software pirates have no sense of irony

[Darren Dirt]

lol @ their foolish hubris and karmic retribution!
http://www.greenheartgames.com/2013/04/29/what-happens-when-pirates-play-a-game-development-simulator-and-then-go-bankrupt-because-of-piracy/


Looks like a pretty cool, and surprisingly deep, simulation game; I just watched some of a Let's Play @ http://www.youtube.com/user/xisumavoid/search?query=Game+Dev+Tycoon



the Game Dev Tycoon game devs have a great sense of humour, as demonstrated above, but also especially on display here:
http://www.greenheartgames.com/2013/04/01/announcing-first-expansion-for-game-dev-tycoon/

[Mr. Analog]

I bought it last week and have been playing it off and on for a few days. It's a really enlightening game actually, like how having fans can be a double edged sword, choosing what technologies to research, being ready to adjust to trends, it's amazingly deep for such a simple game.

I mean you can start out by making text based adventures for the Commodore 64 all the way to making MMOs

I keep getting caught in the console war crossfire of the 90s, that decade was crazy, and even having knowledge about where trends are going to go doesn't always guarantee success.

Totally worth the $8.39 admission

[Darren Dirt]

I keep getting caught in the console war crossfire of the 90s, that decade was crazy, and even having knowledge about where trends are going to go doesn't always guarantee success.

Did you avoid investing much Research Points for the Vena Oasis?

[Mr. Analog]

Nah, you just buy a license for console development, so if you have the cash you can release stuff for any console. I made a "mature" themed fantasy action game for the Genesis and it did really well, I timed it as close to the release of that console as possible and made a swack of cash.

They key to console development is to launch a game within the first six months, if the console is popular you can ride that success.

The research branches either give you more topics to create games with or give you technologies you can build into an engine you can make games around, so you could have a game engine that has enhanced graphics and sound and uses a steering wheel controller, this will give you boosts in those attributes that you can apply during game development.

Game dev has 3 phases, each phase has a slider that relates to some attribute of the game. The technologies you research boost the sliders.

Once you get to the point where you are making game engines you have to plan around them, because while the engines can give you technological boosts they cost money and time to develop.

I got caught trying to make engines that were super specific and burnt through 2 million bucks in just a few months, the next two games I released using that engine weren't successful and I was in financial trouble fast. Then I made an engine that was more flexible but it cost a lot of money and time up front, luckily I used it to make a string of successful games. Unfortunately if you use the same engine too many times in the same category it will be less well reviewed and even if it's really good it won't generate a lot of sales. (also for sequels, if you release a sequel using the same engine you are likely to get burned by your fans).

The other thing you have to manage is growth, if you stay small you won't be able to compete for long because research and marketing get more expensive over time and you really need the ability to finish games faster, a string of moderate successes is just as desirable one outright blockbuster.

[Thorin]

Releasing the "cracked" version at the same time as the "non-cracked" version probably skewed the first-day statistics that they show.  It does still take a little while to reverse-engineer and crack a game. Putting up the torrent and making it super-easy to get and having a high upload probably helped distribute it so quickly.

Nevertheless, there is some cruel irony at work as the pirates who pirated the game complain about the virtual pirates pirating the virtual game inside their game.

A better technique for indie game developers these days is to use Kickstarter or similar to fundraise so that the developers' salaries are covered, and then make sure to deliver on the game as promised.

This is the most interesting quote, though: 'When I was younger, downloading illegal copies was practically normal"

So...  Nothing has changed except he's on the other side of the equation now?

[Mr. Analog]

Yep, and when it happens in game you have a decision to make, pursue the pirates legally or not.

You may gain fans but you don't gain revenue.

It's an interesting look actually.