Topic: The Three Musketeers - First Impressions

Problem with PSN, you need the dev kits:) They cost the developer money. As for iPhone, it's rife with piracy sadly..

@eripmav: How many worlds are in TM? I just got to the second one (which is awesome btw).

@Eripmav- Well thanks to that review that pixelman linked us to. I think this will be one of the next ones I get. I hope you guys do well. I don't want to see a good developer get screwed.

Edit- Especially when less deserving titles do well instead (like those 5$ one that probably do well mainly because of their price). Wasn't pong toss one of those?

There's 4 different worlds, with around 200 "rooms" if I remember correctly.

Thanks longtimegamer, that's very kind. It's a tough situation we're all in atm, financially. Who can we blame to make us all feel better?

Do you honestly think that people view points in the same way as say dollars or GBP? So therefore, lower the points more people will buy it? Sorry, if I'm totally honest with you, with the exception of 3M I've never bought a WiiWare title!

You probably had a little bad luck coming out. Did you comebout the time of Nyxquest?

I do think price factors into it. In NA most people grab 2000 points at a time (the amount you get on any given points card) and so they can either buy two pricey games, or four cheap ones. Or World of Goo and one cheap one. You end up with some small number of points left over, and while some of us are happy to sit on them, others are quick to cash them out and get a game.

Often it's a lousy game, but...well...that's a whole other topic. I think that's the same reason the 200 point games are beating the tar out of everything else on the DSiWare charts, too. People have the points left over, and just want to trade them in for a game.

For someone like yourself, who doesn't buy WiiWare titles, it might seem like a strange practice. You see it as a series of releases that you can cherry-pick. And certainly a lot of people do. But others (as you'll notice from hanging about the forum) grab big piles of points at once, and spend them on games more frequently than they do on retail releases. Those are the ones who really determine the state of the WiiWare charts, I think, and those are the ones eager for a great, cheap game to come along and make that final 500 points or so go away.

I think it helps, especially with uninformed people. Didn't you guys get the short end of the stick on some reviews though?

Ps. I'm not saying you shoud lower it. I just think that it's easier to part with something like 5$. I think people are more apt to overlook some things when a game cost so little. I bought a 5$ online poker game. The pricetag probably helped(not to mention online.)

I didn't say all this to make you bitter though. We need people that actually care about what they put out and aren't out just to make a quick buck.

WiiWare is so hit or miss, it seems. So many great title get overlooked and so many garbage titles sell well. There's obviously a fairly diverse audience for the service, but figuring that audience out might be tough. As I've said, fish sell on the service so if you're going a new game, make sure the fish are there.

I'm one of the users here who buys more downloadable games than retail. I won't ever waste my last 2 or 3 bucks on shovel ware though, Ive been burnt way too many times.

Yes. I find that's a huge problem with Wii. Even though there aren't as many apps as the apps store, games can still get drowned out because well.. Aside from Mondays announcement (which I'm sure MANY people don't pay attention too, at least in Wii audience) and from videos on the Nintendo Channel not many people probably pay attention too.
How else will games like yours get noticed? You obviously don't have the money to buy actual ad space, as I'm sure many of the WiiWare companies don't.
There's no user ratings, just the top 20, which is only based on sales and not quality.
Then there's Nintendo themselves who don't even really bother to promote WiiWare (or DSiWare) at all. All their marketing is towards games everyone is going to buy anyways, like Wii Sports Resort and professor layton... Yeah I mean there's a crappy pamphlet in their games, but who reads those?

What are the sales of your game? Do you have any idea, and/or can share that information? Maybe WiiWare games have slow but steady sales since they're not reduced in price and are on there forever (as far as I can tell)
The price would definitely be a factor (500 sounds prettier then 900) but I don't think it would be that big of a factor.

Since you already have the dev kit out much would it cost to put another one of your games up? Is if financially viable? I know time plays a part.

People keep suggesting the idea of a player-rated top 20, and the more I hear it, the more I wish it existed. The top 20 sales chart is nice, but, as we all know, is not at all an indication of quality.

I'd love for people to be asked to rate each purchase on a scale of five or ten stars; we'd get a better feeling for which games feel like ripoffs!

@Chicken Brutus- Maybe someone other than nintendo could do this?

Well someone could make a website, but then the issue still lays with most people still not seeing it. Unless this site has money to advertise itself. It's really up to Nintendo do start helping Wiiware devs a little more, they're the only ones who can help good games not get flushed down with crap staying afloat.

Well, the new Nintendo Channel in Japan allows you to actually view the votes people give to games (shock, horror -- you mean there's actually a POINT TO THAT?) so you can see the top whatever user-rated disc, WW, DSiW, VC releases.

Of course this requires people to actually rate things in the channel and to then view the ratings...I really don't think there's a solution other than knowing your market and trying to reach them in as economical a way as possible. Some people here (like me) spend silly money on points. I internally judge if a game is worthwhile, but I don't actually translate the points into real money when I buy games. Anything under 1000 is worth a punt to me unless it's a really basic game. More than that and it either needs to look the bees bollocks or have some serious word of mouth (bribery also help, see Bonsai Barber seed promotion).

I don't know how much eye traffic NL gets, but if you're making a game that's likely to have appeal to a broad range of hobbyist gamers it's a good place to get known. I don't know how broad the readership is, though (maybe a reader survey is in order?) so "My Home Gardening Sim" might not get a lot of sales if you got it reviewed here and skipped the Better Homes website...

Well, I've just found out that developers have no control over pricing. It's all down to the big N to a) set the price and b) control the price, ie when to lower it etc.

It's tough for indy developers, it really is. I don't want to keep on bleating but it riles me when I go on certain sites and pirates are going on about how much they like the game, blah blah blah yet not supporting us in any way shape or form. Angry angry angry:)

Then post there and tell them to buy it or never expect a game for them again. They are sabotaging their own interests.

eripmav, if you were going to set the price and had full control over it, would you price the game at 1,000 Points? Lower? Just out of curiousity.

....You're making the product and you have absolutely no control over the price of it...
That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard... I mean sure, it let's Nintendo not turn WiiWare into the App store, but I mean SOME control over the price would've been nice.

Legendo? Can you share with us the sales of the game? Or is that under lock and key?

Also maybe there's more ways to promote the game? Make some wallpaper for desktops? Release the soundtrack in MP3 format for free (maybe on Youtube too) to get some product knowledge out there (free stuff always get attention, and the music is really good in this game) also maybe put it on Itunes (dunno if that costs anything)
... Ringtones maybe?

To be a bit positive, the game has only been out for a couple weeks, sales may remain consistent or maybe increase.

Or maybe even just, if you can, port your other PC games over. Dracula Twins (with waggle AND button options ) Spooky Spirits (Maybe DSiWare too if you have that dev kit) and Attack on Pearl Harbour (Maybe two parts since it's so big a game, on American missions, one Japanese or remove the voice acting with possible motion plus support if you can, similar to the plane mode in Wii Sports Resort) I bet you anything people would buy Pearl Harbour, there's I'm pretty sure NO flight games for WiiWare, and if you could port a game that big and have it control well enough, I bet it would have sales. I'll buy it, but I guess one doesn't mean many.
The more games you have, the more likely people will be aware of the Legendo brand, one game in a pile of many might not stand out alone, but if you have 3 or 4, your company name will at least be seen more.

I dunno. I'd say hang in there, but I imagine between all of you, the cheques aren't that big.
And as ripe as piracy is on the App store, if you sell the games for a low price (0.99 - 1.99) you'll probably make SOME money.