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SLoWMoTIoN
Unconfirmed Member
1 dollar. Specially the 16bit looking ones.
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Rattlehead121
Member
In my opinion, using that percentage line is a bit over the top. Let me give an example.
I refuse to pay 20 bucks for Cuphead on Switch dig. I WILL pay up to 40 bucks for the game phy. It can depend on the game as well. Most switch physicals are $30.
Faenrir
Member
Yes... and i'm obviously not going to produce better level design than on games that had 15 persons working on it and tons of location tests.Fully agree. I'll take it a bit further and say this is not a big problem for developers right now but has been a problem since the 90s.
How can you compete in a genre where the fans are still replaying and enjoying games from 30 years ago? Shmups got "too good" in the sense that they nailed the core gameplay loop pretty early on and just iterated and iterated until you get gems like Espgaluda and Gradius V and Psyvariar 2. That is why they mostly died out. It isn't that "no good shmups are coming out". The problem is all the shmup fans are content to play old retro stuff. I wrote a thing about it almost 2 years ago.
EDIT: to emphasize further, I'd like to point out that one of the most talked about (if not THE most talked about) shmup for "new people to get into the genre" is 19 years old.
That's why i went for a new thing, the mix of shmup and rpg much more akin to hack'n'slash games like Diablo.
There's a big focus on cool and fun boss fights, unique atmosphere and stage variety and a bigger emphasis on story (even though there are only a few cutscenes, we made them to have a big impact).
And that's also why i'm not really targetting regular shmup fans because they want different things and score based level design, etc.
Good points, though but i already thought about it ^^
It's ok hariseldon
we're all here to discuss anyway. I must admit i'm a "gameplay first" guy so never understood collectors.Gtfoh lol.
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Faenrir
Member
DunDunDunpachi
don't be shy and reply 
is the 
because i said i wasn't targeting shmup fans?I'm guessing you like them with that nickname hehe... i like Donpachi over the sequel myself... it's in my top 3 with Musha and Truxton
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DunDunDunpachi
Banned
Nah, in spite of my namesake I've only been a die hard shmup fan for the last several years. I love twin stick shooters, looter shooters, dungeon crawlers, etc just as much. shmup fans do love epic boss fights, and the blending of RPG / roguelike and shmup has been successfully in other games too. I don't know how that would translate to price though.
Faenrir
Member
Yeah i'm trying to figure out what would be the sweet spot because what i want first and foremost is exposure. I want people to play my game because i'm confident they'll have fun so if it's too expensive, i get more per sales but less sales so less word of mouth and spread.
On the other hand, too low and people might think it's a low effort game where the dev isn't confident in it to be good.
I'm kinda like you...$15 is great...over that, it's either exceptional or AA.
Cool then you might just be among my target audience
did you see the store page? (i linked it in my other thread but can't remember if you participated in it).My reference for price really is jamestown. The initial thought was "Jamestown is $15 but has way more animations and has 4-player coop so i must go lower" but that might be stupid tbh. My game has other strengths, the graphics are great and so it could make sense to go about the same price. Tbh i'm kinda torn between 10, 12.5 (not sexy) and 15 right now. 15 with a 10 or 15% launch discount could potentially give a message of "I'm confident the game is good but early birds get a good deal"...i dunno
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DunDunDunpachi
Banned
I took a look but can't try it as I only have a Mac right now. It reminds me of Tyrian 2000 which is meant as high praise. The art style is good on the eyes.Cool then you might just be among my target audience
My reference for price really is jamestown. The initial thought was "Jamestown is $15 but has way more animations and has 4-player coop so i must go lower" but that might be stupid tbh. My game has other strengths, the graphics are great and so it could make sense to go about the same price. Tbh i'm kinda torn between 10, 12.5 (not sexy) and 15 right now. 15 with a 10 or 15% launch discount could potentially give a message of "I'm confident the game is good but early birds get a good deal"...i dunno
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SLoWMoTIoN
Unconfirmed Member
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hariseldon
Unconfirmed Member
So, looking at the Steam page. The title doesn't do much, it's a tad generic. The thumbnail for the video makes it look a bit 8-bit shootery. The first seconds of the video show 8-bit shooter action, looks a bit bullet hell. We switch to a cityscape, but still ultimately a vertical shooter despite the isometric background (a little confusing). 7 seconds in we have a weird tunnel section for 1 second, then back to shooting. 11 seconds we finally start talking about upgrades, problem is they're showing the UI for doing the upgrade but not doing much to indicate what the upgrades do - the UI frankly doesn't look very exciting and isn't what you want to focus on for your video. Maybe you could show the ship using the upgrades or something - sell the sizzle, not the sausage. 40 seconds we finally get to boss fights, which are probably the most interesting bit of the video. Remember how Cuphead's promo stuff was mostly boss fights - those are the bits that show your game's most visually interesting bits. The video is certainly not conveying the message about the game that you're trying to convey on this thread.
Whatever price point you pick, your steam page is not doing its job.
Whatever price point you pick, your steam page is not doing its job.
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Faenrir
Member
@hariseldon thanks for your impressions !
Sadly, i don't have Cuphead's marketing budget and it took me about a month to make and polish that trailer
But as i understand, most people skip parts or look at screenshots right away anyway. So we'll see.
What do you mean when you say 8 bit ? (8 bit is Nintendo NES and Sega Master System)
I really want to thank everyone again for participating in this thread! Hopefully it will help me make the best of my opportunities!
Game on, gaffers!
Sadly, i don't have Cuphead's marketing budget and it took me about a month to make and polish that trailer
But as i understand, most people skip parts or look at screenshots right away anyway. So we'll see.
What do you mean when you say 8 bit ? (8 bit is Nintendo NES and Sega Master System
)I really want to thank everyone again for participating in this thread! Hopefully it will help me make the best of my opportunities!
Game on, gaffers!
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hariseldon
Unconfirmed Member
@hariseldon thanks for your impressions !
Sadly, i don't have Cuphead's marketing budget and it took me about a month to make and polish that trailer
But as i understand, most people skip parts or look at screenshots right away anyway. So we'll see.
What do you mean when you say 8 bit ? (8 bit is Nintendo NES and Sega Master System
Yep - I mean 8 bit, perhaps with the smoothness more associated with 16-bit, but artistically 8-bit. You don't need a big budget to do a decent trailer - put the boss fights up front as the first few seconds have to be good or people will click back, show off the different weapon types, maybe switching shots in time to the beat of the music, that kind of thing.
SupremeHoodie
Member
I don’t buy indie games, I only play them if I get them for free.
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Jeeves
Member
I'll try to avoid the murky topic of what games are "worth" and take the pragmatic of approach of what I will be likely to pay, realistically.
If we're looking at your typical indie game (some sort of 2D spirte-based game I'm sure is what comes to mind here), $20 is pretty much my absolute limit, but I'd prefer to see it more in the neighborhood of $10.
For games with a bit more flair? I'd be willing to buy something like Superhot or Thumper for $25.
For a full 3D game with tons to do and see, such as Subnautica, I'm willing to go up to $35.
Note that I don't necessarily prefer 3D games, but it's common enough knowledge that 2D games are generally cheaper to make that it's a lot easier for those to feel like a ripoff at higher prices.
If we're looking at your typical indie game (some sort of 2D spirte-based game I'm sure is what comes to mind here), $20 is pretty much my absolute limit, but I'd prefer to see it more in the neighborhood of $10.
For games with a bit more flair? I'd be willing to buy something like Superhot or Thumper for $25.
For a full 3D game with tons to do and see, such as Subnautica, I'm willing to go up to $35.
Note that I don't necessarily prefer 3D games, but it's common enough knowledge that 2D games are generally cheaper to make that it's a lot easier for those to feel like a ripoff at higher prices.
KingdomHeartsFan
Member
I'm still waiting for that physical release. They said they are waiting for all the DLC to come out so the physical release will have everything on the disc so I don't mind.
Alexios
Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
An "indie game" can be a hobby project or a studio production, it can be a walking sim with barely any content or an elaborate sandbox action adventure, how can you put a price on it just by it being indie? Same for not-indies, both the intended pricing and how people value one varies per game.
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