KickStarter Knights of the Chalice 2 Thread - Augury of Chaos

[Darth Canoli]

I guess that's what you get when you tell Steam and GoG "I will only put my game on your platform if you also take my other game, which is a boring Dune II clone nobody even cares about" and then end up having only minimal reach.

I don't think so, many indie game developers complains about how little exposition they have on steam.

If you check the RPG section alone, many crappy big budget games have a couple of entries on the list, and every genre related to RPG, vaguely related or pretending to be RPG related are put together in a big cauldron filled with shit.

So, for an indie game developer, i guess it takes a lot of communication outside of steam to sell, and some luck along with developing a good game.

About the pictures, i'm not sure how i feel about the formations, seems pretty useless since most encounters are scripted and enemies surround you anyway, of course, it'd be different with a wizardry 8 kind of formation but then, you'd need more than 5 party members.

 

[Roqua]

If you check the RPG section alone, many crappy big budget games have a couple of entries on the list, and every genre related to RPG, vaguely related or pretending to be RPG related are put together in a big cauldron filled with shit.

I couldn't agree more. I brought up on Steam discussion how allowing developers to list their obviously non-rpg game as an rpg, and allowing retarded children to give every game put on steam the rpg tag/lebel thing, is ruining steam. Its extremely difficult to wade through all the shit on their to find something with actual rpg elements, nevermind an actual rpg. It doesn't help anyone and hurts everyone. And I am known for being extremely liberal when it comes to trying shitty looking games.

I was attacked by an army of lowbrow retarded steam children who told me how wrong I was to question 95% of every game being released on steam being labeled an rpg because every game is an rpg now. They said very mean and hurtful things to me and were not even slightly receptive to what I was saying. Then steam moved my thread to a technical help forum. Then banned me from talking after I made a new post about them moving my post from the right forum giving feedback, to a forum where people are looking for technical help.

But GoG used to have a sensible genre system, and they have been doing some weird shit too.

All this shit does in the end is hurt devs. I'm not wasting my time looking for that diamond in the rough. I also am far less prone to try a game if I have to put tons of time and effort into finding out if it even has rpg elements. And I refund and leave a bad review if a game was clearly mislabeled and marketed in the complete wrong genre just to increase sales - like with Unavowed. The adventure game with some talking and zero rpg elements no one sane would ever consider to be even slightly an rpg.

 

[Infinitron]

I guess that's what you get when you tell Steam and GoG "I will only put my game on your platform if you also take my other game, which is a boring Dune II clone nobody even cares about" and then end up having only minimal reach.

I don't think so, many indie game developers complains about how little exposition they have on steam.

If you check the RPG section alone, many crappy big budget games have a couple of entries on the list, and every genre related to RPG, vaguely related or pretending to be RPG related are put together in a big cauldron filled with shit.

That's true now, but Pierre was saying this back in 2013 when Steam was still an indie goldmine.

 

[getter77]

When your KS pitch has perhaps more inherent Peril with the Saga of Doings than the Coles...that's about as rough as it is dangerous.

Maybe I can finally convince him to at least get on itch.io now that he's seen some lights in the tunnel on the rest.

 

[Lhynn]

Yep, he missed the boat.

 

[Explorerbc]

It doesn't matter if he would get exposure from steam/gog or not, it was still retarded not to release his game on the two most popular platforms on PC when he had the chance.

He passed up the chance to get free money and advertisement because "reasons" and now he lives off roots. Even if he sold 1000 copies through those years it would still be better than nothing.

 

[Mustawd]

It doesn't matter if he would get exposure from steam/gog or not, it was still retarded not to release his game on the two most popular platforms on PC when he had the chance.

He passed up the chance to get free money and advertisement because "reasons" and now he lives off roots. Even if he sold 1000 copies through those years it would still be better than nothing.

I havent bought KOTC cuz its not on steam or gog. This is 100% due to laziness. Pierre is retarded to not have done this years ago.

 

[Explorerbc]

Btw, to be fair to the guy, I looked up his forum and it seems that even though he was butthurt about GoG rejecting Battle of the Sands, he did eventually try to release KotC there :

Actually what's blocking the deal now is that GOG wants to have the dollars from sales converted to pounds by a large bank. So after GOG takes 30%, the bank would take another 5% in exchange costs. I tried to convince them to use a service like Transferwise or go through a currency exchange firm but no luck. Of course, a developer in the US would have no such issue. For me it's a deal-breaker, I would rather try my chance with Steam, which I will, eventually.

As for why he hasn't released on steam yet

Steam is still in the plans of course, but again, I need a good video for that. It's a tonne of work just to go through all past saved games, pick up good places to record, record videos, assemble them, edit them, add text and add music. And of course that would only be the first step since the game would need to be approved and then I would need to get the game to work with their framework. So I'm definitely not going to make any promise on when it will appear there.

That was posted in 2014.

 

[Gregz]

I wish this guy knew how many people love KoTC.

 

[Valky]

Okay, sounds good, so what's next?

Well, I'm planning to use the next 40 to 50 days to pack as much interesting content as possible into the prologue adventure, Augury of Chaos.

My next updates will probably be smaller: I will make a small update when my KotC 2 Features and Screenshots web pages are released, and another small update when my new Youtube videos for both KotC 2 and KotC 1 are released.

Now, a little bit about my personal life: I'm going through a difficult time financially. So I'm surviving just by eating roots - figuratively and literally: ginger and turmeric roots - and I am placing a whole lot of hope into the upcoming Kickstarter for KotC 2.

So, while I keep working very hard on KotC 2, please do your best to promote KotC 1 and advertise the Kickstarter expected to come in November 2018.

JarlFrank and you thought you had it bad.

Has he been hanging out with Cleve?

 

[felipepepe]

Btw, to be fair to the guy, I looked up his forum and it seems that even though he was butthurt about GoG rejecting Battle of the Sands, he did eventually try to release KotC there :

Actually what's blocking the deal now is that GOG wants to have the dollars from sales converted to pounds by a large bank. So after GOG takes 30%, the bank would take another 5% in exchange costs. I tried to convince them to use a service like Transferwise or go through a currency exchange firm but no luck. Of course, a developer in the US would have no such issue. For me it's a deal-breaker, I would rather try my chance with Steam, which I will, eventually.

To be fair to the rest of humanity, that is extremely stupid. He lost almost 10 years of GOG revenue due to 5%. Never forget:

Pierre has a master’s degree in international economics and finance. He has studied at the universities of Bordeaux in France and Bradford in the UK.

He should try to sue these universities & get his money back. Oh no, wait, the lawyer will want to take a cut... no can do.

 

[Valky]

Better to die by your principles than live having betrayed yourself.

 

[Roqua]

Better to die by your principles than live having betrayed yourself.

I agree 100%, but he only lost out on the gog money over principles. If he put KotC one steam back in the day maybe would not be eating roots today. Or he would be able to supplement them with real food at least. He maybe even wouldn't need the KS for 2 if he did.

But, regardless, I'll contribute to the KS as I want 2 and don't care if I get it through steam or his site.

 

[cruelio]

lmfao this nigga eating roots

 

[V_K]

He should try to sue these universities & get his money back. Oh no, wait, the lawyer will want to take a cut... no can do.

Which actually wouldn't be unwise. Given how little higher ed in France costs, the lawyer's retainer alone might end up more than the settlement amount.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Still, 35% ...
Those guys are thugs ...

One thing is clear though, it's another indie game dev lacking some communication skills in order to promote his game.

I can't see what's wrong with buying the game directly from him though, he uses paypal.
Of course, you'd miss steam cards and achievements, that would be tragic, right ?

 

[Tigranes]

Oh, we all bought it from his website, but the masses will never find it.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Oh, we all bought it from his website, but the masses will never find it.

The masses wouldn't find their own ass through steam as i thought we settled already, what's missing is a shitload of interviews and one or two trailers in order to get some exposure.

He probably missed the train as many of you mentioned but here he is.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

He said ~2 years ago on his forums that he had moved from the UK to Bulgaria. I guess there's no welfare there for (European) immigrants. I told him years ago the exposure thru Steam is worth the cut you have to pay them. I told him years ago, he needs to do all this social and PR stuff (like VD also does) or - if he can't bring himself to do it, which I can empathize with to an extent - needs to find someone who does it for him. He had a certain amount of community on his forums back in 2009 and never did anything to keep them around. Look at ITS, there always updates, design discussions, polls etc. or even reviews of other games and the like. Always produce reasons for people to check the site and come back to the forums. If you're a small indie you need to grow and foster your community instead of ignoring them for a decade. I told him back then it would be better to release additional campaigns regularly (like Jeff Vogel does), mostly using the same KotC1 assets with just some minor improvements (like a new race, or a new class or something) instead of... nothing for a decade, for it was obvious KotC2 would take many years given the scope he was shooting for. Ah well, I did of course not have any authority behind my advice... just some dude on the internet. If I only had a Harvard degree in economics.

 

[felipepepe]

Oh, we all bought it from his website

Sadly, not really. I remember when he began posting updates about KotC2 in the buyers-only forum and a lot of people here kept asking for reposts since they didn't have access...

It never went on sale on GOG nor Steam, ama never was in a bundle, I would bet that the % of KotC owners in the Codex is actually quite low, even in this thread.

 

[Delterius]

I tried buying KotC on his website, but I'm still looking for a bank that doesn't charge me for holding my money so I got no credit card. Does he accept gold doubloons?

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Sadly, not really. I remember when he began posting updates about KotC2 in the buyers-only forum and a lot of people here kept asking for reposts since they didn't have access...

Another weird decision. Why have a buyer-only forum at all? Why limit your visibility and presence on the web for no benefit?

I would bet that the % of KotC owners in the Codex is actually quite low, even in this thread.

Certainly a far smaller % than the ppl who bought Fallout 4, or pre-ordered F 76. But back in the day we had lively KotC threads here on the Codex and there was a fair share of ppl who had bought it.

 

[Delterius]

a far smaller % than the ppl who bought Fallout 4

you naive child

 

[Explorerbc]

He said ~2 years ago on his forums that he had moved from the UK to Bulgaria.

If he can't afford living in Bulgaria things are worse than we thought

 

[getter77]

Seems itch is still on the backburner at least as he wants to continue the content drive for this new Prologue adventure module in the KS run up. I guess it is at least on the backburner in some real fashion now, at long last, but...

Uphill struggle is one thing, this is closer to being in a pit as well to start.