‘Developing a good casual game is like writing a great novel’

In an interview published at our sister site CasualGaming.biz, PopCap co-founder John Vechey has said that he thinks the likes of EA have underestimated what it takes to make good casual games.

He likened the process of making good casual games like PopCap’s, which include Bejewelled and Peggle, to the creation a great novel.

When asked what advantage PopCap has over the newcomes to the casual space he said:

"they are underestimating how hard it is going to be. I actually have a huge amount of respect for all those big companies and am really glad they are getting into casual as it is only going to be good for the casual games space. But I do think they are going to underestimate the challenge of making good games, though. It would be like if EA suddenly said ‘hey, let’s get into the novel writing business because stories are like games but are cheaper to do’. But really, writing a great novel is a very, very hard thing to do – yet making a casual game is similar. So I think those big companies may be shocked to find that it’s not about spending money, it’s about nurturing talent and creating an environment for that. They will figure it out, though – there are smart people at those companies – it’s just that it will take them about four or five years to get it right."

Read the full interview here.