RastaGundam
Member
Whoa, hadn't heard of this game till now, but it's hitting all kinds of right notes for me. Definitely going to check it out soon. Bummed to hear about the sales though
Yep, that's the grim reality of having an "indie-sized" (read: non-existent) marketing budget. Hope you do have a chance to give it a shot; as a debut title, it's got its fair share of flaws and rough edges, but there's something clicking with the few folks who've played it, which is encouraging.
Interesting, that's... not a criticism we've gotten a lot of. To be fair, though, leaning too much on the inky black abyss would get fatiguing for a lot of folks, so we worked hard to create a sense of variety, while keeping things (relatively) "realistic."
It's actually explained in game via VO, but basically we needed to use light to minimize monotony, and to make the game a little less "relentlessly stressful." Also, as the survivor isn't in radio contact with anyone, we needed to use some screens to communicate goals and objectives. For sure it's a little less than "realistic," but, y'know... videogames.
Well, there's not a lot of vertical movement, so you likely won't be frustrated. The core premise is that you're trapped in this bulky suit, pinned down by an ocean's worth of pressure, so it's really more about - ha - gravity, than weightlessness.
In the interest of variety and emotional/intensity spikes, we worked hard to find the right combat-to-exploration ratio - maybe we didn't nail it just right, but (in my opinion, anyway, as the writer) exploration, puzzles and narrative are more of the core, than combat.
Will try throwing some money your way for the x1 version soonish, you guys deserve it!
Thanks, and hope to hear your thoughts if and when you do!
Tried to clarify above, but it's not a matter of "brand loyalty" or reluctance to bring the game to PS4, just a question of resources. We're a 'friends and family-funded,' first time team, and didn't have the engineering resources in house to tackle (any/either) console ourselves. What we did have was a generous offer of an engineer friend who was more comfortable working with Xbox, and had about a year's worth of "spare time" - so, we made that call, and ultimately weren't able to course-correct. As for sales, we've no idea yet how it's selling on Xbox, so who can say? But regardless, it will likely be a little bit before we can really think tackling PlayStation in earnest.
In any case, we're not surprised, nor are we complaining, per se. Rather, just a little saddened to see that - while the game's resonating well with the few folks who've played it, and for reasons they're not expecting - it's not reaching some/any sort of "tipping point." None of us expected to be buying our own tropical islands with the launch of the game, but having put years of work into trying to do something different, it's just a little disheartening to see people watching (and enjoying it) on YouTube/Twitch, and then moving on to the next thing. The conventional wisdom is that if you can get some "big" streamers to play the game, you'll see some sort of sales spike, but - in our case, anyway - that hasn't proven to be true.
Sorry, but no. There are plenty of games that tap into that territory (and do so quite well), but here we really wanted to try and do something "different" and a little more grounded. As an example, we discussed many times having the player fight a giant squid (it's obvious, and obviously awesome). But not only would it have been very, very costly to do, we'd have needed to have it show up more than once (to justify the dev time), and that would have felt... a little silly, you know? We tried to make it feel like the enemies in this game aren't "evil," just attracted to light and heat, and in the mood for a snack.
There is one tiny homage to Lovecraft in the game, but - like a lot of other secrets and Easter eggs - no one's yet picked up on them. References to indie-games, indie-rock, and some just plain weird stuff abounds, nestled within the props and posters in the habitat(s), while some of the other hints are a lot more.... in your face:
