Demo Changes

[Fireball]

I can`t buy the full game and as such I would like to request that instead of killing your charater of when he gets level 6 would you please make a rising experiance damper that caps at about 10% of normal exp.
what I mean is somthing like this
level 7 90% exp
level 8 80% exp
level 9 70% exp
level 10 60% exp
level 11 50% exp
level 12 40% exp
...
level 15 10% exp
level 16 10% exp
well you get the idea
or make it so that it takes more exp per level. Whatever you choose.
Please implant these basic changes so that people who can`t buy the game can enjoy it more. Thanks in advance.

 

[ShangTang]

How about no.

 

[Aekeron]

Lol. As much as I can feel sympathy for people who can't buy the game, I don't see any reason for the developers (who're spending his/her own time on this) to make it even less likely for people to purchase the game. I mean, wtf?

I think the demo is fine where it is. It's enough for non-serious players to play around and enough to entice people that appreciate it into buying.

As I said, I feel sorry for people who *can't* buy it but that's no reason for the developers to make the game less commercially viable....

 

[Pavlov]

This is a product, and as such to enjoy it to it's fullest extent you will need to purchase it. You also need to understand that the money that we pay helps pay for the resources used in making this game, as well as motivates the develpers to work harder, and longer.

So this idea would be conter-productive to everyone.

 

[Ancientwanker]

You could invest the time you spent posting that better by finding a way to pay the $11. This game is really worth supporting if for no other reason than its great to see 2 people succeed in a business where $20 million dollar budgets are soon to be the norm.

And no useless business majors in suits have been employed to market, design or otherwise ruin it. Thats worth $11 right there.

 

[Gilglaurad]

And no useless business majors in suits have been employed to market, design or otherwise ruin it.

...shut it down just before it is released because the publisher wants put its money in some dumb console game which production hasn't even begun yet...

Yeah, its definetly worth it.

 

[Manifold]

How about no.

 

[Vinz Klortho]

I'm curious as to why, exactly, you cannot buy it?

 

[Captain Black]

You could invest the time you spent posting that better by finding a way to pay the $11. This game is really worth supporting if for no other reason than its great to see 2 people succeed in a business where $20 million dollar budgets are soon to be the norm.

And no useless business majors in suits have been employed to market, design or otherwise ruin it. Thats worth $11 right there.

You may be ancient, but you're no wanker hehehe.

This is just how I feel, so many games have been ruined/hobbled/killed outright because they had to make x amount the first month of sales. I have high hopes that this games success (and a few others like it) will encourage a trend that has been slowly gaining some momentum. Small companies can take risks that the big boys cant/wont.

C.

 

[Gilglaurad]

What other games, if I may ask? (in some forums it is forbidden to talk about other games (which I don't think is the right way to do it, as long it isn't to much OT, but sicne I'm just a guest there... I'm not aware that there is a policy like that here, but if there is and I'm violating it, just point me to the rule )

I still hope that Bethesda, Obsidian and some others will continue to make good games, but after the closure of Black Isle and Troika and all that X-Box here and Playstation there I do fear that there will be constantly fewer good, worthwhile RPGs. Or other games, for that matter (look at Deus Ex 2 ).

 

[DaLagga]

I don't think there's any such rule...to my knowledge anyway. If there is i've broken it a few too many times. Just so long as you're not creaing new threads titled "Need Help on Doom3" But as for the demo thing, personally i think it should be a bit more strict if anything. A good demo is one that makes you want to buy the game. Which usually means it just gives you a taste of what the full game is like. If you could play the demo forever, even with a few exp penalties to your char, why buy the full game? I remember when i got the Freelancer demo, and the demo was so well done because cut you off just when things started to pick up, i went out and bought the game the very next day (and i VERY rarely buy new games).

 

[Ancientwanker]

What other games have been wrecked by suits, marketing and $$$ concerns? Sheesh...tons.

There was a transcript of a game developers rant session up at gamespy I think a few weeks ago. Basically all present were lamenting the business model they are stuck with at the moment. Publishers fund projects, the developer is chained to publishers marketing department and in the end the one who puts up the money makes the money and the decisions. They basically talked about how innovation was quashed by the desire to rinse and repeat for a surer return on investment. The forcast was that as the development budgets rise it will only get worse.

Go to the shrapnelgames website and see some of the funny reponses hes gotten from major game publishers (largely not gamers) about game development. These are often people who would be just as happy trading on wheat futures, its pure business. They dont know RTS from FPS from UPS.

You mentioned Obsidian, they are in a bit of trouble themselves right now with fans. LucasArts only gave them 12 months to get KOTOR 2 out the door so they had to do a rush job and have ended up with a 10,000 strong online petition to finish the game properly. Everyone knows a rush job ending. They signed the contract though. Bioware probably knew better once they saw the contract terms so they didnt bite.

You mentioned Black Isle. Their last game was Lionheart. They did deserve to go out of business with that slap-dash junk. Good riddance. I dont know what problems they had but there is no excuse for junk like that. They clearly either ran out of money half way through or somebody said, "Its done, now! Ship it". It started out as a fairly deep rpg and turned into a hurry-up-and-finish-hack-n-slash halfway through. Even CGW noticed and they give the gold stamp to some turkeys.

Some good games still get made but the majority, as we all know, are uncreative and just plain rank. I like this game cuz its a stick in the eye to all that nonsense. Its two people having some fun.

 

[Zuwxiv]

Basicly, here's the deal:

You like the game. Great! Join the club. Its a good game. But the only reason why it exists at all is because of money... Enough people purchase a key to keep the development going.

So, if you get to the end of the demo, and you like it, buy it. If you aren't going to buy it, go away. If you don't have enough money.... ... Well, sorry, but tough luck.

Think about it this way:

To do what you said could take a lot of work. Hours upon hours. It could take a day just to do that alone. Then it would have to be updated on the download. Thats a lot of work. And what would it acheive?

It would only make people not buy the game. Nobody would purchase a key if they could play the game and experience the best parts of it. And if nobody purchases a key (or even if they just take longer to purchase one) then the game gets less money to develop.

I'm sorry that you *cant* buy it... But if you *cant*, then there is no reason why someone should go out of their way to help you.

I don't mean to be mean, just realistic.

 

[DaLagga]

VERY well said ancientwanker.

 

[Gilglaurad]

I ment Captain Black "I have high hopes that this games success (and a few others like it)"

What other game sthat have been wrecked I know to well

Oh, and Lionheart was not made by Black Isle - it was made by, um, Reflexive?, and Black Isle was just "advising" - though don't ask me what they did, maybe they went drinking after the first half of the game?

And yeah, the majority wants Action"RPG"s, MMO"RPG"s (I don't know wether I should laugh or cry when the next PC Gaming Magazine says that they would "advise it to all Roleplayers"... thank you, I've played the Beta, and your typical RTS has just about the same amount of "roleplaying" ), simplicity (Complex Systems? maybe uncertainty what is good or evil? That would require thnking, nono! ), and god forbid no mature content *sigh*
And consoles... I have no problem with themself or their players... but if good PC Games get cancelled or nerfed because of them, than they can join the publishers.


And yeah, I know I'm a bit unfair towards them - losing one good game and company after another makes you angry.

"Gamemakers of the world unite!"...uh, I BLAME THE WHISKY!!!

 

[Captain Black]

The first one that springs to mind is the sequil to "Stars!" It was pretty close to finished by the very small team of developers which I believe was originally a 2-3 man team. They hired a fe extra developers to work on the sequil and got funding yanked just a few months before finishing it. Far as I know they are still looking for funding to finish. Maybe a big splash here would send a signal that folks are tired of the same old stuff, and thus send money to small teams like Taleworlds, that these small groups know what the hell they are doing, throw em some money and LEAVE THEM THE HELL ALONE.

Did anyone play "I was an atomic mutant"? That game was great for what it was, a budget title, but it was funny and original and it just came out of left field. Designers like them could get a boost from the buzz generated by small companies like this one making good and standing the gaming community on it's ear.

C.

 

[Gilglaurad]

Thanks.
Just googled for Stars!, looks like their website is down :/
Yeah, they should just fund them and let the game itself be a problem of the developers, instead killing everything... but considering history... they will either try to damage them, or they will try to fund them and take over control...

 

[dadarkman]

I even think the demo is to big, i havent order the game yet because there is a lot to find out before coming lvl6