Developer Communication to Avoid Marketing Mistakes

I read this recently and laughed. I think it was on IGN:

‘Continuing the story of adventurer John DeMenchev, Arvale II is an epic Role Playing Game, with…’

Anyone who has played either Arvale game would know Arvale II isn’t continuing the adventures of John DeMenchev. That character wasn’t even in the first game. I explained the relationships between the games and their characters pretty well in my article on Arvale Game Designs.

The game is also listed for Palm OS. Which is was never released on.

Arvale 1 is listed as Arvale: Journey of Illusions. With an S.

I have no idea who submitted that info to IGN or if they made it up all on their own. Either way, it was obviously a lack of communication on someone’s part, so I’ll take responsibility for not fixing it, since I was one of the developers. I’ve heard this actually happens a lot in the game development world. The developers or creative team don’t want to waste their time talking to the Marketing or Advertising staff, so the Marketing people just make their best guess… and stuff like the above happens

At least whoever wrote the Wikipedia page (not me) got most of it right. It was definitely a fan (since they wrote out the entire plot and got it right), which makes me happy . But the link to Arvale’s home page is wrong, and broken.

However, I won’t go in and fix it. If I ever created a Wikipedia account, I simply know I’ll never log off until the world knows everything; or I might simply use it for evil deeds like Skeletor in this Penny Arcade comic

Probably Related:

1. Niche marketing is great, if it’s honest.
2. Arvale II Music Done.
3. Arvale: Treasure of Memories Now on Sale!