Interview with Naomi Clark, Gamelab

[Atari]

Gamezebo interviews Naomi Clark of Gamelab as part of the Women in Gaming series. Naomi worked on Gamelab's management sim Miss Management, and before that was the co-designer of Sissyfight 2000.

Naomi Clark: I'm really interested in making and playing new kinds of games, not only because they're fun to think about and might attract attention, but because we can open more doors for more people to get excited about games. There's no single successful formula for appealing to casual gamers or traditional gamers, and I think it's a mistake to rely too much on target marketing; although it pays to understand your audience, including what kind of people make up large chunks or the majority of it, it can also lead you down the wrong path, where you start asking questions like "well, what does a 52-year-old mother of three who lives in Plano, Texas and likes to breed dogs and go kayaking like?" That doesn't really help you make a good game! It can help you avoid things that important parts of your audience might dislike, however.