My first week @ Introversion

The only place you'll ever hear the truth
Mas Tnega
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Postby Mas Tnega » Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:39 pm

Knowing that the folders exist:

dir

Knowing that it's dir:

help

Knowing that you delete the system files and then shut down:

Bitter experience.
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vanarbulax
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Postby vanarbulax » Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:53 pm

X-reX wrote:However I think that some indie games deserve more credit. And when I say credit, I mean public recognition.
A good example for this is Cave Story, if anyone heard about it, designed and made completely by a single person, and one of the best games I have ever played - especially in Hard Mode.



I maybe be wrong but I'm pretty sure Cave Story is one of the most well known indie games, at least it's hardly unheard of considering it tops this list. I do agree that it is an absolutely fantastic game and deserves any and all recognition it can get, just like Dwarf Fortress (even though it's in alpha and only 27% complete and has about 300 bugs unsolved.)
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Postby X-reX » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:15 pm

Xocrates wrote:
cd usr
delete
cd sys
delete
shutdown


How the hell was I supposed to figure that out?

I wrote 'help', but I have to admit I had some previous knowledge. (I knew cd and dir)

vanarbulax wrote:I maybe be wrong but I'm pretty sure Cave Story is one of the most well known indie games, at least it's hardly unheard of considering it tops this list. I do agree that it is an absolutely fantastic game and deserves any and all recognition it can get, just like Dwarf Fortress (even though it's in alpha and only 27% complete and has about 300 bugs unsolved.)

It might be well known, but that's only true if you compare it to other indie games, and thats exactly what bugs me.
Thanks for the link, this site looks nice, I recognize a few games there I know. I'm going to scout over that list soon.
About Dwarf Fortress, I think it's made too complicated. I didn't figure out how to play exactly and gave up because of all the strange things on the screen.
It's hard like trying to realize what the green letters mean in The Matrix.
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vanarbulax
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Postby vanarbulax » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:31 pm

X-reX wrote: I didn't figure out how to play exactly and gave up because of all the strange things on the screen.
It's hard like trying to realize what the green letters mean in The Matrix.


It's common knowledge amongst dwarf fortress player that it's hard at first but after a couple of weeks you start to see past the matrix. I like to think of it more as learning a language at first you have to keep checking the dictionary (the k key to get info on something an the wiki to work out what to do) but soon you learn all the common words (or symbols) and you start to be able to translate without going to a dictionary. A while after that you stop translating and start thinking in the language instead of saying "okay that's a grey k which means kobold let me try and the blue @ symbols which are guards" you start to just see it and go "kobold" and send out the guards. But that's if you spend way to much time on it (like me).
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Postby Phelanpt » Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:51 pm

Though Dwarf Fortress seems like an interesting game, the text only graphics also throw me off. NetHack at least has graphical front-ends, while the most I saw for DF were custom textures.
Since I didn't see an easy way to use them, and I usually get lost in open-ended games, I didn't even install it.

Instead, I've been having a lot of fun with Knytt Stories. :)
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Postby elDiablo » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:34 pm

Oooooo, not played Knytt Stories yet. Knytt and Within a Deep Forest were awesome, however.

Edit - Oh wait, yeah I have.
We dont stop playing cos we get old... We get old cos we stop playing.
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martinmir
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The Business

Postby martinmir » Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:50 pm

Obviously, game development has to be fantastic, but how do you feel game developers get more commercial success?

A - Word of mouth
B - Advertising
C - Editorial Reviews

Please vote now as it will be counted!
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Xocrates
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Postby Xocrates » Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:55 pm

Initial Sales: B-Advertising

Long Run: A-Word of mouth (mostly) + C-reviews
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Postby shinygerbil » Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:01 pm

My first instinct is to go with Word of Mouth; it spreads pretty fast, and is more of a "personalised advert"; whoever tells you about it presumably knows your rough tastes and preferences, and tells you basically what you want to hear. Puts the right "spin" on it, as it were.

However, I presume that word of mouth does not reach the sheer numbers that a big advert would; a poster on the side of a bus, for example, would be seen by hundreds of thousands, if not more, every day. The flipside being, of course, that very few people will actually take notice of an advert.

So perhaps a review is the desired middle ground. A publication such as PCGamer - to take an example totally at random >_> - is read by almost exactly the right demographic which a video game advert wishes to target, and providing the review is favourable, will make a huge impression on the reader. Many times I have bought a game based on a glowing review from a magazine, and usually it turns out for the best. :P

Just remember what made Uplink famous; many people here will cite PCGamer as the only reason they ever heard of Introversion.

So I think I'll have to go for C, but it's close. We all know how different and unrelated commercial and critical success can be. ;)
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Phelanpt
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Postby Phelanpt » Thu Jul 10, 2008 5:09 pm

Though advertisements might increase the number of people that hear about a game, almost all the recent games I've played I got to know through word of mouth, either personally, or from internet sites I like to read. All were either abandonware, or indie games.

I'm not sure about the general public, but I don't listen to reviews that much. So, I vote A.
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vanarbulax
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Postby vanarbulax » Fri Jul 11, 2008 2:16 am

Personally it's a combination of A + C for me. I learn about an interesting game from some the websites and blogs I visit, generally I don't get much from word of mouth in RL since I'm much more of a game freak than my friends, I also don't buy gaming magazines but occasionally knick some of my friends'. So anyway I see an interesting game concept, go to the official site or a fan site to see more details and if it still holds my interest I search it on metacritic to make sure it isn't absolutely abysmal. If it meet all three of those requirements it probably gets a purchase.

For the general public though I have to say you need a combination of all three. Advertising generates enough interest for word of mouth to start and for people to write and read reviews which in turn generate more word of mouth about how good the game is from the people who purchased it. Also reviews are very good at generating negative word of mouth, I've seen a well advertised interesting sounding game but then seen bad reviews have put me off a fair few purchases.
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Postby ynbniar » Fri Jul 11, 2008 7:24 am

Well I might be splitting hairs here a bit but word of mouth is a form of advertising isn't it?

For example I hadn't heard of Aquaria until somebody mentioned it on the IV forums effectively advertising it - I checked it out and bought the game.

So the answer is that A, B and C are all important but you can sell your game without B, much more difficult without A or C. I don't know how much traditional magazine, TV, billboard advertising costs but I suspect it's a lot so the tricky thing will be judging the return from this type of advertising.
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Postby bert_the_turtle » Fri Jul 11, 2008 8:16 am

D - A good demo version

For me, any combination of A-C can make me notice a game, but unless there are other factors massively speaking for a game (coming from a developer I trust being the best reason), I won't buy anything without giving the demo a spin. From the three choices, C works best for me and I'd like to believe A has the least influence :)
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martinmir
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Thanks guys

Postby martinmir » Fri Jul 11, 2008 3:13 pm

Does anyone want to share there favourite part and thoughts of the game play for Darwinia?
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ynbniar
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Postby ynbniar » Fri Jul 11, 2008 3:20 pm

I must admit to be a big girls blouse when it comes to Darwinia...I haven't been able to play it since I got to the stage where the red Darwinians appeared.

Why?

Well I just find it uncomfortable killing Darwinians...I know the red one's have gone bad but still...it was a complete shock when they appeared. I cannot recall having such an emotional reaction to a video game...

...maybe Multiwinia will "cure" me :wink:

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