Check Out the Poll

I had put up poll awhile back and gave it a good amount of time to marinate and gather a reasonable sample size.  It closed with 71 votes which is pretty solid - time to reflect.

So the goal was to get a feel for what people though the best XBLIG game concept was, just based on a quick description, and initial reaction. 

Avatar Turn-based RPG (16 votes):  With the popularity of Avatar games and their unique ability to boost sales (often simply based on Avatar inclusion), I actually thought this concept might have been more popular.   However, that might have to do with the demographic/type of person visiting our blog.  What's interesting is that while the poll was active a couple Avatar RPG (not turn-based, but action) games were released.   And from what I can tell, they are doing very well with sales.   That said, I actually have very little interest in developing an Avatar RPG - but conceptually I thought it had success potential.

Action RPG where you play the Shopkeeper (16 votes): I was happy to see this concept get some love because I feel like it's the most unusual of the bunch.   In my mind I envision this game as a genre mash up that involves RTS and Tower Defense elements, but where you play a modest shopkeeper dealing with obnoxious heroes, annoying critters, and thieves.  There are only a handful of games that force role-reversal and put you in charge of what is typically an NPC character, so it would be a fun concept to explore.

2D Co-op Action/Exploratory Platformer (with leveling) (39 votes): Conceptually this sounds like an auto-win because anything that can replicate the beauty and fun of a 2D Metroid and/or Castlevania game gets people fired up.    Add in co-op play, and you sort of have Contra with exploratory and leveling components.   I believe the catch is that execution is far more complex than the summary sounds.   Balancing the co-op elements and dealing with 2 players exploring various areas at the same time would get tricky.   You also have to allow a single player to play through alone, so co-op puzzles are void and you'd have to potentially scale the difficulty/RPG elements for 2 players.   Propper execution would be golden = offering the ambiance and pacing of games like Metroid and Aquaria (offering a less linear world), and letting two players enjoy that sense of exploration and conquest together.  It could be done - and I hope to attempt it some day.