep up the good work, remember what you’re doing and who you are doing it for. I hope the faster training will help to keep the newbies aboard and give them a chance to catch up with the rest of us!
You are so right about the feeling. That is why I consider the game Gothic 1 to be maybe the best I have ever played and one that I would play again 10 years after the launch.
Regarding Hattrick, the game is good but it could be so much better. I think that the main thing to focus would be match report and ways to generate more feedback about the game. The reports about redirecting chances for AO tactics is just a small step towards that goal.
You forgot to mention the pace of the game.
Me, I love the fact that you don’t have to log in every day, but that the other users on the fora makes you want to log in every day.
There are many things which makes a great game in the end, as you say the pace is also of importance. But I didn’t really forget about it, I just wanted to point out that without a good feel it doesn’t really matter how good the rest of the game is.
Might sound negative for you HT guys, but I think the one thing that keeps managers attracted to the game is the community. It’s the people you got to know well over the years and they stop you from stopping playing hattrick. The game itself hasn’t changed to the better and the fact, that it took years to build up that high level team is the reason not more managers are quitting. Not yet.
I don’t see the community attraction as something negative for us, rather the opposite. I mean, Hattrick is designed to be a social game, and we want our managers to interact with each other – and with us. The fact that the community attracts and keeps people playing the game is positive, and we’ve also seen from studies that the community is an important “stay factor”.
I am not saying that community attraction is a bad thing. Of course it’s not, it’s the #1 stay factor. I just wanted to point out, that the claim in your article saying “game feel is most important factor for keeping managers attracted” is not. Unfortunately. The development of the game hasn’t helped keep managers attracted.
IMO game feel hasn’t improved much over the years. Sure, the new design gave a boost, though it was criticised by many users. But there are many flaws and annoying errors (some are nowadays called “hiccups” ^^), which are so demotivating.
Many veteran managers don’t spend that much time with the game itself anymore, they “waste” their time in the federations or public forums. Well, so long.
Community attraction is an important stay factor and the longer you play it probably gets more important, that we can agree on. However, the community factor isn’t a big factor for starting playing the game or getting attracted by the game during your first time in the game. And whether the game feeling becomes less important than the community attraction after a few years depends on who you ask. Most of our users aren’t that active in the community after all. But for some the community is definitely more important in the long run.
Keep up this blog. I just like gettint into your heads more and more 🙂
Even though I am still new to all this, I already am hooked and know that there are so many good things about the game and the developers!
Kudos!
Sorry for the late comment, I don’t visit this blog normally.
But I have a comment I feel I must say. Hattrick some time ago was growing in number of registered players. Some time ago it established and now it’s kinda diminishing. Hattrick never got 1 million registered players, was almost there (950k users I think) and now it’s under 900k.
Hattrick passed through many changes in the past years. Some real big changes in it’s gameplay (substitutions, training system to name a few).
With those, my feeling is that HT lost the game feel it had in the past. I and many fellow frieds I made in the game lost our will to play the game. And looking to the numbers of users I’m led to think it’s not only me or some old users.
I’d like to see what do you think about that.
Thanks in advance,
Erich
Perhaps something for a blog post later on.
Okay. Hoping to see it discussed (I’m very interested in your side opinion about this matter)
Thanks again,
Erich