Our Open Mike threads are getting shorter, so the world must be getting less interesting. Eventually we shall reach negative comment space when — ah, why spoil the surprise.
Comments, please. Apparently a new console was launched this week. I promised once again to make a newsletter but did no such thing. And I’m coughing so hard I think I swallowed a rib.
Download my FREE eBook on the collapse of indie game prices an accessible and comprehensive explanation of what has happened to the market.
Sign up for the monthly Electron Dance Newsletter and follow on Twitter!
So what’s the deal with The Castle Doctrine?
Well that’s going to be a real conversation starter, David. (And I want you to know I pronounce your name properly when I type it.)
Properly like “duhbeed” properly? That’s sweet.
I guess there’s a Sharecart 1000 to talk about, but yeah, your ironic “the world must be getting less interesting” seems to be quite right actually these past few weeks.
I’ve followed a lot more people recently but the Twitter conversation just seems… less valuable at the moment. There’s always get-out-the-popcorn, of course, but that’s not why I’m on Twitter.
Can you explain Sharecart 1000? (Look at me, just trolling for comments here. I’m off to bed soon, so possibly the last comment today.)
Shrkart 1 hundrid tims 10 s kool projct by pepol about difurnt gams with single one savefile,
Xcuse if de text’s so broqen. this comment s part of project sharecomment 300 so it has to share same characters as the comments of oder devz in the projects team and thus its hard 2 read and doeznt work quite well
Month-old news (she did something with her site that makes it harder to check her blog), but Anna Anthropy says “the more successful indie game developers have totally sold out the smaller ones by massively devaluing little games: shit like the ‘humble’ indie bundle offers a massive amount of content for a minimum of money. why would i buy a twine game for two dollars when i can get ALL OF THESE POLISHED INDIE GAMES for the same amount??” What do we think?
Lightning rounds: No one is under any obligation to keep their prices high so twinesters (or Droqen, even) can undercut them. But the Humbles probably do soak up enough of the indie game customer dollar that it’s significantly harder going if you don’t get in the club. (Don’t know how this compares to Steam sales and whatever, but if you’re not big enough for the Humbles you’re probably not big enough for Steam.) Though FWIW I myself would not be purchasing games at all if not for the Humbles — maybe I’d have sprung for Analogue: A Hate Story. I can also understand Anthropy’s animus against the Humbles on a few other different grounds.
David, I guess I don’t really understand why they have a single save file.
Matt, it’s difficult to respond to this without sounding like an ass but, well. If I’d spent a great deal of my time encouraging people to write Twine games and helped position it as the game writing tool for the Anybody and applauded the flood of free Twine games on the streets… then I don’t know if I’d criticise polished indie devs for finding it hard to put a decent price on Twine games. New free Twine games are released every day. Hofmeier put the free Howling Dogs on an IGF winning pedestal.
I’m not happy myself with the bargain basement prices that indies have been backed into – but there’s an inevitability about it and I don’t think I could pick out certain indie winners as being the ones that brought all this about.
What are we saying? Fuck you Ed Key for going Humble Bundle?
I don’t think you sound like an ass at all. I mean, who is supposed to have behaved badly, in what way… I can’t think of how one could begin to make the case that anyone was under a moral obligation to do something different, aside from some things like including more games by women. I think it’s more interesting to think about it from what it must feel like to be an indie dev who isn’t going to get into a Bundle. I wonder if it’s connected to the apparent decline of the market for flash games.
I probably should be less worried about being controversial and attracting the wrong sort of attention and just get on with it. The indie scene is this weird almost dissonant mix of libertarianism and socialism sometimes. Anthropy was comfortable with producing ostensibly “free games” via Flash portals until that dried up; now it’s hard to sell something direct. Part of that is definitely bundles and sales, but we’ve been living in a sea of free games for years, from sponsored portals, to game jams, to people just getting their name out there. Rise of the Videogame Zinesters practically begged more people to make games, the majority of them I’d wager are free.
There’s an implication in what you said initially that she’s getting mad at developers undercutting the market when that’s precisely what she intends to do. I’d probably argue that it’s not that simplistic, because what’s happened is the destruction of price tiers – price is no longer a signal, it’s just a thing, and everyone is competing for the same scraps on the floor.
Well, there’s always F2P.
“I’d probably argue that it’s not that simplistic, because what’s happened is the destruction of price tiers – price is no longer a signal, it’s just a thing, and everyone is competing for the same scraps on the floor.”
Ooh yes well said.