Game News Age of Decadence September Update: Release date - October 14th!

[Drowed]

Hey, VD, I have a problem with "dancing trees":

Spoiler

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It's a know bug?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Already fixed on our end but thanks anyway.

 

[Invictus]

Whats with the doom and gloom? Yeah the game is not made to cater to the Bioware crowd or sale a million copies, just focus on making the best game you can do, come up with a catchy slogan like "one life is not enough to experience all" and get those GOGsuckers to titty twist TotalBusquit to do a review.... At least get a "coming soon" 10% discount presale to start generating some interest among the easiest sell of all you got besides the Codex on a site which caters to all school gamers

 

[eric__s]

The way to market it is to make the consumer feel smart for having bought it and to present the act of purchasing it as an intellectual subversion of mainstream RPGs or games. By buying this game, you're entering into an elite microcosm of gaming reserved for the most hardcore segment of consumer. Dark Souls marketing browbeat the idea of difficulty with the implication that only some upper echelon of consumer would be able to handle the game, essentially challenging you to purchase it. You can build the idea of Age of Decadence as "the thinking man's ________" by giving free copies exclusively to Youtube video game players who mostly play RPGs and strategy games (I don't know any off-hand because I don't watch Youtube game players, but I've seen a few). Namedrop things that hint sophistication - be more machiavellian than I, Claudius, be more silver-tongued than Cicero, explore more exotic worlds (have less butt sex) than Fellini Satyricon.

Ahaha, you could include a PDF of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations with the game and call it a tutorial.

Appeal to their ego, leave them thinking, "I'm smarter than other people because I bought this smart game," the same way Dark Souls players do. Maybe with less smarm.

 

[Irenaeus II]

True, I'm preparing for the game by reading this:

 

[covr]

The way to market it is to make the consumer feel smart for having bought it and to present the act of purchasing it as an intellectual subversion of mainstream RPGs or games. By buying this game, you're entering into an elite microcosm of gaming reserved for the most hardcore segment of consumer. Dark Souls marketing browbeat the idea of difficulty with the implication that only some upper echelon of consumer would be able to handle the game, essentially challenging you to purchase it. You can build the idea of Age of Decadence as "the thinking man's ________" by giving free copies exclusively to Youtube video game players who mostly play RPGs and strategy games (I don't know any off-hand because I don't watch Youtube game players, but I've seen a few). Namedrop things that hint sophistication - be more machiavellian than I, Claudius, be more silver-tongued than Cicero, explore more exotic worlds (have less butt sex) than Fellini Satyricon.

Ahaha, you could include a PDF of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations with the game and call it a tutorial.

Appeal to their ego, leave them thinking, "I'm smarter than other people because I bought this smart game," the same way Dark Souls players do. Maybe with less smarm.

Can't brofist this enough. I know it's always easy to predict what is good for the product and what are potential customer expectations, but in my opinion AoD should be presented more as "unique experience for smart and literate people". Every material released, every interview shout describe potential buyer as a "special, clever guy". You should emphasize phrases like: "We know our fanbase, they are too smart to be tricked by sth".
Also, I saw the latest trailer - it shows generic indie game, it's not even touching AoD's soul. The previous, non-official, was much better. Show some death screens, deatch descriptions, maybe some charts with possible ways of solving quests. Stuff that is boring to casual gamer but could interest people who stopped playing cRPG's years ago. And sometimes they miss it.
And the last idea, maybe for Codexers to participate: try to find similar product and mention AoD on their forums. Glen Cook and Game of Throne is an obvious example, but Robert Harris (Cicero trilogy, Pompeii), House of Cards (why not), large sites about ancient Rome. Sending some free gamecodes would do no harm.

 

[eric__s]

Can't brofist this enough. I know it's always easy to predict what is good for the product and what are potential customer expectations, but in my opinion AoD should be presented more as "unique experience for smart and literate people". Every material released, every interview shout describe potential buyer as a "special, clever guy". You should emphasize phrases like: "We know our fanbase, they are too smart to be tricked by sth".
Also, I saw the latest trailer - it shows generic indie game, it's not even touching AoD's soul. The previous, non-official, was much better. Show some death screens, deatch descriptions, maybe some charts with possible ways of solving quests. Stuff that is boring to casual gamer but could interest people who stopped playing cRPG's years ago. And sometimes they miss it.
And the last idea, maybe for Codexers to participate: try to find similar product and mention AoD on their forums. Glen Cook and Game of Throne is an obvious example, but Robert Harris (Cicero trilogy, Pompeii), House of Cards (why not), large sites about ancient Rome. Sending some free gamecodes would do no harm.

The more I think about it, the more of a parallel I see between Age of Decadence and Dark Souls. Both games start very difficult because they specifically demand you to play in ways that aren't conventional, to break behavioral patterns and expectations drilled in by other games. Once you understand the systems and what the game expects of you, it becomes far more fluid, enjoyable and less difficult. Dark Souls', "this game will kill you 100 times," spiel is hamfisted and tacky, but in the same way that it's a threat, it's also an invitation and it's an angle seriously worth considering; not necessarily the death thing, but the idea that by purchasing the game, you're inducted into an exclusive club of people who "get it", who have the patience and RPG savvy to figure out how to play a game that breaks a lot of conventions and by extension, rewards unconventional behavior.

What is Age of Decadence? It could be a Rome-themed post-apocalyptic RPG in the vein of Fallout. Or it could be a strategic narrative experience that demands a level of perception and analysis only capable from the best video game players. Are you a video game plebeian? Or a patrician? "Git gud."

It's not what you're playing, it's how you play it. It's not the product you're selling, but what the product makes you.

 

[Pope Amole II]

to Youtube video game players who mostly play RPGs and strategy games

That's a rather futile hope, tbh. People who watch let's plays (especially people who watch multi-part long hours LPs fully) tend to do this because they like the "company" of the guy who plays them, no because they're interested in playing those games. LPers promote themselves first and foremost and popular LPers are popular because they're pleasant to listen. So it's not a marketing tool. The easiest example is the recent relative flop Renowned Adventurers - the game is absolutely great (better than Darkest Dungeons, for example), but it just doesn't sell that well (adjusting for the amount of people that worked on it). And it has a lot of 60-200k sub people LPing it on the release day 1.

It also had quite a bit of press attention and reviews - more than AoD will have, that's for sure. And it didn't do much. That's a curious thing to consider.

BTW, what an AoD needs is a death trailer. Just a short vid with cuts of various gruesome death and deathscreens. With some text in the "dying is hip" fashion. Man, this world definitely needs "dying is hip" fashion trend.

 

[eric__s]

That's a rather futile hope, tbh. People who watch let's plays (especially people who watch multi-part long hours LPs fully) tend to do this because they like the "company" of the guy who plays them, no because they're interested in playing those games. LPers promote themselves first and foremost and popular LPers are popular because they're pleasant to listen. So it's not a marketing tool. The easiest example is the recent relative flop Renowned Adventurers - the game is absolutely great (better than Darkest Dungeons, for example), but it just doesn't sell that well (adjusting for the amount of people that worked on it). And it has a lot of 60-200k sub people LPing it on the release day 1.

It also had quite a bit of press attention and reviews - more than AoD will have, that's for sure. And it didn't do much. That's a curious thing to consider.

That's probably true, I don't actually know the first thing about Youtube let's player culture. My old girlfriend liked Markiplier because he was a hot guy and not because of the games he played. If you think inundating every Youtube person with Age of Decadence is a better idea than targeting people, you're probably right.

BTW, what an AoD needs is a death trailer. Just a short vid with cuts of various gruesome death and deathscreens. With some text in the "dying is hip" fashion. Man, this world definitely needs "dying is hip" fashion trend.

Disagree 100% though. I'm committed to this whole Dark Souls parallel so I'm going to keep talking about it, but people don't like Dark Souls because you die a lot. Actually, it really fucking sucks and people hate Dark Souls because you die a lot. Dwarf Fortress' tagline, "losing is fun!" is a load of horse shit. People like Dark Souls because it is an extremely complicated game that rewards experimentation and perception and death is the consequence of its learning curve. Dying in both Dark Souls and Age of Decadence doesn't mean that you're not good enough, it means you don't even know what you're doing and you need to fundamentally change your behavior, which is what is fun and rewarding. Instead of apeing Dark Souls' death thing, which a lot of people do now, what should be done is emphasizing the cycle of death, learning and progression, because that is what really makes both games great + indicates a level of self-awareness that is attractive to the kind of people who would want to play this game.

 

[Infinitron]

The more I think about it, the more of a parallel I see between Age of Decadence and Dark Souls.

I don't think the parallel is that strong. Why? Because Dark Souls was perceived as sticking it to a genre that was considered kind of low brow - third person hack and slashing.

Turn-based RPGs, rightly or wrongly, aren't considered to be a dumb genre. So the message of "throw away your easy turn-based RPGs and play this HARDCORE one instead" is going to fly over heads.

 

[hivemind]

Another issue is that a lot of third person hack and slash players actually care about challenge and getting good.

Most other cRPGs on the other hand are piss easy and provide no challenge whatsoever.

 

[covr]

Another issue is that a lot of third person hack and slash players actually care about challenge and getting good.

This is simply not true.

 

[Athelas]

The 'dying is kewl' campaign worked for Dark Souls because underneath the 'hardcore' veneer it's actually a somewhat accessible game. Dying is a part of gameplay, and you get to recover the progress you lost when you died simply by continuing to play. It's a less a question of difficulty and more a question of what sort of design can appeal to a wide range of players.

 

[Mustawd]

Right...DS is nothing more than a rhythm game really.

 

[Lurker King]

Also, I saw the latest trailer - it shows generic indie game, it's not even touching AoD's soul.

True, which can lead to frustration and incomprehension even among some old players. The trailer is good, but the experience of playing the game is so diferent and gruesome. Just imagine, you buy this thing, die in the first battle and receive this achievement.

A gallow for achievement for fuck's sake! NPCs are backstabbing you all the time, countless death screens, etc. There is no way around this. Instead of presenting itself as common cRPG and hiding the hardcore and subversion elements as a weakness to play safe, they should present this upfront as their strength and differential.

The previous, non-official, was much better.

And the last idea, maybe for Codexers to participate: try to find similar product and mention AoD on their forums. Glen Cook and Game of Throne is an obvious example, but Robert Harris (Cicero trilogy, Pompeii), House of Cards (why not), large sites about ancient Rome. Sending some free gamecodes would do no harm.

One of the best suggestions in this thread. Come on guys, let’s get the word out!

Instead of apeing Dark Souls' death thing, which a lot of people do now, what should be done is emphasizing the cycle of death, learning and progression, because that is what really makes both games great + indicates a level of self-awareness that is attractive to the kind of people who would want to play this game.

True, but too sophisticated to be used in any practical and convincing way.

 

[AngryKobold]

So many words to justify a plain bad design.

 

[Elhoim]

We can't use this one because it has copyright music. I love it, personally.

 

[commie]

The only advertising tag line needed is this:





"Vince D. Weller's about to make you his bitch."




"Suck It Down."

 

[Jim the Dinosaur]

I think the dark souls tack is a dead end too; the die and try again hardcore stuff is too tied up with arcade-style games to ever resonate fully with a tb game.

The main problem with the marketing approach seems to be that it consists of pretending that one of the main points of convergence with traditional crpg's is what actually sets it apart and vice versa:

• The whole "you're not a hero like in other crpg's" is at odds with a lot of the gameplay. You mock players who think they have to beat every fight, as if they're stuck in some kind of naive dungeon crawling mindset that causes them to charge head-first into every battle; but at the same time the game's difficulty and (more or less) traditional method of dispensing with XP and loot tell the player that sensibly avoiding a tough fight might lead to hitting a wall later on.
• On the other hand, the talk about finally returning to old full-scale rpg's leaves people (me) surprised at the extremely limited freedom of action, and causes complaints about teleporting, inability to position before combat, etc.

So instead of stressing the "not a hero" stuff in a gameplay sense, just focus of the way it applies to the setting and narrative. Instead of the full spectrum rpg thing stress the advantages of its CYOA structure, how handcrafted, meaningful (but inherently limited) choices are more interesting than a substance-less sandbox (like, say, Skyrim).

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

I can't say I liked the game, in fact I found the demo rather dull but this fucking trailer is the shit. Sure it's overdone in some points and doesn't really sell the non-combat part of the game well but it got me hyped for it. If a trailer can get a someone hyped for a game he knows he dislikes them it's good.

We can't use this one because it has copyright music. I love it, personally.

It's not about the music it's about a message. It changes AoD from an indie Fallout set in Rome into a grade-A meme game.

 

[Sensuki]

Yeah but they still can't use the trailer because the music is owned by someone else.

 

[Mustawd]

trailer is awesome. Liked the "coming Thursday" bit.

 

[Gangrelrumbler]

Yeah but they still can't use the trailer because the music is owned by someone else.

Yeah, but they can use it as inspiration for any future trailers or marketing attempts. Isn't there always a "release trailer" which is made public the day the game is released?

 

[Irenaeus II]

The easiest example is the recent relative flop Renowned Adventurers - the game is absolutely great (better than Darkest Dungeons, for example), but it just doesn't sell that well (adjusting for the amount of people that worked on it). And it has a lot of 60-200k sub people LPing it on the release day 1..

Hahahaha What kind of degenerate would play shit like this?

 

[Excidium II]

lmao what is that.