Here’s something I haven’t seen talked about: main characters in games. More than just a sequel to a game in real life, characters can be fleshed out and designed outside of a particular game. They usually operate within a particular genre and simply having a character in a game can boost the hype. Mario is a character. His games weren’t always the same, but he was always a plumber [citation needed] and if you were told something was a mario game, you knew what to expect. Link from the legend of zelda did it. You always know what you’re getting. Snake is another character. Different genre, but you know what you’re getting. Sequels can be direct links from one game to another. Majora’s mask is the sequel to Ocarina of time. Windwaker isn’t, but it still features link as the main character (or a version of him anyway). Developing a popular character can be even more important for a game development company than making a good game. The super smash games are a prime example: the game itself is a mix of main characters drawn out of their genres to duke it out.
You don’t even have to design your own character. Publishing companies could license out popular characters to you to make games for. You could get contracts to design games for movies, like a James Bond game. As long as you had the right topic for your game, you could make it work. I think it’s a crucial factor in game development that could do quite well in GDT.