Hi, I'm working on a game where user can create their own racing tracks with editor and share with others via some global repository. Looking at the App store one can see that the simplest games UI wise are the most successful (ala Tiny Wings) and I'm wondering if this is the right thing to do? Would users be interested in creating their own content, in this case racing tracks? I'm just afraid that I'll spend a lot of time and create another flop.
Fantastic Contraption has at least 25,000 user made levels and 30,000 user made designs. It could work, Labyrinth 2 being a more recent example. I for one would pay a lot more for a game if it has user made content.
Sketch Nation Shooter allows users to create their own scrolling shooters. Users have created and shared more than 8,000 unique games. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sketch-nation-shooter/id363785930?mt=8 The most important thing is to know your audience. Tiny Wings is a different type of game. Don't compare it to what you are doing.
Tiki Totems 2 features in-game editor and we have received well in excess of 15.000 e-mail level submissions How does that translate to sales ? No idea, but having user-submitted levels makes updates hell of a lot easier
Whatever user generated content you allow - a user will only be interested if he can see the results right away. This is a minor point that we missed in Go Native!, we let users submit content which was then placed for moderation, then placed in the database (if approved). There was no guarantee the player would EVER see his question.