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Originally Posted by I Am Herenow
To be honest, guys, I think a Napoleonic game is the most obvious choice. I understand all your arguments about Medieval India being interesting and more developed etc. but no-one has heard of them! Why was it called "Rome: Total War" and not "Dacia: Total War" or "Carthage: Total War"? You could play any of those three factions, and more, but it was named after the Romans as they were by far the most famous nation from that time (they are even called "Roman times"!) and most people would rather play as them than the other factions. The "average person" - or "casual player", if you like - is going to be very familiar with Rome: everyone has certainly heard of the Roman Empire and has a picture in their minds of a Roman soldier with his red, square shield - whereas most people who have never played RTW have probably never even heard of Dacia, Pontus or the Seleucid Empire. Granted, most people will recognise the name "Carthage" too, but they are only famous for elephants, Hannibal, and being beaten by the Romans - just like the Gauls, Dacians and all those other "barbarians". And, let's face it, who wants to play as the losers?
Apologies, but this is incorrect. I live in a country that is not Western. (China) and I can safely tell you that not everyone has heard of the Roman Empire. 'The Roman Times' you speak of are only called thus in Europe for context. They could easily be called Chinese Times as the Chinese Empire at the time was just as important and in fact more advanced in some ways than Rome. Depends on what part of the World you live in and what language you speak. Rome was the dominating power in Europe, so of course it's name is used, but only because it easily tells people what era you are talking about, and the map was Europe.
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Things like medieval India belong in mods. I think that, no matter how advanced they may have been, they will still be a niche market. For history buffs, enthusiasts, 'grognards' and whatever else you want to call them.
Again it depends on what Market you are going for. As stated before by Diatovelli the Asian Pacific Market is vast compared to the Western one, and I can assure you that most Chinese gamers would prefer to see a game set in their own country rather than overseas. However the key point most people fail to make is that yes China has the biggest population in the world, but it also has the worst piracy problems as well. (I can buy fake copies of ANYTHING in legal shopping malls!) So yes the market over here is the biggest, but the potential for profit sadly isn't. What's more there is a lot of xenophobia in the East. Ask almost any chinese person what they think about Japanese and you will get the response of 'little devils' with no joke intended. Its a hate culture, and so you won't see a big profit in China from a game based in Japan. I can remember only 1 Chinese clan when STW was just out.
You restrict your opinions to Western markets and people who come to English-speaking websites. I can understand this as most Chinese people do the same for their own language. (Try looking at a Chinese website see how far you get :dizzy2:
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And so, though it pains me to say it, we here are all Lacrosse fans, metaphorically. Even though there may be people here who are really into medieval India, China at the time of the Roman Empire or Bronze Age Greece (hell, I sure find those areas of history interesting), frankly, noone else does.
No offence meant, but try opening your mind to the fact there there are more people in the World than just those from Western countries. Also don't think that there are only English or European-speaking forums and websites for the TW series.
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As for the "Asia has a market for Indies: Total War" argument, I'm not sure. Although I completely agree that there must be millions of middle class people in Asia who could buy videogames, the question is, would they? Is there really a demand for PC games in, say, India?
India is an up and coming technological country. A lot of IT companies are locating there. China is the same. Microsoft have 2 offices in China, (Chengdu - my city, and Dalian), Intel have just built their biggest factory here in Chengdu.) It's nothing to do with 'Middle-Class' in Asia. Internet Cafes are the process, and there are millions of them. IBM has financed a Chinese Company from Xian to build net cafes throughout China. They have just built one in Beijing that I think has 7 floors of computers in a huge building. Net cafes over here are cheaper than you can imagine (£0.07/hour) and people literally live in them as they are open 24/7. I read a report not long ago based upon a person who lives in a Net Cafe in Japan. It has facilities such as showers!
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Also, about people enjoying games about their own country, I think this is only true to a certain extent. I myself come from Ukraine, but do I know what was going on in that area in 1384? No, and, to be honest, I don't particularly care. Nor do I want a game made about it. In fact, I defy any British or American person who isn't a historian/history student/similar to give me, off the top of their heads, an in-depth analysis of the political situation in their country in, say, 1787. Indeed, would most Brits/Americans even know who the head of state was at that time? Sure, people like to play as themselves, but it's more important if they recognise who they are playing as.
Again, not to be rude but you are thinking with a Western mind-set. Open your mind to the fact that different cultures think in different ways. I can tell you right now that the Chinese people (much like Americans today) are very nationalistic. They see their country as the best and cling firmly to this opinion. Yes you come from the Ukraine, but I believe you don't have this feeling because was there ever a Ukrainian Empire? At the end of the day it's about power, and the Chinese have sustained their position in the World longer than any others.
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Why else would most Rome: Total War players play as one of the Roman factions, despite a relatively small proportion of them actually being from Rome or Italy?
From what I read about people playing RTW, the most common question was 'How can I unlock the other factions?' Most people played as Rome because they were the starting factions. The first mod for the game was an open all factions mod, which came out pretty quickly if I recall.
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So, in conclusion, stick to the most famous areas of history with your games, and leave the rest to the mods.
In terms of people knowing about it, 1.5 billion directly know the history of China, and many others from outside China know a lot or a little about it. Famous in terms of no. of people knowing it, or in terms of no. of people in your area knowing it is a different thing.
This post is not to put you down I Am Herenow, I just see a lot of people thinking what they study and learn about at school or in their private time is what everyone in the World studies and learns about. Having lived in both West and East (native of the UK now living in China) I can promise you that this isn't the case.
As for CA and profit, I cannot see a direct move to gain from the Chinese market, because even after looking at all the statistics about it's size, its all fake. Firstly people here don't buy games, they go to Net Cafes and play them. Net Cafes do not buy a copy for each computer as they should, but actually just 1 copy and install on all computers. This drastically cuts the possible profit down. Then on top of that piracy problems mean its an almost no go area.
But opening up a new era for Western minds isn't such a bad idea. I didn't know anything about medieval Japan before I bought Shogun. Although I had just finished reading James Clavell's book 'Shogun' at the beginning of 2000. It opened my mind to a new era, and I found myself learning as much as possible about it because it turned out I loved it.
As for the next Total War: *sucks teeth* anything is possible. As most say it depends on what market they are trying to reach. I would like to see Chinese Warring States, because of the multitude of factions, plus the map wouldn't have to be that big. No point having a World map if 'Russia' is just one province. A remake of STW is always a nice choice, but will maybe stagnate the genre further as Duke John mentioned. Mongols is kinda difficult since they already have an Expansion pack about them, although this is localised in Japan. Still the map would be huge Covering all of Asia (including Indonesia) and then much of Europe as well, if not all. Greece would be nice, if it was done in detail, because of the number of factions available. The Fantasy genre is now a tough nut to crack, unless they purchase some special rights, which I am sure SEGA have the cash for.
The question is after 7 years, where can they take turn-based strategy?
