Killing off the hype(if any has already occured)

[133794m3r]

One thing that i've tried to do was to keep my game which is my current little pet project so to speak under rather tight wraps stating to anyone whom i speak to that it's not going to be ready when it is, and also not talking about any the features. But today, i've just realized that apparently there is already hype coming up for something that doesn't exist yet. I know that big gaming companies love the hype since it helps them, but i personally hate it because then people come in with weird false expectations of things that probably aren't going to happen and since i've tried to keep the information as low as possible doing things on a Need to Know Basis I thought i could completely avoid hype and sorta just get some people organically when the thing was ready for actual testing/playing. Anyway, today one of my friends whom i hang out with on a montly basis now since he's in college again and working came over and was telling me about how he's been talking to his classmates at college, and also the others within his 'clicks' that he hangs out with and there's numerous people who want to play this thing and want to know a date whne it comes out. This has also happened with another friend who lives in the phillipines of mine, he also was telling quite a few people which now has put the game itself onto a more hype-y level which is somethign that i didn't want to have happen.

Both of them, all i did was tell them that i was making a game, it'd be done hwen it was done, and that i wouldn't reveal any of the features or anything else until a little while before the game was done so that if something that is currently slated for the version 1.0.0 release doesn't make it, people can't get extremely angry about it. Sadly, it seems that my very ltitle information about it besides little things that he and others have seen via me just doing general chit-chat have caused some hype(i don't know how big it is right now but i hope it's still small) to form.

Has anyone else had to deal with this issue? It's not like they've gotten ahold of my 100 pages of design documents, nor the code, api, or anything similar all that they know is that it's a browser game. It's coming out when it's done, and i might've talked about a few little things since i tend to talk about what i'm doing but i treid my best to keep it quiet. I know that word of mouth is great once the game comes out but before it, how do the rest of you try to decrease the hype level and word of mouth until a little while before alpha testing phase begins and then let it go and go on it's own whim during the beta testing to release stages.

The only thing that i can think of right now is for me to literally just stop talking about any of the things that i was working on, and when he or anyone else asks what i'm doing be more indirect and just say "i'm working on something for teh game." or when he's over just not code at all whilst we talk and try to avoid having any of my documents open before he comes over since i might forget and leave it open(my laptop that is).  Currently i'm not even planning on alpha-testing before januarary of next year at the earliest so thus any sort of hype like this puts the pressure upon me to try not to dissapoint those who are building up the hype train since it's a very cruel dual-edged blade that i personally like to just avoid completely but it seems that i've gotten drawn into it.

[Chris]

It's good that you feel pressure, it makes you more efficient

As for disappointing, it's too late. You will disappoint them, no matter what kind of game you make. That's the way it is, the real thing is always inferior to the thing created in players mind.

If you want to kill the hype give them more details about the game. Because if they have no info they hope the game will be to their liking, when you give more info and more details more and more fans will defect. You said it will be strategy you lose those who wanted RPG. You say it will use heavy flash and big resolution you lose those on mobile phones. You say it is about competition you lose those who wanted cooperation.

The hype is exactly because you withold the information You allowed their imagination go wild.

Of course when you reduce the quantity of hype (more people defect) you also increase quality of hype (more people turn into hardcore fans since your detailed vision is near their dreamlike vision).

[133794m3r]

And chris that's precisely one reason I attempted to keep it under wraps for so long. Because, I dislike people rabidly wiating for somtehing to come out. I know i'll always dissapoint some, i'll anger others, and yet still some will just completely be disgusted with me because i didn't decide to do game mechanic x like y but instead did it like z. Where i live though, i hope there's not a lot of people who really want to play the type of game that i am designing and by that i mean the people that they talk to and speak with on a regular basis and the ones who are making me feel the hype death. I guess I know from now on that by keeping it under wraps doesn't work really really well. It seems to work very well for apple and company with their products with very little information coming out and almost no leaks what so ever but I am at least glad it took this long before people started offering to do testing for something that's not there since i've been working on it officially since febuary this year, and started it as a thing to have fun with and make the type of game that i would want to play so that way i know i would like making it. From now on though, I'll just tell them informationso that it's refined down to a point where rabid giant groups cannot get hyped up about it and the more niches will but i'm sure that their numbers will be less and will also help me out more. I was telling a couple friends about some of the design things both of whom code as a hobby so i'll get in touch with him and give him more of a run down on it so that as you said it'll alienate those whom are currently probably expecting something like WoW since that's what anyone thinks when they ave very little information.

Something that i've always found peculiar, is that you are always one of the people saying things about how it was in the trenches and such. I remember stumbling across one of your games ages back, and i guess from that i can safely assume that you've been throuhg things that i've yet to do. And because of this hype train like thing, i might make the final phase of alpha testing, before i do a wipe adn go onto beta testing more open so as to try to keep their wild imaginations down.

[CygnusX]

I think you're making too big of deal over this.

First, let your friends get excited over something your making.  I wish I had more friends that would encourage me in this fashion.

Second, there is nothing wrong with seeking help/comments/research from a forum of similar minded programmers (such as this one).  Keeping things 'tightly under wraps' is necessarily a good thing (though, it can be).  If anything, we could probably save you months if not years of design mistakes.  When I started, I was very afraid of others stealing my idea.  Now, I've come to realize that I almost couldn't pay someone to take my idea and run with it.  I also realize that good game design is much more difficult than it appears.

[133794m3r]

I think you're making too big of deal over this.

First, let your friends get excited over something your making.  I wish I had more friends that would encourage me in this fashion.

Second, there is nothing wrong with seeking help/comments/research from a forum of similar minded programmers (such as this one).  Keeping things 'tightly under wraps' is necessarily a good thing (though, it can be).  If anything, we could probably save you months if not years of design mistakes.  When I started, I was very afraid of others stealing my idea.  Now, I've come to realize that I almost couldn't pay someone to take my idea and run with it.  I also realize that good game design is much more difficult than it appears.

It's not designs that i'm worried about anyone stealing and the reason i don't post my ideas for various little things on here is because i believe i have a good enough grasp of game design(was my minor in college) and i also have read a few books on the subject. Ideas are not really that amazing as others have said i realize this. The reason why i kept the overall design under wraps was to keep people from hyping it on. I've always hated the hype monster, I always wanted to make sure that i never had a game taht was one of those types of games. You know the kind that are hyped for years before they come out and then when it finally gets there most people who were constantly hyping it have moved on to another game.

I was talking about him always being one of the first people to come here. That's why i joined this site because i like to exchange what ideas i have on various little things with others. The things that i've really kept under wraps is my formulas and thats' because that's what really makes the game what it is since apply any theme to a base game and it can be anything.

The other reason for it being under such tight wraps is because i don't want people to see it until i believe that it's at least worth seeing. Right now it's not much more than tools, a few apis, a couple libraries i've been writing, and some basic things like that. The overall 'engine' isn't there yet. Soon i hope to have the engine part done so that i can show off something that's wort while. I've always been the type to keep my projects under wraps until i actually know how the project is going to go.

Now as far as the last part about good game design being harder than it appears. I've had to learn that lesson time and time again. I sit think to myself that i want to add some 'little' feature. Then i sit down and plan out the code and i realize that it's giong to take me a couple weeks to get it added to the game's tools/engine.

I learned a good long while ago about how cheap ideas are. It's the good ones that are hard to come by and even then it's even harder to actually get them into a working state.

[Chris]

I dislike people rabidly wiating for somtehing to come out.

That's the human nature, people will wait eagerly for something. The only solution that would really work here is brain surgery for all your would be players

I know i'll always dissapoint some, i'll anger others, and yet still some will just completely be disgusted with me

That's part of making games. If you make a game you disappoint and disgust MAJORITY of people (take a look at FarmVille, the most casual friendly game on this planet, the most catering to most possible audiences, no controversive game content/mechanic, still.... so many hordes of people who loathe that game openly). Hype or no hype won't matter, they will still hate you (well, except if your game is very unpopular so not enough people heard about it and tried it and got disappointed ).

I would say, don't worry about hype, it is their (players) problem, not yours. Your problem is to create a good game, not to worry what they say or do or expect. It wasn't you who created the hype let those who created it deal with it