Alice’s Mom’s Rescue

[mazonemayu]

be glad you're not a neogeo fan

[segata sanshiro]

be glad you're not a neogeo fan

My point is not the money, its the game we're getting for that money. To reiterate, i'm not judging the hard work or quality of the product, but we're living in an age of Live Arcade, Mobile, Humble Indie Bundle, PSN,etc... categories according to content. This game is on mobile for a dollar... Maybe is the lack of proper publicity, but in the same price range as Sturmwind, Shenmue, Forza, Uncharted... just because its on the DC? come on.

[dark]

Personally, I agree 52 euro seems like a lot, on the other hand, there are different pressures for the market on each platform.

I'm sure developers would like to sell for more than $1 on mobile and view their development time as worth more than that, but the expectation from the casual consumers is that games should be priced at this level, and to price the mobile game at say, $10, it would probably not sell at all.

For dreamcast, you pretty much have the reverse. You do not expect to sell lots of copies even if it is priced at a bargain rate, since it is a dead platform, and there are additional costs associated with creating 1000 copies of the physical product, so on top of whatever number the developer would think is appropriate compensation for the time and effort spent creating the game, the price needs to include a cut for the publisher and the promotion/manufacturing costs (pressing CDs, getting professional artwork for the cover, etc). Should this equal 52E? That seems a bit high for me, but I do not begrudge the developer or the publisher from setting it at that level initially. And at the end of the day, it's not like the people who own a dreamcast do not have the ability to purchase the game for $1 on the phone too

[Orion_]

Hello, I'm the developer of Alice's Mom's Rescue.
I just wanted to say that I'm a bit ashamed about the retail price which I also consider too high.
I told to HuCast about that, and the pre-order price was much lower, but in the end he decided to get the price up when the game was released last week.
At first, I was considering selling the game for about 25€, (and that's the price I will set for the Atari Jaguar CD release which will come soon)
but I don't have control on the HuCast publishing decisions.
I could have release the game for Dreamcast on my own, but let's be honest, it wouldn't have had such spread on the Internet, HuCast have a large contact list and now the game is known on a lots of website that I wasn't even aware of.
Also the game now feature two really nice cover artwork that was possible only with HuCast.

I read some comment (maybe not here) about the game being 2D and a little too simple for the Dreamcast hardware, I just wanted to say that I'm a single developer...

For my next release on Dreamcast, there will be 2 game in one, a Myst like and its sequel, I hope this will be much fair if the price is the same.

Dark > you are right, selling a game 1€ on mobile is just unfair for the time I put on creating the game, but otherwise it wouldn't sell at all.
This kind of price is only valid if selling more than 10000 copies, but only a few developer on earth sell that much ... (and it require lots of advertising, or lots of luck)
To be honest I sold less than 30 copy of Alice on mobile phone, 30*1*70% = 21€ earned in two month...
That's why I'm trying to port my game on other platforms so I hope to have a little more return on time investment.

[segata sanshiro]

Thanks for commenting on this man, much appreciated!

At first, I was considering selling the game for about 25€

Thats a good price!

To be honest I sold less than 30 copy of Alice on mobile phone, 30*1*70% = 21€ earned in two month...

Try Apple store, i'm developing a small game and was aiming towards Android, but a friend just convinced me to publish for iOS first, the market there is completely different, the only setback is the $100 license, but you already have your games done.

Just bought the PC version, will try it tonight!

[krssn]

The game is out. Personally i think 52 EURO is a bit too much, the game looks great, but this is a full retail price for a homebrew 2D sidescroller that is available on mobile for a buck. A compilation might be worth 52€, a single game like this will be well priced at 20€.
Milking the DC fans like this is not cool.
What do you think?

I think we shouldn't have expected anything differently from Hucast...

[DCGX]

I agree. I expect this from Hucast now. They take advantage of nostalgia and DC fans (just look ReDux and Dux 1.5 re-release fiascoes).

Orion - I'm at an impasse because as a huge DC fan, I want to support the indie devs making games for the system by buying as direct as possible and avoiding marketplaces like eBay. I think the price is too high (I would get the limited edition, and the art is gorgeous), but I feel more of that price goes to Hucast than it would you. Could you confirm if they get a higher cut than you? If you can't say, and I would assume it's contractual, that's okay.

I'll probably pick up the game eventually though. At least it's less at Hucast's site than at Play-Asia.

[krssn]

If you just want to play the game you could always download it, contact Orion_ privately, and make a donation...

[mazonemayu]

I normally always pre-order games, but haven't done it with this one, because of one reason: its price. being a completionist (and obviously I want to play it), I'll prolly buy it soon, but I too they're starting to rip us off. As DCGX said, it would be nice to know it the main part of the money goes to you or them, otherwise you've been scammed and should go to redspot or goatstore next time

[segata sanshiro]

I bought the PC version for $3 from Orions website. The game is simple and good, the sprites are well made, the music is great and the level design is challenging. The levels are short, but very clever and they invite the player to explore and collect everything.
I would have liked for the character to control with a little inertia and gain momentum for jumps like Super Mario, but it is good right now. A good effort and for one person is an amazing achievement.