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[HadesGigas]

These new releases sure are original and unique.





Though at least someone is using voxel-style graphics to mimic Mario instead of Minecraft:

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

That third game "A Voxel Action" is rad as hell.

I just played through it. Way awesome.

 

[wwm0nkey]

Speaking of voxel games I am currently testing GunCraft, can not say anything about the game right now though.

 

[Gaspode_T]

The A Voxel Action guy is brilliant programmer, I've looked through the blog and pretty blown away at the level of talent.

I've always been curious - for those people here who love XBLIG - would you help devs playtest games if you didn't have to pay $99 for App Hub registration? I would be nearly willing to sponsor people like toythatkills with my own money because it would mean better games for me to play ;P

 

[Enhasa]

Are the plot and characters in Evil Quest interesting or unique in any significant way? I have trouble getting into RPGs when that's not the case.

 

[qupe1975]

The A Voxel Action guy is brilliant programmer, I've looked through the blog and pretty blown away at the level of talent.

I've always been curious - for those people here who love XBLIG - would you help devs playtest games if you didn't have to pay $99 for App Hub registration? I would be nearly willing to sponsor people like toythatkills with my own money because it would mean better games for me to play ;P

I think you could work on a team of people that could do something like that. So say 5 people have app hubs and they have to check around 10 games a week. Brand could have done with people pointing out some issues.

My app hub membership ran out middle of last year and I didn't renew it but I was surprised by how many games didn't go into playtest and went straight into review and then bugs were picked up.

The Xona guys gave some excellent advice for shoot em ups but I don't know if they are still involved in XBLIG scene (behind the scenes) as they left making games for the service.

 

[MikeHaggar]

it will be interesting to see what happens to all of the minecraft "clones" once minecraft is actually released on xbla (sales-wise). i think it would be nice if other games became the "hot titles" on the service as a result, but i'm not so sure that's going to happen--mainly because of the difference in price that will exist between minecraft and the xblig "clones".

my game won't release until early 2013, so hopefully the minecraft clones' iron-grip on sales will be over by then (my game resembles minecraft in no way, shape or form)

 

[Dark Octave]

it will be interesting to see what happens to all of the minecraft "clones" once minecraft is actually released on xbla (sales-wise). i think it would be nice if other games became the "hot titles" on the service as a result, but i'm not so sure that's going to happen--mainly because of the difference in price that will exist between minecraft and the xblig "clones".

my game won't release until early 2013, so hopefully the minecraft clones' iron-grip on sales will be over by then (my game resembles minecraft in no way, shape or form)

I'll take a stab in the dark that it's a brawler.

 

[MikeHaggar]

I'll take a stab in the dark that it's a brawler.

hahaha good guess, but no. i'm not prepared to discuss details. i'll say that it takes what most consider a "classic" game and adds an OUTRAGEOUS theme to it. oh, and there have been no other games released on xblig that are influenced by or borrow from said "classic" game.

i think the theme of the game is going to be very divisive among "hardcore" gamers. some will get a kick out of it and others will feel as though we are shitting all over a beloved series. although i could be wrong.

 

[Parallax Scroll]

Thanks for the thread as usual. Just queued up some demos.

 

[Nemo]

Holy shit, gold award game looks AWESOME

Hooking up 360 right now

 

[Gaspode_T]

What gold award game??

I just tried some games:

Picbox: apparently this is similar to another game called Piccross but I've never played that one so it was pretty new to me, the only negative was a little bit of loading when loading the list of puzzles but the dev was made aware of it on Twitter and said he will fix it asap. The first puzzles are pretty easy but they were starting to get trickier and trickier when I quit out. Bought this one.

Katana Land: Great art style, decent music, controls are a little unresponsive. The latter thing preventing me from pulling the trigger on purchase, but I saw it pretty high on sales list so it seems to be selling pretty well.

Rotor'scope: Another of the games that have dropped to 80 points, this was a previous Dream Build Play 2nd place winner. The gameplay is similar to Vizati but different feel, this one feels like the hidden object games or something because you are exploring a mansion. Bought this, I love games like this...puzzle fans should take a look.

 

[Gaspode_T]

Oh nevermind I just realized you were talking about the OP, I thought you were talking about some sort of new release (EvilQuest is pretty new anyway!)

Yeah EvilQuest reminds me a lot of Crystalis which I was a big fan of.

 

[barkers crest]

+1 for Little Racers: Street. XBLA quality for only a buck.

Everyone owes it to themselves to give it a try. You will not regret it.

 

[Parallax Scroll]

I tried out a few of the games in the OP:

- Evil Quest: This is solid! It's far from perfect, but it's definitely "good enough," and you don't really see a lot of games like this anymore. I think I'll stick with it.
- Ocean Drive Challenge: Oh shit nostalgia! They absolutely nailed the feel with this one. I doubt I'll actually play it much, but I got my dollar's worth already.
- Little Racers Street: This is a competent game, but I found it annoyingly hard to tell which way you're supposed to go a lot of the time. What's a barrier and what's not often isn't clearly defined, and at a glance, you can't even easily tell which direction the arrows are pointing. I don't have much nostalgia for RC Pro-Am type games, so I'll pass on this one.

Hypership Out of Control was ridiculously overhyped on neogaf. I'm skipping the sequel.

 

[FunInfusedGames]

The post collision effects on Ocean Drive really need some work. When I was going fast, I expected my car would go flipping out end over end like it did in the old games like Outrun. Instead it was an unsatisfying clunk that seemed to send the car I hit forward and simply slow me down. I'm shocked they missed such an obvious cool effect. It just didn't feel right.

And is it me or did it feel / look like half the other cars were driving in reverse?

 

[Gaspode_T]

Ocean Drive controls pretty similarly to Night Driver believe it or not even for crashes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Driver

I wonder if they even have a Twitter account? Some nice Appendix info for this thread would be Twitter or official website links to major XBLIG devs

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

The lack of A Voxel Action talk is starting to get to me.
Such a gem, as soon as I can drag myself away from Dragon Age I'm going to give it another playthrough.

 

[Gaspode_T]

The lack of A Voxel Action talk is starting to get to me.
Such a gem, as soon as I can drag myself away from Dragon Age I'm going to give it another playthrough.

It is a bit esoteric with what you are supposed to do next, but being a Japanese game I guess that's part of the fun. After about 10 minutes I was suddenly going left instead of right and very confused if I was going the right direction or not. I kept going past areas and things I had no access to, I guess there is a lot of depth in figuring all of this stuff out.

Most of the "empty space" blocks up at cloud level don't seem to be reachable, is there some sort of trick?

 

[Ranger X]

The post collision effects on Ocean Drive really need some work. When I was going fast, I expected my car would go flipping out end over end like it did in the old games like Outrun. Instead it was an unsatisfying clunk that seemed to send the car I hit forward and simply slow me down. I'm shocked they missed such an obvious cool effect. It just didn't feel right.

And is it me or did it feel / look like half the other cars were driving in reverse?

Really didn't click with me that's for sure. Even just mesuring your speed for turns was off.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

It is a bit esoteric with what you are supposed to do next, but being a Japanese game I guess that's part of the fun. After about 10 minutes I was suddenly going left instead of right and very confused if I was going the right direction or not. I kept going past areas and things I had no access to, I guess there is a lot of depth in figuring all of this stuff out.

Most of the "empty space" blocks up at cloud level don't seem to be reachable, is there some sort of trick?

Cloud level? There's nothing of the sort in the game. It's basically a seamless and linear world and you'll go up, down, left, and right.

Just keep going and you'll get powerups that'll assist your progress.

 

[Gaspode_T]

The lack of A Voxel Action talk is starting to get to me.
Such a gem, as soon as I can drag myself away from Dragon Age I'm going to give it another playthrough.

Cloud level? There's nothing of the sort in the game. It's basically a seamless and linear world and you'll go up, down, left, and right.

Just keep going and you'll get powerups that'll assist your progress.

No I meant the outlined blocks that you hit from below to make solid, but are up way high (like next to ropes that you are climbing up), is there back tracking involved later on? That would make sense then.

 

[eso76]

Really didn't click with me that's for sure. Even just mesuring your speed for turns was off.

That's more or less what old pseudo 3d racers were like, but it seemed to me you never really have to slow down anywhere in this game.
Maybe that's just with the car i picked though.
I kinda liked it, it was worth 1$, but the traffic randomization doesn't work too well; sometimes other cars are just impossible to avoid.

Engine is nice, but needs a better art direction; sprites and choice of colors could use some work.

 

[bede-x]

The Xona guys gave some excellent advice for shoot em ups

Do you have a link to that? Would love to hear what they have to say.

 

[FunInfusedGames]

Ocean Drive controls pretty similarly to Night Driver believe it or not even for crashes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Driver

I wonder if they even have a Twitter account? Some nice Appendix info for this thread would be Twitter or official website links to major XBLIG devs

I guess mostly the games in that genre I played were Outrun and the various Cruse'n USA games, which I prefer the collision style much more than this one. I don't recall playing Night Driver.

As for Twitter, I don't know of any list, but hit my kriswd40 twitter account and look who I'm following. If you can see which lists follow me too, there are several XBLIG specific lists that I'm part of, which are full of many other XBLIG devs too.

 

[Ranger X]

That's more or less what old pseudo 3d racers were like, but it seemed to me you never really have to slow down anywhere in this game.
Maybe that's just with the car i picked though.
I kinda liked it, it was worth 1$, but the traffic randomization doesn't work too well; sometimes other cars are just impossible to avoid.

Engine is nice, but needs a better art direction; sprites and choice of colors could use some work.

Actually no. I regularly play Outrun games and Rad Racer games on NES and they are much more well done. The more the car skips, the more lateral it is. In that XBLIG game, the car is like having 2 positions only: You skid or you don't. Very bad to know "am I skipping too much or it's ok". Also, the speed at wich the road scroll isn't a good indication enough for your speed. It always seems to scroll at the same speed. It would have been better for the car to not reach full speed except if you're in a really long straight. Another indication for turns is how curved are the graphics. The differences between the different curves in Rad Racer is dramatic compared to that XBLIG games. All of this together makes the game really forgettable and not fun. The person develloping this should have observed more closely on games like Rad Racer, Outrun and Top Gear SNES wich are still, imo, amongst the kings of the genre for the precise reasons I described earlier.

 

[OnPoint]

I tried out a few of the games in the OP:

- Evil Quest: This is solid! It's far from perfect, but it's definitely "good enough," and you don't really see a lot of games like this anymore. I think I'll stick with it.
- Ocean Drive Challenge: Oh shit nostalgia! They absolutely nailed the feel with this one. I doubt I'll actually play it much, but I got my dollar's worth already.
- Little Racers Street: This is a competent game, but I found it annoyingly hard to tell which way you're supposed to go a lot of the time. What's a barrier and what's not often isn't clearly defined, and at a glance, you can't even easily tell which direction the arrows are pointing. I don't have much nostalgia for RC Pro-Am type games, so I'll pass on this one.

Hypership Out of Control was ridiculously overhyped on neogaf. I'm skipping the sequel.

It's a little bit of a grind toward the end, but by that point you'll probably want to see the story through.

 

[FunInfusedGames]

Eurogamer picked up and ran w/ my new Dash / Trials analysis...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-06-hypership-developer-xblig-market-isnt-growing

The original piece is here and details the trials per game for each of my releases during the first day and first week:

http://www.krissteele.net/blogdetails.aspx?id=304

 

[qupe1975]

Do you have a link to that? Would love to hear what they have to say.

They gave it depending on the game, they are huge shoot em up fans. Unfortunately I am no longer a member of the app hub so can not point you to specifics. However, as I said it was specific feedback to the game they were playtesting or reviewing. They may have let it all completely now but I wouldn't know I'm afraid.

 

[Krilekk]

Eurogamer picked up and ran w/ my new Dash / Trials analysis...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-02-06-hypership-developer-xblig-market-isnt-growing

The original piece is here and details the trials per game for each of my releases during the first day and first week:

http://www.krissteele.net/blogdetails.aspx?id=304

Here is the thing I don't get: When you have the sales of Hypership and Trivia or Die, why do you chose to make a sequel to Hypership instead of Trivia or Die 2? I think the trial downloads of Hypership Still are just where they should be. You can't compare them to the trial downloads of Hypership but should instead see how they compare to the actual sales of Hypership. Cause those who downloaded the original game but didn't buy it probably won't bother downloading Hypership Still.

As for the effect of the new dashboard I think it's just an easy thing to blame. There was a piece on Gamasutra some weeks ago that showed there was almost no measurable effect and IIRC some developer stated that his average sales actually increased when the new dashboard was released.

 

[DaveVoyles]

As for the effect of the new dashboard I think it's just an easy thing to blame.

Without turning on your Xbox, tell me the steps required to reach any of Kris' games (or any new XBLIG release) on the new dashboard.

 

[HadesGigas]

Without turning on your Xbox, tell me the steps required to reach any of Kris' games (or any new XBLIG release) on the new dashboard.

It's not that bad. Game Marketplace, Games, Game Type. Just Game Type is stupidly named/iconed.

There's also Xbox.com, Games. Pretty easy way right there.

 

[Gaspode_T]

Do you have a link to that? Would love to hear what they have to say.

I'm not sure if this is what he was mentioning: http://xona.com/2010/05/03.html

The Xona guys have been trying to get on XBLA for a long time. They are EXTREMELY popular as a niche in Japanese shmup circles, especially Decimation X3.

 

[FunInfusedGames]

It's not that bad. Game Marketplace, Games, Game Type. Just Game Type is stupidly named/iconed.

You left out the 3-4 shoulder button presses to tab over (or many more button presses for the likely many people that don't realize shoulder buttons move to the next section). And once there, good luck finding my games. You'll be scrolling a lot to get to them.

As opposed to something like the AppStore, which is literally right infront of me when I turn on my iPod. Because Apple wants to make it easy for me to buy games so that I'll buy more games.

The only logical idea I can come up with is the Microsoft is more interested in pushing the Xbox as a multimedia device and a means to secure ad revenue than to actually sell games.

 

[HadesGigas]

You left out the 3-4 shoulder button presses to tab over (or many more button presses for the likely many people that don't realize shoulder buttons move to the next section). And once there, good luck finding my games. You'll be scrolling a lot to get to them.

As opposed to something like the AppStore, which is literally right infront of me when I turn on my iPod. Because Apple wants to make it easy for me to buy games so that I'll buy more games.

The only logical idea I can come up with is the Microsoft is more interested in pushing the Xbox as a multimedia device and a means to secure ad revenue than to actually sell games.

You can't count the "shoulder buttons to get to games" against XBLIG specifically. That is true for the entire Games Marketplace. It's evidence that MS is pushing video content over game content, but it's no slight against Indie Games.

Also I can just say "Xbox Games"

I would like to see the main tab have more relevant links to things like the marketplaces and libraries, but that'd get in the way of ADS!

 

[FunInfusedGames]

Here is the thing I don't get: When you have the sales of Hypership and Trivia or Die, why do you chose to make a sequel to Hypership instead of Trivia or Die 2? I think the trial downloads of Hypership Still are just where they should be. You can't compare them to the trial downloads of Hypership but should instead see how they compare to the actual sales of Hypership. Cause those who downloaded the original game but didn't buy it probably won't bother downloading Hypership Still.

As for the effect of the new dashboard I think it's just an easy thing to blame. There was a piece on Gamasutra some weeks ago that showed there was almost no measurable effect and IIRC some developer stated that his average sales actually increased when the new dashboard was released.

There are millions of Xbox users. Less than 2,000 bought Hypership and less than 8,000 downloaded it. If that's as many people as are checking out XBLIG, there are a lot bigger problems than the new Dash.

As for effect on sales, the new Dash is going to primarily affect the top end of the lists... Top Downloads, New Releases, Top Rated. If your game isn't in the top 50 to 100 of those lists, it's unlikely the Dash change effected you much. Most games on XBLIG sell the most copies while on the New Release list by a huge margin. Most developers won't see the full effect of the new Dash until they release something new and find the number of trials they once could count on have vanished.

 

[FunInfusedGames]

You can't count the "shoulder buttons to get to games" against XBLIG specifically. That is true for the entire Games Marketplace. It's evidence that MS is pushing video content over game content, but it's no slight against Indie Games.

Also I can just say "Xbox Games"

No, not XBLIG specifically. It sucks for gaming in general. There are really four things I use my Xbox for that I would love to have on that first page (and I venture would be four of the most popular areas on the Dash)... Games Marketplace, NetFlix, whatever is in my DVD drive, and my games library. All of those are way to many clicks away (besides the DVD).

You can only say Xbox Games if you have Kinect too. And if you know you can do that. Most users aren't going to know little shortcuts like that.

 

[Dark Octave]

No, not XBLIG specifically. It sucks for gaming in general. There are really four things I use my Xbox for that I would love to have on that first page (and I venture would be four of the most popular areas on the Dash)... Games Marketplace, NetFlix, whatever is in my DVD drive, and my games library. All of those are way to many clicks away (besides the DVD).

You can only say Xbox Games if you have Kinect too. And if you know you can do that. Most users aren't going to know little shortcuts like that.

Yeah I really hate how there are like 3 or 4 tabs before gaming. Makes no sense on a gaming console. You can clearly see where MS is going with their next Xbox.

 

[HadesGigas]

You can only say Xbox Games if you have Kinect too. And if you know you can do that. Most users aren't going to know little shortcuts like that.

If you have a Kinect and are aware that the Games tab even exists, you are probably aware of "shortcuts". It makes a point to tell you to "say anything you see on the screen". Voice navigation isn't exactly secret.

Though there's probably plenty of people who don't look at the rest of the tabs and just play their retail games, maybe not even connecting to XBL (unless they're into netflix). That's not really something that'd be limited to kinect users though.

 

[Gen X]

Ninja Sneaking 2

Little Racers STREET

Brand is out now for 80msp.



I haven't been following this one much, but it's definitely different than what I figured it was based on screens. It's almost a Miner Dig Deep kind of experience it seems. Where you go into dungeons to find certain materials then hop out to the blacksmith or mage to upgrade your sword. The default "quick attack" is kind of horrible, though.

I just tried these three games and thought they were very cool in their own ways.


Ninja Sneaking - This game cries out for a better d-pad. I never thought I would say that but to me this is a homage to games I grew up with. Has very cool and simplistic style, nice quick restarts and from what I can tell, the odd bit of humour thrown in (That guy on the bicycle powering the video camera. =D )

Little Racers Street - Whoever said the AI isn't very unforgiving isn't wrong. After 2 races I struggled to get into the top 6, I think 10th was my best finish. The only thing I had trouble with was following the track. All those red arrows kinda looked like little flags hanging between light posts and I hit many of them hahahaha. It's a shame the trials are time based. I can understand for some games that have long rounds but I was just getting into it then painting my car to try the career mode before the trial expired. I'll try again later but so far out I like it.

Brand - HadesGigas summed it up perfectly and it was his comment actually that made me want to d/l it since I've put a bit of time into MDD. The last comment how about the Quick Attack is spot on too, if there was just a little bit more satisfaction from the combat I think it would've been a Must Buy. It just feels like the sword goes through the enemy instead of a quick 1-2 combo then a change for the enemy to attack. Will try again now I learned that there were 3 attacks (The tips popped up a few seconds before the time ran out.


All three for 80 points each though, bargain. Just wish my mates were interested in XBLIG so we could play together (Especially Little Street Racers for our Monday Night Racing nights we have).

 

[Krilekk]

It's not that bad. Game Marketplace, Games, Game Type. Just Game Type is stupidly named/iconed.

There's also Xbox.com, Games. Pretty easy way right there.

Which is how I browse them since about a year ago. Much more filter options, greater useability. I think the problem here is not Microsoft but the millions of users still having an SDTV. They're the ones why everything has to be so big on the dashboard.

The new dash might be supporting a multimedia future but let's not forget that in NXE you couldn't even start a game on the first screen after bootup. You were taking directly to an ad tab.

And most importantly the Guide button never changed. It was the fastest way to get to Indie Games in NXE and it still is (unless you're using Kinect).

 

[Gaspode_T]

i think getting the droves of gamers who are glued to their iPhone or Android or whatever to fire up the 360 and look at the tons of cheap games there would be enough to get more eyes on the marketplace. The problem is not just dash related - it's that gamers are either satisfied with what they already have on 360, or are just getting their gaming fix in other places at the same time. If the Indie Game section received even a little bit of "hype" as a place to go check out cool niche games it would help a lot. I get the feeling it's close to that point, but sites like Joystiq/Kotaku/IGN/1up/etc would all need to think the same thing and talk about it more frequently.

The fact that I can search for XBLIG on news.google.com or some other source and recognize the names of the people talking about XBLIG on the internet is a bad thing. There should be a larger explosive factor with internet and news about games. I wouldn't be able to list up the # of sites talking about iOS games or Xbox retail games. Basically, XBLIG is still kind of not treated seriously by the Internet video game world, whether it's because it's not easy to find on dash is probably not related to this.

Just shoving the Arcade and Indie Game section in very front page of the dash is really not going to fix 100% of the issue, I can nearly promise you that. It will help a little bit, but probably not as much as people think. Getting it to be taken seriously IMO requires the value of the games to go up (which it already is with the size limit changes), and some sort of marketing effect of having games that are 80 pts or maybe even Free. It is kind of unintuitive but I think having devs make some games Free would increase overall sales a lot.

 

[Ranger X]

i think getting the droves of gamers who are glued to their iPhone or Android or whatever to fire up the 360 and look at the tons of cheap games there would be enough to get more eyes on the marketplace. The problem is not just dash related - it's that gamers are either satisfied with what they already have on 360, or are just getting their gaming fix in other places at the same time. If the Indie Game section received even a little bit of "hype" as a place to go check out cool niche games it would help a lot. I get the feeling it's close to that point, but sites like Joystiq/Kotaku/IGN/1up/etc would all need to think the same thing and talk about it more frequently.

The fact that I can search for XBLIG on news.google.com or some other source and recognize the names of the people talking about XBLIG on the internet is a bad thing. There should be a larger explosive factor with internet and news about games. I wouldn't be able to list up the # of sites talking about iOS games or Xbox retail games. Basically, XBLIG is still kind of not treated seriously by the Internet video game world, whether it's because it's not easy to find on dash is probably not related to this.

Just shoving the Arcade and Indie Game section in very front page of the dash is really not going to fix 100% of the issue, I can nearly promise you that. It will help a little bit, but probably not as much as people think. Getting it to be taken seriously IMO requires the value of the games to go up (which it already is with the size limit changes), and some sort of marketing effect of having games that are 80 pts or maybe even Free. It is kind of unintuitive but I think having devs make some games Free would increase overall sales a lot.

Pushing the service on the Internet would help alot. I mean, IOS games are having a shitload of sales because of the internet. I've seen games reaching the "top grossing" and what's hot just after a couple of hours its been talked about on GAF. I've actually seen that multiple time.

Microsoft should talk about it more, show it more and push in through the internet. Each game should have an automatic page made on some website, just like IOS games. Can we already buy them online? The Marketplace is having a reflected website live yes?

EDIT: Ok, this already exist but they probably don't talk enough about it. If I just learned about that it probably means its not being talked about enough lol

 

[eso76]

Actually no. I regularly play Outrun games and Rad Racer games on NES and they are much more well done. The more the car skips, the more lateral it is. In that XBLIG game, the car is like having 2 positions only: You skid or you don't.

yeah..well, i guess it shows i was just playing those games for them graphics, but Ocean Drive etc never requires you to slow down at any corner, at least in my experience, so i wouldn't know.

 

[FunInfusedGames]

Ultimately the problem with pushing stuff online is that even with a lot of coverage (like the Summer Uprising had), gamers don't end up finding the games. I believe this is because it is too difficult for them to locate ontop of having to get games to move from the PC to their console. You almost have to include directions to the Indie marketplace with every advertisement.

I purchased an ad on the UK version of OXM (I think that's where, it was a big UK Xbox site either way) with some other developers. I can say that none of us involved saw any increase in any games sold. Zero.

If MS wants XBLIG to be successful, it needs to be infront of the people. There doesn't have to be a link to Indie games directly on the home page, but there should be one to the Games Marketplace.

Of course if Microsoft would rather we use our Xboxes for entertainment / videos than gaming, maybe I'd rather get a PS4 instead of the next Xbox. Expecially if the PS Suite turns out to be what XBLIG never could.

 

[Ranger X]

yeah..well, i guess it shows i was just playing those games for them graphics, but Ocean Drive etc never requires you to slow down at any corner, at least in my experience, so i wouldn't know.

I feel like I am a little harsh towards the dev of the game but hey, I would totally wet myself and try making such type of game if I'd knew how to recreate that type of scaling those games are using. I'd accept my part of laughter too. Right I think it's over my head code wise. :/

 

[Dark Octave]

I feel like I am a little harsh towards the dev of the game but hey, I would totally wet myself and try making such type of game if I'd knew how to recreate that type of scaling those games are using. I'd accept my part of laughter too. Right I think it's over my head code wise. :/

Even if heavily influenced, I think it's fair that every game be it's own even if it's in small ways like the reaction to hitting other cars. We'll never know if it's an oversight or intended but it's unique to that game.

Also, though some games are better than others, I can't pull myself to be TOO harsh on a game that costs a dollar. As long as it's not blatant garbage, it's all amazing stuff to me.

I wonder, has there been a successful game yet on XBLIG that has high production values of say, like Oozi or Sequence?

 

[Gaspode_T]

Barker's Crest is probably the best example of a high production value game selling well (Avatar Golf and Avatar Legends). I literally e-mailed the XBLA team like "Why the heck haven't you guys picked this guy up for XBLA" but maybe he's content with his current situation???

I do think it's hard to prove the XBLIG market is growing or shrinking without Microsoft disclosing numbers it's not going to disclose. I hinted at numbers i've seen before but I can't do anything more than that.

I'm pretty darn sure it's not just the Minecraft games that are $100K+ though. Like I've said a bunch of times before, Xbox gamers are hungry for certain types of content (it's supply/demand thing without a doubt).

 

[Ranger X]

Also, though some games are better than others, I can't pull myself to be TOO harsh on a game that costs a dollar. As long as it's not blatant garbage, it's all amazing stuff to me.
?

Of course, but at some point, I need to choose my purchases under certain exigences or I would buy anything that cost a dollar. I buy games that I feel they give a nice playing experience before everything else, be the game at 1$ or 60$. I wanted to like/buy Ocean Drive because those games are rare to come by and I actually went pretty close. But nah, didn't buy it.

 

[MikeHaggar]

people can find the game marketplace AND they can find indie games. if they couldn't, the minecraft clones wouldn't be seeing the success they are.

i think the issue lies more in the type of experience users want when they turn on their xbox. why should gamers want to play xblig as opposed to xbla and retail titles? retail and xbla titles are typically of a much higher quality. why spend 240 or even 80 points on an xblig when those points can be put towards a better experience via xbla?

it becomes a matter of differentiation. give users a reason to spend their money on your title. obviously the minecraft clones have succeeded because they are filling a void in the market--neither retail nor xbla titles currently offer a minecraft type of experience (which is very popular) right now. they are meeting a DEMAND.

if your games are not doing well on xblig then i'd say it's for one of two reasons:

1. it's a bad game. it could be so because of concept, presentation, execution etc...
2. there's no demand for the type of game you've made. simply releasing a polished, well-executed game does not mean that you are entitled to success. that's not how ANY market works.

if you want to be in the business of selling video games, then remember you are in the video game BUSINESS and think like a businessman. if you just want to develop cool stuff then do it as a hobby or go work for someone else and let them handle the business side of things.