Replay Value

Is replay value in games truly that important? Playing through Braid took about 5 hours, and while there are time trial speed runs available, there's a great deal of uproar about how paying $15 for a puzzle-game with no multiplayer and little supposed replay value is too expensive. In comparing Braid's release to Portal's release, there was little to no furor over the cost of Portal, which was ostensibly a 3 hour game. Having been bundled with the Orange Box definitely added a lot of value to the $50 (PC) / $60 (Xbox360/PS3) package, but the game also sold on its own for $20.

While both games in question have speed run trials, Braid and Portal are puzzle games that have relatively short playtimes. In any case, what comes into question is: why do people think that longer games with lots of replay value are worth more than games that don't have multiplayer or replay value? Is a game that a person plays through once in 3 hours worth less than a game that people play 4 hours a night, every night in the week?

Having recently finished Braid, I can say it's one of the few games I've played in a long time that has had a lasting effect on me. I've been thinking about the game, its story, and its themes more or less nonstop since I started playing it, and even though I finished it already, I'm still reading online all about the game, people's theories on its story, and just about anything else I can get my grubby little paws on.

Fundamentally, my frustration is rooted in people's unwillingness to try something new. Change has to come from somewhere.

Words!

I figured I'd jump on the game design blog bandwagon, so here is my first post! My name is Andy Jih, and I'm a Producer at Schell Games. Unfortunately none of the projects that I'm currently working on right now have been announced yet, but I'll post as soon as anything official comes up. I also worked at Electronic Arts: Los Angeles last year as a producer intern on Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, which will be coming out later this year.

My plan is to post thoughts about the work that I'm doing, games that I'm playing, and probably any other miscellany that might come up. Stay tuned!