"Adam Is Me" - interest check of boxed game

[ilmenit]

We are finishing the game "Adam Is Me":

The game was aimed to be free, but we would also like to release a boxed paid version of the game.
While I'm opting for making the game freeware (and even open-source), the other team-members have doubts that it may ruin sales and not even cover the costs.
We have two main options then:

1. do not release the game for free but only a paid boxed version (like "Star Vagrant" recently)
2. release the game for free + release a boxed version for the ones who collect physical versions (like "Pac-Mad" recently)

In both cases the price of the game should cover the costs of making the physical release and distribution - we are not aiming to make money out of it.
We are already talking to one publisher and your answers may help a lot with defining expectations and estimate number of copies to prepare.
The poll is non-binding, it's not an order - I'm just checking your preferences

Edited April 26, 2020 by ilmenit

[mattsoft]

This game does look interesting. Curious to check it out when it's available!

[darwinmac]

If you want to have a digital download like “Star Vagrant”, I would be willing to pay for it if the price was reasonable (around $20). 
 

I haven’t had a chance to play Star Vagrant yet, but I wanted to support a developer that wanted to recoup their costs without me having to store another box. 

I voted in the poll, but I wanted to make clear that I’m not opposed to paying for a good game. I just don’t have space to keep collecting boxes. 
 

Bob C

[_The Doctor__]

Need pictures and videos to promote interest and sales here... :)

[+Philsan]

I released L.E.M. for free and a boxed edition for collectors (with royalties devolved to AtariAge).

 

This is the solution I prefer but obviously not the best option to push sales.

 

Another solution could be to offer digital download and boxed edition (I prefer carts, especially if saves states or high score saving are added).

Eventually (after some years) the game could be released for free.

 

 

 

[+MrFish]

42 minutes ago, darwinmac said:

If you want to have a digital download like “Star Vagrant”, I would be willing to pay for it if the price was reasonable (around $20). 
 

I haven’t had a chance to play Star Vagrant yet, but I wanted to support a developer that wanted to recoup their costs without me having to store another box. 

I voted in the poll, but I wanted to make clear that I’m not opposed to paying for a good game. I just don’t have space to keep collecting boxes. 

 

I'm in agreement with this sentiment. I would like to see more support for software developed in this community.

 

I'm not interested in this particular title being produced -- for purchase that is. The game looks interesting and well done, though; and I'll play around with any free or demo release. But if I, by chance, end up liking it well enough, I would pay for a downloadable copy. I think $10 - $20 is reasonable, depending on the effort put into a game.

 

I'm not interested in boxes either; but for games that I particularly like, it would be nice to have a cart version available. Disk versions are nice too.

 

As far as game-related gadgets. I can live without them, unless they are truly part of the game. The Infocom stuff was cool, but needed more in that case because the games weren't graphical. Most of the things I see people including are a waste as far as I'm concerned. I'm mainly not interested in them.

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by MrFish

[ilmenit]

10 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said:

Need pictures and videos to promote interest and sales here...

The game trailer was available in the game thread:

but here it is again ?

 

[ilmenit]

9 hours ago, MrFish said:

But if I, by chance, end up liking it well enough, I would pay for a downloadable copy. I think $10 - $20 is reasonable, depending on the effort put into a game.

 

10 hours ago, darwinmac said:

If you want to have a digital download like “Star Vagrant”, I would be willing to pay for it if the price was reasonable (around $20).

 While we greatly appreciate will to support the creators, it's not our motivation to get money for it. It's kind of "social contract", like when you visit your grandma and she is offering you a cake ? You are probably not going to tell her "I'm going to give you 4 bucks for the piece I ate... or even 5, because it was so good!"

We are doing it as a hobby, not a commercial project - there is no chance to cover the development cost on this platform. The game was done in about 6 months by team of 6 people (with different man-hours spent). My rough estimate is that around 700 man-hours were put into making this game (the game was done by team of 6 who spent different amount of time on the project). Considering that majority of us work on at least "senior positions" professionally, there should be not 100-150 sold copies but at least 10-20 times more. The cost is really to cover creation of physical version and distribution costs of publisher. As creators we will not get a dime out of the sold copies (such source of income could even greatly over-complicate filing a tax return!). Therefore, enjoy the cake! ?

 

[+MrFish]

7 minutes ago, ilmenit said:

While we greatly appreciate will to support the creators, it's not our motivation to get money for it. It's kind of "social contract", like when you visit your grandma and she is offering you a cake ? You are probably not going to tell her "I'm going to give you 4 bucks for the piece I ate... or even 5, because it was so good!"

We are doing it as a hobby, not a commercial project - there is no chance to cover the development cost on this platform. The game was done in about 6 months by team of 6 people (with different man-hours spent). My rough estimate is that around 700 man-hours were put into making this game (the game was done by team of 6 who spent different amount of time on the project). Considering that majority of us work on at least "senior positions" professionally, there should be not 100-150 sold copies but at least 10-20 times more. The cost is really to cover creation of physical version and distribution costs of publisher. As creators we will not get a dime out of the sold copies (such source of income could even greatly over-complicate filing a tax return!). Therefore, enjoy the cake! ?

With those ideas in mind, downloadable copies at a price can help pay for materials necessary for physical copies that others will purchase.

 

Your taxes are your own problem.    I'm just telling you what I think, and speaking of game selling in general.

 

[ilmenit]

6 minutes ago, MrFish said:

With those ideas in mind, downloadable copies at a price can help pay for materials necessary for physical copies that others will purchase.

that is a good point, taken! ?

[ggn]

I don't have much to contribute to the discussion other than to say that "Baba is you" is one of my favorite games of 2019, and @ilmenit and the rest of the team has my deepest respect for making an a8 version

 

Last year the Atari 800 had a Snakebird inspired game, now Baba is you... I'm now half expecting someone to announce a "Stephen's sausage roll" port and "The witness" and the Atari 800 will have 4 of the best puzzle games ever! What grand times we live in

[ilmenit]

42 minutes ago, ggn said:

I don't have much to contribute to the discussion other than to say that "Baba is you" is one of my favorite games of 2019, and @ilmenit and the rest of the team has my deepest respect for making an a8 version

 

Last year the Atari 800 had a Snakebird inspired game, now Baba is you... I'm now half expecting someone to announce a "Stephen's sausage roll" port and "The witness" and the Atari 800 will have 4 of the best puzzle games ever! What grand times we live in

Thanks! I was thinking more about "Braid" by Jonathan Blow next but ""Stephen's sausage roll" looks interesting too We will see, but first things first, lets release this game first.

[_The Doctor__]

don't forget the ever popular DONATE button everyone is always including or mentioning these days

[ggn]

6 minutes ago, ilmenit said:

Thanks! I was thinking more about "Braid" by Jonathan Blow next but ""Stephen's sausage roll" looks interesting too We will see, but first things first, lets release this game first.

But do you have enough RAM to store 1 hour long of undo for braid?

 

(BTW Mr Blow himself hails Stephen's sausage roll as the best puzzle game ever!)

Edited April 28, 2020 by ggn

[ilmenit]

38 minutes ago, ggn said:

But do you have enough RAM to store 1 hour long of undo for braid?

 

(BTW Mr Blow himself hails Stephen's sausage roll as the best puzzle game ever!)

Nope, but there should be enough if you lower granularity of saving (e.g. 5 positions per second), lower it to 2 minutes of undo and adjust levels

Edited April 28, 2020 by ilmenit

[_The Doctor__]

1 hour ago, ggn said:

But do you have enough RAM to store 1 hour long of undo for braid?

 

(BTW Mr Blow himself hails Stephen's sausage roll as the best puzzle game ever!)

you could save an hour of undo to hard disk, sd card, of maybe even atarimax flashdisk in some form or another... :)

Edited April 28, 2020 by _The Doctor__

[ilmenit]

On 4/28/2020 at 10:49 PM, _The Doctor__ said:

you could save an hour of undo to hard disk, sd card, of maybe even atarimax flashdisk in some form or another...

That's possible, but SIO especially in case of modern storages is very time sensitive and could not work well with the fluent gameplay or music. Better option would be to use extended memory (what I'm doing in "Adam Is You" for expanded undo).

Then you may use some optimizations e.g. granularity of 5 stores per second for the last 10 seconds, but for older keep granularity of 1 store per second.

I'm quite sure that demake of "Braid", while limited, is possible for 8bit platform.

[ggn]

Just to clarify: Braid has a level where in order to get an optional puzzle piece hidden in plain sight you literally had to wait for 1 hour in one specific point and then rewind the whole thing. So it was a joke aimed at if @ilmenit was going to do a 1:1 port of Braid. I think it'd be better to use the various game mechanics without copying the levels 1:1. There's a lot of space to be explored in those mechanics I think :).

[+davidcalgary29]

I love feelies. Give me feelies! I'll purchase two copies if you release it boxed with a cartridge.

[_The Doctor__]

Update on A. I. M. plz @ilmenit

Edited May 23, 2020 by _The Doctor__

[ilmenit]

On 5/23/2020 at 8:21 PM, _The Doctor__ said:

Update on A. I. M. plz @ilmenit

Hi. The game is basically finished but for prosaic reasons we are stuck with physical release ? Our graphician is a healthcare worker and with coronavirus situation and kids at home (that he needs to educate when schools are closed) he has no time nor energy to finish the graphics for the box. On me there is still unfinished task of making the changes for the cartridge version and due to professional workload I did not touch hobby-coding for more than a week now. Adulthood ?

Edited May 25, 2020 by ilmenit

[_The Doctor__]

It's a tough spot for sure...

 

Thanks for the UPDATE...

 

Most of us can relate to this and now we know where things are situated.

[Atari8guy]

All good things to those who wait.... Take your time.

[ilmenit]

One the game page we would like to have available to download also packages with preconfigured emulator for Windows and at least MacOS (Linux would be nice too). In case of other games it helped greatly the non-retro audience to simplify their experience. I have done already a pack for Windows with Altirra, but I do not have access to MacOS to prepare and test for this system. I see that there are WINE packages of Altirra available - anyone would like to help to make a game bundle for MacOS (or Linux)?