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Xbox LIVE Indie Games - The December 2010 Thread
- Thread starter toythatkills
- Start date
Feep said:
For me, the price of Indie Game pricing is relative to "how many more awesome indies could I get for this price?", as well. Sequence does look very cool (And I look forward to playing it myself!) But If it were 400 MSP, would it be worth the value of, say, Epic Dungeon, ZP2KX, Score Rush, Crossfire 2, and Breath of Death COMBINED, to the average consumer?
If you did do an "intro price" style thing, maybe it'd be good to talk to press-start studios, the guys who released Twin Blades on XBLA. The raised their price after adding in new modes, bosses, combos... pretty much adding all the substance the game now enjoys. Maybe they can give some pointers on working a price-hike for a game that's already known and released at a certain value.
An impressive SHMUP just got released, REVOLVER360 :
http://catalog.create.msdn.com/en-U...d=ebd9603b-d2b5-4815-99bb-52c88d6f1db4&type=2
edit : genius use of the triggers ! try it
http://catalog.create.msdn.com/en-U...d=ebd9603b-d2b5-4815-99bb-52c88d6f1db4&type=2
edit : genius use of the triggers ! try it
killdatninja
Banned
Feep said:
Although I would say 80pts would be great for the consumer in me, I would say 240pts would be the best option for you as an indie dev. The trend I've seen on the sales figure thread is that 80pt games have the best trial-to-purchase ratio, but there's more profit in a 240pt game even if you sell a half of what most 80pt indie games sell.
Intruder_qc
Neo Member
Ohhh shit!!!
I've played the revolver trial, my goodness this has a lot of visual flashy thing
, this is definitely not for epileptic people. Dunno who is that developer that seem to come out of nowhere with this.
I almost bought it right away, but then I saw its 240 points and still have other stuff to buy... if it was 80 points it would be an instant buy, now it has let me rethink since I wanted to buy Soulcaster II :-(.
I've played the revolver trial, my goodness this has a lot of visual flashy thing
, this is definitely not for epileptic people. Dunno who is that developer that seem to come out of nowhere with this. I almost bought it right away, but then I saw its 240 points and still have other stuff to buy... if it was 80 points it would be an instant buy, now it has let me rethink since I wanted to buy Soulcaster II :-(.
Man the revolve-y mechanic thing is genius. I wonder why no-one has thought of it before. It's a damn good game, very Kenta Cho, but I wish the ship design was better instead of just behing a polyhedron. I'd buy this in an instant but as I can fit in a couple of games of this before the demo time runs out I'm not going to splash out on MS points just yet.
Is 'Short Range Mode' always the same waves with the same boss?
Is 'Short Range Mode' always the same waves with the same boss?
GodfatherX
Member
been waiting to pick up some new indie games, last was decimation x3, which still kills about 5 hours a week for me (crossed the 5 million mark yo) but revolver looks to be worth not picking up the other 2 titles i was going to get
Intruder_qc said:Ohhh shit!!!
I've played the revolver trial, my goodness this has a lot of visual flashy thing
I almost bought it right away, but then I saw its 240 points and still have other stuff to buy... if it was 80 points it would be an instant buy, now it has let me rethink since I wanted to buy Soulcaster II :-(.
Yeah, wasn't expecting it - found some info on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtPh_YCgQ1g&NR=1
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
Whoa Revolver360 is something else.
Visuals are amazing, game ain't too bad either, a little sloppy though.
Main things are the enemy bullets need to have better visibility and there needs to some better feedback if/when damage is taken.
Visuals are amazing, game ain't too bad either, a little sloppy though.
Main things are the enemy bullets need to have better visibility and there needs to some better feedback if/when damage is taken.
Two thoughts on Revolver 360.
The 'twist' game mechanic is brilliant.
The visuals are just awful. Now, I have a pet peeve with shooters that go overboard on visual distraction, ala Geometry Wars. I just hate games that throw around those kind of pyrotechnics, which tax clarity for flair. And Revolver was one of the worst I've seen; the second level was entirely out of focus and blurry, to the point of becoming obnoxious.
My kind of shooter is more along the lines of Inferno, which I just picked up. Stylish but always crystal-clear visuals, which I think is crucial for shooters.
I get the sense my tastes in this department are entirely out of step with most, since it seems the vast majority of shooters I've sampled this gen took their cues from GeoWars and went nuts with sparks/flare/etc. So Inferno has been a delight, a gem in a very rough field lately.
[/rant]
The 'twist' game mechanic is brilliant.
The visuals are just awful. Now, I have a pet peeve with shooters that go overboard on visual distraction, ala Geometry Wars. I just hate games that throw around those kind of pyrotechnics, which tax clarity for flair. And Revolver was one of the worst I've seen; the second level was entirely out of focus and blurry, to the point of becoming obnoxious.
My kind of shooter is more along the lines of Inferno, which I just picked up. Stylish but always crystal-clear visuals, which I think is crucial for shooters.
I get the sense my tastes in this department are entirely out of step with most, since it seems the vast majority of shooters I've sampled this gen took their cues from GeoWars and went nuts with sparks/flare/etc. So Inferno has been a delight, a gem in a very rough field lately.
[/rant]
SapientWolf
Trucker Sexologist
Geo Wars is in my top 10 GoaT. I think the busy visuals might even make it easier to achieve a state of flow. You struggle to make sense of the visual mess and then it all just... clicks. Next thing you know you're losing hours while in a state of tripnosis, the score rising like a rocket ship as the game overwhelms your senses and lights up your visual cortex like a Christmas tree.GhaleonEB said:
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
Geo Wars uses good colors and the visuals tend to be pretty clear.
Sometimes Revolver360 can look outright nasty and that's a huge problem for a 2D shooter where you kind of need to be able to see what's going on.
Sometimes Revolver360 can look outright nasty and that's a huge problem for a 2D shooter where you kind of need to be able to see what's going on.
I'm finding the visuals plenty clear in Revolver, but they are busy and I thought someone would bring it up.
My pet peeve with XBLIG at the moment (not Revolver related) is the number of twin stick shooters that are there. Enough already! Can any Indie developer seriously be considering another twin stick shooter when the service is this over-saturated with them?
My pet peeve with XBLIG at the moment (not Revolver related) is the number of twin stick shooters that are there. Enough already! Can any Indie developer seriously be considering another twin stick shooter when the service is this over-saturated with them?
HadesGigas
Member
Revolvers twist feature really is a great idea for shooters, screen filling rows can just be turned on their side to a single dot to dogdge, really cleaver.
I really like the big visual background distinctions in sides on the rotations too.
Where it fails is pace I think, it fails to build up slowly at first letting you get to grips with the mechanics and throws a lot at you aking it seem messy and cluttered.
I really like the big visual background distinctions in sides on the rotations too.
Where it fails is pace I think, it fails to build up slowly at first letting you get to grips with the mechanics and throws a lot at you aking it seem messy and cluttered.
Trumpets
Member
I can't believe there's any debate about Revolver360's graphics. It must be the best looking XBLIG available and the bullets were pretty visible to me.
Being able to twist a wall of bullets into a single point does make it a seem bit easy though. I'm absoultely shit at 2D shooters and I don't think I got hit once during the trial. Does it get much harder?
Being able to twist a wall of bullets into a single point does make it a seem bit easy though. I'm absoultely shit at 2D shooters and I don't think I got hit once during the trial. Does it get much harder?
Not really. I really don't understand stuff like the second stage of the short range mode, where the entire screen is put way out of focus, for example. It was quite ugly. I don't like how it looks and think the visuals are a mess. I left the demo after ten minutes thinking it was a huge wasted opportunity, a great gameplay idea ruined by a terrible visual design.segarr said:
Like I said, for most people, including you. But not for me. For me it was never more than a giant mess of particle effects; I often died because I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. Likewise with most shooters since that have tried for the same effect. I can barely make it through the demo of most, Revolver included. It's been a frustrating gen in that department because I love shooters, but also value visual clarity. I generally don't bring it up though, because I know I'm in the (vast?) minority and generally get pounced on whenever I do. Like now.SapientWolf said:
I think it's been a few years since I mentioned it, though, so I don't plan to make a habit of doing so. But the gameplay was good enough here that I wanted to make note of why I didn't like the game.
Kafel said:
done :
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=417015
you can share your impressions/highscores there
toythatkills
Member
Cthulhu Saves The World is in peer review, should be out in a couple of days barring any bugs being found
Princess Skittles
Prince's's 'Skittle's
Maids with Balloons will no doubt be a lifetime member of Top Downloaded/Top Rated like Try Not to Fart and I Made a Game with Zombies.
Sigh.
And more developers will probably follow radiangames leaving XBLIG.
Sigh.
And more developers will probably follow radiangames leaving XBLIG.
Princess Skittles
Prince's's 'Skittle's
Beezy said:
One of the blog posts after Crossfire 2 released.. he'll still be releasing one more XBLIG title and then he'll be making a Crossfire Deluxe for PC (I beleive). After that he wasn't clear on what was happening but it's been more and more clear that he's getting ready to find another avenue since XBLIG was *barely* working out for him.NeoNess said:
It's what happens when the best selling game on a platform (by an embarrassingly large margin) is basically a shitty meme.
toythatkills
Member
Zombies is a perfectly good game. It'd be nice if gamers looked past it, obviously, but its success is deserved.Princess Skittles said:
Poohblaster
Member
Sorry for the shameless self promotion, but here's a game called Creep Commando I'm working on as a programmer / 3D modeler at the University of Utah. Our release target is May 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwmz-UJxIXI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwmz-UJxIXI
Princess Skittles
Prince's's 'Skittle's
If you read past entries, it's clear he's been more and more disappointed with XBLIG performance.mokeyjoe said:So don't panic just yet.
It may just end up that he tries other platforms and realizes that XBLIG may be the best performing for him (despite his expectations for it, or whatever) and comes back to it.. but he won't be able to continue supporting it as he has (ie: he'll need to get a real job and do XBLIG on the side).
The game does nothing that dozens of other twin-stick shooters don't do better except have a lame novelty song and have little number ones after exclamation marks and "clever" misspellings in the title to entice people from 4chan and GameFAQs. It deserves nothing but to be used to point out that everything but the actual "meat" of a game is what drives success on XBLIG.toythatkills said:
toythatkills
Member
The "lame" novelty song is funny, and was a really good idea. It was the first game that did it and so yeah, does something that dozens of other twin-stick shooters don't do. It also costs one dollar, and the gameplay it offers for that dollar is more than competent enough. I enjoyed playing it, as have hundreds of thousands of others.Princess Skittles said:
Princess Skittles
Prince's's 'Skittle's
Well, humor is subjective.. so while I can't argue your point I can at least say that if you think yelling the title of a game over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over is funny, well it's safe to say we'd never agree on anything in terms of comedic value.toythatkills said:
toythatkills
Member
Hey, belittle me to hide the fact that your argument is total shit. NICE.Princess Skittles said:
Have you even played the game? Your description and the game do not correspond. In other words, just shut up, yeah?
barkers crest
Member
Princess Skittles said:
Not true.
Dr. Zoidberg
Member
Paco said:
This, basically. I don't know what kind of expectations he had, but he has nobody but himself to blame. His games are well made, but they are mostly simple twitch-style arcade games with a neon sheen. If he tried something totally different and cool it might pay off for him. Something with some meat to it to entice people who are easily bored with those kinds of games. It's why I've never bought any of his stuff, anyway. I'd take anything Arkedo's done over any of his at this point.
SapientWolf
Trucker Sexologist
His prodigious throughput is what made XBLIG viable for Radiangames. The Problem is that the platform isn't advertised or curated very well. It has no prominence on the dashboard and the mainstream press ignores it, for the most part. Tons of content is just tossed on there with little fanfare. Some of it goes viral but most of it flatlines.Paco said:
That's just the nature of the beast. It's basically the YouTube of gaming.
Princess Skittles
Prince's's 'Skittle's
Hmm, well my mistake then but I'm going to at least hold on that after the top couple of spots there has to be a big drop off point.barkers crest said:
Indeed. I've bought all of them as they're all pretty solid $1s but I would definitely agree with this too. Anybody can go back and look at Joy Joy and see how much strong that game is in terms of visuals and audio. It's a world of difference. He could easily spend two months instead of one on a game and probably create something ten times as strong.Dr. Zoidberg said:
But.. as certain indie games have shown, strong games rarely translate into sales.
It also doesn't help that game like Zombies have forced everyone into thinking $1 is "the" price point for Indie games, greatly devaluing so many of the strong games on the service. It's has to be tough to build something compelling, putting a lot of your blood, sweat, tears and cliches into something, and then selling it to a couple of thousand people for the price of a pop.
Inferno is a nice departure, a more methodically paced shooter with adventure elements and a steady loot collection and ship upgrade path. It's got a nice, clean visual style as well. I'm enjoying it a great deal, but I think it's unique among their games. I kind of wish he'd done more stuff along those lines.Dr. Zoidberg said: