Making a sequel is tough business, and not doing it well could be more detrimental to your work than not having made one at all!
This is very much what we learned after developing and launching Cat Quest 2 to the world. The do’s and don’ts of making a sequel, and how to go about it the best way possible!
Oh and if you haven’t already, do go check out Cat Quest 2(and Cat Quest too)! It’s available on Steam, Switch, PS4, Xbox One and Apple Arcade!
So without further ado, here are the five lessons we learned from making Cat Quest 2!
Lesson #1: Do know what makes your original good and why people loved it
Let’s face it, we’re making a sequel because the original did well, and people are asking for one. So it’s very important to know why people loved the original and why it did so well.
Is it the gameplay, or is it the story? Maybe a combination of both?
What we learned is that what you think people like about your games might not actually be what they like about it. For Cat Quest, we thought it was the cute characters and overload of puns, and though they were important, what people actually liked about the games was the unique feel it provided.
Cat Quest is a series that is essentially an RPG boiled down to its key essentials. Leveling up is quick, quests are short and gameplay is simple and to the point. This created a feeling that was pretty unique and addictive to some people.
If we had not known this, and over complicated the sequel too much with new mechanics, this unique feel might have been lost.
So how do you go about finding out what people actually like about your games? It’s really quite simple actually; ask them!
If you have a Facebook group or community, ask them what they liked about the original. Talk to your biggest fans and ask them why they love it so much. Remember, these are the people you want to keep, and the people that will be there Day 1 to buy your sequel. Make sure they’re happy!
And on that note…
Lesson #2: You need to retain your fans…but also make new ones
The realistic truth is that it is very unlikely 100% of the people who bought your first game will be back for seconds. This is due for a number of reasons:
- They didn’t like the original.
- One game is enough for them.
- They’ve stopped gaming.
- They suddenly don’t like cats anymore….(Okay ignore this one)
What this means is that before even starting on your sequel, you will already make less than your first game. But why do some sequels still go on to be blockbusters and out sell their originals? That is because they made decisions to attract new players as well.
The good thing about making a sequel is that you’re not starting from scratch. You already have a fanbase who will buy your game, and that’s a huge deal in our competitive game industry. But don’t forget to get new fans as well, that is how your franchise survives and thrives on!
This is the tough part though. You will need to improve or add new mechanics to your game that doesn’t forget Lesson #1, but is different enough to attract new players. Remember, there was a reason people didn’t feel compelled to play your first game, so how do you attract these same people with your sequel?
For Cat Quest 2, we chose to add in local cooperative play as it was the number one most requested feature from our fans, and the one thing we could think of that would attract a whole new subset of gamers; the ones that like to play together.
So if you liked the original and want more of that, Cat Quest 2 has that, but if you’re someone who prefers playing with other people, the game now has something that offers that to you that the original did not.
Now, we’re not saying every sequel needs a multiplayer mode. Do what best fits your game, and never forget Lesson #1!
Lesson #3: Sequels need to feel like a milestone improvement
I’ll be the first to admit that Cat Quest 2 might not have fully lived up to this rule. Despite our best efforts, a good majority of our fans felt that Cat Quest 2 was good but still more of the same.
For those who did not play Cat Quest 2 and want a technical breakdown of what we improved for the sequel, here it is:
- Local cooperative play
- Three new weapon types, including one that shoots projectiles
- New enemy types, including one that shoots projectiles
- Double the number of magic spells
- Double the explorable landmass, including a whole new kingdom
- Dogs!
- Swappable characters
- Weapons and gear now come with passive abilities
- Dungeons have traps and obstacles
- A whole new Map that allows players to scroll around it
- New Upgrade system
- Many tweaks to design
So as you can see, we opted for the ‘bigger, better’ approach. In a bid to not break Lesson #1, we decided it was safer to just improve upon everything that was done in the original, instead of trying something completely new. Why fix something that ain’t broke right?
However, I think this resulted in the game not feeling like a big enough leap from the original, and being ‘more of the same’. A sequel has to justify that bigger number at the end of the title, and consequently feel different enough too.
For reference, look at all the greatest sequels in history. Uncharted 2 was leaps and bounds better than Uncharted 1 in both graphics, design, the things Nathan Drake could do and just plain fun factor. Each instalment in the Mario franchise retains the same jumping mechanics(what people love), but adds in a whole new hook that completely recontextualizes the entire game. Just look at what Cappy did for Mario Odyssey!
In fact, what we suggest is to find all the sequels you love, and list down what it did to improve upon the original. Try to see the common threads between them, and try to incorporate that same thinking into your own sequel too.
So the takeaway for Lesson #3 is to make sure your sequel feels like a big enough leap forward. Be it in graphics, gameplay or something in between. Make it feel different enough without breaking Lesson #1 and you will have a winner on your hands!
Lesson #4: Know if your game even needs a sequel
This may seem obvious, but when passion, business and other factors come into play, this can sometimes muddy the waters.
There are some games that have already given its all, and there is nothing left to say or add to substantially make it better. As such, we feel that making a sequel for the sake of it might not be doing the original game justice.
Also know if your fans even want a sequel. For Cat Quest, a lot of the people who played it messaged us asking for a sequel because we left a little tease in a secret area of the game. This got people intrigued, and because they had fun with the original, they wanted to see where else the story could go.
An example of a game, in our opinion, that does not need a sequel is Rocket League. Now, we’re not saying a sequel would necessarily be a bad thing, but the original already has everything a player could want from a game about driving soccer cars. Unless the sequel drastically switches up the game, making updates to the original Rocket League would make much more sense.
So we feel a ticket for a sequel boils down to these few things:
1. There is still more you can say with the game.
- There is a story you want to tell.
- You can still innovate and expand gameplay-wise
- Fans want it.
Lesson #5: Try to build off the original as much as you can
This is more on the development of your sequel rather than the design of it. Part of the advantage of making a sequel is that you get to start development from a really good place.
All your tools have already been made and tested, the core mechanics tested, and most importantly, you have a viable pipeline in place to start from the ground running.
So don’t do what we did…and redo everything from scratch!
Well, it’s not like we wanted to(mostly). The original Cat Quest worked for the scope of that project, but because we wanted to add in local multiplayer and so many other things, we found ourselves having to rewrite a lot of our code and remaking a lot of our tools. By doing this, you lose a lot of the advantage of pushing out a sequel.
In the end, because we had to rebuild most of our tools and code from scratch, we ended up being able to only recreate what was already possible in the original Cat Quest. Sure, the tools were stronger now, and the code was better, but to the eyes of the player, nothing much would have been changed or improved!
If we could turn back time, we would have chosen to keep as much of the old architecture as possible, and improve on those instead. A large portion of CQ2’s development went to recreating CQ1, rather than making new mechanics and improving on the orginal.
That being said, if we go forwards from here, our tools would be much stronger for making future titles, so perhaps this sacrifice was not entirely in vain!
In Conclusion….
A sequel was a lot tougher than we imagined, and we hope these five lessons we learned would help any other developer thinking of making one too! Ultimately, we felt the most important things were knowing what makes your original great, and why your fans would potentially want to play a sequel.
Overall, we’re super proud of what we managed to accomplish with Cat Quest 2! Generally, it seems the sentiment was that people didn’t feel the second game was a big enough improvement from the first, and we can definitely see that.
We chose to improve and add to areas that might not have been immediately visible to people, and going forwards we’ll know how to handle sequels better!
Now go and make the sequels your games deserve!
Cat Quest II is now available on Steam, Switch, PS4, Xbox One and Apple Arcade!