subject: Why Blizzard is a fantastic game company [print this page] No matter how much experience producers have, there's no better way to prove a point than trying out an element to see how it plays in the game. It's not the quickest way to produce, but if you want to hone your development, exploration and experimentation are fantastic tools.
There are things you can use at the lowest level, using simpler geometry for example. For some elements though, such as design elements, characters, and terrain, you need to view them as is, from within the game. In general, the sooner you work on experimentation, the less the development will cost.
Blizzard effectively invests their royalty revenue back into their games instead of producing a bunch of different games and hoping one takes off, they work on several elements for a single game. If you have a reliable idea, this is great. It goes without saying that you should begin with a good idea before investing in iteration.
Due to this the strength of Blizzards games has become common knowledge. Blizzard fans celebrate the quality of their games, posts such as 5 reasons to get excited about Blizzards' Next-Gen MMO are strife on the net and prove my point.
Games that players continue to play bring in continuing sales of the core product, but additionally add-ons, expansions, special editions, etc. Create one game very well, and your long-term income will be smoother than if you developed four average games.
