Game News The Age of Decadence Greenlit by Steam

[SwiftCrack]

Well deserved, congratulations! And Unepic and Eador too, cool beans Now let's work towards getting Swords & Sorcery and Driftmoon greenlit people!

voted on both

 

[SwiftCrack]

Also I take back what I said about Towns, the dev. finally resurfaced today .

(http://steamcommunity.com/app/221020/discussions/0/864956554703855846/ for those interested)

 

[Commissar Draco]

Won't touch the steaming piece of shit with 10 foot pole, but if this will bring moar jewgold to Iron Tower so the game will be released second part will be released next Friday I'm all for it.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

But the truth is that Steam is hurting the hardcore, serious games that Codexers cherish. To them, pseudo NES games with meta humor and dumb gameplay gimmicks that Rock Paper Shotgun praises deserve the center stage, but actually intelligent games made for adults reminiscent of what used to proliferate on DOS and don't instantly generate a dopamine rush deserve to remain in obscurity unless the makers are willing to do their little song and dance and do all of Steam's whims and fancies.

Truth is you're wrong. Hilarious to see someone shoehorn reality to fit their Steam rage agenda. But, then again, you have a lot of practice twisting facts and arguing nonsensical positions given your religious zealotry. As mentioned AoD would probably never have made Steam were it not for Greenlight and now it's being exposed to a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't see it.

Saying that Greenlight/Steam is bad for Codexian indie games because the majority of the games on Steam are crappy is like saying Kickstarter is bad for Codexian indie games because the majority of games on there are crappy.

AOD was released, but lots of very good indie games who deserve just as much to be on the platform and don't have a legion of fans to rally and don't have 8 years to spare on graphics and design and a whole team are left out in the cold, like Frayed Knights. In the end it evens out to the same, and Valve gets the good role.

No, the trouble is that Steam sees fit to act as a gatekeeper for no good reason.

 

[abnaxus]

Shira Oka

Excuse me while I go make a Gamersgate account

LP here: http://brokenforum.com/index.php?th...n-american-game-that-thinks-its-japanese.742/

 

[Metro]

No, the trouble is that Steam sees fit to act as a gatekeeper for no good reason.

Your gatekeeper argument is nonsensical. You're confusing the act of not promoting something as intentionally sabotaging it. The bottom line is the service does more good than harm to good independent games. So what if they don't hype all of them? If it doesn't carry every obscure indie title then it shouldn't exist at all? Just as absurd as your 'race to the bottom' argument because they set the price point of some games at $10 versus $25. A product is worth what the consumer (in mass) is willing to pay. Video games are still a commercial product. You can wring your hands all you want about the integrity of charging a higher price but it's meaningless drivel. They operate on commission so it stands to reason whatever price they pick will ultimately maximize the revenue of the developer, too. And while it's open to debate how many units X game will sell at Y price point it certainly is NOT debatable that any developer be it VD or Charles or Cleve give's a rat's ass about what the list price of their game is so long as the bottom line delivers a higher dollar figure.

 

[Haba]

No, the trouble is that Steam sees fit to act as a gatekeeper for no good reason.

Influx of shit games diminishes the value of the service as a whole. Steam is a business, not a charity.

 

[RK47]

Shira Oka

Excuse me while I go make a Gamersgate account

LP here: http://brokenforum.com/index.php?th...n-american-game-that-thinks-its-japanese.742/

HAHAHAHA
oh fuck my sides.
gtfo XD

 

[SwiftCrack]

Shira Oka

Excuse me while I go make a Gamersgate account

LP here: http://brokenforum.com/index.php?th...n-american-game-that-thinks-its-japanese.742/

Yeah I'm not sad that this game doesn't get greenlit.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Thanks for the support, guys.

Jokes apart, VD should really add tons of achievments, they are a great research tool to see how people are playing your game.

Do stuff like "played with all classes", "beated the game once", "beated the game with all classes", "died once with all classes", and some for hard quest solutions, like that chest on the palace, and you'll have a very clear ideia of how people are playing, what worked and what didn't, who's your audience and all that.

Pretty much. Achievements are a great tool for designers. I'd love to know how many people failed to get through the first fight, how many people finished each faction's questline, how they handled the mine and the raiders, how many people beat the hardest fights (AG2, IG3, etc), how many people forged the alliance, etc. We already have them, basically: Kingmaker, Kingslayer, Diplomat, Terminator, Explosion Expert, Infiltrator, Silver-Tongued Devil, The Chosen One, etc.

The only problem with achievements are the idiotic achievements that don't feel like "achievements" at all:

Inventory Master - you've successfully opened the inventory and equipped a sword. Fuck yeah!

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Also I take back what I said about Towns, the dev. finally resurfaced today .

(http://steamcommunity.com/app/221020/discussions/0/864956554703855846/ for those interested)

medics detected cancer on my wife

Uh, that does sound like the sort of thing that would make development of your game stall for a while.

In any case, Minecraft was alpha for a long time and the internet was jizzing everywhere anyway, I dont think the state of the game matters that much. Towns' problem seems to be that the description makes you think the game was complete, and according to another post of the dev he sent Steam a request to change it but they denied, saying it was "good enough" .

 

[IDtenT]

The only problem with achievements are the idiotic achievements that don't feel like "achievements" at all:

Inventory Master - you've successfully opened the inventory and equipped a sword. Fuck yeah!

That's one to look out for to see how many people just bought it because it was on sale.

 

[SwiftCrack]

Also I take back what I said about Towns, the dev. finally resurfaced today .

(http://steamcommunity.com/app/221020/discussions/0/864956554703855846/ for those interested)

medics detected cancer on my wife

Uh, that does sound like the sort of thing that would make development of your game stall for a while.

In any case, Minecraft was alpha for a long time and the internet was jizzing everywhere anyway, I dont think the state of the game matters that much. Towns' problem seems to be that the description makes you think the game was complete, and according to another post of the dev he sent Steam a request to change it but they denied, saying it was "good enough" .

Yeah well he only posted that today, so it is logical that people got upset with him over the course of three to four months without any post-release message or support. And Minecraft Alpha was way more 'working as intended' than Towns is Alpha as far as I know.

 

[St. Toxic]

Grats, VD. Sorry I'm late, but I had to walk to get here.

 

[felipepepe]

That's one to look out for to see how many people just bought it because it was on sale.

There are actually many games where you see that; most time you'll see that only 80-85% ever play the first level/get the first achievment...

Some have really sad stats, like Legend of Grimrock: 62% played around for a bit, but only 20% reached the 6th floor, and then 8% proceeded to beat the game... show how lot's of people bought the game on sale/for the pretty graphics but didn't enjoy it and stoped playing. The developers may be happy that it sold a lot, but you can see that is safe to say that more than half of those people woudn't buy a sequel...

Binding of Isaac, on the other hand, is quite impressive... the game is dirt cheap, has been on sale and on bundles countless times and is hard as fuck, but still 35% managed to beat it at least once. And half of those people (16%) were skyway got so addicted they beated it 7 times.

 

[RK47]

i didn't like Grimrock at all.

 

[felipepepe]

Personal taste apart, it shows how people are NOT into this kind of game, contrary to what hundreds of articles and newposts said when the game was launched and paid itself on the first week. Trying to make a clone of it, or even a bigger, better and more expensive sequel, expecting to repeat the success, or even go beyond, it would be a huge mistake, one that could easily kill a company.

 

[Infinitron]

62% played around for a bit

What does this mean? Do you mean that 38% of buyers didn't even play the game?

 

[Konjad]

i didn't like Grimrock at all.

Neither do I. The combat is shit. It is essentially strafe your enemy.

Pretty much. It would be so much enjoyable without strafing and shitty "notice one small wierd block" puzzles (preferably with better ones, or just simply without any)

 

[MetalCraze]

Pretty much. Achievements are a great tool for designers. I'd love to know how many people failed to get through the first fight, how many people finished each faction's questline, how they handled the mine and the raiders, how many people beat the hardest fights (AG2, IG3, etc), how many people forged the alliance, etc. We already have them, basically: Kingmaker, Kingslayer, Diplomat, Terminator, Explosion Expert, Infiltrator, Silver-Tongued Devil, The Chosen One, etc.

How about Planeswalker?

You get it after you've teleported 100 times by clicking on dialogue choices.

Will it help the design?

 

[LundB]

Grimrock was in a humble bundle, so tons of people will have it without plans to necessarily play it. I myself have no idea when I'll get around to it. Taking that as an indication of buyer's opinion of the game would be a questionable choice.

 

[felipepepe]

62% played around for a bit

What does this mean? Do you mean that 38% of buyers didn't even play the game?

Or stopped quite early. 62% is the most popular achievment they have, for casting 25 spells... is really quick to get, so IMHO it shows that 38% played for less than an hour or so.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Jokes apart, VD should really add tons of achievments, they are a great research tool to see how people are playing your game.

Do stuff like "played with all classes", "beated the game once", "beated the game with all classes", "died once with all classes", and some for hard quest solutions, like that chest on the palace, and you'll have a very clear ideia of how people are playing, what worked and what didn't, who's your audience and all that.

It is for reasons like this that I support achievements. For me, they are progress indicators, not bragging rights. I don't want an achievement for "Killing X amount of enemies", but I do want an achievement for, "You managed to do this a certain way" or "You found this interesting place".

 

[SwiftCrack]

I still have to play Grimrock despite purchasing it on release

 

[nihil]

The only problem with achievements are the idiotic achievements that don't feel like "achievements" at all:

Inventory Master - you've successfully opened the inventory and equipped a sword. Fuck yeah!

I also hate the grindy ones, that just take time.

Like "Kill a total of 10,000 enemies", etc. I think I've even seen playtime achievements...

 

[eric__s]

Hell yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

congratulations dudes.