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Upcoming Vita Games (~200+ Upcoming games in ENGLISH) || 2017 Edition ||

S

Saphirax

Member
Kresnik258 said:
Atlus haven't released any prior Vita-digital-only games for us to check with, haha.

Still, the fact that Vita version has its own, separate rating gives me hope. I have faith. I have faith this is exactly the title Hardin was talking about when he said "we're not done with Vita physical".
Click to expand...

And DT 2-2!

Also Utawarerumono's sequel as well ofc :p. All physical!
 
S

Shinriji

Member
HotHamBoy said:
How old are you and how old is your Mom?

Reading sentences like this still blows my mind (I'm 31).
Click to expand...

I'm 38. She was a huge Tolkien fan in the 70's and began playing JRPG with Dragon Warrior NES.

I gave her a vita last year. Her current game I think that is BOF4.
 
T

Takao

Banned
Kresnik258 said:
The Poncho saga continues. Aside from JAW's head calling them out on the Vita port comment, someone from Rising Star Games had this to say about the article:

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DanHayes/20170106/288790/PONCHO__A_Postmortem.php#comments
Click to expand...

The RSG employee wrote the same thing on a Destructoid article on the postmortem. The dev replied:

Danny Hayes here, Coder and co-designer of PONCHO. It seems that Rising Star Games have decided to take their dirty laundry out in public.This is the very thing we restrained ourselves from doing while writing the post-mortem, which we wrote for other developers in order to stop them from making the same mistakes we made.

Now that Rising Star has broken our agreement in not discussing the terms of our contract, we are now able to inform other developers of how not to deal with publishers and contracts. We also need to defend ourselves. I have spoken to some of the other indies who have signed with Rising Star and knowing of their similarly disappointing experiences, I have invited them here to join this conversation.

At first, Rising Star felt like a great choice. They were within driving distance, made a good first impression, had a portfolio of other indies, and didn't impose any changes on the game in their original pitch. They provided the following things for PONCHO: Localisation, a trailer, taking the game to a few big game expos and doing interviews there, provided sony dev kits and sending out a few press releases as well as some social media posts. We agreed on funding poncho for £25K, which we calculated as the bare minimum we needed, as long as we got a small amount in advance, as you may remember in the postmortem, I said that I had less than £100 personally at this time.

This is where things are my fault, despite Rising Star telling us that they'd happily give us everything we needed or even additional funding without any problem, if we ever needed anything, they refused. Our contract stipulated an "on delivery" milestone system. The day after signing it, I asked our new allies if we could receive a small amount of start up funds. As soon as we mentioned perhaps receiving the first milestone in advance so that we could pay our artist and afford to pay rent, they said no. I explained how this could cause delays to the original release date we discussed, but they still said no. Now of course, it's my fault for not having this amended in the contract, but they could have easily paid a couple thousand in the beginning to ensure smooth development. As a result, we had to work part time immediately and take time off the game to be able to live, plus we couldn't pay anyone to work on the game.

This bump caused a ripple throughout development, as of course, delays caused the milestone payments to be further apart, further delaying development. We communicated to rising star many times that an amount as small as £2000 would set us back on track, we didn't need any extra, we just wanted a portion of the money that they'd promised in advance. They refused. We tried so many times, to explain that the game will be delayed or even have features cut if they didn't help. I managed to find the odd couple of months here and there where I didn't have to work day jobs, and paid Jack and Matt when I could.

The worst part was the final milestone, which stipulated that we wouldn't be paid approx 20% of the funding unless all development including ports were completed. I pointed out to Rising Star shortly after making the deal (again, I know, my fault for not being careful, don't make the same mistake guys!), That this would mean 20% of the total funding would not be spent on the game they had invested in, that withholding that much of our funding from the actual development of the game was a massive mistake. They wouldn't listen. We had signed, and that was it.

Due to the delays, Rising Star, instead of helping us get back on our feet by giving us a portion of the promised funding, decided to take away our dev kits that they had provided and pay a large amount of money, more than it would have been to fund 2 of our milestones to another company to finish the ports. This was after I had sent an email saying that I need some of our funding to keep the other 2 members of the team, Jack and Matt, working on the game as "It’s just too much for one person to handle", where I was speaking about delivering 3 ports within a month, no small task. I had promised that these milestone dates were possible, as long as we were all working on the game.

The other company that Rising star paid to do the sony versions was Just Add Water, We had half the PS4 porting done at the time and the Vita version was only just running since I was concentrating on PS4 first. We sent it to them so they could finish them.

They finished the PS4 version, though we found out later by looking in the code (remember we couldn't test it ourselves before it's release since we didn't have a devkit anymore), they game also had additional bugs and even some changes to the game that Rising Star had told JAW to put in without us knowing. The testament to the difference between the PS4 and steam version that we finished ourselves can be seen if players look at the two being played simultaneously. We've since developed a patch for the PS4, which we sent to Rising Star almost a year ago, asking them to have JAW add their PS4 code to the project and send it away, or provide us with a dev kit for 1 month so we could do it ourselves. They refused.

On the final part of the subject of funding, we have yet to receive that 20% final milestone. This is due to the fact that it requires all ports to be completed, even the vita. Again, I pointed out to them many times that giving us 20% of our funding until AFTER development was silly, but they always refused. We asked if they could provide the vita kit we used to have, just for one month so we could finish it. They gave it to us! Just kidding, they refused. We also asked if we could receive the milestone in advance just so we could buy one ourselves, but no.

I knew, and they knew, that sales had been disappointing. It just wasn't worth it to them anymore to give up some thousands for the vita version. So they blocked us. Not officially, but by not allowing us a dev kit and not allowing JAW to work on it anymore, even after I sent additional builds that had a 300% increase in frame rate which was the fix for the initial issue, they wouldn't allow us to send the build to sony. Rising Star said they had tested it themselves, and it was no different than the very first build. This seemed strange, the game was running at approx 15 fps before, and i remember the profiler saying that most of the memory was being taken up by the behaviour code and cpu, not the graphics. By making the behaviours run over 3 times faster, it should have gotten better than 15fps. We asked rising star to provide a video of it so we could see for ourselves, but they have failed to do so.

By preventing us from releasing the vita, even after developing it, they have saved themselves from sending us the final piece of the funding.

Finally, onto their incompetence. First, I would like to say, that the Rising Star Marketing team are great, friendly guys, it's just their bosses that have caused difficulties.

When we did the big announcement that poncho was still alive and that we would be releasing in 2015, Rising Star's contribution appeared to be 1 tweet, 1 facebook post, and a generic press release sent out. We created a trailer ourselves, and did our own press release with a more personal feel as well as getting in contact with youtubers. Only our contacts wrote articles or created videos about it. We were disappointed, we thought to ourselves throughout the development "Well at least even if they're kinda messing us around with funding, at least the work they'll put into our exposure will be worth it!". But then it seemed that we were actually more effective at marketing than they were. We had a much higher traction and quantity of posts on social media as well. It kinda felt like Rising Star were just doing the bare minimum to collect their percentage.

We then decided it was time after all the complications and what seemed to be a complete turnaround on their first impression by opening a discussion about ending the contract and going our separate ways. I offered many reasonable terms, including still giving them a hefty percentage of the game as a divorce fee. Their return offer was to threaten to sue us for hundreds of thousands of dollars and take control of the game if we attempted to go through with it. We were stuck. We were also told that we couldn't run a second kickstarter or look for funding elsewhere. It felt like we were being sabotaged by our own publisher.

Then a bunch of other things happened during development, release dates and trailers were sent out before they were meant to, as well as the wrong release dates, they didn't inform us of expos, they were taking us to until they day they happened so we couldn't be there and more. They insulted us many times via email. They expected us to always be magically working on the game, when we kept telling them that the funding we requested was the bare minimum and they couldn't expect the same results if only 1/3 of the team was able to work on the game for most of development while at the same time working other jobs myself. Even when telling them that I was losing my home in London and about to become homeless, that we desperately needed just 10% more of the promised funding in order to get the game finished within a couple of months, they would not budge. I don't know why they wouldn't fund us, yes we signed a contract, but doesn't it make business sense to support your developer, especially one so cheap on less than minimum wage? £25k is nothing to spend on the development of a multiplatform game. We spoke to some of the other rising star developers who've also felt "used", like we did, this is not a singular issue.

This has been a long story, one that started with foolishly signing a bad contract during a desperate time, but as the above comment, "I just wanted to set the facts straight".
Click to expand...
https://www.destructoid.com/the-mak...ie-developers-410568.phtml#comment-3090830314
 
S

Saphirax

Member
Kresnik258 said:
Firstly, yay Vita (I wonder if this'll be their Switch game as well).

Also, lol. NISA clearly went to N1 "we're making loads of money from DanganRonpa" and N1 thought "yeah we can do this too" and just went straight for it making a copy.

I mean, I'm interested, but it's fairly blatant from that description :p
Click to expand...

It reminds me of DR and of Sweet Fuse as well. They had the whole dangerous amusement park and mascot in SF as well. Hopefully it turns to be a good game.
 
K

Kresnik258

Member
Takao said:
The RSG employee wrote the same thing on a Destructoid article on the postmortem. The dev replied:
Click to expand...

So basically it comes down to "the game bombed on other platforms so someone pulled the plug on Vita version". Either the dev running out of funding to finish it or the pub not interested in finishing it.

A recurring theme this generation it seems! DriveDriveDrive will be next. No way I see that one making enough on PC/PS4 to bring it to Vita.
 
K

Kresnik258

Member
Vita seems to have gotten a few cracking horror games, shame I can't stomach them.

I really wanted to like Corpse Party, but it just made me uncomfortable and I didn't have fun. Maybe I should try it again some time.
 
K

Kresnik258

Member
http://gematsu.com/2017/01/experience-announces-death-mark-ps-vita

The game is set in the Tokyo metropolitan area’s H City, where it is rumored that “those who possess a birthmark known as the ‘mark’ will die,” and a mysterious event was caused as the result of the mark. Meanwhile, among those who possess the mark (Marked Persons), there were those looking into a certain mansion. The master who greets visitors at that mansion was a beautiful doll who speaks language.

Those who possess “symbols” must search for a way to solve the curse of death by exploring “kaii” spots within the mansion.

The protagonist is a middle-aged man who lost his memory. He picks a partner from among the Marked Persons who visit the mansion to split up, explore, and investigate.

“Kaii” that target Marked Persons exist within the explorable spiritual spots in the mansion. Because facing kaii means death, players must choose the best option to escape. If players make the wrong choices, it will result in a game over.
Click to expand...
 
A

AniHawk

Member
Kresnik258 said:
Firstly, yay Vita (I wonder if this'll be their Switch game as well).

Also, lol. NISA clearly went to N1 "we're making loads of money from DanganRonpa" and N1 thought "yeah we can do this too" and just went straight for it making a copy.

I mean, I'm interested, but it's fairly blatant from that description :p
Click to expand...

thing about visual novels is that you don't have to spend a huge budget in order to sell the game in japan, but it's a lot harder in the west if there isn't a gimmick. the investigation parts of ace attorney and danganronpa take care of that, and the escape rooms in the zero escape series work in the same way. as well-received as steins;gate was, i don't think it reached as many people as more mainstream vns.
 
S

Shizuka

Member
AniHawk said:
thing about visual novels is that you don't have to spend a huge budget in order to sell the game in japan, but it's a lot harder in the west if there isn't a gimmick. the investigation parts of ace attorney and danganronpa take care of that, and the escape rooms in the zero escape series work in the same way. as well-received as steins;gate was, i don't think it reached as many people as more mainstream vns.
Click to expand...

Which is a shame, because Steins;Gate is miles ahead of Danganronpa and Zero Escape, as much as I adore those two series.
 
K

Kresnik258

Member
AniHawk said:
thing about visual novels is that you don't have to spend a huge budget in order to sell the game in japan, but it's a lot harder in the west if there isn't a gimmick. the investigation parts of ace attorney and danganronpa take care of that, and the escape rooms in the zero escape series work in the same way. as well-received as steins;gate was, i don't think it reached as many people as more mainstream vns.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's definitely true. Looking at all the VN's who've achieved more mainstream relevance in the west, they've all had interactive sections in.
 
S

Shizuka

Member
But the game really is a Danganronpa knockoff, they have no shame in showing that. NIS must've seen NISA's Danganronpa numbers and wanted a slice of that pie.
 
I

incpdo

Member
michaelius said:
I feel the same about Danganronpa copies as I feel about games mimicking Persona - bring them all :D
Click to expand...
Yes! I agree . And also in 2017 a game copying another game is the standard of the industry hence normal games.One could argue danganronpa also copy some ideas from ace attorney.
 
W

Weltall Zero

Member
Kresnik258 said:
The Poncho saga continues. Aside from JAW's head calling them out on the Vita port comment, someone from Rising Star Games had this to say about the article:

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/DanHayes/20170106/288790/PONCHO__A_Postmortem.php#comments
Click to expand...

Reading that postmortem was like watching a slo-mo trainwreck, or rather like the horror movie where you can see the main characters making huge mistakes you know they are going to pay for dearly later on. For added context, I stopped reading mid-article and actually launched the game, which I had installed a while ago (from some bundle, I assume) and never played. And... I guess I don't like marmite. It felt like a very poor man's version of Fez. The main mechanic isn't even that original, I've seen it several times before including but not limited to a Kirby game (which probably was released after they started developing, but still). Layer switching aside (again, not exactly world-shatteringly revolutionary), the game is the most standard platformer imaginable, complete with "collect the red gems to buy the keys for the doors".

Throughout the entire article, there is this vibe that the author is pathologically incapable of owning up his own mistakes: "it's Steam's fault that nobody bought the game, they only had it in the main page for three hours", and so on. Not a good sign how clearly this transpires even reading only his account of the facts; of course, this is then exponentially cemented when looking at Rising Star Games' version of the story.

Still, I will never understand what motivates people to quit their jobs, take thousands of dollars in loans, lose their homes and friends, and work like slaves, all for a game that really doesn't look or play like anything special by any stretch of the imagination. Is it loss of perspective? Being so close to the beloved work that it becomes an affective death spiral where any objectivity is annihilated? It is fascinating and terrifying, and one of the reasons I've pretty much vowed never to make a game in expectation of monetary earnings.

Shinriji said:
I'm 38. She was a huge Tolkien fan in the 70's and began playing JRPG with Dragon Warrior NES.

I gave her a vita last year. Her current game I think that is BOF4.
Click to expand...

Is your mom looking to adopt another son? I'm 39 so I would fit right in as your brother. :D

(seriously, your mom rocks, and you can tell her some random stranger on the Internet said that).
 
M

michaelius

Banned
Weltall Zero said:
Still, I will never understand what motivates people to quit their jobs, take thousands of dollars in loans, lose their homes and friends, and work like slaves, all for a game that really doesn't look or play like anything special by any stretch of the imagination. Is it loss of perspective? Being so close to the beloved work that it becomes an affective death spiral where any objectivity is annihilated? It is fascinating and terrifying, and one of the reasons I've pretty much vowed never to make a game in expectation of monetary earnings.
Click to expand...

Lack of experience - I was doing Unity project for my university and most of his mistakes are the same as I was doing in underestimating amount of work needed. But I had a mentor who advised me and I'm finally ending it after a bunch of delays. What I made is super bad (and thankfully will remain hidden in my university library for all eternity) but I've got tons of experience and the only monetary damage was money I paid for courses.

Also one of first advices I've got was to make the scope of my project small just to finish it.

edit: Also that RSG responce makes it sound like they classified him as hopeless case. If they had seen any chance of them actually delivering Vita version they could have done something.
 
I

incpdo

Member
One more horror game to the list of " horror themed games I want to play in my vita but i won't be able to" the list gets bigger:

Death mark
Forgotten memories
Dying reborn
Night cry
Gyossait
Shin hayarigami
Kodoku
Realm walk of soul
 
K

Kresnik258

Member
incpdo said:
One more horror game to the list of " horror themed games I want to play in my vita but i won't be able to" the list gets bigger:

Dying reborn
Click to expand...

Hey, don't give up hope yet, PEGI have rated it.

And on another note, Unholy Heights has gotten a Vita trophy list. Now there's a game I didn't know I wanted but am now really excited for.

edit: Hey Shizuka look, I'm editing! QuibicGames are teasing Mr Pumpkin's Adventure for Vita:

https://twitter.com/QubicGames/status/819142970624577536
 
W

Weltall Zero

Member
michaelius said:
Lack of experience - I was doing Unity project for my university and most of his mistakes are the same as I was doing in underestimating amount of work needed. But I had a mentor who advised me and I'm finally ending it after a bunch of delays. What I made is super bad (and thankfully will remain hidden in my university library for all eternity) but I've got tons of experience and the only monetary damage was money I paid for courses.
Click to expand...

I can understand seriously underestimating the work needed in a project, and even being overambitious, but taking several thousand dollars worth of loans is a completely different beast. This implies a serious disconnect between expectations of how much your game is going to sell, and reality.
 
K

Kresnik258

Member
Saphirax said:
Aksys pls.
Click to expand...

Hahaha. Normally that would cause me a sea of worry, but I'm choosing to have faith in Aksys.

I'm pessimistically gonna believe the news is that they've licenced ex+ and that's going to release on PS4/PC, but I'm confident Vita version will come regardless of what they're doing with other platforms.

Hopefully sooner rather than later. There's a "most wanted" voting list every month on banned site where I post and every month for at least a year Tokyo Xanadu has been my #1. Even before localization announcement. I cannae wait.
 
S

Saphirax

Member
Kresnik258 said:
Hahaha. Normally that would cause me a sea of worry, but I'm choosing to have faith in Aksys.

I'm pessimistically gonna believe the news is that they've licenced ex+ and that's going to release on PS4/PC, but I'm confident Vita version will come regardless of what they're doing with other platforms.

Hopefully sooner rather than later. There's a "most wanted" voting list every month on banned site where I post and every month for at least a year Tokyo Xanadu has been my #1. Even before localization announcement. I cannae wait.
Click to expand...

I'm really torn about TX. On one hand I want to get it day one, on the other I almost never replay games and if I'd have to choose I'd rather play ex+. So Aksys announcing that they're bringing over ex+ would be the best news for me. Don't think they'd cancel the Vita version.
 
K

Kresnik258

Member
Saphirax said:
I'm really torn about TX. On one hand I want to get it day one, on the other I almost never replay games and if I'd have to choose I'd rather play ex+. So Aksys announcing that they're bringing over ex+ would be the best news for me. Don't think they'd cancel the Vita version.
Click to expand...

I'd probably double-dip, though Vita version first. I don't forsee any situation where I'd have time to play this on console any time soon.
 
I

i-Jest

Member
I'm watching videos by TheKeybladeGamer of top 10, 20, or Vita games of a genre or year. There is still so much in missing out on.

Has there been any attempt to mod the Vita so it can hold multiple memory cards? I gotta get another 64GB memory card.
 
K

Kresnik258

Member
Zhao_Yun said:
I hope for everyone who wants it on Vita that it reaches the stretch goal, but after their terrible campaign I really don't want to give them any money upfront. I don't even know whether the game will release on German PSN, so without a physical version it would be too risky for me to pledge anyway.
Click to expand...

Ditto. I've pledged $1, if/when they confirm it'll release on EU PSN, I'll up my pledge.

If Vita is seriously happening, they'd do well to contact LRG and do a slacker backer campaign for physical copies.
 
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