Development Info Frayed Knights: Wings of Liberty

[Jason]

Tags: Frayed Knights

Extensive market research has shown that what gamers will pay for once, they'll likely pay for three times. With that in mind, Jay "Rampant Coyote" Barnson has a <b><a href="http://rampantgames.com/blog/?p=426" target="blank">Frayed Knights announcement</a></b>.
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<blockquote>So – to get this bad boy under control, I could either aggressively shrink the scope of the project – something I’m too sucky of a project manager and too egotistical as a designer to do – or ….
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Cue Big News fanfare (for the five or six people who might care and don’t know already)…
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… We could break the project up into its three acts as separate, smaller, cheaper games.
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This feels like a very natural move. I’d been fretting recently that the three acts were too self-contained, and I’d gone out of my way to force the player to go between areas that “belonged” in separate acts. I have to undo a little bit of work here, but the game breaks very naturally along these three lines. It feels like I’ve been subconsciously planning this all along.</blockquote>

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

I'll buy it if he does more awesome spells like Power Word: Defenestrate.

 

[RampantCoyote]

Heh - well, unlike SC2, we're not selling all three games at full price. I plan to have all three games available as a bundle for the same price as the game would have been otherwise. So - if you plan on buying all three - there's really no downside.

Aside from being able to buy the game in smaller, cheap installments if that's your plan, the game should be out a little bit earlier than it would have otherwise. With the price-war on indie games going on these days, it helps to have a lower-priced option.

The biggest benefit of all will of course be being able to brag that I have THREE RPGs to my credit instead of just one. 'Cuz, you know, three is bigger than one, and it's all about size...

Sheesh, I am a slut, aren't I? You guys totally pegged me right last night! Gah!

I'm still working on suitable matches for Power Word: Defenestrate. I'm very proud of that one.

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

I wouldn't think there is much of an Indy RPG war though. It isn't like there is much choice yet, though things have improved massively.

Pity that Tom Proudfoot gave up the game. He was too early to get into the scene, which had little to no internet on a mainstream basis back then, and didn't have the incredibly lucky break that Vogel had in the mid to late 90's where a Magazine editor enjoyed the Exile, and passed it around, whereupon other magazine editors picked it up and put a few blurbs in their own magazines.

 

[Fez]

Perhaps a future foray into the market could be more successful? The experience in making his previous games wouldn't go amiss and at least he's got a small reputation to build on.

 

[ecliptic]

His games did rock.

 

[RampantCoyote]

The price thing is more of an issue on the casual game portals and iPhone games, sure, but Steam and Direct2Drive also push for driving the game prices down. Which is great for them - they make the same money selling $100 worth of product whether it is 20 $5 games or 2 $50 games.

Getting onto Steam is kind of a Big Deal and pretty unlikely. But unfortunately gamers are starting to get used to prices for downloadable non-AAA games that are cheaper than a hamburger.

 

[Shannow]

I'm still working on suitable matches for Power Word: Defenestrate. I'm very proud of that one.

Did anybody else read that as "Power Word: Defaecate"?
I wonder what Freud would say...
Which brings me to my suggestion: Power Word: Defaecate.
Makes living enemies shit their pants and makes undead enemies depressed by reminding them of the bodily functions they used to have.

 

[AlaCarcuss]

Did anybody else read that as "Power Word: Defaecate"?
I wonder what Freud would say...
Which brings me to my suggestion: Power Word: Defaecate.
Makes living enemies shit their pants and makes undead enemies depressed by reminding them of the bodily functions they used to have.

"Power Word: Defaecate"? - sounds more like the curse Gaider suffers from

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

The price thing is more of an issue on the casual game portals and iPhone games, sure, but Steam and Direct2Drive also push for driving the game prices down. Which is great for them - they make the same money selling $100 worth of product whether it is 20 $5 games or 2 $50 games.

Getting onto Steam is kind of a Big Deal and pretty unlikely. But unfortunately gamers are starting to get used to prices for downloadable non-AAA games that are cheaper than a hamburger.

Ah, but not CRPG's the price of a hamburger. Why? Because they don't exist! This is the market you are looking for, just as Matrix games caters to a hardcore market for wargamers and strategy gamers. You won't find their games on steam, etc either.

Vogel shows that it works, the maker of Eschalon is happy with his profits for the first game, and Knights of the Chalice also made a tidy profit. They are not competing with Steam et al, because no such game types are for sale via these methods.

Fez: Yes, if Proudfoot made a comeback things would be especially rosy. I wouldn't give up on that idea yet either. He always hints of finishing up Pirates of the Western seas.

 

[getter77]

The price thing is more of an issue on the casual game portals and iPhone games, sure, but Steam and Direct2Drive also push for driving the game prices down. Which is great for them - they make the same money selling $100 worth of product whether it is 20 $5 games or 2 $50 games.

Getting onto Steam is kind of a Big Deal and pretty unlikely. But unfortunately gamers are starting to get used to prices for downloadable non-AAA games that are cheaper than a hamburger.

Even in that scope, it isn't like that's the only way. Both Gamersgate and Impulse have a pretty fair amount of pull/visibility and catalogs stuffed with Indies and otherwise largely invisible titles. Gamersgate's strange new Loyalty system also puts a different mindset to the pricing issue versus just slash n' pray sales.

I've had some nifty hamburgers that cost above $10 mind...

 

[RampantCoyote]

True.

This should be an interesting experiment to see whether people prefer the piecemeal or bundle option.

 

[Gragt]

Well if all episodes feature ferrets, I might get the whole thing.

 

[Fowyr]

Which brings me to my suggestion: Power Word: Defaecate.
Makes living enemies shit their pants and makes undead enemies depressed by reminding them of the bodily functions they used to have.

Reminds me about ROA's spell Great Need.