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Kickstarter: Project Rap Rabbit (Parappa x Gitaroo Man creators)

Quonny

Member
Super niche genre

Game would sell at least 100k copies at $20 on PS4 and PC. It's foolish to think otherwise. The spiritual successor to Parappa not selling 100k copies across two of the largest platforms? Come on.

They're going this route because they can get away with it, or like another poster said, they want to control the IP.
 

MisterR

Member
So I guess this thread is going to turn into another one about why isn't this on the Switch. I can't wait for the Switch mania to cool down on Neogaf so that every thread doesn't become Swich Port Beg, the thread.
 

BiggNife

Member
Backed it because Ive wanted another Inis Rhythm game for like ten years.

And a million really isn't much money for a game these days. The myth that most downloadable games cost $300k tops is a load of bullshit.
 
Because there's a bunch of stuff in between, including more levels, multi-language translations and an Xbone version. You can argue the order of platforms, or prioritising expanding the game itself over the number of platforms but they are not suggesting that they need $4 million for a Switch version, even if people want to take it that way.

Great point. It might not literally cost that much, but they probably weighed the benefits and costs of certain features and decided this was the best order to prioritize the stretch goals in. At the end of the day, they probably felt from their perspective one fuller game on one or two platforms is preferable to a barer game on multiple. Like the language localizations alone would open the game up to a bunch of potential markets.
 
My friend brought up a good point here:

g12ECLW.png

Yeah, but porting from PC/ PS4 to X1 is probably cheaper than to Switch, so they wouldn't need to sell as many copies of an X1 version for it to make sense financially.

Plus there's a ton of people in America who will associate this with Parappa, not "Japanese culture."
 
Why is this a Kickstarter and not just straight up funded by Sony?

Oh, right, because they (probably) can get away with it.

smh

Also LOL @ 15% of your game's content being for kickstarter backers only.
Game would sell at least 100k copies at $20 on PS4 and PC. It's foolish to think otherwise. The spiritual successor to Parappa not selling 100k copies across two of the largest platforms? Come on.

They're going this route because they can get away with it, or like another poster said, they want to control the IP.

Why does this come across as if game devs having complete control of their IPs and being independent of a publisher is a bad thing?
 

Brazil

Living in the shadow of Amaz
Yeah, but porting from PC/ PS4 to X1 is probably cheaper than to Switch, so they wouldn't need to sell as many copies of an X1 version for it to make sense financially.

Plus there's a ton of people in America who will associate this with Parappa, not "Japanese culture."

I don't know about that.
 

MudoSkills

Volcano High Alumnus (Cum Laude)
I know details are sparse at this point but it's disappointing that this seems to be taking the more basic gameplay route from PaRappa rather than the more varied/interesting stuff that iNis have done.

I was hyped for this, but really all I want is a sequel to Gitaroo Man.
 

Deft Beck

Member
Yeah, something like a backer-only costume is fine but to have 1/7th of the game potentially locked behind a campaign that not everyone will be able to pledge to is a bit much. Hopefully it would be DLC down the line for everyone else.

That's what I didn't like about the Amplitude KS campaign. Please stop doing this, developers.

I know details are sparse at this point but it's disappointing that this seems to be taking the more basic gameplay route from PaRappa rather than the more varied/interesting stuff that iNis have done.

I was hyped for this, but really all I want is a sequel to Gitaroo Man.

I think we'd need a third party indie dev to make a spiritual successor, at this rate.
 
I know details are sparse at this point but it's disappointing that this seems to be taking the more basic gameplay route from PaRappa rather than the more varied/interesting stuff that iNis have done.

I was hyped for this, but really all I want is a sequel to Gitaroo Man.

I mean the rap battle system doesn't seem too basic. You can pick the lyrics during the battle which seems kinda interesting.
 
Not liking some of those tiers. An exclusive stage for backers? That doesn't sit well with me. Also Switch version being at the top is strange to me. Seems like the kinda game that people would love on the machine. They aren't reaching some of these stretch goals, and thats a shame.
 

SenkiDala

Member
5 million to come to Switch is ridiculous. Why even bother?

Yeah... It's the version I'd want to buy, and they're not gonna make it...

I mean sure, Parappa is cool, but it's sooo niche... It's not that popular or hype or anything, and they're asking 2,5x more than the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter, for a god damn Switch version...

I think they highly overestimate their popularity.
 

Deft Beck

Member
I mean the rap battle system doesn't seem too basic. You can pick the lyrics during the battle which seems kinda interesting.

Does that mean that the game will be in both Japanese and English? The design images are in Japanese, and obviously they'd have to rewrite things to fit each language.
 
it's not about devkits, it's about publishing rights.

At only ~ 1 million this game probably will be published by Sony. So they need at least 3 millions to be fully independent.

The Kickstarter already states that the game is being published by PQube, which is why the news/rumour of the game existing broke on Rice Digital, as did the news of the Kickstarter, which went live simulatenously on PS Blog and Rice Digital: http://www.ricedigital.co.uk/project-rap-rabbit-kickstarter-campaign-now-live-gameplay-detailed/
 

Quonny

Member
That's fine, but you always have the option to let other people fund it and wait until it's out.

Of course. I never said the game shouldn't exist, nor that it shouldn't be on Kickstarter at all. I simply stated that the reason of 'oh it's niche and won't sell' is a poor excuse for it to be on Kickstarter, because there's no way in hell this won't sell more than $1.5 million worth of copies, assuming it's a good game.

Oh, and locking 1/7 of your game for backers only is a shit move.
 
This looks... disappointing. The art is ugly, the game is expensive, and it doesn't sound fun.

Obviously it's really way too early to make a call on the gameplay, just that from the description it looks way too simplistic and way too complicated all at the same time. Maybe it'll work in practice, but this isn't a risk I'm prepared to throw thirty quid at.

Will buy it when it comes out, impressions permitting.
 
We'll see if it gets funded but I could give a fuck less about a switch version. I wouldn't buy it on switch even if it were available because I prefer physical copies of games and the wonderful switch tax kinda fucks with that possibility. Plus trophies and stuff I guess.

I guess I understand why so many people in here are crying about it, because they would prefer to play it portably. I don't like portables personally, my switch is probably going to be docked forever.
 
I agree that Switch stretch goal is ridiculous, but come on, PS4 will have sold over 80 million units by the time this game comes out. PaRappa and Gitaroo Man are only on Playstation. Potential user base is obviously there.

Steam + PS4 make total sense, but XBO before Switch? Good luck LOL. I don't know who thought that was a good idea
 

Camjo-Z

Member
This looks... disappointing. The art is ugly, the game is expensive, and it doesn't sound fun.

Obviously it's really way too early to make a call on the gameplay, just that from the description it looks way too simplistic and way too complicated all at the same time. Maybe it'll work in practice, but this isn't a risk I'm prepared to throw thirty quid at.

Will buy it when it comes out, impressions permitting.

For me this sounds like the next evolution of call-and-response rhythm gameplay that was missing in PaRappa 2, taking the freestyle aspect of that game and making it so you can actually freestyle rather than simply mash random syllables and words together.
 

oti

Banned
Switch goal is absolutely ridiculous, put X1 there and PS4 should be where the X1 goal is, Switch should be priority. Portability here would be tits, but devs just want Nintendo to fail like always

Have devs not seen that Lego City Undercover and Puyo Puyo Tetris have done great on Switch? People don't just want Nintendo first party games

It's all a big conspiracy, man!
 
Use that Switch hype to get that $5 Mil......... yeah I don't see that happening.

I really want this to exist and to be good, but I'm definitely optimistic, backed at the physical tier for now.
 

soultron

Banned
They badly need a gameplay video for this. It'd sell the game to a wider audience than seeing 2 talking heads that might not hold significance to any given viewer. It'd work really well to share around on social media too.

The funding growth seems really slow for this right now, out of the gate.
 
For me this sounds like the next evolution of call-and-response rhythm gameplay that was missing in PaRappa 2, taking the freestyle aspect of that game and making it so you can actually freestyle rather than simply mash random syllables and words together.

It'll be interesting to see how it works out, but the way it's described it just doesn't sound fun. Mess around with convoluted button combinations during their phase, then overly-simplified beat-matching gameplay on yours. Like, the idea (proper rap battles) sounds great on paper, but on that same paper the actual way they've handled it sounds horrible.

As I say, really too early to say whether this works or not, but they've not done enough to convince me to back it, and that's not gonna change without some gameplay footage in the next 30 days.
 

Camjo-Z

Member
They badly need a gameplay video for this. It'd sell the game to a wider audience than seeing 2 talking heads that might not hold significance to any given viewer. It'd work really well to share around on social media too.

The funding growth seems really slow for this right now, out of the gate.

Yeah, when your game is selling itself on its music and innovative gameplay... might be a good idea to actually show that to prospective backers!

It'll be interesting to see how it works out, but the way it's described it just doesn't sound fun. Mess around with convoluted button combinations during their phase, then overly-simplified beat-matching gameplay on yours. Like, the idea (proper rap battles) sounds great on paper, but on that same paper the actual way they've handled it sounds horrible.

As I say, really too early to say whether this works or not, but they've not done enough to convince me to back it, and that's not gonna change without some gameplay footage in the next 30 days.

From what I understand the gameplay works like this:

Enemy Rap Phase - Press one of the four face buttons to choose one of his words to focus your next rap on, and choose between four emotions with the analog stick to further customize your lyrics.
Your Rap Phase - Perform your chosen rap in typical rhythm game button-tapping style, while the added option to switch between emotions mid-rap for higher scores.

It doesn't seem that complicated to me, but I can understand the apprehension without any gameplay footage to make a concrete judgement.
 
They badly need a gameplay video for this. It'd sell the game to a wider audience than seeing 2 talking heads that might not hold significance to any given viewer. It'd work really well to share around on social media too.

The funding growth seems really slow for this right now, out of the gate.

Another dev that didn't learn anything from high-profile Kickstarter failures like Red Ash, it seems. Shame.
 

GoaThief

Member
My friend brought up a good point here:

g12ECLW.png
Not really a good point. If porting to the Switch was as easy as XB1 there might be one, maybe... but accounting for the different architecture, learning all the ins and out of the system, the amount of pruning and scaling back needed, man hours and everything it all adds up.

I doubt I'll be backing as it's not really my thing but I like their honest approach and realistic goals, even if they're somewhat higher than others. I dislike disingenuous Kickstarters and this refreshingly does not appear to be one. I wish them luck and hope all the people who have been clamouring for a new Parappa game pony up to get the next best thing (which looks even better if you ask me).
 

Kaako

Felium Defensor
Just a bit more patience on the gampelay video. They just announced the kickstarter today after all lol.
 

soultron

Banned
Yeah, when your game is selling itself on its music and innovative gameplay... might be a good idea to actually show that to prospective backers!

I love the video that they did make, but that's something that you release further down your KS campaign, IMO. Not first thing and certainly not before gameplay.
 
Not really a good point. If porting to the Switch was as easy as XB1 there might be one, maybe... but accounting for the different architecture, learning all the ins and out of the system, the amount of pruning and scaling back needed, man hours and everything it all adds up.

Which are all considerations when porting to the XBO. I swear some of you see x86 and think porting is trivial compared to to ARM, like these devs are all coding to the metal or something
 
Enemy Rap Phase - Press one of the four face buttons to choose one of his words to focus your next rap on, and choose between four emotions with the analog stick to further customize your lyrics.

It doesn't seem that complicated to me, but I can understand the apprehension without any gameplay footage to make a concrete judgement.

I think it's number of variables that makes it sound complicated, for me. Which word do you focus on, then which emotion do you focus on, and if there are say 16 possible combinations for every line they sing then you're basically in a guessing game as to what's going to happen with each of them. That, or you just have to choose stuff like "laugh" towards the end of every song to do the most damage like I think it implies, which kinda just removes the point of your input because there's always a "correct" answer based on where the enemy's health sits. Is that too much to deal with, too little?

I barely even know what I'm talking about at this point, which is probably a failure on their part.

On the plus side, at least I don't give a shit whether it comes to Switch or not.
 
Of course. I never said the game shouldn't exist, nor that it shouldn't be on Kickstarter at all. I simply stated that the reason of 'oh it's niche and won't sell' is a poor excuse for it to be on Kickstarter, because there's no way in hell this won't sell more than $1.5 million worth of copies, assuming it's a good game.
Though you're probably right I think it's debatable. Regardless, I think wanting to keep control of your IP and not having any publisher interference is reason enough to be on Kickstarter.

Oh, and locking 1/7 of your game for backers only is a shit move.
Agreed, but a separate issue.
 
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