Game News Mechajammer Released

[Grauken]

210 positive reviews isn't exactly a success

For how much he spent and how long it took to make? It definitely is.
In the same time period a gamedev working at a studio as one of the higher paid jobs probably made half as much as he did.

If I were him I'd be worried about damaging the Spiderweb brand with games like Queen's Wish though. His income is reliant upon his longterm fans.

Queen's Wish raised $98k on Kickstarter, the sequel raised $65k, and Geneforge 1 - mutagen remastered kickstarter raised $85k.

IIRC, that very old video of Vogel talking about dev seemed to hint that his average annual income/profit was around $100-$200k, but gamedev is anything but regular. You can have a boom year when something took off, and famine another year with no release. And Vogel's been in business for years. He has no/few employees besides his wife, so I think he's fine.

Honestly, financially-speaking he's a bit of an inspiration for me. Because who wouldn't want to make a steady living being a nerd and making rpgs?

And yet every time I read something by him he sounds like a burnt-out husk who is locked into what he's doing and hates it to some degree

 

[rusty_shackleford]

210 positive reviews isn't exactly a success

For how much he spent and how long it took to make? It definitely is.
In the same time period a gamedev working at a studio as one of the higher paid jobs probably made half as much as he did.

If I were him I'd be worried about damaging the Spiderweb brand with games like Queen's Wish though. His income is reliant upon his longterm fans.

Queen's Wish raised $98k on Kickstarter, the sequel raised $65k, and Geneforge 1 - mutagen remastered kickstarter raised $85k.

IIRC, that very old video of Vogel talking about dev seemed to hint that his average annual income/profit was around $100-$200k, but gamedev is anything but regular. You can have a boom year when something took off, and famine another year with no release. And Vogel's been in business for years. He has no/few employees besides his wife, so I think he's fine.

Honestly, financially-speaking he's a bit of an inspiration for me. Because who wouldn't want to make a steady living being a nerd and making rpgs?

And yet every time I read something by him he sounds like a burnt-out husk who is locked into what he's doing and hates it to some degree

well, yeah
do you think he wants competition for the tiny part of the market he's cornered for himself?

 

[Divine Blessing]

Honestly, financially-speaking he's a bit of an inspiration for me. Because who wouldn't want to make a steady living being a nerd and making rpgs?

since context doesnt indicate a /s: me.

nerdism would be psychically too demanding for me, cuz the inherent (physical) symbiosis with a gaming chair wouldnt fit my (hair) cut and its (female) consequences.
besides, "making" RPGs requires code and other boring stuff, of which non implies actually to savor RPGs. cuz obv the majority of devs doesnt have the time to play their "games"...

in fact, this could be my next project: Shining 2.0. still elaborating on the Meta. the idea is to replace the location Overlook Hotel and every human interaction into online space (maybe instagram) as a critical reflection (as shining is on the human condition) on the horror of User Generated Content.

 

[Tyranicon]

210 positive reviews isn't exactly a success

For how much he spent and how long it took to make? It definitely is.
In the same time period a gamedev working at a studio as one of the higher paid jobs probably made half as much as he did.

If I were him I'd be worried about damaging the Spiderweb brand with games like Queen's Wish though. His income is reliant upon his longterm fans.

Queen's Wish raised $98k on Kickstarter, the sequel raised $65k, and Geneforge 1 - mutagen remastered kickstarter raised $85k.

IIRC, that very old video of Vogel talking about dev seemed to hint that his average annual income/profit was around $100-$200k, but gamedev is anything but regular. You can have a boom year when something took off, and famine another year with no release. And Vogel's been in business for years. He has no/few employees besides his wife, so I think he's fine.

Honestly, financially-speaking he's a bit of an inspiration for me. Because who wouldn't want to make a steady living being a nerd and making rpgs?

And yet every time I read something by him he sounds like a burnt-out husk who is locked into what he's doing and hates it to some degree

I can't speak for the guy, but he has been doing the same exact thing for decades.

Vogel is a talented dude, but I have no idea why he is so resistant to change. At least replace the clipart-tier graphics with something a little bit more modern.

I mean, I'm a poverty-level dev and even I can afford new art assets once in a while.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

210 positive reviews isn't exactly a success

For how much he spent and how long it took to make? It definitely is.
In the same time period a gamedev working at a studio as one of the higher paid jobs probably made half as much as he did.

If I were him I'd be worried about damaging the Spiderweb brand with games like Queen's Wish though. His income is reliant upon his longterm fans.

Queen's Wish raised $98k on Kickstarter, the sequel raised $65k, and Geneforge 1 - mutagen remastered kickstarter raised $85k.

IIRC, that very old video of Vogel talking about dev seemed to hint that his average annual income/profit was around $100-$200k, but gamedev is anything but regular. You can have a boom year when something took off, and famine another year with no release. And Vogel's been in business for years. He has no/few employees besides his wife, so I think he's fine.

Honestly, financially-speaking he's a bit of an inspiration for me. Because who wouldn't want to make a steady living being a nerd and making rpgs?

And yet every time I read something by him he sounds like a burnt-out husk who is locked into what he's doing and hates it to some degree

I can't speak for the guy, but he has been doing the same exact thing for decades.

Vogel is a talented dude, but I have no idea why he is so resistant to change. At least replace the clipart-tier graphics with something a little bit more modern.

I mean, I'm a poverty-level dev and even I can afford new art assets once in a while.

The art in most of his games before Queen's Wish was fine. My only critique was he kept making the resolution bigger and therefore the sprites got smaller.
Queen's Wish was just... wow. Worse than RPGMaker.

 

[Tyranicon]

Worse than RPGMaker.

I almost want to buy it just to see what it was built with. Wouldn't be surprised if it's some homebuilt engine.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Worse than RPGMaker.

I almost want to buy it just to see what it was built with. Wouldn't be surprised if it's some homebuilt engine.

looks custom, probably built on previous works
https://steamdb.info/depot/1058131/

 

[Tyranicon]

Worse than RPGMaker.

I almost want to buy it just to see what it was built with. Wouldn't be surprised if it's some homebuilt engine.

looks custom, probably built on previous works
https://steamdb.info/depot/1058131/

Hmm, can't tell at a glance what it is. Did read that he picked the simpler graphic style for mobile ports.

https://twitter.com/spiderwebsoft/status/1116499455409188864?s=20

 

[Norfleet]

Vogel is a talented dude, but I have no idea why he is so resistant to change. At least replace the clipart-tier graphics with something a little bit more modern.

If he lacks skills of an artist, he would have to hire somebody to draw graphics. That will cut into his bottom line, immediately cutting his income by about half, which he would probably have to pay upfront. That would mean he'd have to double his market just to break even, AND his costs become front-loaded. So, should he mess with a formula that's working?

 

[baud]

Successful kickstarters

Such as.........?

define 'successful'
for a more narrow definition of either very financially successful or well-received by the codex:
wasteland 2, divinity original sin 1 & 2, xulima, grim dawn, kingmaker, shadowrun games, darkest dungeon, kingdom come deliverance, expeditions conquistadors

Also vogel's queen wish, yes the risk averse guy making ultima clones during the 90's drought is still there today , standing and successful...

The game is an abomination though that even some of his long-time fans hate

It's nothing new, he's not going in the right direction, we want deeper gameplay, more characters in party and so on. Some long time fans hating, certainly and not only grognards on the codex, but queen wish is successful standing with 210 reviews on steam very positive rating and obviously jeff not starving.It's nowhere near as bad as underworld ascendant, realms beyond, or now mechajammer.

210 positive reviews isn't exactly a success

actually 293 when taking into account copies not purchased on Steam (ie Kickstarter backers). Though it's still below Avadon 1 (367)

Vogel is a talented dude, but I have no idea why he is so resistant to change. At least replace the clipart-tier graphics with something a little bit more modern.

If he lacks skills of an artist, he would have to hire somebody to draw graphics. That will cut into his bottom line, immediately cutting his income by about half, which he would probably have to pay upfront. That would mean he'd have to double his market just to break even, AND his costs become front-loaded. So, should he mess with a formula that's working?

He should be able to re use graphics from one game to the next (I mean he's already doing that), so the cost would be spread over the next few games instead of one game having to pay back all the costs

 

[JustLooking]

So is it any good or at least better than Serpent in Staglands? I liked the vibes of the Staglands but oh man it was so full of things that do absolutely nothing and time wasters.

 

[Ninjerk]

So is it any good or at least better than Serpent in Staglands? I liked the vibes of the Staglands but oh man it was so full of things that do absolutely nothing and time wasters.

It's not a good release, that's for sure. There's supposed to be a bugfixing and balancing patch coming out this week. I'm waiting to play again until that happens.

 

[Mac_Orion]

Played it for 10h, it has a lot of bugs that need to be adressed, i had couple of buggy save games and reloads because of bugs, also there needs to be more info about some rolls, you can roll something 20 times and thinkling maybe it is meant to fail and get it on the 21 time, no indications if its impossible. better they released it as early access and fixed all those small things, the demos and beta content that was out had nothing to do with gameplay of the real game. You can get it now, but i would wait 1-2 patches to play.

 

[luj1]

So another style over substance game like Disco, except more broken and unfinished?

 

[gaussgunner]

Played it for 10h, it has a lot of bugs that need to be adressed, i had couple of buggy save games and reloads because of bugs, also there needs to be more info about some rolls, you can roll something 20 times and thinkling maybe it is meant to fail and get it on the 21 time, no indications if its impossible. better they released it as early access and fixed all those small things, the demos and beta content that was out had nothing to do with gameplay of the real game. You can get it now, but i would wait 1-2 patches to play.

I wouldn't be surprised if the real story was that the new publisher went back and forth with Joe and Hannah several times, with each build breaking more shit than it fixes and completely failing to address the publisher's list of action items, until after the last build in October the business guy snapped and said "We're losing money on these jokers! Fuck it, get an intern to go through all the builds we've got from them and find the one with the most marketable cyberhipster art style, upload it to Steam and push the publish button! And don't waste time playing them, just look at the title screens! One hour at most! And while you're waiting for the intern, change their Steam and Twitter passwords!"

Pure conjecture, but that's how the software business works...

 

[Diggfinger]

Played it for 10h, it has a lot of bugs that need to be adressed, i had couple of buggy save games and reloads because of bugs, also there needs to be more info about some rolls, you can roll something 20 times and thinkling maybe it is meant to fail and get it on the 21 time, no indications if its impossible. better they released it as early access and fixed all those small things, the demos and beta content that was out had nothing to do with gameplay of the real game. You can get it now, but i would wait 1-2 patches to play.

Mista Mac in tha hoooouse!!!
How's it going?

What's your take on the artstyle of Mechajamma, how well does the final build's style support the gameplay?
Seems low in horror to me, which was a big part of the pitch.

 

[ArchAngel]

Played it for 10h, it has a lot of bugs that need to be adressed, i had couple of buggy save games and reloads because of bugs, also there needs to be more info about some rolls, you can roll something 20 times and thinkling maybe it is meant to fail and get it on the 21 time, no indications if its impossible. better they released it as early access and fixed all those small things, the demos and beta content that was out had nothing to do with gameplay of the real game. You can get it now, but i would wait 1-2 years patches to play.

Fixed it for you.

 

[Dr Schultz]

Successful kickstarters

Such as.........?

Such as Hollow Knight, a serious contender for my personal game of the decade award and definitely one of the best (if not THE best) Metroidvania ever made

 

[Tyranicon]

Successful kickstarters

Such as.........?

Such as Hollow Knight, a serious contender for my personal game of the decade award and definitely one of the best (if not THE best) Metroidvania ever made

There's plenty of successful kickstarters that produced great games and much, much more that produced garbage or never delivered at all.

It just comes back to the fact that good games are rare, and most business ventures fail. Personally, I'm finishing up on the delivery of my second Kickstarted RPG, although I'm sure the premise and quality would be of a rather dubious nature to those on the codex.

 

[Ninjerk]

Successful kickstarters

Such as.........?

Such as Hollow Knight, a serious contender for my personal game of the decade award and definitely one of the best (if not THE best) Metroidvania ever made

There's plenty of successful kickstarters that produced great games and much, much more that produced garbage or never delivered at all.

It just comes back to the fact that good games are rare, and most business ventures fail. Personally, I'm finishing up on the delivery of my second Kickstarted RPG, although I'm sure the premise and quality would be of a rather dubious nature to those on the codex.

Is it the hooker RPG in your sig or something else?

 

[Tyranicon]

Successful kickstarters

Such as.........?

Such as Hollow Knight, a serious contender for my personal game of the decade award and definitely one of the best (if not THE best) Metroidvania ever made

There's plenty of successful kickstarters that produced great games and much, much more that produced garbage or never delivered at all.

It just comes back to the fact that good games are rare, and most business ventures fail. Personally, I'm finishing up on the delivery of my second Kickstarted RPG, although I'm sure the premise and quality would be of a rather dubious nature to those on the codex.

Is it the hooker RPG in your sig or something else?

Yup, that's the one. It's coming up on 75% finished now.

 

[Ninjerk]

Successful kickstarters

Such as.........?

Such as Hollow Knight, a serious contender for my personal game of the decade award and definitely one of the best (if not THE best) Metroidvania ever made

There's plenty of successful kickstarters that produced great games and much, much more that produced garbage or never delivered at all.

It just comes back to the fact that good games are rare, and most business ventures fail. Personally, I'm finishing up on the delivery of my second Kickstarted RPG, although I'm sure the premise and quality would be of a rather dubious nature to those on the codex.

Is it the hooker RPG in your sig or something else?

Yup, that's the one. It's coming up on 75% finished now.

I think you overestimate the Codex vis-a-vis the general taste for premise and quality.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Successful kickstarters

Such as.........?

Best RPG I've kickstarted:

Best non-RPG I've kickstarted:

Spoiler

Kingdom Come: Deliverance and SkateBird

 

[Dr Schultz]

Successful kickstarters

Such as.........?

Such as Hollow Knight, a serious contender for my personal game of the decade award and definitely one of the best (if not THE best) Metroidvania ever made

There's plenty of successful kickstarters that produced great games and much, much more that produced garbage or never delivered at all.

It just comes back to the fact that good games are rare, and most business ventures fail. Personally, I'm finishing up on the delivery of my second Kickstarted RPG, although I'm sure the premise and quality would be of a rather dubious nature to those on the codex.

I totally agree with you. In the case of Hollow Knight, though, the label of "good game" is even insufficient. We are more in the realm of "absolute masterpiece".

 

[grimace]

It's not a good release, that's for sure. There's supposed to be a bugfixing and balancing patch coming out this week. I'm waiting to play again until that happens.

Copper Dreams Mechajammer needs more work for all the game systems to balance and play well together.

See you all again in February.