One Hour One Life Forums

When I first bought OHOL I was likely one of the players that played 40 hours in the first week, that was probably four or five months ago now. Now I play maybe once a week just to check out the new updates and that's it.

The reason I adored this game when I first got it was because it was such a massive change in pace from every other game I was playing at the time. I liked that it was difficult and I had to figure things out myself, no hand holding. One of the first lives I lived to old age I was as a second or third gen in a little startup town, but by the end of my life we already had steel tools and were making rabbit-carrot pies for Africa, I learned a lot in that life just by watching and helping where I could. I think a massive problem with the pool of new players is that, unfortunately, many of them aren't as smart as the average bear. On multiple occasions I've had to explain to players how to get a carrot out of a basket and eat it, and on a few occasions failed, and had the kid starve while holding a basket of carrots. This game has a two button input. How hard can it be, honestly? Then when they learn how to successfully eat the carrot, the game turns into carrot eating simulator. A few times I've tried teaching people how to smith, they nodded along "yup", "okay" as I explained the process and showed them how to do it, then I say "now you try it" and they don't even know where to start. It's like these people don't even want to play, they just want to stand there eating carrots till they die.

Anyway returning to the question. On new players; you said you "want to make sure that each and every person who buys the game gets substantial value from it." and you "feel like some people are falling through the cracks." The thing about OHOL is that it really is a true challenge. Things could go wrong at anytime, staying alive requires constant adaptation, split second decision making and a keen sense of priority. As a new player getting thrown straight into the mix, those first hours can be hectic and punishing, but once you get your feet on the ground and start feeling the game out, succeeding in OHOL and living that first life to old age is extremely rewarding.

The fact is that some people are willing to put up the hard yards and figure things out for themselves. They enjoy being challenged because it encourages mental cognition which promotes intelligence, problem solving and good judgment which are traits they value within themselves, but some people... well some people just want to stand there eating carrots till they die. The question is which group of people do you as a creator want to cater to. Make the game easier and you risk losing players that crave the challenge. Keep it how it is and players looking for an easy click-click game will continue to fall through the cracks.

On player retention; I really agree with what YAHG said. I once thought that this was a game about legacy, making your mark, leaving a piece of yourself behind for your descendants to benefit from. I once started an extremely long family line, I was Eve Kingsley, I founded a small settlement and was lucky enough to have children that knew what they were doing. The next day I logged on and was born to the Kingsley Clan, still going strong about 15 hours later. The experience was surreal. Even though I had founded that place, I found myself strangely alienated from it. It was completely different to how I left it, a few times I questioned whether it was even the same place at all. The only thing separating it from other villages I'd been born into was my last name and the kiln and forge I'd built right on the border of a swamp and desert. Nothing personal. No legacy. Villages are all the same, you don't really belong to any of them. Even though I should have been proud at how far my family had come and how well they were doing, I felt the same thing I feel when I'm born into any prosperous village. Bored. I realized then that even though I had founded the village, I played a minuscule part in making it what it was, and anything else I did in that life would ultimately be completely insignificant and meaningless. After this experience I really dropped off of this game. What was the point? But maybe that is the point.

On reflection, this epiphany is likely the symbolic end-game that it seems you're striving towards. Everyone dies, nothing you do matters, we're all just cogs in a machine that can be expended and replaced at any time. That's reality. If this is what you want the CORE experience of OHOL to be, you've hit the nail on the head. If not, well I guess the message was lost in translation.