What do you want in a web game?

[askoruli]

I'm nearing the end of my current applet based project and am about to start a new one. I currently have a few ideas for games, but i'm not sure which one to start on, or exactly where to take it.
So here is my question:

What does a game need in order to get your attention? What do you look for when you want to play a game? What makes one game stand out from the rest?
I'm not after a list of things that make a game good, lists like that are easy to find, but what you personaly want to see in a game, what you've always wanted to see.

Personally I love a game that you can never win, a game where you get better every time you play but can never be perfect at.(As long as there are scores so you can beat your friends )

Keep in mind i'm making a small web game so extremly graphics/processor intensive things aren't that helpful.

[Coinerson]

If it isn't a deep-sea shrimp shooter i'm not interested.

[2playgames]

I like games in which I can be creative. Simcity, Transport Tycoon, RCT, Stronghold, etc.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[keldon85]

A game just needs to be good, full stop

Fancy graphics / game play / visuals / effects can make the eye look; game play will keep them playing.

[SimonH]

Gameplay is god!
Rules of webgaming:
1. Immediacy - no installs/long load times &c (unless you have a PR budget)
2. Simplicity - easy to understand and play.
3. Variety - never the same twice.

Everything else is just cake icing - the most played computer game ever is: Solitaire!

[keldon85]

Look at Sodplay, it began as nothing but a toy on a web site that one of the soda employees put on it and quickly become the Interactive BAFTA award winner in 2001. Tetris was also created as a random toy/game and through shareware it grew. If someone says "play this" you probably will try it, and if you really think a game is novel then you tell someone to "play this".

[micxiao]

people will like to play your game if it has lots of content, like an RPG.

or varied gameplay, i.e. no 2 games are the same.

poor graphics put people off, so quality > quantity

[JAW]

Well, speaking of games, I like different kind of games... Speaking of an applet web game, it should usually be a minigame. something you can just play a few minutes. Nothing big. No saving or so required. Like the usual Tetris / Pong stuff. Quick and Fun.

There were ads for a game a few months ago, Loco Roco or so, that looked quite interesting. You could turn the world left and right and your character would roll left or right based on gravity. Or this Paper Mario, where you can switch between two 2D perspectives which reveals secrets or new ways. These ideas are simple but innovative and create an easy and fun gameplay.

Personally, I do not like "unbeatable" games. I hardly like "endless" games either. (There is a difference: in unbeatable you must fail at some point, I dont like that. Endless games you just have no final goal, so you wont win, but there is a difference in not winning and losing). I prefer games that you can master and finish. You can still improve score, time, find more secrets, etc.

-JAW

[brackeen]

Check out the web games people like at Digg and JayIsGames   
http://www.digg.com/playable_web_games
http://www.jayisgames.com
"Tower Defense" games were popular for a long time on Digg, while JayIs has more puzzle-oriented games.

Personally, I do not like "unbeatable" games. I hardly like "endless" games either. (

Isn't Tetris unbeatable and endless?

[DzzD]

people will like to play your game if it has lots of content, like an RPG.

or varied gameplay, i.e. no 2 games are the same.

poor graphics put people off, so quality > quantity

my opinion is that is absolutly wrong, only gameplay & debug is important.

Make a game with a good gameplay and without bug. Gameplay have to match your game target audience, I mean you cannot (should not try to) make a game that everybody will like.

So basically define users you are targeting for your game, define a good gameplay, remove the most bugs you can. Last but not least, play your game ;-) and see what you dislike .... and be objective with yourself, most of the time things you dislike will be related to gameplay, sometime it will not (can be an agressive background music or to flashes game) but ususally it will be related to gameplay.

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[106498]

I like the type of games where you have your little person, walk around, build structures, mine resources. Sadly I've never seen a minigame version. So you could make it!

[grom358]

the most played computer game ever is: Solitaire!

1) How do you know this? I think minesweep would be close
2) If true, being pre-installed with windows would be a large factor.