tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14856978.post491214977724317984..comments2024-03-28T05:12:10.477-07:00Comments on Gone Gaming: To retheme or not to retheme, that is the questionColdfoothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11636345146138362966noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14856978.post-40467873697453762102007-10-14T13:59:00.000-07:002007-10-14T13:59:00.000-07:00I have to say, I quite like the prospect of El Cap...I have to say, I quite like the prospect of El Capitan. But it isn't so much the theme that grabs me; it's more the fact they have upped it to seat five.<BR/><BR/>Really; I've tried the original with five and while it worked it felt it needed a touch of tweaking. So while the rethemed version is not top of my list, I am extremely interested (and would not be surprised if I end up buying it).Pawnstarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14138454253813433739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14856978.post-772075523429479612007-10-07T12:25:00.000-07:002007-10-07T12:25:00.000-07:00Fraser, when I track games, I always treat rethemi...Fraser, when I track games, I always treat rethemings as different games, because theme is so important to so many of us that it can definitely affect ones enjoyment of the design. I'm relatively theme agnostic, but even I am not immune: I MUCH prefer Showmanager (with what I find an attractive theme) to Atlantic Star (which, to me, has a boring and nonsensical theme), despite the fact that the games are close to identical. Despite the cavalier way many publishers treat it, theme really does matter.<BR/><BR/>As you point out, most of these rethemings have to do with target audiences. The switch from Tycoon to El Capitan, for instance, is due to the antipathy that most Europeans have for business games (no doubt a contributing factor in Tycoon's relative anonymity). I also like the original theme, although I'm not nearly as willing to accept the cost of the plane tickets, your entourage theory notwithstanding. Maybe the best way to interpret this is that the players are all Donald Trump clones, with egos to match, and making a profit isn't nearly as important as beating all our competitors. Still, it's a bit of a stretch, but one I'm happy enough ignoring.<BR/><BR/>I'm sure FFG would have used the original theme for Dune if they could have, but the Herbert estate had no interest in licensing the product. I also think this will be a tough game to retheme, but this is an unpredictable process, so you never know. I was surprised to hear Eon designer Peter Olotka state that Dune itself was a retheming! The design was based on something very different (Arthurian legends maybe, I forget) and when AH approached them with the Dune idea, they just switched things around. And yet, the ties to the Dune themes are so close, you could swear that the game was expressly created with them in mind. So with any luck, the new theme will also be seamless, although it will be hard for those who have played the original not to continue to think of things in terms of the Dune universe.huzonfirsthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12857915477472022870noreply@blogger.com