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Ghost Song Kickstarter - Metroid meets Dark Souls - GAFer made - funded!

KNT-Zero

Member
I won't deny that the game looks really good, but I think is way too similar to the Metroid games. Not only in structure and desing, but also in feel. On the KS video you can see, you shoot the same way as Samus, jump like Samus, get hurt like Samus... I would be surprised if Nintendo doesn't act on this.
 

Durante

Member
I won't deny that the game looks really good, but I think is way too similar to the Metroid games. Not only in structure and desing, but also in feel. On the KS video you can see, you shoot the same way as Samus, jump like Samus, get hurt like Samus... I would be surprised if Nintendo doesn't act on this.
The only way Nintendo can (and should) act on this is by asking "how can we get this on our system".
 

JDSN

Banned
I won't deny that the game looks really good, but I think is way too similar to the Metroid games. Not only in structure and desing, but also in feel. On the KS video you can see, you shoot the same way as Samus, jump like Samus, get hurt like Samus... I would be surprised if Nintendo doesn't act on this.
Its not the first Metroid-like game, and there are more blatant rip-offs out there that will be making it into to the WiiU. I doubt Nintendo would risk the wrath of the only devs that care about them (indies) for some misguided attempt to protect what to them is probably at this point, dead property.
 
D

Deleted member 102362

Unconfirmed Member
The art and music look and sound great, the story sounds interesting, and you seem dedicated and passionate about this project.

Backed. And this is coming from someone who never got into the Metroid series.
 

Jobbs

Banned
Thanks all! My body continues to absorb your words and grow stronger, soon I will be completely invulnerable.

I won't deny that the game looks really good, but I think is way too similar to the Metroid games. Not only in structure and desing, but also in feel. On the KS video you can see, you shoot the same way as Samus, jump like Samus, get hurt like Samus... I would be surprised if Nintendo doesn't act on this.

I address this concern in the faq section at the bottom of the KS listing. In short, the flash game that exists now resembles metroid to a greater extent than the unity rebuild will. It will still resemble it, but I'll be tweaking things around the margins and making some additions so that it won't be quite as blatant. There'll be some adjusted mechanics and additions, too, to give it more its own feel. The spirit of metroid and the spirit of what's represented in the listing will remain intact, but it will definitely be its own beast.
 

Jobbs

Banned
pretty awesome this has been on KS for a little less than 48 hours and its so close to its goal

yep, amazed by the response, and will not forget it. neogaf and kickstarter have made this possible. neogaf will get SOME form of reference somewhere in the game (not sure what yet, but I must do this) and I also committed to reserve 5% of the retail proceeds from Ghost Song to give to other KS projects. I'd love to money bomb someone with a great project in their darkest hour.
 

ScOULaris

Member
On one hand, this game looks so similar to Metroid that it's approaching Zynga levels of "homage."

On the other hand... IT'S A FRIGGIN' 2D METROID GAME! I fully support this, and it looks gorgeous!
 
Comments on destructiod seem to be leaning on the negative side, with some people claiming you stole the animations and even some spritework.

I just don't see it as being THAT similar in those regards. Especially seeing all the gifs you shared.

Maybe you should send destructoid some comments about how the final game will be different? Or another video showcasing some of the inspiration from Dark Souls.?

Having a good reception on these sites could mean the difference between getting funded and getting funded with 5X the asked amount.

Edit: I see you posted a comment. Hope you keep your momentum going!
 

Jobbs

Banned
Comments on destructiod seem to be leaning on the negative side, with some people claiming you stole the animations and even some spritework.

I'm a big boy -- I can handle it. :) And the person claiming I stole things doesn't seem to be very subtle, the 2D metroid games -- every one of them in existence -- uses unaliased, low res "pixel" style art, which nothing in my game resembles.

I made the faq entry on the KS listing -- so anyone who is upset that the game is too much like metroid or has questions about that can just check out the faq and hear me out. You must understand the history of the game and where I plan to take it.
 

DTU

Banned
Comments on destructiod seem to be leaning on the negative side, with some people claiming you stole the animations and even some spritework.

That's so ridiculous. Do those people realize that this is ONE dude doing the visuals? Lifting anything would be career suicide.
 

Fireblend

Banned
I absolutely support not going wild with stretch goals. As I've said I'd much rather have you use all the extra funding to work on your core vision for the game, but then again I fear that without any stretch goals the funding will pretty much come to a halt. It's a thin line to walk, and I'm glad you recognize that and are giving it the proper consideration.

Maybe add full voice acting as a stretch goal, even though that's something you're planning to do anyway? The pet thing sounded pretty cool too. Maybe increase the boss count or enemy variety by 1 every $XXXX, add more songs to the soundtrack like the guys from A Hat in Time did, or something along those lines.
 

Ocaso

Member
I emailed Adelman telling him about my desire to offer a Wii U stretch goal, and attempt to get more information -- I REALLY want to do this (I love Nintendo, I love Wii U) but I also am loathe to promise something unless I know I can deliver on it. I want stretch goals, and I need them --- But I also need them to be reality based! I'm trying hard to keep myself out of trouble.

I get that WiiU is perhaps cheapest, but you'll reach a bigger audience on PS360 and, who knows, you could even be a highlighted release on PS4. Keep in mind that, unless Nintendo has changed their payment methods, you might not see a cent from them if digital sales don't reach a certain threshold. Given that you're well on your way to reaching your main goal today, I'd aim for the stars for the rest of the month and go for as many platforms as possible.

As for the Metroid similarities, I said it before but stick to your vision. You can't please everyone, so it's best not to try. Your success thus far shows people believe in what you showed, no changes necessary.
 

Jobbs

Banned
I get that WiiU is perhaps cheapest, but you'll reach a bigger audience on PS360 and, who knows, you could even be a highlighted release on PS4. Keep in mind that, unless Nintendo has changed their payment methods, you might not see a cent from them if digital sales don't reach a certain threshold. Given that you're well on your way to reaching your main goal today, I'd aim for the stars for the rest of the month and go for as many platforms as possible.

part of the appeal of wii u is that it's a little easier to get on -- all I hear about PS3 and 360 is that the unity fees are astronomical. Regarding PS4 and XB1, I don't think there's final information out there yet about what the hurdles and expenses are.

As for the Metroid similarities, I said it before but stick to your vision. You can't please everyone, so it's best not to try. Your success thus far shows people believe in what you showed, no changes necessary.

My vision has been to make some adjustments to the mechanics and how things look and feel *around the margins* when we rebuild the game into unity. I understand people backed the game they saw, so I'll make sure that the game still resembles overall what they backed. But -- It'll definitely be its own beast. I recognize in some cases (like the little wavey enemies or the hoppers) it can be TOO metroid and I'm seeking balance.
 

desu

Member
Keep in mind that, unless Nintendo has changed their payment methods, you might not see a cent from them if digital sales don't reach a certain threshold.

That should be history by now (luckily).

I am all for WiiU/PSN/XBL but licencing Unity for those platforms involves extreme costs (I remember reading figures that were more than double/triple of what he is asking for as funding goal, not sure of those were correct though).
 
I emailed Adelman telling him about my desire to offer a Wii U stretch goal, and attempt to get more information -- I REALLY want to do this (I love Nintendo, I love Wii U) but I also am loathe to promise something unless I know I can deliver on it. I want stretch goals, and I need them --- But I also need them to be reality based! I'm trying hard to keep myself out of trouble.

I'd love to see this on the Wii U, as would many, but of course that is a big and (seemingly, relatively expensive) undertaking. In the meantime, I'm happy to back this; this is only my second backed project, the first being ShovelKnight.
 
part of the appeal of wii u is that it's a little easier to get on -- all I hear about PS3 and 360 is that the unity fees are astronomical. Regarding PS4 and XB1, I don't think there's final information out there yet about what the hurdles and expenses are.

Have you heard if the fees for PS3 are the same as it would be for Vita?
 
Simply realize what you intended to realize. People love what they see and they want to see what you can make out of it. That's why so many backed it after all.

I also have to say I really love the art style. The look resembles an old animation movie with the vibes of something like La Planète sauvage.

It's also the first kickstarter I ever backed. :D
 
Keep in mind that, unless Nintendo has changed their payment methods, you might not see a cent from them if digital sales don't reach a certain threshold.

This hasn't been the case since DSi launched.

Source: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/189180/

What's your payment schedule like? Indies need quick and frequent payment. Have you changed your policy, which previously didn't pay out until a game crossed a 6000 unit threshold? What about frequency? Quarterly or monthly?

DA: We tend not to talk about business terms, since those are considered confidential. That said, the unit threshold is something that's been a problem for a lot of developers, so I'd like to address it head on.

Let me give you a sense of the thought process behind the threshold in the first place. Even as far back as the early WiiWare days, we allowed developers to forgo the need to hire an intermediary publisher to get their content on our system. We didn't believe that Nintendo should screen game concepts. That should be up to the developer who's making the investment. Instead, we wanted to have a mechanism that would encourage developers to self-police their own game quality.

The threshold was thought to be a convenient way to go about it. Unfortunately, some great games that just didn't find an audience wound up being penalized. So for all systems after WiiWare -- DSiWare, Nintendo 3DS eShop, and Wii U eShop, we decided to get rid of the thresholds altogether. Developers receive revenue from unit 1.
 

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
Been following Jobbs' work in the indie development thread...it's always awesome to get a peek at this game :) Backed (technically my first KS backing!), good luck! Can't wait to keep seeing more.
 

Luigiv

Member
That should be history by now (luckily).

I am all for WiiU/PSN/XBL but licencing Unity for those platforms involves extreme costs (I remember reading figures that were more than double/triple of what he is asking for as funding goal, not sure of those were correct though).
One of the things is not like the others.

This hasn't been the case since DSi launched.

Source: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/189180/
Fixed.
It's right there in your damn quote too. :p
 

MercuryLS

Banned
I emailed Adelman telling him about my desire to offer a Wii U stretch goal, and attempt to get more information -- I REALLY want to do this (I love Nintendo, I love Wii U) but I also am loathe to promise something unless I know I can deliver on it. I want stretch goals, and I need them --- But I also need them to be reality based! I'm trying hard to keep myself out of trouble.

I hope you can strech goal a PS4 version. Talk to Shahid Ahmad and Adam Boyes, they're hungry to back indies and are willing to provide support to get games onto PS. They're loaning dev kits for free to a lot of devs for example. I really want to back this but I don't play PC games unfortunately.
 

Luigiv

Member
I hope you can strech goal a PS4 version. Talk to Shahid Ahmad and Adam Boyes, they're hungry to back indies and are willing to provide support to get games onto PS. They're loaning dev kits for free to a lot of devs for example. I really want to back this but I don't play PC games unfortunately.

But are they loaning Unity Pro licences? If not then that's going to have to be one heck of a stretch goal.
 

Draft

Member
I'd make the WiiU version a very pricey stretch goal because that's the only way you're going to make any money on it.
 

69wpm

Member
That should be history by now (luckily).

I am all for WiiU/PSN/XBL but licencing Unity for those platforms involves extreme costs (I remember reading figures that were more than double/triple of what he is asking for as funding goal, not sure of those were correct though).

People should stop spreading misinformation. You get a Unity Pro license with a Wii U devkit which already costs a lot. Some devs got the devkit for free according to twitter, so if Nintendo likes this game, they might sponsor a unit.

I'd make the WiiU version a very pricey stretch goal because that's the only way you're going to make any money on it.

Right, a platform starved for games, no chance to make money there...
 

JudgeB

Banned
Just backed for $10. Looks great so far. I would say best of luck hitting the goal, but you are practically there :p. Get those stretch goals up!
 

desu

Member

People should stop spreading misinformation. You get a Unity Pro license with a Wii U devkit which already costs a lot. Some devs got the devkit for free according to twitter, so if Nintendo likes this game, they might sponsor a unit.

Should not have included Wii U as that one seems to have changed recently, does not change that only getting on the other platforms (as well as paying for the Unity licence + dev kit won't be cheap unless they make you some super deal ...Sony/Nintendo seem to be much more open in that regard).

Looking at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/codagames/liege/posts/540145 , it was 12k for Vita support (which is not really an indicator for how much it really cost, but still ...).

I hope Jobbs is already in contact with Nintendo/Sony :D.
 

CTLance

Member
I've dropped a thread in the "Other games" section of the Star Citizen forum.

I've also shilled the project at work. Maybe that'll help.

Not that the game needs it, looks like it will hit the goal in an hour or so. Amazing.

Everything went better than expected, eh, Jobbs. Up next: The sweet sorrow of coming up with stretch goals.
 
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