Community MetaSteam | January 2020 - Toss A Coin To Your Gaben

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Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
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Need to map a certain foliage ocean rising :grimacing-face:
 

Accoun

MetaMember
Dec 9, 2018
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It's a rhythm game with some raising simulator elements.
Considering they're returning to OFA-style gameplay, it's less of a rhythm game than the previous two ones.

In OFA there was a beat going and you had to pick which of the 3 stats (Visual, Vocal, Dance) you concentrate on each beat. Different events had judges with different tastes (although the common tactic was still alternate between them equally). Here it seems to be the same, except buttons correspond to girls and not stats.
Platinum Stars and Stella Stage had more traditional rhythm gameplay, with a predefined sequence you had to input and judged you based on accuracy.
 

Deleted member 113

Guest
I don't know if anyone remembers about it, but last month I was searching for a copy of a Chinese game, because I had purchased another game (not knowing it was a sequel), and when I went to buy the first game it had been removed from Steam a day or two before, because the publisher was banned for whatever reason, and all their games removed from Steam.

I kept in touch with the developer, and he let me know the game I was searching for is now back on Steam:

The sequel should be coming out soon as well:
 

Mor

Me llamo Willy y no hice la mili, pero vendo Chili
Sep 7, 2018
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Thank you, but at the same time : crap. It's GBX, meaning probably EGS exclusive. Too bad for them, I suppose.
It is, and already confirmed for 12 months.
 

Ge0force

Excluding exclusives
Jan 12, 2019
4,127
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Belgium
What makes any bullshit excuses about "it's so we lower Steam's evil cut" from Randy's mouth even funnier is that he got 6 months for Blands and 12 for this new, unproven game. If he was truly "fighting the cut" then why not 12 months for blands too?
Even the idea of giving Randy more of my money makes me feel nauseous. :sick:
 

fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
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Maybe Epic should stop giving away free games and doing those big coupons? I mean, free games and those coupons are good and the kind of stuff I like Epic to compete on (not moneyhatting exclusives), but both free games and the coupons contribute heavily to the race to bottom.

Why buy indie games when you can just wait for Epic to give it away for free or wait until they give a coupon?
 

Deleted member 113

Guest
I still don't understand how the PR people of many of these indie developers or publishers don't get the simple fact that going on social media to antagonize a portion of your target audience, "preaching" about good or bad practices, or trying to dictate how (or where) they should get their games, has a big chance of turning people off their titles.

I went from having most games Raw Fury released, to having them on "ignore" on Steam, and their twitter account blocked.
 

fantomena

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Dec 17, 2018
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I hope the 3080 or 3080ti is strong enough to beat Xbox Series X ports into submission at 108p144hz. Looking very much forward to Hellblade 2.
 
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Alextended

Segata's Disciple
Jan 28, 2019
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I'm not even sure what her point is. Is it a pro-Steam argument? A captain obvious moment? 10k copies or less is like nothing in the ocean of users Steam has...

Market your game and also use third party key sellers where the Steam fee is zero (which means that 30% is always less than), they have visibility of their own.


Wow, it's like magic some of their games did so good on evil Steam. Maybe they were featured on PC Magazine also, or not, showing it doesn't mean shit too?

Steam totally had nothing to do with those numbers, I'm sure they regret getting on Steam, they should have self published just like Minecraft and take all %!

Btw 4.6k or whatever copies wouldn't break even on EGS either. Maybe she chose shit? Names? How did she get 4.6k, SteamSpy shows 0-20k type numbers?

Or does SteamSpy open its unbiased and so 100% accurate data to developers who pledge allegiance to Epic (or while trying to underhandedly get them in)?
 
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Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
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I really hate this idea that Epic Game Store existing is itself some kind of charitable act.
Oh, finally someone will free us of the tyranny that is Steam!

EGS is making sweetheart deals with games that already have a lot if visibility on the PC platform, with the intention of getting more people to know them. They want to build a steady userbase, and at some point, presumably, stop these deals and actually compete with Steam.

But how is this supposed to help struggling devs, who don't already have a huge spotlight shining on them? She talks about games from magazines, but honestly, who is even reading that these days? You have games like Shenmue III that got more free publicity that any indie game can ever have, getting deals with EGS. Those aren't small struggling indies, though I actually assume Ys Net is in financial troubles, considering they keep making giant games that only a small niche audience is ever buying.


Also, as people mentioned, making 10K sales doesn't seem like some insurmountable problem, given the sheer size of Steam. If you can't even make that, with proper marketing and attention which games that made it to PC Mag probably had, then maybe your game is just not good? That's also cruel, but important: if more and more people make games, less people can succeed, no matter the cut the store takes.
 

rybrad

Junior Member
Apr 22, 2019
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I still don't understand how the PR people of many of these indie developers or publishers don't get the simple fact that going on social media to antagonize a portion of your target audience, "preaching" about good or bad practices, or trying to dictate how (or where) they should get their games, has a big chance of turning people off their titles.

I went from having most games Raw Fury released, to having them on "ignore" on Steam, and their twitter account blocked.
For whatever reason, unlike almost every other industry, developers seems to think the customer is not who decides if they are successful or not. Believing you are "owed" success because you worked a long time on something is a hell of a drug.
 

Ge0force

Excluding exclusives
Jan 12, 2019
4,127
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Is this Raw Fury's social media manager who was being a jerk to people criticizing their exclusivity deals with Epic? :rolleyes:

Anyway, I hope small developers soon start to realize that Epic is devaluating indie games by giving them away for free.
 
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Tizoc

Retired, but still Enabling
Oct 11, 2018
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As the one who posted that tweet I have to give my personal opinion as well.
Y'all touched on some good points, but the thing that indies need to get through their thick skull
1- In the 3 years you were working on your $15~20 indie game, other $10~20 indie games that had been worked on for 3 years had released during that period

2- To expand on Point 1: You are not the only indie dev releasing games on Steam

3- Word of mouth isn't a guarantee for a sale. Visibility isn't guarantee for a sale. Memes are not a guarantee for a sale. What is guarantee for one to purchase your indie game outside of a bundle or sale is something beyond your control:
It is the buyer's brain deciding 'Yes I will buy this game'; even if all of the above are a plus for that person to purchase your game, they can just as easily hold off and wait for a sale or bundle. Then again this might just be me :V

4- This was my Cart during Septmeber at one point



You see those 5 indie games that cost around/over $15? No guarantee I'd have gottent o play them right then and there, plus that's at least $75 for 5 games, when I could get a game discount for $30 and get my enjoyment of it instead.

Now let me give you the cruel question: Put your game in the position of those 5 or so indie games. Now I'm gonna remove some games from my cart which includes those indie games: Give me a reason why I should not axe your game over your fellow indie dev's game?

BTW I got Knights and Bikes for $5 during a price error on GOG and still hadn't started it year :wd_pc:

I got Tangle Tower off itch.io for $16 close to its release and got around to playing it some months later in December (great game, short but great, do grab it down the line!)
The decision for me to spend that $16 on that particular game and not any other game?
Point #3; my brain decided to buy the game, and in turn chose the option that would give the dev/publisher the most money.

We get it, shit's hard for all y'all indies, but EGS handouts won't last you for long for one thing, and on the other, relying on your indie game for money is a foolish idea. There'll always be those that would like to support and buy your game, but those same people would have their own financial and time constraints to consider.

I'll do my part and spread the word about your game if I find it'll appeal to others, and will keep doing so for the foreseeable future.
Unless Bill Duke reveals this about you


In which case, I'll just politely leave your game be, and let some other fellows spread awareness about you

EDIT: Oh and the only game I got form that was Power Rangers and that ish got a discount on Consoles a few weeks later :odell:
 

Alextended

Segata's Disciple
Jan 28, 2019
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Btw, the 3 Atomicrops developers listed on the game's site, what % did they get from the money deal Raw Fury negotiated with Epic Games for their game?

What % will Raw Fury get from the total sales too? Maybe those 3 guys were better off not signing off to any publisher and just self publish on Steam? Anyone?
 

Wildebeet

First Stage Hero
Dec 5, 2018
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Also that $31k figure is preeeety bunk too. Any indie developer realizes that they are taking a risk. You would typically have to work a job and do the game on the side, or do the game full time and a job part time, or go all in and risk your savings, etc. When you take a risk, you aren't guaranteed a return on your time and effort. That's why it's called risk.

I mean where does this if Steam didn't take such a big cut gibber come in? What should the cut be then? Why isn't Epic's cut still too large also then? What is the correct number we're trying to hit here? We got some real mystery logic going on.
 

Mor

Me llamo Willy y no hice la mili, pero vendo Chili
Sep 7, 2018
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Delaying Light 2
As most of us expected, and this probably means that the game will be cross-gen as most of this delays, those will probably translate into cross.gen releases for late 2020 or early 2021.
 
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I really hate this idea that Epic Game Store existing is itself some kind of charitable act.
Oh, finally someone will free us of the tyranny that is Steam!
How things change.

A decade or so ago, you would get the same argument regarding retail stores, and Steam. :)
But at the time, Steam was the saviour, they paid monthly (it would take ages to get royalties from retail copies; many studios closed down before the first sales of their latest title started being paid!), the 30% was nothing compared to what developers would get from retail copies, and the platform gave visibility to self-published indie titles. Plus, you had none of the certification and/or updates/patches costs developers paid when launching on consoles (let's not forget that developers had to pay significant amounts for each patch they released on the Xbox 360, for example).

Now, they are the "bad guys", and the 30% charge (or "tax", like timmy calls it; as an accountant, every time he does that it makes me want to punch him :grinning-face-with-smiling-eyes:) is abhorrent.
 

kafiend

MetaMember
Dec 6, 2018
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Also that $31k figure is preeeety bunk too. Any indie developer realizes that they are taking a risk. You would typically have to work a job and do the game on the side, or do the game full time and a job part time, or go all in and risk your savings, etc. When you take a risk, you aren't guaranteed a return on your time and effort. That's why it's called risk.

I mean where does this if Steam didn't take such a big cut gibber come in? What should the cut be then? Why isn't Epic's cut still too large also then? What is the correct number we're trying to hit here? We got some real mystery logic going on.
The biggest mystery is why the fuck everything and everyone is assumed to be a success if it wasn't for Steam just being Steam.
 

Kyougar

No reviews, no Buy
Nov 2, 2018
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Those types of Developers who make less money in 3 years than flipping burgers would get them, either:

  • do it for the art
  • think they are the next Minecraft/Undertale/Stardew if those pesky customers would just stop being whiny bitches and buy their game in droves.

The second kind of people don't want their game to break even with 9000 copies sold, they want 100.000 copies sold. They don't want to give their loyal customers the sequel to enjoy, they want a lightning in the bottle.
 
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Panda Pedinte

Best Sig Maker on the board!
Sep 20, 2018
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I've been playing through A Hat in Time and Prey (2017) and both are good games. So far I invested a lot of more time in Prey as the setting there really grabbed me, the space station is very cool.

While I'm enjoying A Hat in Time the camera is a bit wonky as well the game's performance, though the Hat Kid is cute so I can't get mad at it.

 

Tizoc

Retired, but still Enabling
Oct 11, 2018
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Oman
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Recently I've been going through my backlog
Clearing games I own that released in 2009
I won't be cleraing ALL of them, but will clear as many as I can
Currently saving Dragon Age Origins for last, but I will aim to play it this year
I dropped more games than I have finished from this 2009 batch :V
 

yuraya

MetaMember
May 4, 2019
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Delaying Light 2
I know people are upset with delays but they are making more and more sense.

1st half of 2020

Doom Eternal
FF7Remake
RE3
Ori 2
Half-Life: Alyx
Wasteland 3
Gears Tactics
TLOU2

2nd half of 2020

Vampire Masquerades 2
Cyberpunk
Avengers
Dying Light 2
Halo Infinite


There will probably be a few more delays into late 2020 but stuff seems more properly spread out this way. Plus you have all the annual stuff late in the year like COD, Battlefield along with new consoles + unannounced E3 games.

Most important thing now is that everything in the 2nd half isn't crammed into Sept/Oct. July and August need love too.
 
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derExperte

MetaMember
Dec 9, 2018
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Someone jumping the gun.
 

Knurek

OG old coot
Oct 16, 2018
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So, how expensive with The Idolm@ster on Steam be, if you count all cosmetic DLC?
$1000? More?
 
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Line

meh
Dec 21, 2018
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Idolmaster on Steam, finally time for the series to break through in the West! :awwblob:
... maybe. Maybe it can combine the powers of weebs and Football Manager fans.
 

Cordelia

MetaMember
Jun 10, 2019
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All I got from that tweet is that US is an expensive place to live.

Or rather that approaching the math with an average yearly salary is a bad idea.
IIRC there was a tweet that comparing living expense for indie devs that lives at US and indie devs that lives at Asia.

And called it unfair.
 
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