Quantity vs Qaulity

The phrase “Quality over quantity” probably isn’t new to your ears, you’ve most likely heard it a couple hundred times in your life thus far. It’s something I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately, in regards to the flash industry that is. As much truth as there is to the phrase, there are times when both quality and quantity must be met.

I’ll start off with an example of where quality over quantity truly does apply. My personally run flash portal PrincePorter.com currently runs entirely off of a model based on this thought. My current plan for the site is to just collect as many quality games as possible and truly leave out anything that isn’t of great quality. The idea here is that when you click on a game on my site in a category you appreciate, you find a game that you will enjoy 9/10 times. Sure I could toss on a couple thousand games, get more Google traffic and perhaps make more money, but in the long run this does my site no justice, the quality of games is what keeps people around, or at least keeps those who do visit pleased with their experience.

Quality over quantity is something that flash developers definitely keep in mind. I myself am a perfectionist and refuse to produce a game under my name that isn’t of high quality. Often times I feel that although this is a good thing, there are definitely a few negative aspects to the matter. First off, many average games can be made in just a weeks time, earning the developer a couple hundred dollars at a fairly constant rate. Rather large games can potentially earn thousands upon thousands of dollars, but they take a lot more time, and unless that game is a huge hit, they often end up earning only slightly more than two average sized games, which takes far less time to create. There’s a certain balance that must be had when creating games concerning the size of the project as well as it’s quality, and with the increase of quality flash games on the rise, this balance is becoming harder to obtain as a developer. The simple truth is that in order to survive as a professional flash developer, you must not only release quality games, but you must continue to release these games at a constant rate.

Although some may feel that having a single huge hit may be the way to go, I think most flash developers that are in the industry for a living will agree that committing to a schedule and knocking out successful game after successful game is the way to go. There once was a time when one could simply get by with a large array of average games, but as the industry is stepping up a notch, so must it’s members. In the end, it seems that both quality and quantity will be needed to stand out as a successful flash developer.