I'm still cursing the day I missed grabbing Nescaline. All I need is a little plutonium for the flux capacitor.
I'm glad someone understands. Though, it's not so much wanting to give money to smaller developers, it's to people who really put the extra effort into making an exceptional game. All the big time games on the iPhone feel like, they have no heart. Plus, I can't tell you how infinitely better indie developers are at customer service. Maybe it's just me, but console "clone" games just don't feel right for the iPhone. I recently acquired Minigore about a month ago, so I really don't know everyone's long term grievances with the game. For one, I know they're terribly slow with their updates, but because I just started, it really hasn't affected me yet. The last update had that horrid bug in it, which is quite a major fail, but besides that, I don't see anything else. Yes, you can't deny the design is fantastic. But, do elaborate a little on your "anti-minigore-ism". I'm curious. Agree on the best vs. worse debate. And, you can't trust charts. Most of those games are, well, not great. And plus, the majority flock to games I just can't bear, like Pocket God. Doodle Jump, gameplay wise, is great. But the design, isn't so great (I understand it has that "drawing cartoon" theme, but still). I guess I'm different in that respect, wherein I only play games that have an amazing design to them. Games like, Dark Nebula and Ramp Champ. I tend to avoid the cartoony 2D games altogether. And Abca. Simple said: absolutely stunning word game. If you haven't tried it, you need to, like now. That's a game that excels in design, gameplay and replayability.
Well, I can only speak for myself as far as minigore goes. I don't claim to speak for the minigore nation. (ha) I got jaded with the whole hardgore bait and switch and switch and switch. I felt like a carrot was being dangled in front of me. I think the original release date was Q3 08? So I was already restless and updates take forever. I really think alot of that falls on Apple's shoulders. Then the memory wipe fiasco. Then the PR meltdown that followed. Someday just go through the blog. It's all pretty much there. As far as the clone games, they are usually high price and still they sell. That doesn't mean everyone should get them but that's why developers build them, because they sell. And the big name developers get the rights to them because they have the money. I missed Nescaline and I kick myself in the pants for it cause I'ld LOVE to have Zelda or Mario on my phone, crappy or not. Its a nostalgia. I've got Earthworm Jim and Sonic and I love them. I'll admit they're not so great though and were done half @$$. Maybe I shouldn't reward these companies for putting out shoddy ports of retro games at high dollars, but I do. I laughed when you mentioned Pocket God. I fell into that one and I still don't remember why I bought it. I looked at Abca. Probably the highest ranking reviews I've ever seen on a word game. I'll try to find a vid and check it out. My wife loves word games. Peace.
Release date for Minigore was Q1 2009, and Hardgore was Q2 2009. That does make me mad; Hardgore just vanished into thin air. The developers make no mention of it, it's just gone. It's a shame, because it looked very promising. But you can never say never. Nostalgia is a funny thing. In that area, we're different; my nostalgia is completely shattered when the game is a shoddy port. I was excited when I heard of Final Fantasy coming to the iPhone, but ergh, it sucked immensely. I just don't get it. Absolutely no effort. Or I do get it. The reason I like indie developers so much is because they put all of their effort into original games. These hot shot developers KNOW they can get away with half @ss clones based solely on the name. Very cheap. I laughed at your Pocket God mention. I think we both fell into the hype. I was excited when I purchased it. That changed quickly. 10 minutes, and you've seen and done everything in the game. I mean, what can I expect, it's all basic animations repeated over and over. The cloud game was fun though. Graphics sucked. If you need a vid, just go to Kiefferbros.com. They are the most amazing developers for the iPhone platform. I once gave them advice on their games, and they offered to give me a promotion code based solely on my advice. Unfortunately I already had all of their games >.> Have you tried Dark Nebula?
Nobody is going to agree on what makes a good game, a good developer, etc. Everyone has their own opinions and preferences and they're going to differ from yours, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. The whole Big vs. Indie debate is pointless. Big name developers make clones and beat franchises to death because they're in demand, and they sell. They play it safe because safe pays the bills, and the bigger you are, the more bills you have, and the safer you're inclined to play it in order to keep paying those bills. Building a successful business means growth, and the predictability of growth is tied directly to the predictability of the market you're building on. Cool, original titles represent risk, and businesses tend not to like risk unless risk itself pays dividends, and most of the time they don't. That's why it's called risk. Indies -- some of them, anyway -- take the road less traveled because it's the only way they can stand out and get noticed outside the herd. (Some take the easy route and make more clones because it's easy, but that's another issue.) You're more likely to see fresh, relatively original, and sometimes truly enjoyable concepts come out of an indie dev because that's what's most likely to build a good name for said dev, and they know it. That's the point. Would I love to see more original titles instead of the same material rehashed in different clothing? Absolutely! I love and respect someone who tries to be different and bring something to market that we haven't quite seen the likes of before. It shows effort, initiative, a desire to make games for the enjoyment of making (and playing) them, and a creative mind that thinks outside the boxes everyone else is stuck in. It's great, and I love seeing it. But it's risky, and it isn't in any way easy to do in an era where seemingly everything's been done. But it's possible to do still -- perhaps not be truly original, but still be different enough that whatever you produce can't comfortably be shoved into any one particular box or be described in terms of being "like" or "similar to" something else. Heck, I've got my own plans for a few games that are off the beaten path, but I'd rather not make any grandiose declarations just yet. Retro stuff is great, love it, can't get enough when it's done right, and sure I'd love to see more classics ported over, too. (Imitations I'll probably pass on; no clone will ever be able to stack up to the true original.) I don't think there's anything wrong with those at all -- but then I'm older and remember playing that stuff when it was new and when you couldn't walk 10 feet without passing an arcade, so obviously nostalgia plays a big part in that. Point is there's really no use in arguing over why Dev X sucks and Dev Y is great, or game W is great while game X sucks. It's all subjective, and big name titles and developers wouldn't be big name titles or developers if there wasn't demand for them, so like it or not, those of you who decry the big devs, whether for moral or creative reasons, are in the minority. Where there is demand, there will be a company formed purpose-built to fill it, even if it's demand for the same old crap we've seen a hundred times before.
Since watching King of Kong I have been playing again on my Nintendo dual screen game and watch. It's still a lot of fun, but I expect something else from my iphone these days...
I think I've had my fill of doodle games and stick figure games and retro 8-bit games, and Atari 2600-inspired games, and isometric games, and line drawing games, and match 3 games, and castle defense games, and duel-stick shooter "minigore clone" games, and a bunch of half-finished beta release games selling for .99 a piece, not to mention a never-ending god-awful string of mindless zombie this and zombie that games. Indie gaming, vastly overrated, my friends. Cheap, yes. But overrated nevertheless.
Just to clear something up about Minigore/Hardgore. Minigore was essentially going to be like, almost a demo/prequel of what's to come... then Mountain Sheep got into Minigore and kind of forgot about Hardgore, but I think Minigore IS Hardgore, or will be anyway. So stop hating on Minigore, the had to hire a programmer for multiplayer and that took forever which slowed their development times also. PS: Developers have lives too
I think Gameloft/Ubisoft took a big risk by porting Prince of Persia Warrior Within. It's dangerous to port a full PS2 game(and a relatively hardcore one at that) to a platform dominated by casual games and some console-ish experiences.
