|
Furret Basket posted:AFAIK Interplay still own the license so they would have to wrestle it out of their hands. Volition are under THQ's thumb so it wouldn't happen under their roof. Plus most of the people who were the driving forces behind Freespace have moved on. Yeah, unless someone bought the license and didn't tell anyone, it's still owned by Interplay. I still remember the batshit uproar a few years ago when Interplay was doing their IP firewall and Derek loving Smart ruminated publicly about picking up the Freespace license.
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 17:19
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 18:31 |
|
|
mutata posted:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/486250632/republique-by-camouflaj-logan So this was just posted to Joystiq. It looks fun as long as the protagonist stops whining and crying every once and a while. This looks cool, but I think at $500K it's an uphill battle. Ryan Payton's not really a "name" creator, for all his experience in the industry, and a lot of the core gamer audience is going to dismiss it due to the platform.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 17:23
|
|
|
We need the surviving members of Microprose to come out of cold storage and do a 4x. Give me Master of Magic 2, or Master of Orion 3-2. Or a new one that is neither space or fantasy and is instead set underwater.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 17:42
|
|
|
FoneBone posted:This looks cool, but I think at $500K it's an uphill battle. Ryan Payton's not really a "name" creator, for all his experience in the industry, and a lot of the core gamer audience is going to dismiss it due to the platform. That's pretty much my reason for dismissing it. My reaction was: awesome, awesome, awesome. Oh... iOS.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 17:46
|
|
|
FoneBone posted:This looks cool, but I think at $500K it's an uphill battle. Ryan Payton's not really a "name" creator, for all his experience in the industry, and a lot of the core gamer audience is going to dismiss it due to the platform. Yeah, if that was on the PC I'd be all over it. It seems a shame to stick that on a tiny phone screen. Or if I had an iPad I suppose.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 17:48
|
|
|
Furret Basket posted:AFAIK Interplay still own the license so they would have to wrestle it out of their hands. Volition are under THQ's thumb so it wouldn't happen under their roof. Plus most of the people who were the driving forces behind Freespace have moved on. I think half the Freespace team is still there, actually. If you ignore QA at least. It's amusing to look at this and see the number of folks from QA that became lead designers - James Tsai was on SR1/2, Anoop is the studio design manager, Alvan was a lead designer on a cancelled project and is at Vigil now (or might not be with the layoff two weeks ago) Allender left about 2 weeks ago. Lead Design Adam Pletcher Design Dave Baranec, Jason Scott, Based on an Original Design by Adam Pletcher Lead Programming Dave Baranec Programming Dave Andsager, Additional Programming Alan Lawrance, Lead Artist Jasen Whiteside Real‑Time Artists Cutscene Artists Kelly Snapka, Matt Flegel Level / Scenario Design Music Sound Executive Producer Project Manager Writing / Dialogue / Story Support Quality Assurance Test Lead Anoop Shekar Playtesting Quality Assurance Alan Bautista, Darrell Jones, Eric Keyser, Nicolaus Malnick, Andrew McIntosh, Alvan Monje, James Tsai Acting / Voiceovers Denton Brown, Dave Butler, Kay Holley, Nicholas Lee, Barbara Ridenour, William Ridenour, Tim Schroeder, Web Design and Development & squadwar.com Manual Parallax Online Dave Baranec, FRED2 Documentation Special Thanks Literally everyone still there is a project or studio lead except for one person.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 17:49
|
|
|
Actually, all the talk about the voice-controlled one makes me wonder if current voice com tech that they're putting onto phones these days couldn't make a working version of that. It's an attractive concept, interacting directly with a game character like that...
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 17:50
|
|
|
mutata posted:Actually, all the talk about the voice-controlled one makes me wonder if current voice com tech that they're putting onto phones these days couldn't make a working version of that. It's an attractive concept, interacting directly with a game character like that... I don't think it'd be fast enough. Siri works by sending all the voice recordings to Apple to interpret.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 17:58
|
|
|
Seems a bit silly to dismiss a game because it's on one of the largest and fastest growing mobile platforms. The iPad has sold 33% as much as the entire Nintendo DS line has in nearly 8 years.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 18:02
|
|
|
NINbuntu 64 posted:Seems a bit silly to dismiss a game because it's on one of the largest and fastest growing mobile platforms. The iPad has sold 33% as much as the entire Nintendo DS line has in nearly 8 years. I think it's more the type of game in relation to the platform as opposed to the platform itself. Hardcore gamers don't want hardcore games on a mobile platform. Casual gamers don't want hardcore games on a mobile platform.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 18:10
|
|
|
mutata posted:I think it's more the type of game in relation to the platform as opposed to the platform itself. Hardcore gamers don't want hardcore games on a mobile platform. Casual gamers don't want hardcore games on a mobile platform. I know the sentiment you're expressing, and I agree with it, but personally speaking I really hate the concept of "hardcore" and "casual" gamers. It implies a division that doesn't really exist. People don't like complicated games on platforms that are ill-suited to complicated controls. I personally don't think they really give a gently caress about genre or "accessibility", as long as it's easy to control, and fun, on the platform provided, people who consume video games wouldn't give a poo poo if it's a CRPG or a bejeweled reskin.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 18:17
|
|
|
mutata posted:I think it's more the type of game in relation to the platform as opposed to the platform itself. Hardcore gamers don't want hardcore games on a mobile platform. Casual gamers don't want hardcore games on a mobile platform. What kind of game would you classify Infinity Blade as?
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 18:42
|
|
|
Casual and repetitive.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 18:49
|
|
|
theblackw0lf posted:What kind of game would you classify Infinity Blade as? An exception. They didn't have to crowdsource the funding for their leap of faith, though. (And they have a whole studio full of really, really awesome guys.) Good points to counter mine, though. I think my main point was it's a game who's look and feel appeals to the console crowd but it isn't for consoles so the market it seems to be most appealing to is going to write it off.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 18:51
|
|
|
mutata posted:An exception. They didn't have to crowdsource the funding for their leap of faith, though. (And they have a whole studio full of really, really awesome guys.) I don't know about that. I have a hard time believing that someone who owns a console and an iPhone (which is a huge percentage of gamers) is going to look at that and say "wow that looks great, but I wouldn't want to play it on my phone". If that's the case, then the iPhone gaming industry is in serious trouble.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 18:55
|
|
|
theblackw0lf posted:I don't know about that. I have a hard time believing that someone who owns a console and an iPhone (which is a huge percentage of gamers) is going to look at that and say "wow that looks great, but I wouldn't want to play it on my phone". But they're probably more likely to say "I'd rather play that on my huge-rear end TV with a real controller.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 19:16
|
|
|
mutata posted:Well for a fully 3D game with professional sound mixing and mo-cap, I can see the budget inflating to that degree. The XBLA games that Double Fine did were a couple mil, but they have many more people to pay too. Oh, sure. Its production values are clearly up there. I'm just shocked to see a budget that tall, for a mobile game. Mostly because I didn't think the platform would grow/evolve that fast. Maybe different on the iPad, but I still have a bit of a time considering the iPhone to be a place for core gaming experiences, since controls can still be a little manky and it's a lot easier to get interrupted by, say, a phone call. I dunno, maybe I'm mistaken.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 19:39
|
|
|
MaverickEX posted:Oh, sure. Its production values are clearly up there. I'm just shocked to see a budget that tall, for a mobile game. Mostly because I didn't think the platform would grow/evolve that fast. Maybe different on the iPad, but I still have a bit of a time considering the iPhone to be a place for core gaming experiences, since controls can still be a little manky and it's a lot easier to get interrupted by, say, a phone call. No, they're all factors that need to be considered. The iPad has had a huge rate of adoption and app store growth. It's a bit different on the iPad since you can't get interrupted by calls, but it's still a mobile device and you need to factor that in.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 19:43
|
|
|
MaverickEX posted:Oh, sure. Its production values are clearly up there. I'm just shocked to see a budget that tall, for a mobile game. Mostly because I didn't think the platform would grow/evolve that fast. Maybe different on the iPad, but I still have a bit of a time considering the iPhone to be a place for core gaming experiences, since controls can still be a little manky and it's a lot easier to get interrupted by, say, a phone call. Take a look at the production values of Chaos Rings II. I have to imagine that game cost about a million at least. And of course the aforementioned Infinity Blade. Of course now you're highlighting the biggest problem with having AAA games on the iPhone, is that people won't pay the price necessary to fund these games, so they're rarely made. But that's more for the IOS thread.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 19:47
|
|
|
This sounds nifty but I don't have an iPad or iPhone. I'm part of the problem I guess. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 20:03
|
|
|
If I had that kind of device, I'd care to back it. I'll just stick to the Battlezone-esque game and the other 10 or so projects I've backed so far.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 20:49
|
|
|
Phoix posted:I'm really curious to know if the Yogscast guys actually got confirmation from Steam already or if they're just assuming they'll be able to make it on. Bit late on this, but since nobody else fielded this one: I'd be extremely surprised if they'd got confirmation by now. Valve require a finished product or at least aplayable demo in pretty finished condition before they even consider accepting your application (or for that matter opening up the Steamworks API to you), so if they already have a publishing deal based on some concept art and ideas, someone's made a BIG exception. Of course if your game is interesting, fun and decently stable, and not something you just knocked up in RPG Maker, you have a good chance of getting on Steam, so it's not a huge stretch for the more established studios to promise Steam codes in advance.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 21:06
|
|
|
Can RPG Maker games even get on steam? How would you integrate the steam API?
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 21:06
|
|
|
FoneBone posted:This looks cool, but I think at $500K it's an uphill battle. Ryan Payton's not really a "name" creator, for all his experience in the industry, and a lot of the core gamer audience is going to dismiss it due to the platform. I love how their pitch is "they said our ambitions were too big so we decided to do iOS. By the way, the game will require $500,000 and will feature a kind of AI no video game has ever done well in the history of video games" I'd like to see what their ambitious idea was.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 21:07
|
|
|
MaverickEX posted:Oh, sure. Its production values are clearly up there. I'm just shocked to see a budget that tall, for a mobile game. Mostly because I didn't think the platform would grow/evolve that fast. Maybe different on the iPad, but I still have a bit of a time considering the iPhone to be a place for core gaming experiences, since controls can still be a little manky and it's a lot easier to get interrupted by, say, a phone call. Whale Tail or whatever it's called looks like it was made by a talent solo guy (or could have been) but cost like 200k because some company took a handful of employees and set them on it full time.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 21:15
|
|
|
NINbuntu 64 posted:Can RPG Maker games even get on steam? How would you integrate the steam API? They cannot. RPG Maker, Game Maker and some other similar things won't get accepted. That was the problem with that To The Moon game, as I recall. People kept asking for the guy to put it on Steam and he kept explaining Valve wouldn't accept it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 21:17
|
|
|
Der Shovel posted:They cannot. RPG Maker, Game Maker and some other similar things won't get accepted. That was the problem with that To The Moon game, as I recall. People kept asking for the guy to put it on Steam and he kept explaining Valve wouldn't accept it. Jrpgs made in XNA that look exactly like RPG Maker games are accepted, though. (Cthulhu Saves The World)
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 21:27
|
|
|
Megazver posted:Jrpgs made in XNA that look exactly like RPG Maker games are accepted, though. (Cthulhu Saves The World) It's not a question of looks. XNA uses native C# (which is a proper programming language (and incidentally my favourite language)) and hooking up the C++ Steamworks API is a piece of piss. It's also fully featured and secure. Game Maker and RPG Maker use some kind of proprietary, vaguely Python-esque language. EDIT: Since a lot of this may not make any drat sense if you're not a programmer... XNA isn't really game making software or anything like that. It's a collection of API functions for XNA, which make things like moving and scaling sprites or 3D objects easier than they would be natively. Additionally it ships with a version of Visual Studio, which is Microsoft's excellent development enviroment, or basically a REALLY smart text editor with attached widgets and things for stuff like importing assets into your project and debugging your software line by line. So really XNA is a great tool which makes coding and porting C# games across various supported platforms a piece of cake. I love it to bits even if we work in Unity mostly these days. And an API is basically a collection of functions you can call for various things. Like Steam might have (completely out of my sleeve) a ShowFriendList() method, which you can call to just automatically bring up the Steam overlay and show the user's friend list. Without an API you'd have to call it all yourself. Shaman Tank Spec fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Apr 10, 2012 |
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 21:44
|
|
|
Giant rear end interview with Al Lowe about the LSL Kickstarter.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 21:54
|
|
|
NINbuntu 64 posted:No, they're all factors that need to be considered. The iPad has had a huge rate of adoption and app store growth. It's a bit different on the iPad since you can't get interrupted by calls, but it's still a mobile device and you need to factor that in. theblackw0lf posted:Take a look at the production values of Chaos Rings II. I have to imagine that game cost about a million at least. And of course the aforementioned Infinity Blade. Cost is spread across several platforms so getting a real good gauge of things is tough, and no one wants to take the risk.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 22:04
|
|
|
"Piece of piss" means something is easy?!
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 22:41
|
|
|
Doc Hawkins posted:"Piece of piss" means something is easy?! Yes. It really is quite simple, too. We just looked into it a few months ago while planning a game which was SUPPOSED to go up on Steam but eventually died in the prototyping phase  That's why I'm suddenly quite up to date on Valve's approval process.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 22:42
|
|
|
Doc Hawkins posted:"Piece of piss" means something is easy?! Yeah, it's the equivalent of "piece of cake".
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 22:48
|
|
|
Mojo Jojo posted:We need the surviving members of Microprose to come out of cold storage and do a 4x. Give me Master of Magic 2, or Master of Orion 3-2. SimTex made all those, Microprose was just the publisher. I remember hearing at one point the studio broke up because the owner was just obsessed with strip clubs and blew all their money there. I assume that means there's probably bad blood between the team. It's too bad because it'd be amazing for them to buy the MoM, MOO, and Mechlords licenses to make modern versions. Hell, Mech Lords / Metal Lords never even got published due to the threatened FASA lawsuit. It really is mindblowing how much valuable, classic IP the major publishers have on the shelf from the 90s and 80s. The acquisition sprees and subsequent shutdowns of studios in the late 90s and early 2000s killed off so many franchises, I'd estimate that there's 10-20 franchises that are potentially 100,000+ copies and $5-10 million gross games on their shelves. At the very least, they should have sold off the IP they didn't want. The worst part is the strategy, adventure, and space / flight sim genres ought to be fairly cheap to make games in. A few million dollar budget is no problem if you don't need a ton of "name" voice actors, cinematics, and top tier graphics. The major publishers appear to be totally uninterested in developing games with budgets under $10 million. I bet they only want to make games that will sell a half million copies or more. El_Matarife fucked around with this message at 22:56 on Apr 10, 2012 |
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 22:54
|
|
|
This is us: http://gravitazgame.com We'd love any feedback you've got. Also... Master of Magic 2, man, now that would be awesome. But, El_Matarife posted:SimTex made all those, Microprose was just the publisher. I remember hearing at one point the studio broke up because the owner was just obsessed with strip clubs and blew all their money there. I assume that means there's probably bad blood between the team.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2012 23:30
|
|
|
Can someone make a Republique thread? That's a game that deserves its own thread, it's got some great reward tiers and the trailer was pretty. Ed: I'll do it if nobody else wants to.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 00:04
|
|
|
El_Matarife posted:It really is mindblowing how much valuable, classic IP the major publishers have on the shelf from the 90s and 80s. The acquisition sprees and subsequent shutdowns of studios in the late 90s and early 2000s killed off so many franchises, I'd estimate that there's 10-20 franchises that are potentially 100,000+ copies and $5-10 million gross games on their shelves....The worst part is the strategy, adventure, and space / flight sim genres ought to be fairly cheap to make games in. I feel pretty privileged that the single game I would have unquestionably been most excited to see brought back is Wasteland, so, you know, I reached peak excitement right out of the gate. But there are so many amazing games from the 1980s and 1990s that stand out and whose designers would probably jump at the chance to bring them back if they could. Or at least I hope this is the case.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 00:06
|
|
|
Der Shovel posted:They cannot. RPG Maker, Game Maker and some other similar things won't get accepted. That was the problem with that To The Moon game, as I recall. People kept asking for the guy to put it on Steam and he kept explaining Valve wouldn't accept it. As I recall, they're not denied outright, just that some versions don't play nice with the steam overlay and other steam stuff, so they can't be added. I think the most recent Game Maker version is accepted.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 00:15
|
|
|
Shalinor posted:This is us: http://gravitazgame.com Your pitch video isn't that great. It's nice that you show off a lot of in-game assets and concept art, but the whole like "let's talk about our individual histories and how we broke into the Gaming Industry" section is both offtopic and kind of boring, and the "games can change how people can view political/social events" line is really really silly from its faux-seriousness. I mean...it's a racing game, not Citizen Kane: The Videogame. I don't really get a sense of passion and drive, and the video meanders from its main point, which is a pitch for the videogame, so...yeah. Hard to get excited to back just from watching the video. I don't feel a personal connection to the project from watching the vid. Also, the viewing angle of the camera is awkward. On the other hand, your game's writeup is great. Wouldn't change a thing. Lots of images (beautiful concept art, in particular), a realistic set of goals, and it's very descriptive of where the money will go. It's very well-organized and presented well. One thing-might want to bold/emphasize Steam support. It's kind of hard to find that yes, Gravitaz will be on Steam, and it WILL BE your number one question. Your goal amount is great, it's very low which helps add legitimacy to the "we have everything beyond art assets done" statement in your writeup. Your reward tiers are fine, although unremarkable. You might want to include one or two higher tiers of rewards, 1k is a little low (although your goal total is low as well, so I dunno). Also, you should probably include a 5 dollar reward tier of like, a desktop wallpaper. But yeah, overall I'd say it's a "pretty good" pitch. Your pitch vid is really the only thing holding you back. Have you considered making a thread for your kickstarter and/or stickying it? It might help you reach your funding goal, Shalinor. Also, if it's not too much to ask could we get a Kickstarter/Crowdsourcing thread tag? I'm really into the whole kickstarter scene (as are most in the thread), and being able to use it to be able to screen Games in general for new project pitches and/or warn off the Games public from entering and threadshitting (like what happened in the Shadowrun thread) would be great.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 00:41
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 9, 2024 18:31 |
|
|
Occupation posted:Your pitch video isn't that great. It's nice that you show off a lot of in-game assets and concept art, but the whole like "let's talk about our individual histories and how we broke into the Gaming Industry" section is both offtopic and kind of boring, and the "games can change how people can view political/social events" line is really really silly from its faux-seriousness. I mean...it's a racing game, not Citizen Kane: The Videogame. That line is extra silly because the game is called "Gravitaz". Like "gravitas" but more extreme. Extreme gravitas. Or maybe "gravity" + "taz" from loony tunes. Whatever the intention, it's not a name that you invoke when trying to influence politico-social events.
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2012 00:58
|
|