Will AOD benefit from dissaitsfaction with Fallout 3?

[Longshanks]

Does anyone think that AOD will benefit from the dissatisfaction of "hardcore" Fallout fans with Fallout 3?

I'd think that if it were "hyped" as strongly influenced by Fallout and containing the aspects that Bethesda missed, there'd be a number of disillusioned Fallout fans who'd give it a go.

One of the main reasons I'm so interested in the game is the absolute dearth of "choice and consequence" RPGs on the market, which is being felt even more with Fallout 3's development direction.


Though I'm hoping it's released sometime before Fallout 3.

 

[sheek]

From that perspective it woud be better to release it after F3, or right away. The more they delay the weaker AoD's "spiritual successor/influenced" connection will appear, with Beth is stealing all the hype potential for itself - even if it's a worse game, it's size will drown AoD out. Of course Irontower will never be able to compete equally with Beth but it can maximize it's AoD's potential with good timing.

But I don't think they'll delay the game just for that, it would annoy many potential customers and I think the devs want to release the game soon as well (so they can move on to other things).

 

[Gosling]

Sounds terribly lame. The game should appeal in its own right, not because it's better than Bethesda's flop. It can be compared to Fallout, sure. But all this "taking advantage of disillusionment" is weak.
AoD should be hyped as a game containing real RPG values, choices and consequences, etc., not as a refuge camp for misfits and outcasts.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I'd think that if it were "hyped" as strongly influenced by Fallout and containing the aspects that Bethesda missed, there'd be a number of disillusioned Fallout fans who'd give it a go.

I don't want to drop names to trick disillusioned fans of any games to give AoD a chance, regardless of how close AoD might be to these games.

AoD will either appeal to people based on a straight forward description of its features and gameplay or not. Call it a marketing experiment.

One of the main reasons I'm so interested in the game is the absolute dearth of "choice and consequence" RPGs on the market...

There you go.

 

[Krafter]

It will certainly benefit from my dissatifaction with "Fallout" 3, for one.

After seeing what they are going to do with a game I liked, turning it into another action-game clone, it seems kind of silly to complain about it and then to NOT support games that are being made seemingly for my tastes. I don't know how many people you will find that think like that outside of here and NMA, though.

 

[Elwro]

As for the original question, I don't think it will. I'm pretty sure a significant part of hardcore Fallout fans comes from Eastern Europe and Russia, and us folks don't seem to have gotten the 'shareware' idea yet.

 

[Ander Vinz]

I'm pretty sure a significant part of hardcore Fallout fans comes from Eastern Europe and Russia, and us folks don't seem to have gotten the 'shareware' idea yet.

Yep, it's sad that most of them will rather download it from torrents. And knowing VD's attitude towards publishers and our nerds who tend to find any excuses not to pay it looks like AoD will be heavily pirated.

 

[Gosling]

It also depends on how the game is distributed and what payment options are availbale when it comes out. Hell, half of western (especially american) webstores don't even accept russian Visa cards.

 

[Ander Vinz]

It's not a question as VD said:

If someone wants to play this game, I'll find a way to get it to him/her.

The main problem is willingness to pay.

 

[Gosling]

What I meant was that indie distribution model wouldn't have netted decent sales on the ex-Soviet market anyway: even if there are people who don't mind paying for their games only a tiny amount of them would actually bother to order the game online simply because e-shopping is still a very marginal part of consumer culture. This is simply not a good market for foreign indie-games without a local publisher. That, and - true enough - the prevailing dumbfuck conviction of the rest of the gaming community that one illegal download will not change the game's fate 'cuz capitalist developers are rich bastards by default, and even if they are not - who cares as life is hard enough anyway.
I wish I were proven wrong though.

 

[sheek]

It shouldn't matter really, since VD says he's not making this for the cash. As long as basic costs are recouped everything's cool.

 

[John Yossarian]

Everything is cool except if you don't count that they won't make a second one, let alone influence anyone to go the hardcore RPG indie way.

 

[Ander Vinz]

It shouldn't matter really, since VD says he's not making this for the cash. As long as basic costs are recouped everything's cool.

I don't think so. If AoD will turn out to be good game I prefer VD making rpg's on regular basis so I can have at least one decent game say every 3 years instead of 5-7. And with stable cash flow he can improve weak points in his next project.

 

[MF]

Just make sure you release it in a user-friendly yet hard-to-pirate way. Spiderweb's games are way, way, WAY too easy to pirate. I bought the Geneforges, but I tried to crack geneforge 2 for the heck of it. It was faster than taking the trouble to pay for it at his site.

Arcanum really suffered from that early beta leak. I know quite a few people that loved Arcanum but never paid for it. I've already given three of them a retail copy for their birthday because they wouldn't budge when I told them to buy it and tried to cast some guilt on their rotten souls by mentioning Troika went under.

As for the Fallout 3 hype, I don't think it matters. The online community that loved Fallout the way the Codex readers love it probably already know about AOD. The rest won't be interested, even if they're disappointed with Fallout 3.

 

[Ander Vinz]

What I meant was that indie distribution model wouldn't have netted decent sales on the ex-Soviet market anyway.

This is simply not a good market for foreign indie-games without a local publisher.

You're right. The only working model is fully translated cheap jewel-cases. And judging from your words you know it yourself.

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

I think it already does benefit. I blieve I have seen AoD mentioned, sometimes even discussed on the Fo3 official forums at least 10 times in the last few weeks. So the whole thing helps to get the name out there, both among hadrdcore Fallout fans (certainly an important subset of the target audience) and others interested in RPGs.

 

[bluecuracao]

Yea, and by the way: you should really update those screenshots at your official site. With the old Interface and the old version of your engine (no interior shadows..) a lot of People will be turned off immediately and forget about the game. It's not so much about 'graphic-whoring', but they just look very.. unproffesional, like some kind of high school project. It's contradicting the otherwise very nice Art Style of your site.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Well, it's much easier to make a nice looking site than a nice looking game. But yeah, sure, I'll update the screens one day.

 

[bluecuracao]

Don't misunderstand me, i think your game does indeed look very nice, in it's most current form. So go and show it to everyone! Should be pretty easy to replace the screenshots, or not? Maybe you should get a PR Manager that takes care of those things and also increases public awareness and can take care of all media related stuff.. i'm not really in a position to judge this, but following the game for some time now i've got the impression that this is the part where you lack most in. A couple of Interviews and a site that doesn't get any updates is not really enough to spread the word.

 

[John Yossarian]

My vote is for KC as PR manager. Look what he is done for the free market at the Codex.

 

[Noceur]

Sheet, I feel bad about playing a pal's copy of Arcanum. (i.e I haven't payed for it myself, I'm playing his copy). Doing it with an indie game is like stealing from the poor.
Anyway, give me a fat demo so I can figure out if I like it or not, then I'll pay for it. Shit, I even payed for Geneforge 4 (Hell, I payed for Shorthike).

Regarding the topic, what exactly has AoD to do with Fallout? I don't really see why they should have the same clientele. Considering the small market for Indie-games, I'd guess the people who'd buy AoD would do so regardless of the success of Fallout 3.

 

[Dhruin]

Yeah, update the site. I'd like to grab some new screens to put in our gallery rotation.

 

[Balor]

Well, I, for once, will certainly pay for it.
I'm relatively well-off, though, and have a credit card... hopefully it will be accepted, heh.

 

[Noceur]

Ah, yes... payment method is really a deal-breaker or maker when it comes to indie games. I will never use paypal or similarly out of this world methods. Otherwise I'm considering purchasing Age of Decadence.

 

[travisarcher]

I think it sounds like a closer successor to FO2 than FO3 is

Well, as I only heard about this game from the FO3: Oblivion With Gunz forum, I would agree wholeheatedly that our loss is this game's gain.