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Undertale at nearly 1 million copies sold (SteamSpy)

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Phrozenflame500

Member
Robert at Zeboyd Games said:
Undertale is like the anti-JRPG of games.
Click to expand...

It is really weird, since this is probably one of the biggest reasons I like it so much. I really dislike traditional turn-based JRPG combat and despise grinding. The fact Undertale stripped literally all of it out made the game way more appealing.

Then again a lot of it's fanbase seems to intersect with the Earthbound-like crowd so maybe I'm just an outlier.

Anyways, it's nice to see the game hit 1 mill. It really exploded in popularity way faster then anybody expected.
 
E

EricDiesel

Member
Well deserved. Toby Fox seems like a really genuine, nice person. I'm glad this was a success for him. Also I like the game quite a bit. I hope he eventually makes another game.
 
D

DNAbro

Member
Phrozenflame500 said:
It is really weird, since this is probably one of the biggest reasons I like it so much. I really dislike traditional turn-based JRPG combat and despise grinding. The fact Undertale stripped literally all of it out made the game way more appealing.

Then again a lot of it's fanbase seems to intersect with the Earthbound-like crowd so maybe I'm just an outlier.

Anyways, it's nice to see the game hit 1 mill. It really exploded in popularity way faster then anybody expected.
Click to expand...

JRPGs are my favorite genre and Undertale pretty much got rid of all the things I hate in JRPGs. The second a grind is needed in a game, it usually deters me from playing unless I am REALLY enjoying it or if there is a lower difficulty setting/easy way to level. I also dislike creating builds most of the time, only game I really liked customizing my characters intensely was Bravely Default and I think that game has tons of problems. Not to mention it doesn't outstay it's welcome like I feel most rpgs do.
 
Ultimadrago

Ultimadrago

Member
Robert at Zeboyd Games said:
"I have played so many RPGs that the basic motions (keep your party buffed and use the enemy's weakness) aren't fun to me now. To keep myself interested, I need to have something else. That's where a interactive battle system comes in. You know, the kind pioneered by Super Mario RPG. But I wanted something more complex than pressing a button at a certain time. So -- inspired by Touhou and WarioWare -- I created a system of bite-sized bullet patterns."

Those kinds of battle systems are a pet peeve of mine - most of the time, they feel like they're trying to cover up a lack of strategic depth with mini-games & reflex-based actions (exception: Shadow Hearts is great). Undertale's combat is a bit different in that there's no traditional RPG strategy at all - each battle is a self-contained text-based puzzle mixed with a shmup.
Click to expand...

Apologies for my stealth edit, the thoughts are the same though. Man, that excerpt indeed details it even more than the Game Informer's sit-down call I was referencing. But aye, he does nix out some of the basics entirely in favor of doing something different.

Combat's not the only place it shows either. I couldn't believe that only one area would
buy your stuff! And it's the town of stupid things that don't know any better.
I'm sure that decision is more done out of humor than game philosophy, but it was something. I laughed at myself more than anything when faced with the dismissive quotes within. As if the player is crazy to have expected it.
 
N

NipplesAndToes23

Member
Surprised it didn't reach it already with as much as I've seen it around the internet, I'd think more than 1 million people on the whole planet have played it.
 
D

Dio

Banned
Blasian Persuasion said:
Surprised it didn't reach it already with as much as I've seen it around the internet, I'd think more than 1 million people on the whole planet have played it.
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Well, considering many popular let's players have already LPed the entire game from start to finish, I get the feeling that a sizable portion of people have already got their fill from Youtube.
 
A

Alvarez

Banned
While it may be true that Undertale is a resounding success, how much of that success can be attributed to Tumblr (the company) buying out 999,999 of the copies in order to advertise itself (as Undertale is clearly just a massive advertisement for Tumblr)? Nobody had even heard of Tumblr before Undertale launch.

There's also significant evidence that Anita Sarkeesian purchased over 5 billion copies of Undertale in order to continue to push Undertale's misandrist agenda, further skewing the numbers. In fact, I am going to make a YouTube video criticizing Anita for this right now.

Furthermore, some people are saying that Undertale's exploitation of memes, humor, and gameplay has drawn the attentions of Reddit, 4chan, and Anonymous--who knows how many sales THOSE websites have drawn in?! Those aren't real gamers.

Is it any surprise that a somewhat decent game, when released on a platform as dead and deceased as the PC, will be purchased by all PC users in an attempt to keep PC gaming alive? Of course not. One thing is for sure: I'm going to blame Undertale's success on Tumblr, Anita Sarkeesian, memes, Reddit, 4chan, people who disagree with me on NeoGAF, the instructor of that course I dropped out of, the government, and BioWare.
 
R

Robert at Zeboyd Games

Banned
To everyone saying that 1 million doesn't seem like a lot, Shovel Knight has only sold about 334k on Steam according to SteamSpy. Transistor is at 888k. Those are both games that have been out longer as well.
 
N

NipplesAndToes23

Member
Robert at Zeboyd Games said:
To everyone saying that 1 million doesn't seem like a lot, Shovel Knight has only sold about 334k on Steam according to SteamSpy. Transistor is at 888k. Those are both games that have been out longer as well.
Click to expand...

The fuck? How is Shovel Knight so popular if only a tiny amount have played it? There are cities with more people than that. Is that including Wii U, and PSN sales?
 
S

Sgt.Pepper

Banned
Robert at Zeboyd Games said:
Just goes to show that if you want a huge indie success, story & characters are the way to do it.
Click to expand...

what about world of goo, super meat boy, isaac

they are pretty much "gameplay" (mechanics) heavy games


if anything it just goes to show there are many types of games that are viable nowadays without bending to publishers
 
F

Fat4all

Banned
Alvarez said:
While it may be true that Undertale is a resounding success, how much of that success can be attributed to Tumblr (the company) buying out 999,999 of the copies in order to advertise itself (as Undertale is clearly just a massive advertisement for Tumblr)? Nobody had even heard of Tumblr before Undertale launch.

There's also significant evidence that Anita Sarkeesian purchased over 5 billion copies of Undertale in order to continue to push Undertale's misandrist agenda, further skewing the numbers. In fact, I am going to make a YouTube video criticizing Anita for this right now.

Furthermore, some people are saying that Undertale's exploitation of memes, humor, and gameplay has drawn the attentions of Reddit, 4chan, and Anonymous--who knows how many sales THOSE websites have drawn in?! Those aren't real gamers.

Is it any surprise that a somewhat decent game, when released on a platform as dead and deceased as the PC, will be purchased by all PC users in an attempt to keep PC gaming alive? Of course not. One thing is for sure: I'm going to blame Undertale's success on Tumblr, Anita Sarkeesian, memes, Reddit, 4chan, people who disagree with me on NeoGAF, the instructor of that course I dropped out of, the government, and BioWare.
Click to expand...

fo14.gif
 
M

Maximo

Member
Undertale is only on PC, these are only the Steam sales of the game they don't include the Copies from his website, nor do they count towards the sales of the people who originally backed the game. For what the game is I would say thats very impressive, it hasn't received any Sales and hasn't been on the market for very long.
 
A

Alvarez

Banned
Blasian Persuasion said:
The fuck? How is Shovel Knight so popular if only a tiny amount have played it? There are cities with more people than that. Is that including Wii U, and PSN sales?
Click to expand...

One word: livestreaming. Platforms like Twitch and YouTube allow people to experience and become part of the culture of games without actually purchasing or playing them.

And that's not exactly a bad thing. My friend, for example, loves watching SOMA and Outlast streams--but she'd never be able to play those games herself.
 
R

Robert at Zeboyd Games

Banned
Sgt.Pepper said:
what about world of goo, super meat boy, isaac

they are pretty much "gameplay" (mechanics) heavy games

if anything it just goes to show there are many types of games that are viable nowadays without bending to publishers
Click to expand...

World of Goo & Super Meat Boy were released when the indie boom was just starting and just having a really good game was enough to get noticed. And Isaac had the huge advantage of the developer having a big fan base already thanks to his work on Super Meat Boy.

Anyway, my point wasn't that story & characters is the only way to gain mainstream success, just that it's arguably the most reliable route to getting noticed these days.
 
O

Orayn

Member
Maximo said:
Undertale is only on PC, these are only the Steam sales of the game they don't include the Copies from his website, nor do they count towards the sales of the people who originally backed the game. For what the game is I would say thats very impressive, it hasn't received any Sales and hasn't been on the market for very long.
Click to expand...

It went down to $8 for the Steam winter sale but that's the only one it's had.
 
P

petethepanda

Member
Well deserved.

It'll get lost in the middle of the thread, but in case anyone on the fence sees this: The game doesn't at all rely on knowledge of 90s JRPGs or anything like that. Think of it like the Scott Pilgrim vs The World movie. There are a couple little nods here and there, but nothing overt, and it 100% works without any knowledge of anything it might be tipping its hat to.

Edit: It's very cool to see a small game like this with a Big Internet Following actually do well, it's clearly connecting with a more mainstream audience than many people give it credit for.
 
O

Omadahl

Banned
I wish I enjoyed it as much as others. I can understand why, but the combat just kills my enjoyment entirely. I hate bullet hell/schmups and starting with a pacifist run was torture. I got all the way to the end and simply quit. I don't want to grind out the armor either.
 
F

Fat4all

Banned
Omadahl said:
I wish I enjoyed it as much as others. I can understand why, but the combat just kills my enjoyment entirely. I hate bullet hell/schmups and starting with a pacifist run was torture. I got all the way to the end and simply quit. I don't want to grind out the armor either.
Click to expand...

Just so you know about the Armor, there's a system in place to get the armor easier:

The more times you die after the Temmie armor becomes available to purchase, the cheaper it gets. Within a relatively small period of time, you can buy it for 1,000G instead of 9,999G.

If you are having a lot of problems with the bullet hell sections, then yeah I'd recommend the armor, it's OP as fuck.
 
D

DeadPhoenix

Member
Robert at Zeboyd Games said:
"I have played so many RPGs that the basic motions (keep your party buffed and use the enemy's weakness) aren't fun to me now. To keep myself interested, I need to have something else. That's where a interactive battle system comes in. You know, the kind pioneered by Super Mario RPG. But I wanted something more complex than pressing a button at a certain time. So -- inspired by Touhou and WarioWare -- I created a system of bite-sized bullet patterns."

Those kinds of battle systems are a pet peeve of mine - most of the time, they feel like they're trying to cover up a lack of strategic depth with mini-games & reflex-based actions (exception: Shadow Hearts is great). Undertale's combat is a bit different in that there's no traditional RPG strategy at all - each battle is a self-contained text-based puzzle mixed with a shmup.
Click to expand...

This so much(including the part about shadow hearts... although I personally would have preferred it to not have reflex attack mechanic). Paper Mario TYD battles were just as easy(if not easier) then SMRPG, but I had to keep extra focus just to do the timing minigames(which make you pretty much unkillable).

Anyways, this topic is about UT. So yeah, this is great news, the more people who play it the better and IMO, Toby has earned it. Just wish I had gotten in during the KSer.
 
S

Sophia

Member
Robert at Zeboyd Games said:
"I have played so many RPGs that the basic motions (keep your party buffed and use the enemy's weakness) aren't fun to me now. To keep myself interested, I need to have something else. That's where a interactive battle system comes in. You know, the kind pioneered by Super Mario RPG. But I wanted something more complex than pressing a button at a certain time. So -- inspired by Touhou and WarioWare -- I created a system of bite-sized bullet patterns."

Those kinds of battle systems are a pet peeve of mine - most of the time, they feel like they're trying to cover up a lack of strategic depth with mini-games & reflex-based actions (exception: Shadow Hearts is great). Undertale's combat is a bit different in that there's no traditional RPG strategy at all - each battle is a self-contained text-based puzzle mixed with a shmup.
Click to expand...

I've thought about it before, but reading your post really makes me think of Undertale as more of an adventure game in the guise of an RPG. The battles are self-contained, with an emphasis on the humor and identity of the monster you're fighting/sparing, rather then a long term tactical fight as you usually see in RPGs. It's especially noticeable in any of the game's boss battles. The multiple routes, story heavy focus, and short length of the game only support this, in a sense.

At any rate, those million sales are definitely deserved. It's a fantastic game with some pretty memorable characters and story. A very wide range of appeal too.
 
Z

Zubz

Banned
Oh wow. Toby definitely deserves this level of success, but goshdamn, is it good to know he's sold 1,000,000 copies in about 4 months!

Here's to his next project, whatever that may be!
 
G

GatticusFinch

Member
Robert at Zeboyd Games said:
World of Goo & Super Meat Boy were released when the indie boom was just starting and just having a really good game was enough to get noticed. And Isaac had the huge advantage of the developer having a big fan base already thanks to his work on Super Meat Boy.

Anyway, my point wasn't that story & characters is the only way to gain mainstream success, just that it's arguably the most reliable route to getting noticed these days.
Click to expand...

You have a particular problem because of the genre of games you make--2d RPGs are flooding kickstarter and mobile and the vast majority of them are garbage and it's hard to distinguish one from the other via screenshots and trailers. I don't know how you stand out from the pack when all the games look similar other than story and characters, which you obviously did with Cthulu and now have that track record to build off of. I doubt an original IP fantasy, 2d RPG From an indie dev could easily get off the ground these days.
 
F

Fireblend

Banned
Super well deserved. My 2015 GOTY (even though there were a lot of other excellent choices) and biggest surprise by far. Toby Fox created a real gem here.
 
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