u/Mr_Hoplite

Lately, I've been thinking about the emotional experience of players. One of the many concepts that go around in my head is the word "whimsical". In my native language, Greek, although it is a very rich language, I think there isn't a word that expresses exactly this kind of feeling. Nevertheless, I am very fascinated by this word and its associated experiences.

It is that first gameplay of Breath of the Wild, the grass, the sky, the music, the cities, the canyons and valleys, even the combat was whimsical to me.

It is the island of the Witness, full of places and puzzles that breed curiosity and manifest the whimsical.

It is sailing through the stars of Super Mario Galaxy, on the Wii, in front of a small TV, with my little brother.

That's only some of the examples that I can bring to mind as I'm typing these words.

Posting these thoughts wouldn't be complete without mentioning examples from other media. The whimsical cinematic worlds of the adventures of Baron Munchausen, the Golden Compass, Narnia. It's an episode of Winnie the Pooh. It's the song "Little Paws" by Of Monsters and Men (both the music itself and the video clip). It's these wonderful anthropomorphic fairytale drawings that I come across sometimes, of foxes, rabbits, and other creatures.

When trying to put it into words, I feel that whimsy is the right combination of immersion, surrealism, innocence, and stardust. I am very curious about YOUR thoughts.

How do you experience whimsy?

How would you describe it?

What examples are your favorites?

What elements constitute a whimsical game?

How do you do, fellow devs?

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For the past hour, I am researching the basics of game localization in Chinese, both inside Reddit and outside, and, if possible, I would like both your feedback and your knowledge.

1. There are 2 writing systems for Chinese (simplified and traditional) and the two most spoken Chinese languages are Mandarin and Cantonese. Correct?

2. All 4 possible combinations have an audience: Simplified Mandarin: Mainland China (most of it) Traditional Mandarin: Taiwan Simplified Cantonese: Guangdong province of China Traditional Cantonese: Hong Kong, Macau. Correct? Do I need to put all 4?

3. Some people mention something called Classical Chinese, used in literature. Does this mean that NPCs written dialogue will be in vernacular and non-dialogue text in some more literary version?

Please, do excuse my ignorance and confusion. Thank you in advance for your input. Any explanations or guides will be a blessing.

(EDIT: fix formatting)

Hello devs.

I am a 26-year-old Greek, experimenting with game development for the past 2 years, mainly making prototypes, reading relevant books etc. I really enjoy thinking and exploring various aspects of game design and development, and experimenting with concepts. One thing that occupies my mind a lot is the viability of going pro, with all the commercial aspects and stuff.

I would specifically like your thoughts on the idea of starting out with making 2-3 hour experiences (maybe 3+ hours just to avoid mass Steam refunds), something that you can finish in one sitting, like in films or some albums. In this manner, the scope can be manageable (so limited but not lacking) for a beginner like me, and ideally much more likely to be finished and able to generate some revenue (in order to expand the possible boundaries of my future work).

Are players open to paying let's say 20-25 USD for something like that? My main concern is that the mere existence of games that offer dozens of hours for the same price, or hundreds of hours for 40+ USD, might render my approach unattractive, regardless of the (hopefully) good quality of my game. Are the standards truly that high for (indie) commercial games, or am I overestimating the importance of price-to-hours ratio?

I would love to hear your thoughts and comments. Thank you in advance for your time.