Too many homebrews?

[+grips03]

I switched to just buying the games I like. Its just too much money to buy all of them or to buy multiple copies of each.

 

I think LTO Flash will help me buy more games if publishers release them on ROM for a reduced price ($10-20). I really like how Carl does it.

 

I hope for high quality games with good game testing. LTO Flash will help make testing easier.

 

As far as the number of games released let the market sort it out.

[Greg2600]

All I want is a flashcart to be released!

[Eric7100]

I guess I shouldn't tell anyone my ambitious plans for the next few years.....I'll never hear the end of it.

 

I think you should rethink those plans.

Edited April 16, 2015 by Eric7100

[UberArcade]

The one aspect of homebrew collecting I have really enjoyed is the Atari 7800 games Bob created. He released them as cart only which made them very reasonable. They are also great games. So that has been the one system I buy every homebrew for. It is also the ones I play most. I don't worry about messing them up by playing them. There are no boxes to crease up. For some reason when I get a cib homebrew game a lot of times I don't open it up right away and play it. It goes right on the shelf. When I get a cart only game in the mail I open and play it.

[+cmart604]

 

I think you should rethink those plans.

Having seen what Rev is planning I must admit I feel the opposite

[Bill Loguidice]

It was especially bad for me because I love and have just about every system ever made. To keep things financially practical, I've had to limit it to buying either particularly good deals (low price, generous packaging, etc.) or especially intriguing creations, i.e., must-haves. It's definitely a psychological thing to get over trying to have everything. It's just not possible in today's world of gaming abundance, which includes regular homebrew releases for so many vintage platforms.

The one way it's probably practical is if you're dedicated to one or two platforms at the exclusion of all else (even modern gaming). Then I can see taking the time to obsessively make sure you're on top of every possible release. Otherwise, not so much.

[VectorGamer]

I've only bought two INTV homebrews and they were D2K Arcade and Ms. Pac-Man - cuz I knew what I was getting. I didn't opt for Boulderdash because I'm not interested in that genre.

 

Anyways, I've had this dilemma with ColecoVision homebrews. It's easier for me financially to buy one game a month for 12 consecutive months vs. 12 games at a time. I would have a real hard time explaining to wifey plopping down over $700 for games in one pop. $60 a month kinda flies under the radar.

 

I mostly buy arcade conversions because those are the games I'm familiar with. For other games, I depend on looking at YT game play videos to determine if it's my cup of tea or not and most of the time they're not. So, I'm a player first and a collector second. I don't need to own everything ever published. Some (but not all) homebrews are just bad.

[Aquaman]

I wish we had these kind of problems for the Aquarius

[Ignorama]

@ Steve

 

You are absolutely right and because of the high financial risks I would always support paid pre orders, as I already did in the past. And maybe that is a way to go. Or maybe binding interesst lists. I dont know how many people finally paid the games in comparision to the number of people who had shown interesst in it. Its definitely a pretty hard problem for publishers and so its an misunderstanding if someone thinks I want to force them to something.

[+intvnut]

All I want is a flashcart to be released!

 

I'm workin' on it!

[WaveRider1970]

Well, we always says that at the end, the customer is right bcz if disagreement happens then the customer goes elsewhere and usually, never or hardly come back.

 

CIB homebrews are for collectors and/or passion. However, if you did not get into it in time, it is almost impossible to get the CIB homebrews - they are really much rarer than the classical games. I could had have all CIB from Intellivision and Colecovision if I wanted to (.... spend the money for). However, for homebrew, it is even worse.

 

For those who arrives late in the process and just want to play the games w/o the annoyance to find a place for their boxes (may loose carts available), then it is much more easier to get the cartridge itself or a multi-card and D/L the roms. This is why I have decided for the following options:

 

Mattel Intellivision : CIB and now, got the HB disease. I now have 121 CIB games - 3 loose carts - 1 missing game (take a guess). However, I could have had the 3 loose carts games in CIB for more $$ but decided to go for homebrew instead. All intelligentvision HB are available on rom so .... can play them so I focused on other games. Now have all CIB 3 LTO (on 3 - not counting re-release version) - 4 CltrV (on 4) - 10 Elktr (on 9 - not counting HVR BVR and DOC) - 15 IV (on 25)

Colecovision : Loose carts - 133/135 (incl. double ender - ex super sketch - not a game). One being easy to get and one rarer but could had some missed opportunities. But for HB - OMG - too complicated and expensive to have them CIB but some (first and rarest) are available on rom so playable. For the new ones - that is another story remains to be solved.

Atari VCS 2600 : Too many titles (> 800) - having CIB, no way - too much. ROM on multi-cart : easy to get, playable and very affordable.

 

I like the GOG site where - when you are patient. Affordable and playable.

 

For the HB, I wish that the ROM and PDF manuals can be bought for 5 or 10 bucks. I can afford to have all of them at that price. CIB takes too much space but if I feel sick, it is my problem to get all of them CIB regardless how much I pay - it is unfortunate but please stop posting here that you pay less for it, WE KNOW but now, it is not possible anymore. With that option - like the DRM, you can have all of them - have the manual (which is another impossible mission) - still collectible (question of POV) - play and have fun. Isn't the goal here? In addition, homebrewers would have more money to produce more.

 

Just a though to be share.

 

Cheers. WR

[Games For Your Intellivision]

Currently, Elektronite plans to go ahead with limited 'cart only' releases initially on titles in the future and follow up with 'CIB' releases..

 

When a game is available, there will be a limited time to purchase the game in cartridge only format. (Probably in the $40 range)

 

When sales halt, the 'cart only' version will never be available again.

 

If viable, the title will then be sold 'complete in box' with serial numbers.

 

Eventually, we plan to release games on LTO Flash! carts for a reasonable amount. (Probably in the $15-20 range)

 

We feel that we can satisfy most people with this approach. The physical cart crowd who don't care about packaging, the 'flash cart' crowd who want to have the game available with the rest of the library and of course the people who like a high quality packaged version.

 

Hover Bovver will probably get a cartridge only release this summer, followed by a CIB release around October and a ROM release once we sell enough CIB copies.

[Atari_Bill]

The number of home brews should only be a positive for the community. There is absolutely no reason anyone should NEED to purchase every release.

[Rev]

As far as I know I have all of them, except 4tris white boxed ones. And a few elektronite budget cart editions of their games.

Edited April 17, 2015 by revolutionika

[+Lathe26]

I see advantages to the approach.

 

The only downside I see, for the buyer, is that they will like buy 1 cart and later 1 CIB because they really wanted the CIB to begin with. The cart was bought out of fear that the CIB wouldn't ever get made.

 

That said, I can see the upsides too.

[+Lathe26]

Kidding aside, I live in an apartment. Money isn't a problem but space is. If the rate of homebrews increases, I may be forced to stop sooner than expected.

Just so people know, I am planning to continue buying homebrews for a while...

[Games For Your Intellivision]

As far as I know I have all of them, except 4tris white boxed ones. And a few elektronite budget cart editions of their games.

 

You have Boulder Dash® ? Really?

[pimpmaul69]

Currently, Elektronite plans to go ahead with limited 'cart only' releases initially on titles in the future and follow up with 'CIB' releases..

 

When a game is available, there will be a limited time to purchase the game in cartridge only format. (Probably in the $40 range)

 

When sales halt, the 'cart only' version will never be available again.

 

If viable, the title will then be sold 'complete in box' with serial numbers.

 

Eventually, we plan to release games on LTO Flash! carts for a reasonable amount. (Probably in the $15-20 range)

 

We feel that we can satisfy most people with this approach. The physical cart crowd who don't care about packaging, the 'flash cart' crowd who want to have the game available with the rest of the library and of course the people who like a high quality packaged version.

 

Hover Bovver will probably get a cartridge only release this summer, followed by a CIB release around October and a ROM release once we sell enough CIB copies.

i wish you were doing a rom release with the games tagged or something like carl has done. Some of us only play on our ultimate intellivision flashbacks and not real hardware. I would even pay a premium just to have the option. There are many elektronite games i want to play but cant play any of them....

[+cmart604]

 

You have Boulder Dash® ? Really?

He knows a guy. even I don't need ten copies.

[+cmart604]

I see advantages to the approach.

 

The only downside I see, for the buyer, is that they will like buy 1 cart and later 1 CIB because they really wanted the CIB to begin with. The cart was bought out of fear that the CIB wouldn't ever get made.

 

That said, I can see the upsides too.

I agree

[Rev]

 

You have Boulder Dash® ? Really?

As Cmart said below, he bought 10 copies, so im buying 4 copies from him. Now if I can get to send them!

[+Tarzilla]

As Cmart said below, he bought 10 copies, so im buying 4 copies from him. Now if I can get to send them!

I think you missed a word, as in "get HIM to send them".

[+Tarzilla]

Currently, Elektronite plans to go ahead with limited 'cart only' releases initially on titles in the future and follow up with 'CIB' releases..

 

When a game is available, there will be a limited time to purchase the game in cartridge only format. (Probably in the $40 range)

 

When sales halt, the 'cart only' version will never be available again.

 

If viable, the title will then be sold 'complete in box' with serial numbers.

 

Eventually, we plan to release games on LTO Flash! carts for a reasonable amount. (Probably in the $15-20 range)

 

We feel that we can satisfy most people with this approach. The physical cart crowd who don't care about packaging, the 'flash cart' crowd who want to have the game available with the rest of the library and of course the people who like a high quality packaged version.

 

Hover Bovver will probably get a cartridge only release this summer, followed by a CIB release around October and a ROM release once we sell enough CIB copies.

Looking forward to the LTO solution, both from the developer side and the collector side.

 

I do see a dilemma for purchasers with respect to the cart vs CIB, and more so from your side. If you sell 150 carts of say, Hover Bovver, how are you going to determine how many boxed version you need if you get to that point, especially since boxes are the biggest expense. I would think selling carts first would lower the potential number you would sell CIB, but you'd be losing some of the economies of scale on the box print run.

[jaybird3rd]

I wish we had these kind of problems for the Aquarius

I'll do my best to contribute to that problem this summer. I'll be much more productive as a game developer when teaching classes isn't keeping me occupied almost 24 hours a day like it is now.

 

I agree that there's no rational reason that any collector should feel pressured to buy everything. Some collectors feel the obligation to do so because they simply want to support the developers, but in fact, I think the homebrew scene in general would benefit from more selectivity. If collectors begin to impose limits on their purchases, they'll end up buying only the best games, or only the games that are interesting to them personally. That will help to discourage sub-par releases, and the collectors will get more overall enjoyment from their collections, motivating them to keep collecting.

 

When I decided to try my hand at publishing games, I wanted to avoid the problems mentioned by the OP: I want anyone to be able to get my games at a reasonable price, without having to commit to a preorder or feeling pressured to buy within a narrow window of time. I would never try to make anyone who was not genuinely interested in playing my games to feel obligated to buy them: these are games, after all, and should be seen as games, not as artificially limited collector's items.

 

I've designed my approach to publishing to deliberately spread my costs across multiple releases: my boxes, for example, are "generic" boxes that can be inexpensively redressed for different games. I'll also handle all the order fulfillment and manufacturing myself, so I can implement a "publish-on-demand" model which avoids the problems of excess inventory and limited windows of availability. This gives me more freedom to be adventurous and creative with the games that I choose to write; the materials are expensive and take up space, to be sure, but I haven't sunk so much money into them that every game has to be a "hit" to break even. My approach probably wouldn't work for everyone or for every platform, but I'm publishing for the Aquarius, so I think it scales well for the much smaller quantities that I'll be shipping. (Soon, I hope!)

[JasonlikesINTV]

Looking forward to the LTO solution, both from the developer side and the collector side.

 

I do see a dilemma for purchasers with respect to the cart vs CIB, and more so from your side. If you sell 150 carts of say, Hover Bovver, how are you going to determine how many boxed version you need if you get to that point, especially since boxes are the biggest expense. I would think selling carts first would lower the potential number you would sell CIB, but you'd be losing some of the economies of scale on the box print run.

I could see this possibly being an issue with other future releases, but Hover Bovver is sort of a special case. Many collectors already bought the box and overlays set, so most collectors only need the cart and manual.

 

That being said, I'd prefer to see future releases in the following order:

 

CIB

Cart only

ROM

 

This gives dedicated cash in hand collectors the first grab at quality releases. Then reward the patient folks with budget options. I do, however, see the issues with this approach from the seller's perspective. CIB = more investment and potentially less profit margin than say ROM only.