Support NeoGAF

[F-Pina]

Hey fellow indie devs.
Just to give the heads up that after passing through Greenlight we are now ready to launch on Steam on the 17th of July. Steam page!

Thanks again to everyone on the GAF community who voted for us
Cheers!

 

[More_Badass]

Coming to Steam June 11th

 

[Timeaisis]

Coming to Steam June 11th

My 16 year old self is looking forward to this a lot.

 

[PandaPedinte]

Has anyone here played Retro Game Crunch?

Hey fellow indie devs.
Just to give the heads up that after passing through Greenlight we are now ready to launch on Steam on the 17th of July. Steam page!

Thanks again to everyone on the GAF community who voted for us
Cheers!

Congrats on the future Steam release.

 

[Toma]

Coming to Steam June 11th

And the corresponding thread:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=811663

I hope PS4 is not soon after, but whatever. I might as well double dip.

 

[Moobabe]

Coming to Steam June 11th

Am I missing something with this game? Looks... basic?

Sell it to me guys

 

[Timeaisis]

Am I missing something with this game? Looks... basic?

Sell it to me guys

It is quite basic. Have you ever played Smash TV? It kind of draws inspiration from that.

It's a top-down shooter where you kill hordes and hordes of aliens. It has loads of weapons and fun powerups. It practically invented "horde mode" from GoW before they even put that in. It also has co-op, which can be really fun. Also, it has a cool RPG-esque progression system with "Perks" which basically give you a new ability of your choice after killing enough enemies.

It was released back in 2003 in two forms: one in a very extended freeware "demo" (which had pretty much the whole game minus some modes) and a actual pay version which, iirc, was like $15. Back in my younger days when I was out of money Crimsonland was my go-to couch co-op game. It probably looks a little dated in today standards, but I'm willing to bet their releasing it in hope that enough people will remember playing the freeware version 10 years ago and will want to relive that on PS4/Steam in their livingroom.

There. There's my pitch for the game.

 

[Toma]

Am I missing something with this game? Looks... basic?

Sell it to me guys

Really hard to sell the game in 2014 because people will just see another twin stick shooter like 500 similar ones, not to mention it doesnt even have a proper "campaign" and just 50-60 arena levels.

I'd lie if I didnt admit that a big part of it is nostalgia, but even considering the nostalgia effect, everyone who knew and played the game back then loved it and upon replaying the classic version, it still holds up quite nicely. There are 3 things the game did very well which I still think are, in that combination at least, unmatched in the genre still. But they come down to nuances and cant quite be explained with just a video or even the first few levels.

1. The monster spawns get gradually more interesting in these levels, with some levels that even have some puzzle elements to it. I remember a level in which you needed a certain weapon to quickly shoot nests before they spawned enough monsters to protect the nests and you would be forced to fight your way through a horde of dangerous monsters.

2. It was actually challenging and gave you a SHIT TON of enemies. This is how a big enemy crowd in a popular Crimsonland clones looks like:

And this is Crimsonland:

Its just so damn... satisfying and tense to play this game. Sometimes you get bomb item spawns in a huge mass of enemies, in which I was more often than not trying to shoot a way to the bomb and then have everything explode around me. Or I died trying

3. The perks and weapon system. Within a round, you get experience points for killing enemies, which in turn give you fun abilities, some more useful than others, but the progression created from these skill choices worked really, really well. Same thing goes for choosing a certain weapon and then upgrading it with fire/poison bullets or what have you.

It just came together so well and even though it might be nostalgia, I still havent played a single game in the genre that was better in being a fun top down arena shooter. Some games did some extra stuff like campaigns and such, but the core gameplay is still unmatched despite being surprisingly simple. Still, if running around and trying to save your life by shooting zombies sounds completely unappealing to you, the actual game might not convert you

 

[Noaksey]

Could I suggest a game?

I feel you guys are overlooking a game by bitSmith Games - http://www.bitsmithgames.com/

Their game called FranknJohn - Currently still at Kickstarter stage but is still a great game

you get a fully playable demo on backing at any level.

Here is a videos of some of the game play

Just wondered if you guys wouldn't mind considering it or at least coming and checking it out?

They have been twitch streaming everyday this week on http://www.twitch.tv/bitsmithgames

They are a really welcoming team too.

Thanks for reading

Noaksey

 

[Moobabe]

I feel you guys are overlooking a game by bitSmith Games - http://www.bitsmithgames.com/

Their game called FranknJohn - Currently still at Kickstarter stage but is still a great game

you get a fully playable demo on backing at any level.

Here is a videos of some of the game play

Just wondered if you guys wouldn't mind considering it or at least coming and checking it out?

They have been twitch streaming everyday this week on http://www.twitch.tv/bitsmithgames

I saw this pop up the other day in my Twitter feed actually - it loos pretty cool!

I'll check out the videos now

Edit

Also RE: Crimsonland - thanks for the explanations guys! I'll keep an eye on it

 

[daydream]

Has anyone here played Retro Game Crunch?

+1 Would love to hear impressions first.

 

[More_Badass]

11 minutes of Eidolon gameplay
Releasing August 1st
Pre-order price was bumped to $12.50

 

[Toma]

11 minutes of Eidolon gameplay
Releasing August 1st
Pre-order price was bumped to $12.50

Is it just me or is the trailer not really giving an interesting impression of the game?

 

[Moobabe]

Eidolon will release on the 1st of August!

11 minutes of Eidolon gameplay
Releasing August 1st
Pre-order price was bumped to $12.50

God dammit!

 

[Toma]

Eidolon will release on the 1st of August!



God dammit!

Where did I read about that trailer again... cant remember... Hmmmmmmm.

 

[Moobabe]

Where did I read about that trailer again... cant remember... Hmmmmmmm.

He's good, that's for sure!

The email JUST landed in my inbox!

The "trailer" is... strange? I would've thought that your first footage since December would want to create some sort of splash. This is very understated - but I quite like it.

 

[More_Badass]

He's good, that's for sure!

The email JUST landed in my inbox!

The "trailer" is... strange? I would've thought that your first footage since December would want to create some sort of splash. This is very understated - but I quite like it.

I follow the IcewaterGames Tumblr so I noticed it there a few minutes before I got the email

Also from the Tumblr

Also, in case things are not crystal clear, Eidolon is primarily about slow exploration and discovery, and will feature a lot of reading. Maybe you all already know this, I’m just surprised we’re getting such a positive reception and concerned that people might think we’re something we aren’t.

Gameplay is very understated...because the game is very understated

 

[Toma]

He's good, that's for sure!

The email JUST landed in my inbox!

The "trailer" is... strange? I would've thought that your first footage since December would want to create some sort of splash. This is very understated - but I quite like it.

Sure, but thats the kind of experience you want the player to have, not how you get people to buy the game. I mean just compare that trailer to the Proteus launch trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpkpuoq6y9s
Mystique, beauty, time lapses and an actual introduction and outro of the island within a single trailer (the eye opening versus leaving the island at night in the end).

Gameplay is very understated...because the game is very understated

So was Proteus, but they still really need to do a way better job at marketing their game. Currently their media promo material says almost nothing about what the game is while also not being terribly good at making it look interesting. Someone didnt do their homework in the "trailer" class.

 

[Moobabe]

Sure, but thats the kind of experience you want the player to have, not how you get people to buy the game. I mean just compare that trailer to the Proteus launch trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpkpuoq6y9s
Mystique, beauty, time lapses and an actual introduction and outro of the island within a single trailer (the eye opening versus leaving the island at night in the end).

I get that - so it's weird that this is more of a gameplay glimpse than a trailer like the Proteus one.

I'm going to get Eidolon - but you're right - I'm not sure what they've shown today will convince Joe Public.

 

[More_Badass]

Sure, but thats the kind of experience you want the player to have, not how you get people to buy the game. I mean just compare that trailer to the Proteus launch trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpkpuoq6y9s
Mystique, beauty, time lapses and an actual introduction and outro of the island within a single trailer (the eye opening versus leaving the island at night in the end).

Well this was less of a trailer, more of a gameplay demonstration. The first Eidolon trailer was more in line with the Proteus trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDrzv5zBPrE

 

[Toma]

Well this was less of a trailer, more of a gameplay demonstration. The first Eidolon trailer was more in line with the Proteus trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDrzv5zBPrE

Yeah, way better. Still, kinda weird how Proteus gameplay videos intrigued me, but the Eidolon gameplay video didnt do much for me. I wonder why.

 

[Moobabe]

Yeah, way better. Still, kinda weird how Proteus gameplay videos intrigued me, but the Eidolon gameplay video didnt do much for me. I wonder why.

You've become a grumpy old man!

 

[Toma]

You've become a grumpy old man!

But...but... Echo of the Wilds T_T

 

[Moobabe]

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter trailer!!!

But...but... Echo of the Wilds T_T

I forgive you

 

[daydream]

Yeah, way better. Still, kinda weird how Proteus gameplay videos intrigued me, but the Eidolon gameplay video didnt do much for me. I wonder why.

It's the bow for me. It doesn't really fit into everything else that's been shown so far. Makes me wonder what that game will be, ultimately.

Well, "fret about what it might be" is more like it.

 

[More_Badass]

It's the bow for me. It doesn't really fit into everything else that's been shown so far. Makes me wonder what that game will be, ultimately.

Well, "fret about what it might be" is more like it.

Genetically engineered predators, bears, wolves, shooting down bee hives to treat festering wounds, fishing for food, dealing with the cold, exhaustion, disease, exploring the world, finding logs and records about the past

 

[daydream]

Genetically engineered predators, bears, wolves, shooting down bee hives to treat festering wounds, fishing for food, dealing with the cold, exhaustion, disease, exploring the world, finding logs and records about the past

So, not Proteus, at all (not meant as a quip). Could be interesting, but there's some excellent survival games out there so I hope they bring their A game.

 

[Toma]

Genetically engineered predators, bears, wolves, shooting down bee hives to treat festering wounds, fishing for food, dealing with the cold, exhaustion, disease, exploring the world, finding logs and records about the past

You say that, after we just watched 10 minutes of rather.. plain looking landscapes with the occasional letter as a promotional gameplay video

That technically sounds interesting, but I still dont quite see that coming together as a game here yet. Here is to hoping they manage to make this into an interesting game

 

[Timeaisis]

You say that, after we just watched 10 minutes of rather.. plain looking landscapes with the occasional letter as a promotional gameplay video

That technically sounds interesting, but I still dont quite see that coming together as a game here yet. Here is to hoping they manage to make this into an interesting game

I'm with Toma on this one. The concept sounds great when I remember hearing about it. But that recent trailer really didn't do anything for me except better convey the art-style they are going for (which I'm quite fond of). I love exploration games, but I gotta have a little more than just wandering around.

 

[PandaPedinte]

Tom Francis' (Gunpoint) new game Floating Point is coming to Steam tomorrow and will be free.

.

 

[More_Badass]

Remember when the Misfits Attic devs were doing a poll about what game they should focus on next? The three were Duskers, Chess The Gathering, and The Last Shadow
It seems like they've decided to focus on Duskers. Just announced that the game is "funded" and here's the Duskers' pitch trailer

 

[Toma]

Totally missed that Deity Quest (current IGS deal) is actually a game from the OP.

Buying now and testing eventually, but for $1 I guess you/ wont need too much impressions here if a Pokemon inspired RPG sounds interesting to you guys I guess

Edit: What I just noticed that its actually a huge advantage to do our threads "one month late" with the releases, since it means we more often than not fall into the IGS deal schedule. Funky.

Thanks IGS!

 

[More_Badass]

Eidolon dev responded to your concerns/feedback about the video

I appreciate the feedback. The video is partially there to quell my concerns that people might be getting the wrong idea about the game. The intention with Eidolon has always been for it to be slow and focused on exploration and narrative, but I think because of the prevalence of survival games the mention of survival seems to have taken over the public conversation about the game. While there are bear and deer in the game now, and we're working on wild dogs and diversified fauna models, we don't want people to think this is a hunting game, nor primarily a survival game. Over time we've actually toned the survival difficulty down to allow the game to be less stressful and more about exploration.

So... yes we still plan on including those things, and in fact they're in there, but they aren't and won't be the focus. When you do run into fauna, it will be satisfying and interesting (because rare). For the most part, you'll be exploring.

I sort of knew that the gameplay video would make some people less excited about the game, and perhaps it's bad marketing, but that was intentional. I need to know that people pre-ordering aren't being sold a lie. I do think that some people will be / are interested in such an experience: slow, calm, curious, like reading a lore wiki out of a landscape. We don't plan for the game to be significantly more eventful than the gameplay in the trailer, though there's buckets full of content we haven't shown.

I'd like to add also that when we make our release trailer, we'll make sure it's much more inclusive of the breadth of the game. We've also discussed putting out a video focusing just on the fauna, since they're absent from this one.

 

[daydream]

Sounds like a very reasonable response (apart from the "intentionally bad marketing" part), definitely more interested after hearing it's mainly exploration-based.

Thanks for forwarding, M_B!

 

[Toma]

Eidolon dev responded to your concerns/feedback about the video

Cool to see them react to this and considering the thoughts we voiced. Kudos. I love slow and explorative games though and the gameplay video didnt do much for me at all. Guess I'll wait for the release trailer to decide whether the experience shown there might grab me more. And "Intentionally bad marketing" is stupid. Seriously guys, if you are reading this, there is ALWAYS a way for good marketing for a good product without any lies, even if you want to market something far away from the mainstream.

 

[CheesecakeRecipe]

I like games where I can wander

I like Eidolon

 

[More_Badass]

Oh, I thought Hyphen was one of the featured games this month. It released in May. Anyway, I got Hyphen and Social Justice Warrior so I'll post impressions of those two later or tomorrow

 

[OnPoint]

+1 Would love to hear impressions first.

My Retro Game Crunch impressions

 

[Toma]

Oh, I thought Hyphen was one of the featured games this month. It released in May. Anyway, I got Hyphen and Social Justice Warrior so I'll post impressions of those two later or tomorrow

OP space constraints, sorry. If its good, just post the Hyphen post again this month.

 

[daydream]

My Retro Game Crunch impressions

Thanks! Looks like I'm buying it then.

 

[daydream]

Oh, I thought Hyphen was one of the featured games this month. It released in May. Anyway, I got Hyphen and Social Justice Warrior so I'll post impressions of those two later or tomorrow

OP space constraints, sorry. If its good, just post the Hyphen post again this month.

Which Hyphen are you guys referring to? We featured a game with that name in February (and I remember it being a disappointing take on Kuru Kuru Kururin).

 

[Toma]

Which Hyphen are you guys referring to? We featured a game with that name in February (and I remember it being a disappointing take on Kuru Kuru Kururin).

I think he means that game, but back then it was only the demo. Still, one reason that I dropped it this month in favor of other stuff was because of how disappointing it felt, yeah.

 

[More_Badass]

Which Hyphen are you guys referring to? We featured a game with that name in February (and I remember it being a disappointing take on Kuru Kuru Kururin).

The dev said this about the Kuru Kuru comparisons

Although Hyphen has a spinning stick in it, the gameplay differs quite a lot from that in Kuru Kuru Kururin. We have insta death for starters, no lives and health restoration and the focus is mainly on the difficulty. There's no messing around with storylines and cutesy characters, we've made this game to be a challenge. There are a lot of games with a spinning stick mechanic like this and all of them are actually based on an old japanese carnival game called Kururin, the idea of a spinning stick isn't exclusive to Kuru Kuru Kururin.

Why did you find the game disappointing? Granted, I never played Kuru Kuru. The most similar thing I've played is the IOS game cyro

 

[Toma]

The dev said this about the Kuru Kuru comparisons

Why did you find the game disappointing? Granted, I never played Kuru Kuru. The most similar thing I've played is the IOS game cyro

That comment is actually very badly worded. Why are we having so many bad PR decisions on this thread page? Anyway, it seems a bit ignorant to dismiss comparisons to the most prominent game in the genre just because you made some minor adjustments to the formula. The game basically lacks the charme, soul and cohesive level layout (judging from the demo) and tries to carve its own niche, while utterly failing to show how Its not just a clone and whether it has interesting additions in the gameplay/levels itself.

Especially tough call if your best audience would be the Kuru fans anyway. Trying to distance yourself vehemently really seems like a futile struggle in this case, they should leverage nostalgia instead. "Remember... Well, we just added our own twist (ha) to it. Stick twisting just went hardcore."

Boom, nostalgia, differentiating from the most famous comparison, speaking to the gamer audience, being funny (relatively...lol) all in one sentence.

You really should try the Kuru games btw Baddy if you can and like those games. I think the biggest advantage was cohesiveness, trying to be gritty and uber-core seems a bit weird if we are talking about a game with turning sticks that is usually identified as a rather challenging but approachable game. Might just be me though.

 

[daydream]

The dev said this about the Kuru Kuru comparisons

Why did you find the game disappointing? Granted, I never played Kuru Kuru. The most similar thing I've played is the IOS game cyro

Well, saying it's not really Kururin by saying it's Kururin with a bunch of stuff removed (presentation!) and added difficulty is certainly an interesting statement, lol.

The game is Kururin, but that's not the reason why I found the demo disappointing, at all. I welcome more games in that vein. Here's what I posted in Feb:

Hyphen really highlights what a difference presentation will make. While the core gameplay is identical, Kururin is infinitely more charming, polished and enjoyable imo. Also, the music in Hyphen almost makes my ears bleed[...]

Also, the courses weren't as fun to navigate, plus they didn't quite nail the elusive "feel" imo.

correct statement

Devs shouldn't feel offended by comparisons. They're just a basic (and very necessary) tool of the critic.

Also, I didn't know that we feature games twice (demo + full game). Well, if the full game was heavily improved it'd definitely make sense to let people know.

 

[Toma]

Devs shouldn't feel offended by comparisons. They're just a basic (and very necessary) tool of

IndieGAF PR consultant firm in the making here! Haha.

And yeah, We feature stuff twice for demos/full releases, if only to inform people about full releases (which make devs money) for games where we liked the demo. With the amount of stuff each month, we'd probably easily miss the full releases otherwise.

 

[daydream]

IndieGAF PR consultant firm in the making here! Haha.

And yeah, We feature stuff twice for demos/full releases, if only to inform people about full releases (which make devs money) for games where we liked the demo. With the amount of stuff each month, we'd probably easily miss the full releases otherwise.

Yup, seems reasonable.

Also, I feel like making some business cards all of the sudden.

 

[More_Badass]

IndieGAF PR consultant firm in the making here! Haha.

And yeah, We feature stuff twice for demos/full releases, if only to inform people about full releases (which make devs money) for games where we liked the demo. With the amount of stuff each month, we'd probably easily miss the full releases otherwise.

I've practically been a PR guy for a few devs. Giving advice on where they could spread the word on their games, making threads, etc.

As for Hyphen, I guess because I never played Kuru Kuru, I had different expectations while playing. Personally I like the neon style and the varied obstacles.

 

[Toma]

I've practically been a PR guy for a few devs. Giving advice on where they could spread the word on their games, making threads, etc.

As for Hyphen, I guess because I never played Kuru Kuru, I had different expectations while playing. Personally I like the neon style and the varied obstacles.

Yeah, same here. If I had gotten my planned promotion, I'd do something similar professionally even, but unfortunately someone internally has issues replacing me at my current job so that fell through for the moment, annoying.

Anyway, that is perfectly fine! I am definitely not saying its an outright bad game or that it boggles my mind that you enjoy the game. On a subjective and personal level, this whole thing isn't a big deal, but we are are talking about PR and marketing here and rarely anything can ever be considered without context. If someone is in charge of developing a campaign for a game/product which he has no background of or a team to give him that background, then he will almost always fail because products always come with certain expectations. Nothing exists in a vacuum and in this case the devs were aware of that context, but they chose to ignore it. Equally bad decision. If you want to sell a product, then you need to know what your target audience thinks and wants and in this case it's very obvious that trying to downplay a beloved franchise will not raise goodwill in your potential audience. Sure, there are people like you who never played these games, but that is not a reason to alienate the others who did play them. Any context and background to your product can be an asset, even if it's a rivaling product.

I am not surprised they are angry at those comparisons, because I am sure they'll get to hear that often. Sucks for them because as it stands, it will likely negatively impact their sales, but maybe they'll learn two important lessons if you want to sell something: Know your audience and be proactive about approaching it.

And coming back to the full version again: As I said, if you play the full version and you still like it, just repost the Hyphen post for next month I won't exclude a game that someone else likes just because I don't care much for it.

 

[PandaPedinte]

My Retro Game Crunch impressions

Thank you!