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[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

What is your experience with developing/porting to Vita? is the issue lack of development tools? Hardware limitations? Support?

Seems like every KS indie game throws in an Vita port as a stretch goal or a port at some point in the future without fully understanding what that means. Im still bummed out about Hyper Light and am very very much looking forward to the Vita port of CSH, Ive already bought the PS4 in preparation of the Vita release down the line.

The problem with Vita development is that there's a misconception among gamers that the Vita is a powerful piece of hardware and so indie developers think that's the case as well and that a Vita port will be easy. The truth of the matter is that the Vita is drastically weaker than every other platform these days (unless you're doing something with the 3DS) and so a game that works fine on even a weak PC might really struggle on the Vita unless you're really well optimized.

 

[Glix]

I really really cannot wait to play this but I have so much on my plate that I will wait for the Vita rev (or possibly a port to another portable...)

 

[jacobeid]

Yeah, even though I should know better, those last few weeks when I was working around the clock, I kept telling myself "Just gotta finish this and then the good reviews will come, I'll be able to take a break, and my family will have money again." And of course, I'm mostly still waiting for all 3 of those things

I'm sorry to hear all of this

I remember screaming to myself last year when Hyper Light Drifter came out and it had something like 20k sales for a long time. It took a few weeks to pick up momentum, which I barely feel it got from the press, and now it's sitting at ~375k on Steam alone.

I haven't played CSH yet, (bought it today though!) but I can imagine one quick look on Giant Bomb or something like that would boost sales and word of mouth exponentially. Not even some of my most "hardcore" friends know about this release, partially due to the crowded schedule. Wait until everything settles and try to get a big marketing push, if possible. It only takes one industry figurehead championing your game to succeed in a big way.

Keep your head up

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Some good news - apparently we got a patch approved for NA PSN. Should go up within the hour.

I'm sorry to hear all of this

I remember screaming to myself last year when Hyper Light Drifter came out and it had something like 20k sales for a long time. It took a few weeks to pick up momentum, which I barely feel it got from the press, and now it's sitting at ~375k on Steam alone.

I haven't played CSH yet, (bought it today though!) but I can imagine one quick look on Giant Bomb or something like that would boost sales and word of mouth exponentially. Not even some of my most "hardcore" friends know about this release, partially due to the crowded schedule. Wait until everything settles and try to get a big marketing push, if possible. It only takes one industry figurehead championing your game to succeed in a big way.

Keep your head up

Thanks! I needed to hear that. And that reminds me - I rather liked what I played of HLD and now I actually have time to go back and finish it.

 

[slash000]

I don't say much about our sales or what not at the moment because Robert is pretty much talking about all that, but it's reassuring to hear about stuff like HLD picking up steam or what not.

I've talked to a lot of devs in a similar situation as this and so I'm not super frightened about the game doing at least "OK" but you know I also don't have any kind of "phew we did it" sort of feelings.

 

[Glix]

I don't say much about our sales or what not at the moment because Robert is pretty much talking about all that, but it's reassuring to hear about stuff like HLD picking up steam or what not.

I've talked to a lot of devs in a similar situation as this and so I'm not super frightened about the game doing at least "OK" but you know I also don't have any kind of "phew we did it" sort of feelings.

Use the Vita release as, like, a second launch if you know what i mean. do press and all that jazz.

 

[kswiston]

I was really rooting for your guys to have success in the way of sales. I'm sorry to hear that things aren't going as well as planned. I missed the Kickstarter, but I bought my Steam version shortly after it was up.

You might not want to comment on this, but what would be a satisfactory sales target where you would at least break even on the costs beyond the Kickstarter?

I know that Steamspy isn't all that accurate at this point, but it does look like numbers are slowly building up. Hopefully that is actually the case. I also think that this is the sort of game that can be a late bloomer if reviews continue to be good, and you get some front page coverage during Steam sales. The $15 price point gives you several more discount tiers to entice new buyers with than you had for your much cheaper past titles.

I don't feel like there is a ton that I can do personally beyond buying the title, but I'll give the game a shout out in the text and banner of the next iteration of my Essential RPG thread later this summer. It's not much, but my last two threads had around 200k views. I would imagine that at least some of those people were trying new things as a result of the thread and ensuing discussion. I'm sure others will spread some WOM love as well.

Robert, I know that you participate in my Japanese game Steamspy threads, where Trails in the Sky SC often comes up. It looks like Cosmic Star Heroine is off to a stronger start than SC had in its first week (if my memory serves me correctly). That title is now sitting at around 40k, and would no doubt be much higher if XSEED didn't keep a relatively high price point (I don't think that it has been cheaper than $18). I'm hoping to see a long tail for your game as well. Especially once you get more reviews out there. I was sort of shocked to see none on Metacritic when I checked this past weekend.

 

[Freeman76]

I don't say much about our sales or what not at the moment because Robert is pretty much talking about all that, but it's reassuring to hear about stuff like HLD picking up steam or what not.

I've talked to a lot of devs in a similar situation as this and so I'm not super frightened about the game doing at least "OK" but you know I also don't have any kind of "phew we did it" sort of feelings.

You will get there, this game will cause a buzz...no doubt!

 

[Granjinha]

Quick question: Does every party of the member has a side quest for themselves? Like, i just did Finn's one (great reference there ) and also Dave's one. I know Chahn has one (really hard btw) but i haven't found any others.

 

[Knurek]

I don't say much about our sales or what not at the moment because Robert is pretty much talking about all that, but it's reassuring to hear about stuff like HLD picking up steam or what not.

I've talked to a lot of devs in a similar situation as this and so I'm not super frightened about the game doing at least "OK" but you know I also don't have any kind of "phew we did it" sort of feelings.

Please don't make the mistake of bundling too soon.
I'm sure you already have some emails from some sites, it's really not worth it.
Gradual price promotion is your best bet, say, 10% or some such more every few months.
Bundle only after you reach 75% off.

 

[Phototropic]

I am downloading 1.02 now on PS4. I did the manual check for update.

Can't wait to give this a shot tonight or tomorrow.

 

[Gala]

Finished chapter 1 one on the third difficulty and loved every minute of it so far. The game reminds me so much of my childhood memories of RPGs and I love the challenge the difficulty level gives me. Died a couple of times, but that only encouraged me to figure out the enemies and even more the synergies between the party member's abilities.
The battle system really shines for me so far. The idea to not let the player mindlessly use the skills and attacks is so smart and gives the battle system a lot of depth.
The graphics looks lovely as well and I really like the character models and the gorgeous cutscenes!

Can't wait to play more tomorrow!

 

[slash000]

Quick question: Does every party of the member has a side quest for themselves? Like, i just did Finn's one (great reference there ) and also Dave's one. I know Chahn has one (really hard btw) but i haven't found any others.

Not every party member, but they all have at least something unique to do. However, a couple key sidequests are temporarily blocked off until we polish those areas and release them (for free) with a patch. They're there they just aren't accessible and aren't mentioned in the game until we polish them.

Please don't make the mistake of bundling too soon.
I'm sure you already have some emails from some sites, it's really not worth it.
Gradual price promotion is your best bet, say, 10% or some such more every few months.
Bundle only after you reach 75% off.

Right we're not going to jump into massive discounts or bundles any time soon, i mean, we just launched.

 

[Granjinha]

Not every party member, but they all have at least something unique to do. However, a couple key sidequests are temporarily blocked off until we polish those areas and release them (for free) with a patch. They're there they just aren't accessible and aren't mentioned in the game until we polish them.

I see! Thanks

EDIT: Quick thing you guys can fix when you have the time:

Spoiler

When you talk to Psybe and he says to go back to the Rhomu's lab for more hints on how to defeat our enemies, there's a typo, he says "labroratory".

Just thought you guys would want to know

 

[Knurek]

Right we're not going to jump into massive discounts or bundles any time soon, i mean, we just launched.

I know it sounds like an obvious thing, but, man, I've seen some things.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Please don't make the mistake of bundling too soon.
I'm sure you already have some emails from some sites, it's really not worth it.
Gradual price promotion is your best bet, say, 10% or some such more every few months.
Bundle only after you reach 75% off.

No worries there. We'll keep discounts low at first and aren't even going to consider bundles until the game has been out a while. Once we start getting paid for this game, I shouldn't be in any immediate danger of starvation so no temptation to fire sale the thing.

EDIT: Quick thing you guys can fix when you have the time

I love typo reports - they're so easy to fix compared to everything else.

 

[Kensuke]

Not every party member, but they all have at least something unique to do. However, a couple key sidequests are temporarily blocked off until we polish those areas and release them (for free) with a patch. They're there they just aren't accessible and aren't mentioned in the game until we polish them.

Any rough ETA on those sidequests? Just curious, because I'm assuming that kind of stuff is going to be on the backburner for a while.

 

[Fred-87]

We're not cancelling the Vita version. I was just saying that if we had cancelled the Vita version years ago, we would have finished the game several months earlier which would have given us more than enough extra time to avoid the launch issues we ran into.

Perhaps stupid question. Why was it not possible to postpone the release a few months since you are developer and publisher. (not meaned as attacking question! just curious)

+1 sale when it releases on switch

 

[Die Squirrel Die]

+1 PS4 UK sale here, enjoy your take of our devalued £. At least waiting on the EU patch will make it easier to not start another game until I've cleared some backlog (I've had to hide my copy of P5 in the cupboard to stave off the temptation to start it as well).

 

[Amherst_Wind]

Waiting for this EU patch to go up is slowly killing me, just have to remember I've waited 3 and a half years for this, I can wait a couple more days.

 

[george_us]

From what I'm hearing, it's going to take Sony EU a while to fix things for us. As far as the NA PSN patch, I'm not sure. Might be able to get it up soon, might take a while.

This whole launch has been so depressing. All the bug/patch issues, review codes not going out on time, below expected sales, next to no reviews. I'm seriously debating what I should do next in my life after we try to salvage this - should we try to make another game (and if so, how to finance the thing), should I try to get a regular job with an established video game company, should I just leave the industry all together?

For what it's worth, I honestly don't think you'd have any trouble getting a job at an established game company. Even most established veterans don't have something like Cosmic Star Heroine on their resumes to point to and say "I did the majority of this myself." I mean that'd be super impressive to even the cream of the crop like Naughty Dog, Valve, Bungie, etc.

 

[ramoisdead]

Right we're not going to jump into massive discounts or bundles any time soon, i mean, we just launched.

That's cool. I know these past 4 months have been crowded as hell with great content that other content gets left out of sight sadly. You can always send out Steam coupons in the future to those that own any of your games when you see the schedule lighten up a bit. It can reinvigorate sales and for those who have the game can easily gift the game or coupon to those in their friend's list. Just an idea of course.

I really do hope you guys have some success with this title.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Perhaps stupid question. Why was it not possible to postpone the release a few months since you are developer and publisher. (not meaned as attacking question! just curious)

We had already arranged a date with Sony to participate in their indie promotion so it would have been difficult to change that and would have lost us a lot of goodwill even if we had since the game had already been delayed so much (it was originally supposed to come out at the end of 2015). Also, there's the financial issue (I don't think I could survive another month of no income) and my own sanity (as disappointed as I am with the launch issues, my mental state is so much better now than it was in the few weeks leading up to launch).

That's cool. I know these past 4 months have been crowded as hell with great content that other content gets left out of sight sadly. You can always send out Steam coupons down the line to those that own any of your games when you see the schedule lighten up a bit.

I've said it before, but I think that's just the new normal now. I don't think things are going to die down - there's more games coming out than the market can support.

But yeah, we knew that P5 was going to release close to our game, but then later finding out that Yooka-Laylee, Bayonetta PC, and the Planescape: Torment rerelease were all on the same day wasn't a fun surprise.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Patch is up for NA. Downloading it now.

 

[mstevens]

We had already arranged a date with Sony to participate in their indie promotion so it would have been difficult to change that and would have lost us a lot of goodwill even if we had since the game had already been delayed so much (it was originally supposed to come out at the end of 2015). Also, there's the financial issue (I don't think I could survive another month of no income) and my own sanity (as disappointed as I am with the launch issues, my mental state is so much better now than it was in the few weeks leading up to launch).

Good on you guys for communicating with the masses. I'll pick this up eventually, either on PS4 or on switch if it comes.

Good luck.

 

[Granjinha]

I think Bayonetta was did the most damage, tbh.

Quick question to anyone who has finished the game:

Spoiler

Ok so i want to do all the side-quests before going to the final boss (the big alien ship after you defeat steele). I already did Psybe's one (Rhomu's Lab), Dave's one, Finn's one and now i'm looking for the Clarke side-quest. Can anyone help me with that? Can't find it. Also, besides Chahn's one, is there any other party member that actually has a side-quest?

 

[Gbraga]

Just bought it, I wish you all the success in the world.

Don't give up, Robert!

 

[JPS Kai]

Error downloading Patch 1.02

An erorr occurred on the server.
(HTTP Status Code: 404)
(CE-40852-9)

After waiting a couple of minutes and retrying two or three times, it finally started preparing to download... then errored again.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Error downloading Patch 1.02

An erorr occurred on the server.
(HTTP Status Code: 404)
(CE-40852-9)

After waiting a couple of minutes and retrying two or three times, it finally started preparing to download... then errored again.

Yeah....me too.

I cant get this patch to download.

I hate this because I really hope its not something widespread.

 

[Random_Dude]

I'm downloading the patch with no problems.

Are there any patch notes, btw?

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

I'm downloading the patch with no problems.

Are there any patch notes, btw?

Here are all the Steam patch notes so far. PS4 v1.02 is basically the same as v1.05a plus it has the PS4 dialogue loop fix.

v1.05a (April 17, 2017)
Fixed Gehenna/Nightshade error introduced by previous patch.
Wireless no longer overwrites Boo!'s once-per-battle property.

v1.05 (April 17, 2017)
Poison can no longer kill. This affects both the player characters & enemies. Poison abilities for Lauren & Z'xorv deal a little more damage. This is a buff. This should prevent the "Poison deaths sometimes freeze the game" bug.
Characters can no longer exceed the LV cap (99).
Fixed a bug where recharge was sometimes disabling one-time-use abilities.
Unleash can no longer be recharged mid-combat.
Revive Ray is now properly tagged as a gunmancy ability.
Fixed a bug with equipment that gives the Auto-Revive passive.
Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented the player from returning to Nightshade when they were supposed to be able to.
A specific map in the final dungeon should no longer randomly glitch out.
Swapped time icons for a pair of enemies that were reversed.
Duplicate shopkeeper glitch in Gehenna shelter fixed.
Various map adjustments.
Fixed some more NPC names.

v1.04 (April 14, 2017)
Fixed various map obstruction issues
Fixed various NPC dialogue issues (typos, missing text, incorrect names).
Fixed an issue where travelling to the Asteroid Ruins sometimes messed up the party.
Fixed an issue where you could get stuck in NuBurger if you went there at a specific time.
Fixed pickpocket returning to the map issue in Gehenna
Updated various sound effects
Swamp, casino, and outside waterfall cliff areas now have new ambient music tracks combined with their regular music.

v1.03 (April 13, 2017)
Enemy auto-death at start of battle bug fixed
Psybe sidequest boss fixed
Miscellaneous map fixes
Fixed an issue where ally characters may stop animating
Fix for Alyssa's Speed Stick
Kevin no longer appears on the ship before being recruited

v1.02 (April 13, 2017)
Fixed a bug with the Battle command (for replaying battles) that sometimes would cause bad stuff to happen.

v1.01 (April 12, 2017):
Removed a glitch where Chahn & Dave could appear as NPCs in the Agency HQ after joining your party.
Fixed a possible freeze that sometimes occurs soon after the first lab boss.
Fixed a bug where you could leave Gehenna through the south exit before the Nightshade scenario sequence-breaking the game and leading to major issues later.
Fixed an issue where you could get into an unfinished sidequest that we were planning on releasing later in a free update.

 

[slash000]

Yeah....me too.

I cant get this patch to download.

I hate this because I really hope its not something widespread.

this tends to happen if you try to download a patch like, immediately when it goes live.

It'll get through.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

this tends to happen if you try to download a patch like, immediately when it goes live.

It'll get through.

Yep, you're right. Downloading now.

 

[Mikeside]

Here are all the Steam patch notes so far. PS4 v1.02 is basically the same as v1.05a plus it has the PS4 dialogue loop fix.

v1.05a (April 17, 2017)
Fixed Gehenna/Nightshade error introduced by previous patch.
Wireless no longer overwrites Boo!'s once-per-battle property.

v1.05 (April 17, 2017)
Poison can no longer kill. This affects both the player characters & enemies. Poison abilities for Lauren & Z'xorv deal a little more damage. This is a buff. This should prevent the "Poison deaths sometimes freeze the game" bug.
Characters can no longer exceed the LV cap (99).
Fixed a bug where recharge was sometimes disabling one-time-use abilities.
Unleash can no longer be recharged mid-combat.
Revive Ray is now properly tagged as a gunmancy ability.
Fixed a bug with equipment that gives the Auto-Revive passive.
Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented the player from returning to Nightshade when they were supposed to be able to.
A specific map in the final dungeon should no longer randomly glitch out.
Swapped time icons for a pair of enemies that were reversed.
Duplicate shopkeeper glitch in Gehenna shelter fixed.
Various map adjustments.
Fixed some more NPC names.

v1.04 (April 14, 2017)
Fixed various map obstruction issues
Fixed various NPC dialogue issues (typos, missing text, incorrect names).
Fixed an issue where travelling to the Asteroid Ruins sometimes messed up the party.
Fixed an issue where you could get stuck in NuBurger if you went there at a specific time.
Fixed pickpocket returning to the map issue in Gehenna
Updated various sound effects
Swamp, casino, and outside waterfall cliff areas now have new ambient music tracks combined with their regular music.

v1.03 (April 13, 2017)
Enemy auto-death at start of battle bug fixed
Psybe sidequest boss fixed
Miscellaneous map fixes
Fixed an issue where ally characters may stop animating
Fix for Alyssa's Speed Stick
Kevin no longer appears on the ship before being recruited

v1.02 (April 13, 2017)
Fixed a bug with the Battle command (for replaying battles) that sometimes would cause bad stuff to happen.

v1.01 (April 12, 2017):
Removed a glitch where Chahn & Dave could appear as NPCs in the Agency HQ after joining your party.
Fixed a possible freeze that sometimes occurs soon after the first lab boss.
Fixed a bug where you could leave Gehenna through the south exit before the Nightshade scenario sequence-breaking the game and leading to major issues later.
Fixed an issue where you could get into an unfinished sidequest that we were planning on releasing later in a free update.

Do you know when KS backers will get our eu psn codes?

 

[Granjinha]

I think Bayonetta was did the most damage, tbh.

Quick question to anyone who has finished the game:

Spoiler

Ok so i want to do all the side-quests before going to the final boss (the big alien ship after you defeat steele). I already did Psybe's one (Rhomu's Lab), Dave's one, Finn's one and now i'm looking for the Clarke side-quest. Can anyone help me with that? Can't find it. Also, besides Chahn's one, is there any other party member that actually has a side-quest?

someone pls ;-;

 

[Burt]

someone pls ;-;

Spoiler

I dunno if Clarke has one, although there is a support NPC you can add to your party with him in a thematically appropriate location. Z'xorv is the only character quest you didn't list, I think. He's next to the shuttle on the ship.

 

[Corleth the Fey]

I'm having the same problem trying to download an Uncharted patch. I think it's a general Sony issue not related specifically to this game.

Have the EU version of CSH waiting for a patch on my dashboard. Had to fire it up and play a few minutes of it. Just to hear the music and see the fabulous cutscenes. Thanks Robert and team. You guys will always have my support and respect.

 

[Granjinha]

Spoiler

I dunno if Clarke has one, although there is a support NPC you can add to your party with him in a thematically appropriate location. Z'xorv is the only character quest you didn't list, I think. He's next to the shuttle on the ship.

Spoiler

The Z'xorv sidequest is where you get a bounty hunter for support, right? I did that one.

Just found the Clarke one! Ok, ready to finish this ty

 

[Burt]

Spoiler

The Z'xorv sidequest is where you get a bounty hunter for support, right? I did that one.

Just found the Clarke one! Ok, ready to finish this ty

Did you

Spoiler

talk to the bounty hunter now that he's on your ship? He has a bounty for you.

 

[Timeaisis]

Did you

Spoiler

talk to the bounty hunter now that he's on your ship? He has a bounty for you.

Oh ho ho so there is a quest there. Awesome.

 

[Granjinha]

Did you

Spoiler

talk to the bounty hunter now that he's on your ship? He has a bounty for you.

OHHHHH, that was kinda obvious huh? Thanks!

Also, another question:

Spoiler

I only unlocked 4 slots on my inventory. Do you know how to unlock more?

 

[Burt]

OHHHHH, that was kinda obvious huh? Thanks!

Also, another question:

Spoiler

I only unlocked 4 slots on my inventory. Do you know how to unlock more?

Nah, that's something I wrapped up still wondering about too. Although, to be honest, I think I'd probably like combat less if there were more. 4 keeps things super tight and adds some real decision-making to your combat plans. Maybe they unlock automatically on easier modes?

 

[Random_Dude]

Snip

Thank you very much.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

4 is the max for item slots.

 

[xenorevlis]

Having the same issue with the patch. 404 means missing... update file? lol

Probably a Sony update server issue. Didn't get the update everywhere it needs to be accessible by PSN. Wack.

 

[Granjinha]

Nah, that's something I wrapped up still wondering about too. Although, to be honest, I think I'd probably like combat less if there were more. 4 keeps things super tight and adds some real decision-making to your combat plans. Maybe they unlock automatically on easier modes?

Yeah, i agree. It's super well balanced.

4 is the max for item slots.

I see. Makes sense.

 

[AkelisRain]

Robert, I want you to know that it was your game that changed my thoughts about indie games. Many years back, I wouldn't give it a thought. I was an idiot and thought everyone was just trying to cash in on nostalgia. However, at one point I really wanted to play a RPG. I saw Precipice of darkness and gave it a shot. Ever since then I am more open to trying a lot more games I would have never thought twice on. I believe your game will be successful.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Well, I finally managed to replicate that poison freeze bug that people have been reporting. It appears to be connected to Chahn's Focus attacks. Not sure what exactly is messed up there, but at least now I know what to look at.

 

[graywolf323]

Having the same issue with the patch. 404 means missing... update file? lol

Probably a Sony update server issue. Didn't get the update everywhere it needs to be accessible by PSN. Wack.

same here, had about 4-5 patches download today but this was the only one that had a problem :-/

 

[mauaus]

Was this confirmed for switch