Rob Westbrook brought up a good point about the exchange rate. I will be charging in Australian Dolars. So acording to www.xe.com $10 AUD (Australian Dollars) is 6 ERO and $9 USD (United States Dollars). In case any one was wondering. About the comments that $10 is a lot for some people. Maybe it's that my perseption on prices is scued. Over here you can expect a new game on PS3/360/PC to be around $100 -> $120. So $10 -> $15 seems pretty afordable to me.
Also, did anyone here play Retro Game Challenge on the Nintendo DS?
"Oh, my god! A lightning monster just ripped out this poor woman's eyes, and your mocking her shrubbery!" - The Spoony One
Assault Andy Administrator
I make other people create vaporware
Registered 29/07/2002
Points 5686
27th November, 2009 at 12:57:07 -
Originally Posted by Disthron Over here you can expect a new game on PS3/360/PC to be around $100 -> $120
I'm in Aus too and they are rarely that as an actual price. If you pay more than $100 then it's almost always a rip-off store. MW2 for example was $120 at EB Games but $88 at JB-HiFi on the day of release. If you go to EB Games and ask them to price match, they will. They just want you as many people as they can get to buy it at that super high RRP.
If you're selling things on the internet I think it's best to sell in USD, even if you're Australian. USD is sort of a "Universal Currency" when it comes to the internet (just in my personal opinion.)
By the way Disthron - did you get the DC mail I sent you? It was really long.
As for the niche thing - yes there is a market for 'retro-style' games. But I think it would be a really neat idea if you came at them with the specs of today's computers. Eg. Making your games with an HD resolution and high quality pixel art. While I havent' really played Geometry wars, "Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved" ( http://store.steampowered.com/app/8400/ ) would be a game for this niche market.
Anyway, I got your message and I thought I responded already! Maybe I made a mistake while sending it.
Still, with MW2, $88 is a lot for a game I rented and finished in 2 days. And it wasn't even that good. I mean it wasn't crap or anything but the way people were talking about it you'd think it was the second coming. But that's just my opinion.
"Making your games with an HD resolution and high quality pixel art."
That's what I wont to do, but they will still all be 2D games made in MMF2. I still think that most people think 2D is old fashioned. That's why I'm taking the "retro game" tact. Do you think I'm wrong about how a 2D platformer would be perceived?
"Oh, my god! A lightning monster just ripped out this poor woman's eyes, and your mocking her shrubbery!" - The Spoony One
Originally Posted by Disthron I still think that most people think 2D is old fashioned.
I don't think that's true anymore. With all these high quality, HD 2D games on Xbox Live and just good quality 2D games on the iPhone people are really getting back into 2D. I think there will always be a market for 2D. There's just a crispness you get with 2D. People will buy anything if the quality is good enough, hyped enough or simply become a cult classic.
I sort of see it this way.. pixel art is kinda like granite, carved with primitive tools, giving it a blocky look. 3D is more like something shaped out of brass; a lot more work, a lot more solid and smooth.
In the end, it's all different art styles. You can't really say it's old-fashioned. It's old-fashioned in the sense that it's the art style of the old days, and won't be popular any time soon. But you just develop a taste for whatever you're used to. People who grew up in the 80s, 90s have a taste for it. It's not exactly ugly, it's not beautiful either. It's a matter of taste.
I'd be wary of building a business purely around art style though, since you still have to build a solid game under it. I enjoy wireframe and ASCII art as much as I enjoy retro, but I'm not going to buy it just because of the art style. My money is purely for content. Dwarf Fortress uses ASCII art, and it gets $2000 a month. It has its niche of ASCII lovers, but a majority would prefer a more graphical approach. Spelunky uses pixel art and has fans new and old - but a more modern gamer friend said it'd be cooler if it was 3D.
Money is in the content, not art style. And if you're thinking of making "retro-styled gameplay", do remember that you have to compete with existing classic games like Sonic, Mario, and Mickey Mouse, and people don't pay for a remake of a game unless it has better artwork, which means that you can't make retro gameplay with retro art. The modern Frogger and Golden Axe remakes sell moderately well, but you can't really get a decent market with retro art AND gameplay without a lot of work.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
Do you like games from the 8 to 16 bit era such as Super Nintendo or Mega Drive/Genesis games?
Sure
Would you be prepared to buy a new game made in a retro style?
It'd have to be REALLY good, I mean like jaw dropping. My all time favorite klik games are free, what makes yours so special?
Would you prefer to play retro games complete with retro graphics or would you prefer retro game play with more modern graphics?
Both, I don't care
Some aspects of retro games are considered annoying or frustrating by today's standards. Such as flying back 10 feet into spikes or death pits when hit, one hit wonders or enemies being able to hit you multiple times. Would you like those kings of elements removed or would you rather play retro styled games “warts and all”?
I have no idea what you're talking about. If you're going for old style than do what you percieve it to be.
How much would you be willing to pay for a new game made in a retro style?
$0.99 - 2.99 CAD (asking for more is greedy as hell) Also Quadratics will prove that you'll most likely make MORE money by charging LESS which fairs suitable to this demographic
What are your favourite aspects of retro games from the 8 and 16 bit era?
Both REALLY easy to learn and REALLY hard to master. Muz is correct, where are the bragging rights these days?
thinking is like pong, it's easy, but you miss sometimes.
2D has never been old fashioned and being 2D doesn't mean "retro", we've had games use it every year on so many platforms. 2D is a form of visual representation just like 3D. Just look at Cave, they continually pump out 2D masterpieces.
However, your right in the sense that the typical western console gamer's perception is that 2D is of the past and 3D is the present. Which is incorrect, it's just that many games on our consoles these days try to push 3D visual styles on the hardware. Rather than pushing the hardware to it's limits to make a fantastic 2D visual styled game, as was the case with many earlier consoles.
In terms of the way the game plays, there are really no old fashioned genres as games are always being released under those genres.
Honestly, you shouldn't have to worry about this - there's thousands of people who want to play well made games of a specific genre. Just make a game from a genre you're most interested in, and study the games of that genre (there are a lot) so you can become more of an expert.
What lacks in the majority of modern console games is challenge and score focused games, this is what you'd often find in our old games. These days many games are becoming "roller coaster rides" where it's more of an experience, you hardly have to earn your way to the next level - there is not as much satisfaction in getting to the next area. This is fine though, as this is what most players want (rather than need). Many older games were (thankfully) not as reliant on save systems, but unfortunately usually gave the player lots of continues (or infinite).
About pixel art, I don't have anything against it but I'd just like to do something using more higher res graphics. Also, I'm not bacing my game on a graphical style. But when people go to purchase a game, hell even just download a free one, they do two things. They read the blurb and look at the screen shots. First impressions count and if your game looks like crap then most people will assume that if you have not taken the time to do nice graphics then you probably have not taken the time to do fun game play. This may or may not be an unfair judgement but it seems that's how it is.
So I'm not basing my business on an art style but since I'm going to be working with Multimedia Fusion I am limited to 2D graphics. I'm not bothered by this but I need to let people know that I will not be making games in 3D.
Alaster, our consent of fun must be different but rest assured I'll have beta testers that will be able to tell me when the hard difficulty is hard enough.
Anyway, the hole reason I'm doing this research is because the government said I have too. So thanks to everyone who has answered my questions. I'm sorry if I'm not a professional survey writer or whatever there called. As for everyone else I really appreciate your feedback also.
"Oh, my god! A lightning monster just ripped out this poor woman's eyes, and your mocking her shrubbery!" - The Spoony One
I think it depends what you call "retro".
You could argue that most of the 2D games on the GBA would have been do-able on 16-bit consoles like the SNES, or in MMF2 if you have a *lot* of time and talent - does that make them retro?
I'd definitely pay money for games like Golden Sun, Riviera, Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, etc. Those are all fantastic games that would work on any system - it's a real shame that those kind of games only tend to be made for handhelds now.
Incidentally, apart from maybe the odd driving game, I can't think of a 3D game that would make it into my top 10.
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