The Ghost Blade

[dave_van_damn]

...

Man, I just read your piece about Hucast, that was a great read. Finally a Hucast retrospective that's not missing details. Congratulations.

Just in case you guys are interested... http://segabits.com/blog/2015/10/05/opi ... dreamcast/

My thoughts exactly! And they included my Facebook message on Hucast's wall!

[hombreimaginario]

And that's why they need to add better copy protection, not just abandon that piece of the indie market!

I honestly doubt a copy protection will keep the pirates at bay. Every single commercially released indie game can be found in cracked form on the WWW. Adding a copy protection will only make it harder for Dreamcast fans alike to make their own private copy for use with for example the GDEMU. I have bought every indie release out there, but had to resort to the darkside of the WWW in order to get a few gems running on my GDEMU.

Well, it's still the only way. Think of Pier Solar. It took at least a couple years for hackers to dump the cartridge. It was going to be done eventually, sure, but at least it "protected" the huge investment these guys made. Think of Sturmwind, pretty much the same case, it took a while and I'm glad it did, as it's a great game and it took Duranik many years to finish it. It simply wouldn't have been fair.

After a few years (3-5), our own coding man Chui's opinion is we should release the games for like 1 € or even for free, so that piracy isn't even needed. Pathological pirates will be pirates anyway and if they can get something pirated instead of paying 1 €, but as I said that's pathological and we are not here to re-educate them

My point is, making these games means tons of work and if you don't add some kind of copy protection you cannot be surprised if your work is made available in torrents everywhere. Making these games for AES only sort of protects that work from piracy, so that's the most obvious proof you need.

[mazonemayu]

and even that isn't true, coz you can just as easily find neo geo roms on the web

[hombreimaginario]

and even that isn't true, coz you can just as easily find neo geo roms on the web

You can, after they're dumped. But come on, you know it's not the same thing

[mazonemayu]

Actually it is, coz when ng dev team releases a new game it gets dumped and everyone gets to play it through their far emulator, so to say "piracy" is the reason they won't port to DC anymore is just rubbish

[hombreimaginario]

Actually it is, coz when ng dev team releases a new game it gets dumped and everyone gets to play it through their far emulator, so to say "piracy" is the reason they won't port to DC anymore is just rubbish

But it is the reason, for them anyway.

[Omnibot2000]

I believe that the sales of XY... you know, that other shmup were bad. But imho, the reasons for that were:

- Another shmup

- plagued with bugs

Gunlord sold very well, it was no shmup and properly ported. While I agree with Carlos that copy-protection is important for a maximum of sales (I think STURMWIND wouldn't have sold THAT much if it could have been copied from day 1), I think piracy is a minor problem because the DC community/the collectors want original retail releases/games on their shelves.
I am absolutely sure that for instance a Völgarr the Viking would sell 1.500+ units despite the fact that it is free for download. I would buy it. And I'm certainly not the only one.

[Wrath of Khan]

I believe that the sales of XY... you know, that other shmup were bad. But imho, the reasons for that were:

- Another shmup

- plagued with bugs

Gunlord sold very well, it was no shmup and properly ported. While I agree with Carlos that copy-protection is important for a maximum of sales (I think STURMWIND wouldn't have sold THAT much if it could have been copied from day 1), I think piracy is a minor problem because the DC community/the collectors want original retail releases/games on their shelves.
I am absolutely sure that for instance a Völgarr the Viking would sell 1.500+ units despite the fact that it is free for download. I would buy it. And I'm certainly not the only one.

It's true that there are too many shmups being released. Gunlord was indeed a breath of fresh air. Hucast/ngdev team should consider releasing a game in a different genre -though I guess shmups are their expertise. A 2d beat em up, car game ala supercars2/ micro machines- action adventure ala flasback etc.

Also do we have exact sales figures for neo xyx and sturmwind? Nobody seems to know for sure how many copies a typical dc game sells. Iv'e heard 3 to 4,000 copies bandied about before and thought that this might be the average?

[Omnibot2000]

A 2d beat em up, car game ala supercars2/ micro machines- action adventure ala flasback etc.

I think Kraut Busters would be a top seller like Gunlord, maybe even more successful.

Also do we have exact sales figures for neo xyx and sturmwind? Nobody seems to know for sure how many copies a typical dc game sells. Iv'e heard 3 to 4,000 copies bandied about before and thought that this might be the average?

Can't comment on xyx, but according to Duranik, STURMWIND sold more than 5.000 units.

[Wrath of Khan]

A 2d beat em up, car game ala supercars2/ micro machines- action adventure ala flasback etc.

I think Kraut Busters would be a top seller like Gunlord, maybe even more successful.

Also do we have exact sales figures for neo xyx and sturmwind? Nobody seems to know for sure how many copies a typical dc game sells. Iv'e heard 3 to 4,000 copies bandied about before and thought that this might be the average?

Can't comment on xyx, but according to Duranik, STURMWIND sold more than 5.000 units.

5,000 units; not bad. Good for them. That gives us a good idea how many copies of a dreamcast game sells, more or less.