• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Jools Watsham: Chicken Wiggle in 22 days sold half of what Xeodrifter did in 1 Day

Mistake 1:calling it "Chicken Wiggle"

Why the fuck would I play a game called Chicken Wiggle?

Not a very appealing name...

Bad title

That name makes me think of mobile shovelware lol.

From what I've heard the game is really fun, but the title gives me Wii shovelware era vibes

....Probably because its called chicken wiggle

Bad title

Also a naming failure

I think the name of the game sounding like shovelware doesn't help.

...yeah pretty bad name.


Probably one not called Chicken Wiggle

Hahah, not often do you see such unanimity on GAF.

By the way, this is probably as good a place to ask as anywhere else. I'm making a game that's a bit like Rampage (destroy buildings / tanks / planes) where the players control mecha that transform into mythological creatures . The tentative title is Mechanical Legend, but I'm not a native English speaker and some friends of mine who are have told me it soulds pretty generic / forgettable. Thoughts? Alternative ideas for the title?
 

nbraun80

Member
Hahah, not often do you see such unanimity on GAF.

By the way, this is probably as good a place to ask as anywhere else. I'm making a game that's a bit like Rampage (destroy buildings / tanks / planes) where the players control mecha that transform into mythological creatures . The tentative title is Mechanical Legend, but I'm not a native English speaker and some friends of mine who are have told me it soulds pretty generic / forgettable. Thoughts? Alternative ideas for the title?
yeah the word mchanical probably makes people think of like a mechanic or handyman more than actual Mechs. You could use the word Mech and something catchy after like Mech Madness, or even something like Robo Rampage.
 

LOLDSFAN

Member
It's already been stated a million times but:

#1 Horrible name
#2 No marketing (just now hearing about this)
#3 $15 for a pixel art platformer.

Also it's not the first time one of Watsham's things have failed. See Cult County lol.
 

vareon

Member
I heard nothing about Chicken Wiggle, not from Nintendo, not from any gaming publication or Youtube channels I follow.

Edit: Not to mention that "atooi" isn't a very good name IMO so "Atooi releases Chicken Wiggle" isn't going to command any attention at all.
 
The tentative title is Mechanical Legend, but I'm not a native English speaker and some friends of mine who are have told me it soulds pretty generic / forgettable. Thoughts? Alternative ideas for the title?

From Mecha to Mythical. Folklore Fighters. Mythical Madness. Imagination Devestation.
 

KingBroly

Banned
He needs to learn how to market his games.

He keeps complaining about sales, but it's not my fault if I never hear about it until a month after it's been out
 

@MUWANdo

Banned
As someone who's been aware of this game since it was announced, here's my take: the supposed hook for this game is the level editor and it's something that was emphasised from day one but that's putting the cart before the horse: if people aren't already invested in your game and aren't already sure it'll be fun, they won't care that it has UGC and it won't factor into their decision to buy the game, nor will people factor it into their decision vis-a-vis price.

Take away the editor and what's left? A run-of-the-mill puzzle-platformer that does nothing to recommend itself over the multitude of puzzle-platformers already available for 3DS, save for a higher price tag and an apparently awful name.

Renegade Kid's games have always been overpriced but more than that, they just aren't great games--they've always been very generic, check-the-box experiences that rarely do anything novel or exciting and don't compare favourably to similar games by other developers.

I've always followed Jools' work because I respect his passion and his willingness to share his experiences with the eShop but he obviously got lucky with Mutant Mudds and he can't expect to repeat that success again without qualitative improvements to his output.

RE: the 3DS as a viable platform, I don't think it's as unviable as this thread makes it out to be (especially in Japan) but this is exactly the wrong game at the wrong time. There's still an audience on 3DS for the typical Inti Creates game, for example, but not for a casual puzzle-platformer at a premium price.
 

Stopdoor

Member
Hahah, not often do you see such unanimity on GAF.

By the way, this is probably as good a place to ask as anywhere else. I'm making a game that's a bit like Rampage (destroy buildings / tanks / planes) where the players control mecha that transform into mythological creatures . The tentative title is Mechanical Legend, but I'm not a native English speaker and some friends of mine who are have told me it soulds pretty generic / forgettable. Thoughts? Alternative ideas for the title?

Personally I think that's a cool name, but I can see how it might not be memorable. Some of the other suggestions by people here are even worse I think, lol, like Mech Madness. If the game is good and has high quality art/logo, it might make up for an iffy title. It's not as bad as Chicken Wiggle, probably.
 
The userbase of a system at the end of its life cycle is likely not the best market for an indie game like this where people may have to be more "plugged in" to be aware of it.
 

jackal27

Banned
As someone who reviewed it, Chicken Wiggle is a very, very excellent game and deserves to be played. The portable Mario Maker-type level creation game we deserved.

The name is actually similar to "Banjo-Kazooie" in that the 2 characters are named Chicken and Wiggle respectively. Still not ideal though :/
 

paulogy

Member
Better names for Chicken Wiggle:
Chick & Wiggle
Chicken with a backpack with a worm in it
Cluck & Grub
Wiccan Chiggle
Wormonic Cluckmando

Better names for Mechanical Legend:
Robo Kaiju
Kaijubots
Robo Rampage
Mechanical Spirits
 
"Chicken-Worm". How does that sound?



The double "D's" in the title caught my eye.
2be6ee1d7b2ea493b260864746ed4b33--mudd-the-mud.jpg
 

EraErr0r1

Member
As already iterated several times in this thread:

1. Terrible name.
2. No marketing.
3. Digital only e-shop is dead as a platform on 3DS.
4. $15 is a far excessive price.
5. Saturation of the genre on the platform.

Chicken Wiggle was dead on arrival. Jools is capable of some fantastic titles but certainly needs to learn to read the market. This is far from his first mistake.
 

Saikyo

Member
Hahah, not often do you see such unanimity on GAF.

By the way, this is probably as good a place to ask as anywhere else. I'm making a game that's a bit like Rampage (destroy buildings / tanks / planes) where the players control mecha that transform into mythological creatures . The tentative title is Mechanical Legend, but I'm not a native English speaker and some friends of mine who are have told me it soulds pretty generic / forgettable. Thoughts? Alternative ideas for the title?

Mech Mayhem?
 

TheYanger

Member
As someone who reviewed it, Chicken Wiggle is a very, very excellent game and deserves to be played. The portable Mario Maker-type level creation game we deserved.

The name is actually similar to "Banjo-Kazooie" in that the 2 characters are named Chicken and Wiggle respectively. Still not ideal though :/

I mean, Banjo Kazooie would probably be a bad name for an indie 2d platformer today too, but it was Rare, Nintendo, AAA on a platform with relatively few in that era, and before indy saturation existed. It's also STILL better than Chicken Wiggle which is a bit too on the nose (Even if banjos are objects and kazoos are object, it's certainly more exotic sounding in combination). This is much more similar to if Banjo Kazooie was named Bear Flap or something.
 

Demicore

Member
FROM THE NAMING CONVENTION THAT BROUGHT YOU OCTODAD DADLIEST CATCH AND COW EVOLUTION

HERE IS CHICKEN WIGGLE

who the f would buy a game named chicken wiggle wtf

Cracked me up, thanks for that :D

I think the gaf hivemind is right about the reasons for this failure. Sad to see good indie devs hitting a rough patch, but it probably could have been avoided and will hopefully serve as a lesson for the future.
 
will hopefully serve as a lesson for the future.

A few years ago, he also blamed the lower sales of Dementium 2 over its predecessor on piracy, when the obvious culprits were people having had enough with the first one and releasing at the end of the DS' life cycle. He has a tendency to think if he likes his games then logically they should sell, so he still hasn't learned that lesson.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
A few years ago, he also blamed the lower sales of Dementium 2 over its predecessor on piracy, when the obvious culprits were people having had enough with the first one and releasing at the end of the DS' life cycle. He has a tendency to think if he likes his games then logically they should sell, so he still hasn't learned that lesson.

Yeah...this isnt something new. Ignoring market realities and the blaming the system/audience for not showing up.

Obv. i wish him success with its games...but you have to see whats out there, many Indie games sell lackluster on Steam even when they are high quality games. Dropping something like Chicken Wiggle on a 6 year old plattform without any type of marketing...and he expects people just to show up ?
 
What happened to Dementium II 3DS, btw?

Dementium bombed so it was shelved, but more importantly, it's not with Jools at Atooi, when Renegade Kid closed down, they split the companies between 2D IPs, which Atooi got, and 3D. Infitizmo owns Dementium now. So you'd have to look them up to see if they plan to do anything.
 

RpgN

Junior Member
Having enjoyed Mutant Mudds games and Xeodrifter on the 3DS, I was looking forward to Chicken Wiggle. It looks fun, even if it doesn't do many new things.

The problem is when I saw the price of €15. Calling it overpriced would be an understatement. €10 would have been more sensible even if it's still a lot for 2D indie platformers of this type.

I'm going to wait for a decent sale. €10 is a nice start, but it needs to go lower.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Oh...this game is 15€ too ? Damn....
You would think people would have learned something from Gunman Clives performance.

Indie games are a sales driven industry....unless you can deliver something like Shovel Knight, people arent dropping 15€ for a new IP/game called Chicken Wiggle.
 
Just went to the blog post, apart from the terrible name the artwork is a turnoff too.

Should rename and change that if he's porting it to other platforms.
 

Lonely1

Unconfirmed Member
I believe that lack of promotion is also part of the 3DS vs Switch situation. You are more likely to get coverage and even a GAF thread for your game if its a Switch release.
 
Chicken Wiggle? Seriously? Who came up with that name? Sounds like kiddie shovelware that couldn't even afford the license from that horrible Chicken Little movie.
 
Let's all pile on the miserable developer for using a name we don't like on a platform we think is dated

Yaaaay

The developer is specifically asking what the reason is for the game selling so poorly as they don't understand. Everyone here is/was a potential customer, they're providing their opinion of why they didn't buy it and the answer is a unanimous "never heard of it, the name sounds like iOS shovelware, 3DS e-shop is dead".

And I have the exact same opinion, never heard of it, only clicked the title because I wondered why sales of some iOS shovelware were being compared to Xeodrifter, and Ace Attorney games and Fire Emblem DLC are the only things I use the 3DS e-shop for any more.
 
The developer is specifically asking what the reason is for the game selling so poorly as they don't understand. Everyone here is/was a potential customer, they're providing their opinion of why they didn't buy it and the answer is a unanimous "never heard of it, the name sounds like iOS shovelware, 3DS e-shop is dead".

I mean increasing the price a few months before release could've also done it.
 

killroy87

Member
Let's all pile on the miserable developer for using a name we don't like on a platform we think is dated

Yaaaay
If you didn't know about this game at all, and saw a game called Chicken Wiggle (with the logo it has) on the eshop or any other store front, do you truly believe you'd click further to see what it was?

Marketing and branding isn't a fucking myth, it matters.
 
The developer is specifically asking what the reason is for the game selling so poorly as they don't understand. Everyone here is/was a potential customer, they're providing their opinion of why they didn't buy it and the answer is a unanimous "never heard of it, the name sounds like iOS shovelware, 3DS e-shop is dead".

And I have the exact same opinion, never heard of it, only clicked the title because I wondered why sales of some iOS shovelware were being compared to Xeodrifter, and Ace Attorney games and Fire Emblem DLC are the only things I use the 3DS e-shop for any more.
He's not asking anyone here for advice (nor in the blog post!), nor am I going to pretend everyone in this thread is all about giving constructive feedback

I mean, I'm sure he's going to be thrilled with 100 people ITT saying 'lol your game name sucks'
 

eXistor

Member
The title makes it sound awful. The game actually looks like fun, but I'll be honest: I've never looked past the title before this.
 

TheMoon

Member
He's not asking anyone here for advice (nor in the blog post!), nor am I going to pretend everyone in this thread is all about giving constructive feedback

I mean, I'm sure he's going to be thrilled with 100 people ITT saying 'lol your game name sucks'

point is, it shows what the biggest problems are/were. that'll be valuable in the future.

you know what's a good name? treasurenauts.
 

Nilaul

Member
Xeodrifter sounded awesome and looked awesome, chicken wiggle sounds really bad and I frankly never even checked it out cause of the name (it sounds like a shovelware puzzle game).

Besides I sold my 3DS, I presume many did the same.

I doubt ports of MutandMud and Treasurenaughts will do much better on the Switch, I don't know how willing people are to rebuy ports.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
I feel for a couple of devs....complaining about the sales of a game on a specific plattform is more or less part of their marketing approach. Like lets drop this game on the system with next to know marketing in a unforgiving market space for 15 bucks....after the first couple days its time to get the "headlines" out about the game underperforming etc.

Xenodrifter was much more appealing to most players...and even then he seems like he wasnt happy with the sales. So why would you release something like Chicken Wiggle on the same market ....at that price after seeing that Switch unveiling video last year ?

Its not like he targets a large market for his releases anyway...the games are prices like Nintendo releases or VC releases - as in unless you are 100% on board already you are gonna skip it. 15 bucks is a lot of money for non Top Tier indie releases.

Its either develop and port the game for at least another plattform from begin with.....or drop the price so more people are willing to check it out.

Its not the same....but this reminds me of the SIFTD thread, with devs/content provider not wanting to adapt to market realities and being surprised after seeing the obvious results.
 
point is, it shows what the biggest problems are/were. that'll be valuable in the future.

you know what's a good name? treasurenauts.
The most popular game at the moment is called PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which is just about the worst name for anything ever

It's not that simple

Treasurenauts is a fantastic name though, I'll give you that
 
The most popular game at the moment is called PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which is just about the worst name for anything ever

It's not that simple

Treasurenauts is a fantastic name though, I'll give you that

I mean, I get where you're coming from, but first hand when I'm browsing through eshop, this stuff matters, because the 3DS eshop loads so slowly that I generally don't want to click into every game and take a look at it - I'd look at stuff I already know or things that look interesting from their name & header.

It's less important given that he's done with the 3DS though, switch is a lot faster to load stuff.
 

Fantastapotamus

Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
The most popular game at the moment is called PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which is just about the worst name for anything ever

Well, yes and no.
PlayerUnknown was pretty well known in the Arma/KofK circles, so naming it after him attracted those people which led to a base that enabled the game to become what it is today. You always need a dedicated audience if you want your multiplayer game to take off.

It's still a terrible name though
 

pagrab

Member
The most popular game at the moment is called PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which is just about the worst name for anything ever

It's not that simple

While I do agree that PUBG has a terrible name it at least is not generic. The moment I see "Chicken Wiggle" I am instantly shifting attention to the next game, as I automatically assume that the game is shovelware. My reaction to PUBG was "WTF? I have to google to see why is this game called like this".
 
Top Bottom