People say that kickstarter is a boon because something like a traditional Double Fine Adventure game would never get made otherwise. I'd argue that is a good thing. The brutal economics of video gaming is what has made it the most diverse and creative entertainment industry. It is the most vicious creative Darwinism and it should be relished, rather than reviled.
The absolute best thing that Double Fine can produce using this kickstarter fund is a facsimile of a game that we have already played and already enjoyed, twenty years ago. It's like post-modern nostalgia, except we have to buy it ourselves. Twice.
Wa-hut? Right now gaming is one of the most derivative forms of entertainment out there. There are a few bright spots of innovation, but it's almost completely sequels of sequels. Even a lot of the indy games we love and hold dear are flatly derivative works. Go check out the Can Film Festival sometime, or what's going on in alternative and electronic musics. It's far more creative and fresh than what's going on in games right now.
I'll agree the economics are brutal, which is precisely why it isn't diverse or creative. Companies need to make money, and they know Call of Duty: Modern Black Ops World Engaged In Warfare 5 is going to sell. I'm wracking my brain, and I can't think of a single big seller in the last twelve months that wasn't a direct sequel, or clearly derivative and not very creative. Doesn't mean they weren't GOOD GAMES, but this idea that gaming is some harbor of fresh ideas just doesn't match up with reality.
I think there are a few out there, but otherwise you're right.
To be fair though, Hollywood is equally as un-creative. 90% of movies out there are either sequels, remakes, or re-hashes of old ideas.
guys starting a kickstarter for a game called kickstarter where you are a game company who tries to hop on the bandwagon by making a game called 'punchstarter', but has to find the funding for it through kickstarting it
I think sometimes the gaming community has a very poor grasp of basic economics and business.
Yep, so true. I listen to the Slashfilm podcast and I remember a while ago the complains from people pissed that the studio in charge of Anchorman refused to make the sequel.
The guest that episode, Joseph Kahn, explained that sequels are made just to make money. That is their only purpose. He said that the studios put the numbers together and it was going to be more expensive this time. Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, et al would ask for more money seeing the success the first one had.
Probably, the same applies to a Zoolander sequel. Kahn pitched the idea of a kickstarter for the Anchorman 2 in the same episode.
Seems gamers today do not understand that most big studios are formed by people with college education who are eager for 80k plus salaries a year. They can't go back to the old days.
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"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
Warlock82Never pet a burning dogRegistered Userregular
You could say indie gaming is a lot like Cans though. I mean, look at Minecraft for example. Sure there are some derivative indie games, but I'm sure Cans has some derivative movies too :P
Seems gamers today do not understand that most big studios are formed by people with college education who are eager for 80k plus salaries a year. They can't go back to the old days.
Since most gamers today are college educated, or at the very least working, 25-40 year old's themselves, I think they probably understand it better than you think. I think the myth that game developers (outside of a few indy shops) are two guys in their parents garage is pretty well dispelled at this point.
Since all of Doublefine's games released this last few years have been fucking awesome I have no problem throwing cash their way just to keep them going with a bit of fan love. To me, the documentary and beta process is interesting enough to want to be a part of it. Figure I've underpaid on their games considering how much fun I've had with them anyhow so I just see it like a tip!
The fact there might be a decent game at the end of it? Great.
Although, AFAIK it isn't coming to my preferred platform of choice (360), but I'll still play it on PC or Android, eventually. :P
Still, I don't see Kickstarter as being widely viable for this kind of enterprise, since I just don't see enough developers which could generate the trust or interest in the proceedings (come rain or shine) which Doublefine have mustered.
In regards to kickstarter and the "evolution" of gaming, both movies and videogames are following the same trajectory that books and paintings (other art) have taken. If you want to see what the future of kickstarter and videogames is, just look at the various indie art projects being funded and developed through kickstarter in books or visual art. Movies and games move at glacial speeds because they have those fucking old white dinosaurs kicking and screaming to the bank, but the market we see for books/visual art is a similar market we're going to see with games/movies in the future: a few big publishers holding on because they can bleed money and the rest of the scene turning more niche, local, and audience funded.
It's a bit of an irony that the internet, something meant to connect people across the globe, has been the direct catalyst of this "evolution".
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
You could say indie gaming is a lot like Cans though. I mean, look at Minecraft for example. Sure there are some derivative indie games, but I'm sure Cans has some derivative movies too :P
Minecraft is the super rare exception though. Even some of my personal indy favorites are pretty derivative (Zeboyd's stuff...sorry Rainbow and Slash, not at all ragging on you! You're games just happen to be two of my favorite indy games of the last year or two). Again, doesn't make them bad games, at all. Breath of Death and C'thulu Saves The World are my favorite JRPG's in the last five or six years (and no I'm not kidding), but they are just that... derivative JRPG's (with the obvious humor and parody twist).
We have to be careful not to correlate derivative or sequel with bad.
Mountain Lion will introduce a new security feature called Gatekeeper, according to Gamasutra. By default, the system will block games and applications purchased or obtained outside Apple’s closed App Store offerings.
Although users can disable the feature (or ramp it up), on first install Gatekeeper will stand between users and games bought from third party stores, distributed by individual indies, or sold through schemes like the Humble Bundle.
It’s not clear whether Gatekeeper will have an effect on Steam installs; the Steam app itself is not available through the App Store.
Luckily, developers can circumnavigate the system by obtaining an official Apple Developer ID , which costs $99 per year.
1) Mountain Lion was announced TODAY...it's still 6 months away from release. Alot can change between now and then.
2) You can disable it. Simple as that.
It's still really dumb.
It's for cyber cafes and other public places btw.
Allegedly it's for security, in order to keep out nasty crap that could wreck your computer.
Though it just so happens to divest everything that doesn't generate Apple money.
So Apple announces a dev certification system that costs $99/year/developer (for any number of games/apps) and everyone hears the Doom Bell ring, but Microsoft's virtually identical system that costs $Texas/per product and which also doesn't work isn't mentioned yet?
Never mind that every console has this, only it's in permanent lockdown mode and the console makers want to make it illegal to switch off…
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
Ummm, Microsoft has no system that forces me to buy software from Microsoft. Yes, you can turn it off, but Apple is going to ship an OS with a feature turned on that doesn't allow you to run apps they didn't sell you. It's certainly not DOOM GLOOM, but it's also pretty shifty.
This coming from someone who has quite a few Apple products and mostly likes their business decisions.
GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
Oh, speaking of kickstarters...if Rainbow and Slash started a kickstarter to port C'thulu Saves The World to iPad, I'd give them all my monies. ALL OF IT.
Ummm, Microsoft has no system that forces me to buy software from Microsoft. Yes, you can turn it off, but Apple is going to ship an OS with a feature turned on that doesn't allow you to run apps they didn't sell you. It's certainly not DOOM GLOOM, but it's also pretty shifty.
This coming from someone who has quite a few Apple products and mostly likes their business decisions.
So you don't remember skipping past all those "this software does not have a certified ID" dialogues whenever you tried to install third-party software in XP or '95? Or even those slightly more polite "developer not specified" popups in W7?
Because that's exactly what this is, only Apple have the balls to turn it on by default, so it might have a chance of doing its job.
All this talk about derivative stuff, etc., is fine, but the original point Scarab made that started this was "good riddance" to essentially a certain type of game in a niche genre. I'm absolutely all for new and interesting games being made, but that doesn't mean that niche games deserve to die off simply because the "old way" of making them isn't viable with today's way of doing things.
Also, there are lots of examples of weird games being huge successes. They're just not considered AAA big studio big budget successes, because they're put on by small studios that don't need massive budgets to execute them and profit. Example: Binding of Isaac which has reached over 450,000 sales. That's a huge success for a small team. Is it derivative? Yeah I guess in the sense that it is inspired by a weird mash-up of Zelda 1 and roguelikes. But it's not really a sequel in the sense that Modern Warfare whatever is. There's also Recettear, which has sold over 170k sales. Or Magicka, with over 1.3 million sales. I can think of a lot of examples of indie games with sorta weird concepts that are doing pretty well.
If it was a genre that was generally popular, I could see your point.
We have an old school adventure game. Being made by Tim Schafer. I'm pretty confident it's not going to light the world on fire in terms of sales.
Anybody who read that sentence, knew what it meant, and creamed their panties, I'm betting already donated. Near everybody else who doesn't know or give a shit what that is, likely won't buy the game anyways. Which goes back to my original point. Most potential buyers of the game likely already donated. And actually, a quick check of the page shows 55,692 backers. 55,692 people who technically won't buy the game. And 50k-100k is about what I would guesstimate the sales of a Tim Schafer adventure game to be.
edit: Y'know, I think I quoted the right person... but the wrong post...
I gotta stop drinking in the afternoon. :P
That's really the wrong way of looking at it. All Kickstarter is doing is shifting the process from
"Money Out of Pocket (Either from Publisher or from Savings)->Make Game->Sell Game to Replenish Pockets and potentially make profits"
to
"Money From Kickstarter->Make Game->Release Game to Kickstarter doners and sell it to potentially make profits"
Both processes involve spending money to make the game: Kickstarter just moves the process around so you spend the money from consumers to make the game rather than to help replace the money you spent on making the game.
If this was Double Fine's only project, then yes it would be a difficult way to maintain a company (though as long as your meeting your budgets you could do pretty well with it) but this is really just a way to produce a game that publishers didn't want to pay for.
This article sums up how a developer would have to go about making a niche game (like the one proposed by DoubleFine) via the traditional route: http://grumpygamer.com/4904226
tl;dr - the traditional publishing arrangement is pretty shitty for developers.
It seems a pretty rough way to go about development for a studio (and yes the parallels to the music industry are obvious), so any new additional ways to at least consider publishing are welcome as far as I see it.
Ummm, Microsoft has no system that forces me to buy software from Microsoft. Yes, you can turn it off, but Apple is going to ship an OS with a feature turned on that doesn't allow you to run apps they didn't sell you. It's certainly not DOOM GLOOM, but it's also pretty shifty.
This coming from someone who has quite a few Apple products and mostly likes their business decisions.
So you don't remember skipping past all those "this software does not have a certified ID" dialogues whenever you tried to install third-party software in XP or '95? Or even those slightly more polite "developer not specified" popups in W7?
Because that's exactly what this is, only Apple have the balls to turn it on by default, so it might have a chance of doing its job.
That is completely different than Apple stopping you from running software that wasn't sold to you from their store. Certifying software (which is not NEARLY as much as you make it out to be, it's the cost of an SSL certificate), and saying "You can't run this because you didn't buy it from us" is a BIT different.
I've written several pieces of software that were signed as "authenticate" on Windows, and Microsoft doesn't care where you sell it. And it doesn't cost $Texas to do....it costs whatever a root authority is going to charge you to hand out a signing cert. Microsoft doesn't even care who the root authority is, as long as it's in the accepted list (Verisign, et al).
Not seeing the difference, except Apple wanting to be sole provider for certification/revocation.
The difference would be that it makes Apple a gatekeeper for all content on the platform, right?
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
Honestly, biggest problem with the PSP was marketing. They kept marketing mediocre sports and mainstream games that had little to no lasting value.
Everyone who loves the PSP hypes its amazing variety of niche and RPG titles, which SCEA did almost nothing to market. At least they were games worth owning. A single RPG Console marketing tactic for the PSP could've worked wonders, like it did for Final Fantasy VII and the PS1.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
Not seeing the difference, except Apple wanting to be sole provider for certification/revocation.
The difference would be that it makes Apple a gatekeeper for all content on the platform, right?
Well, not authoritatively, the system can be disabled (I assuming relatively easily)...but yes, for the average Joe and Jan that unpacks their new iMac and has no clue about software certification or what this system is, Apple is the absolute arbiter of what they can install on their system.
Not seeing the difference, except Apple wanting to be sole provider for certification/revocation.
You seriously don't see the difference between an annoying popup saying the software isn't certified, and being able to install/run it anyway, and literally not being able to run it at all?
Not seeing the difference, except Apple wanting to be sole provider for certification/revocation.
You seriously don't see the difference between an annoying popup saying the software isn't certified, and being able to install/run it anyway, and literally not being able to run it at all?
Really?
When there's an optional version of both systems that does exactly what the default on the other system does? Yeah.
Because you can certainly set UAC to "no, fuck you and your software" mode if you want.
That gatekeeper defaults to "no uncertified stuff" and UAC defaults to "sure, whatever" does not make them drastically different in intent to me, only implementation.
guys starting a kickstarter for a game called kickstarter where you are a game company who tries to hop on the bandwagon by making a game called 'punchstarter', but has to find the funding for it through kickstarting it
kickstarter
I'm going to make a game called 'Punch Teacher' and get sued by Joe Lieberman.
Everyone who loves the PSP hypes its amazing variety of niche and RPG titles, which SCEA did almost nothing to market. At least they were games worth owning. A single RPG Console marketing tactic for the PSP could've worked wonders, like it did for Final Fantasy VII and the PS1.
Are you referring to the Japanese market? Because the PSP had always done well in Japan, just not spectacularly until monhun. If you're talking about the Western market, RPGs are niche and have long since ceased to be system sellers. No amount of marketing will change that. They just don't appeal to the masses anymore.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
Not seeing the difference, except Apple wanting to be sole provider for certification/revocation.
You seriously don't see the difference between an annoying popup saying the software isn't certified, and being able to install/run it anyway, and literally not being able to run it at all?
Really?
When there's an optional version of both systems that does exactly what the default on the other system does? Yeah.
Because you can certainly set UAC to "no, fuck you and your software" mode if you want.
That gatekeeper defaults to "no uncertified stuff" and UAC defaults to "sure, whatever" does not make them drastically different in intent to me, only implementation.
Except that in Apple's case, there is only one place to get that certification. Microsoft bases their cert system on a very standardized certificate root authority system, of which there are about fifteen to choose from. In Apple's case, they are it. And Apple doesn't have the best track record in terms of being objective about what's in the Apple Store.
It's never good to have one sole authority over what is, and isn't, certified to run on your computer.
Everyone who loves the PSP hypes its amazing variety of niche and RPG titles, which SCEA did almost nothing to market. At least they were games worth owning. A single RPG Console marketing tactic for the PSP could've worked wonders, like it did for Final Fantasy VII and the PS1.
Are you referring to the Japanese market? Because the PSP had always did well in Japan, just not spectacularly until monhun. If you're talking about the Western market, RPGs are niche and have long since ceased to be system sellers. No amount of marketing will change that. They just don't appeal to the masses anymore.
Not only this, I think Japanese RPGs/Adventure games have been targeting more and more niche audience at the expense of creating new fans. If JRPGs, ADV and VN have a commercial future, it may be on iOS/Android platforms rather than a traditional gaming medium. I play something like 428 and think that even my 60 year old mother would really enjoy playing it.
Also Psychonauts cost $20mil to make? I'm not saying you're wrong, but that's the kind of budget that goes into AAA console games this generation. How the hell did they spend that much on a game last gen?
Schafer said Psychonauts cost the EQUIVALENT of 13 million dollars TODAY. The 13 million he threw out there is adjusted for inflation. This was talked about on the Giant Bomb podcast this week.
Oh, speaking of kickstarters...if Rainbow and Slash started a kickstarter to port C'thulu Saves The World to iPad, I'd give them all my monies. ALL OF IT.
No need for a Kickstarter. iPad Cthulhu Saves the World is almost done already.
Oh, speaking of kickstarters...if Rainbow and Slash started a kickstarter to port C'thulu Saves The World to iPad, I'd give them all my monies. ALL OF IT.
No need for a Kickstarter. iPad Cthulhu Saves the World is almost done already.
Now to wait for the iPhone/Android port.
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GnomeTankWhat the what?Portland, OregonRegistered Userregular
Oh, speaking of kickstarters...if Rainbow and Slash started a kickstarter to port C'thulu Saves The World to iPad, I'd give them all my monies. ALL OF IT.
No need for a Kickstarter. iPad Cthulhu Saves the World is almost done already.
THANK YOU OH GREAT LORD CTHULU.
I don't care how much you charge for it, I'll still buy another copy. Every time I fire up CSTW on my 360 I go "Damn I wish I had this on the iPad".
e: Please tell me that you guys tweaked the interface to be touch friendly though, and aren't just using a virtual d-pad...because virtual d-pads on the iPad are annoying, it's too big for that...they work fine on the iPhone, but not the iPad. That's the primary reason I only play Final Fantasy on my iPhone, and not iPad.
Oh, speaking of kickstarters...if Rainbow and Slash started a kickstarter to port C'thulu Saves The World to iPad, I'd give them all my monies. ALL OF IT.
No need for a Kickstarter. iPad Cthulhu Saves the World is almost done already.
THANK YOU OH GREAT LORD CTHULU.
I don't care how much you charge for it, I'll still buy another copy. Every time I fire up CSTW on my 360 I go "Damn I wish I had this on the iPad".
e: Please tell me that you guys tweaked the interface to be touch friendly though, and aren't just using a virtual d-pad...because virtual d-pads on the iPad are annoying, it's too big for that...they work fine on the iPhone, but not the iPad. That's the primary reason I only play Final Fantasy on my iPhone, and not iPad.
I wonder if they considered making it iCade compatable.
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
Everyone who loves the PSP hypes its amazing variety of niche and RPG titles, which SCEA did almost nothing to market. At least they were games worth owning. A single RPG Console marketing tactic for the PSP could've worked wonders, like it did for Final Fantasy VII and the PS1.
Are you referring to the Japanese market? Because the PSP had always done well in Japan, just not spectacularly until monhun. If you're talking about the Western market, RPGs are niche and have long since ceased to be system sellers. No amount of marketing will change that. They just don't appeal to the masses anymore.
They may not be system sellers, but they sure aren't hurting for sales. It hardly could have hurt for SCEA to try a different avenue besides STEP YA GAME UP.
And I think Crisis Core was pretty close to one for a lot of people. (Mine was FFT.)
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Ninja Snarl PMy helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered Userregular
Everyone who loves the PSP hypes its amazing variety of niche and RPG titles, which SCEA did almost nothing to market. At least they were games worth owning. A single RPG Console marketing tactic for the PSP could've worked wonders, like it did for Final Fantasy VII and the PS1.
Are you referring to the Japanese market? Because the PSP had always done well in Japan, just not spectacularly until monhun. If you're talking about the Western market, RPGs are niche and have long since ceased to be system sellers. No amount of marketing will change that. They just don't appeal to the masses anymore.
They may not be system sellers, but they sure aren't hurting for sales. It hardly could have hurt for SCEA to try a different avenue besides STEP YA GAME UP.
And I think Crisis Core was pretty close to one for a lot of people. (Mine was FFT.)
I'd much more argue that JRPGs have shifted in a direction that makes most people go "WTF?" rather than "WANT THAT" instead of the Western market irreversibly changing. RPGs have been selling a ton in the West, so it's not like RPGs are un-cool now.
For those concerned about the new Apple stuff. Here is a nice summary of the good and the bad about the new app signing stuff.
I'm not much of a Mac guy (long live Linux) but I don't see much of a problem with it. It's easy to turn off and those who can't figure it out would be the type that probably wouldn't care. The post I linked to does point out some other worrysome stuff like non app-store apps not having access to some of OS X's features.
There I was, 3DS: 2621-2671-9899 (Ekera), Wii U: LostCrescendo
Mountain Lion will introduce a new security feature called Gatekeeper, according to Gamasutra. By default, the system will block games and applications purchased or obtained outside Apple’s closed App Store offerings.
Although users can disable the feature (or ramp it up), on first install Gatekeeper will stand between users and games bought from third party stores, distributed by individual indies, or sold through schemes like the Humble Bundle.
It’s not clear whether Gatekeeper will have an effect on Steam installs; the Steam app itself is not available through the App Store.
Luckily, developers can circumnavigate the system by obtaining an official Apple Developer ID , which costs $99 per year.
Problem solved, there is no doomsday happening.
Sounds to me like it's not so much about security as it is trying to get that $99/year Developer ID fee out of as many of the thousands of small-time iOS developers there are out there as they can.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
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I think there are a few out there, but otherwise you're right.
To be fair though, Hollywood is equally as un-creative. 90% of movies out there are either sequels, remakes, or re-hashes of old ideas.
kickstarter
Yep, so true. I listen to the Slashfilm podcast and I remember a while ago the complains from people pissed that the studio in charge of Anchorman refused to make the sequel.
The guest that episode, Joseph Kahn, explained that sequels are made just to make money. That is their only purpose. He said that the studios put the numbers together and it was going to be more expensive this time. Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, et al would ask for more money seeing the success the first one had.
Probably, the same applies to a Zoolander sequel. Kahn pitched the idea of a kickstarter for the Anchorman 2 in the same episode.
Seems gamers today do not understand that most big studios are formed by people with college education who are eager for 80k plus salaries a year. They can't go back to the old days.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Agreed, Hollywood is very un-creative...but after going watching some of the stuff from Cans, I still say it's more creative right now than gaming.
e: Trimmed this down because I hate huge quote trees.
Since most gamers today are college educated, or at the very least working, 25-40 year old's themselves, I think they probably understand it better than you think. I think the myth that game developers (outside of a few indy shops) are two guys in their parents garage is pretty well dispelled at this point.
The fact there might be a decent game at the end of it? Great.
Although, AFAIK it isn't coming to my preferred platform of choice (360), but I'll still play it on PC or Android, eventually. :P
Still, I don't see Kickstarter as being widely viable for this kind of enterprise, since I just don't see enough developers which could generate the trust or interest in the proceedings (come rain or shine) which Doublefine have mustered.
It's a bit of an irony that the internet, something meant to connect people across the globe, has been the direct catalyst of this "evolution".
Minecraft is the super rare exception though. Even some of my personal indy favorites are pretty derivative (Zeboyd's stuff...sorry Rainbow and Slash, not at all ragging on you! You're games just happen to be two of my favorite indy games of the last year or two). Again, doesn't make them bad games, at all. Breath of Death and C'thulu Saves The World are my favorite JRPG's in the last five or six years (and no I'm not kidding), but they are just that... derivative JRPG's (with the obvious humor and parody twist).
We have to be careful not to correlate derivative or sequel with bad.
So Apple announces a dev certification system that costs $99/year/developer (for any number of games/apps) and everyone hears the Doom Bell ring, but Microsoft's virtually identical system that costs $Texas/per product and which also doesn't work isn't mentioned yet?
Never mind that every console has this, only it's in permanent lockdown mode and the console makers want to make it illegal to switch off…
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
This coming from someone who has quite a few Apple products and mostly likes their business decisions.
So you don't remember skipping past all those "this software does not have a certified ID" dialogues whenever you tried to install third-party software in XP or '95? Or even those slightly more polite "developer not specified" popups in W7?
Because that's exactly what this is, only Apple have the balls to turn it on by default, so it might have a chance of doing its job.
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
Also, there are lots of examples of weird games being huge successes. They're just not considered AAA big studio big budget successes, because they're put on by small studios that don't need massive budgets to execute them and profit. Example: Binding of Isaac which has reached over 450,000 sales. That's a huge success for a small team. Is it derivative? Yeah I guess in the sense that it is inspired by a weird mash-up of Zelda 1 and roguelikes. But it's not really a sequel in the sense that Modern Warfare whatever is. There's also Recettear, which has sold over 170k sales. Or Magicka, with over 1.3 million sales. I can think of a lot of examples of indie games with sorta weird concepts that are doing pretty well.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
That's really the wrong way of looking at it. All Kickstarter is doing is shifting the process from
"Money Out of Pocket (Either from Publisher or from Savings)->Make Game->Sell Game to Replenish Pockets and potentially make profits"
to
"Money From Kickstarter->Make Game->Release Game to Kickstarter doners and sell it to potentially make profits"
Both processes involve spending money to make the game: Kickstarter just moves the process around so you spend the money from consumers to make the game rather than to help replace the money you spent on making the game.
If this was Double Fine's only project, then yes it would be a difficult way to maintain a company (though as long as your meeting your budgets you could do pretty well with it) but this is really just a way to produce a game that publishers didn't want to pay for.
http://grumpygamer.com/4904226
tl;dr - the traditional publishing arrangement is pretty shitty for developers.
It seems a pretty rough way to go about development for a studio (and yes the parallels to the music industry are obvious), so any new additional ways to at least consider publishing are welcome as far as I see it.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
That is completely different than Apple stopping you from running software that wasn't sold to you from their store. Certifying software (which is not NEARLY as much as you make it out to be, it's the cost of an SSL certificate), and saying "You can't run this because you didn't buy it from us" is a BIT different.
I've written several pieces of software that were signed as "authenticate" on Windows, and Microsoft doesn't care where you sell it. And it doesn't cost $Texas to do....it costs whatever a root authority is going to charge you to hand out a signing cert. Microsoft doesn't even care who the root authority is, as long as it's in the accepted list (Verisign, et al).
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
Ummm, that's a HUGE difference. You make it sound like a completely flippant difference, and it's not.
The difference would be that it makes Apple a gatekeeper for all content on the platform, right?
Everyone who loves the PSP hypes its amazing variety of niche and RPG titles, which SCEA did almost nothing to market. At least they were games worth owning. A single RPG Console marketing tactic for the PSP could've worked wonders, like it did for Final Fantasy VII and the PS1.
Well, not authoritatively, the system can be disabled (I assuming relatively easily)...but yes, for the average Joe and Jan that unpacks their new iMac and has no clue about software certification or what this system is, Apple is the absolute arbiter of what they can install on their system.
Microsoft: "Hey, just so you know, this program isn't certified. Feel free to use it, but, y'know."
Apple: "You're not using that program."
You seriously don't see the difference between an annoying popup saying the software isn't certified, and being able to install/run it anyway, and literally not being able to run it at all?
Really?
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
When there's an optional version of both systems that does exactly what the default on the other system does? Yeah.
Because you can certainly set UAC to "no, fuck you and your software" mode if you want.
That gatekeeper defaults to "no uncertified stuff" and UAC defaults to "sure, whatever" does not make them drastically different in intent to me, only implementation.
Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
I'm going to make a game called 'Punch Teacher' and get sued by Joe Lieberman.
Double Fine is about to clear 1.9 million.
Are you referring to the Japanese market? Because the PSP had always done well in Japan, just not spectacularly until monhun. If you're talking about the Western market, RPGs are niche and have long since ceased to be system sellers. No amount of marketing will change that. They just don't appeal to the masses anymore.
Except that in Apple's case, there is only one place to get that certification. Microsoft bases their cert system on a very standardized certificate root authority system, of which there are about fifteen to choose from. In Apple's case, they are it. And Apple doesn't have the best track record in terms of being objective about what's in the Apple Store.
It's never good to have one sole authority over what is, and isn't, certified to run on your computer.
More than meets the eye.
Not only this, I think Japanese RPGs/Adventure games have been targeting more and more niche audience at the expense of creating new fans. If JRPGs, ADV and VN have a commercial future, it may be on iOS/Android platforms rather than a traditional gaming medium. I play something like 428 and think that even my 60 year old mother would really enjoy playing it.
Schafer said Psychonauts cost the EQUIVALENT of 13 million dollars TODAY. The 13 million he threw out there is adjusted for inflation. This was talked about on the Giant Bomb podcast this week.
No need for a Kickstarter. iPad Cthulhu Saves the World is almost done already.
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
Now to wait for the iPhone/Android port.
THANK YOU OH GREAT LORD CTHULU.
I don't care how much you charge for it, I'll still buy another copy. Every time I fire up CSTW on my 360 I go "Damn I wish I had this on the iPad".
e: Please tell me that you guys tweaked the interface to be touch friendly though, and aren't just using a virtual d-pad...because virtual d-pads on the iPad are annoying, it's too big for that...they work fine on the iPhone, but not the iPad. That's the primary reason I only play Final Fantasy on my iPhone, and not iPad.
I wonder if they considered making it iCade compatable.
They may not be system sellers, but they sure aren't hurting for sales. It hardly could have hurt for SCEA to try a different avenue besides STEP YA GAME UP.
And I think Crisis Core was pretty close to one for a lot of people. (Mine was FFT.)
I'd much more argue that JRPGs have shifted in a direction that makes most people go "WTF?" rather than "WANT THAT" instead of the Western market irreversibly changing. RPGs have been selling a ton in the West, so it's not like RPGs are un-cool now.
I'm not much of a Mac guy (long live Linux) but I don't see much of a problem with it. It's easy to turn off and those who can't figure it out would be the type that probably wouldn't care. The post I linked to does point out some other worrysome stuff like non app-store apps not having access to some of OS X's features.
Sounds to me like it's not so much about security as it is trying to get that $99/year Developer ID fee out of as many of the thousands of small-time iOS developers there are out there as they can.
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)