Post subject: Mighty No. 9
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The people from the original Megaman series are making a new game. Kickstater here. The main character is not-megaman Beck. He has a not-roll partner named Call. I don't get the pun here. Overall it looks like a complete Megaman clone. And no one minds, because it is looking awesome.
Post subject: Re: Mighty No. 9
QuizmasterBos
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henke37 wrote:
The people from the original Megaman series are making a new game. Kickstater here. The main character is not-megaman Beck. He has a not-roll partner named Call. I don't get the pun here. Overall it looks like a complete Megaman clone. And no one minds, because it is looking awesome.
It does look really cool, but why PC only? If you take a look at the furthest stretch goal, it says that they need 2.5 MILLION dollars for PS3, 360 and Wii U versions. Why? Is it that hard to transfer the game over to the consoles? They need almost triple the money they're asking for that! Anyway, the pun is that 'being at someone's beck and call' means that you are ready to do what they want to. Like a butler, or even slave. It makes as much sense as Rock and Roll and it IS a Mega Man clone, so why not? Western version should be called 'Totally not Mega Man' though. Because that's what it IS, even they aren't hiding it: The camera scrolling up on a large building (Mega Man 2); Keiji Inafune dressed in blue, then putting on a blue hat; A girl looking like Roll walking a dog looking like Rush; A construction worker with a Met Hat on; and more. Anyway, I'm just bummed out that the game will very likely be PC only, given that they need about 6 time the money they have in a month's time. Still looks like an awesome game though.
Post subject: Re: Mighty No. 9
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QuizmasterBos wrote:
henke37 wrote:
The people from the original Megaman series are making a new game. Kickstater here. The main character is not-megaman Beck. He has a not-roll partner named Call. I don't get the pun here. Overall it looks like a complete Megaman clone. And no one minds, because it is looking awesome.
It does look really cool, but why PC only? If you take a look at the furthest stretch goal, it says that they need 2.5 MILLION dollars for PS3, 360 and Wii U versions. Why? Is it that hard to transfer the game over to the consoles? They need almost triple the money they're asking for that! Anyway, the pun is that 'being at someone's beck and call' means that you are ready to do what they want to. Like a butler, or even slave. It makes as much sense as Rock and Roll and it IS a Mega Man clone, so why not? Western version should be called 'Totally not Mega Man' though. Because that's what it IS, even they aren't hiding it: The camera scrolling up on a large building (Mega Man 2); Keiji Inafune dressed in blue, then putting on a blue hat; A girl looking like Roll walking a dog looking like Rush; A construction worker with a Met Hat on; and more. Anyway, I'm just bummed out that the game will very likely be PC only, given that they need about 6 time the money they have in a month's time. Still looks like an awesome game though.
Devkits, approval procedures and licensing costs money for consoles.
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Approval and also maintenance of the game after release are both very expensive. For example, Microsoft charges a flat fee of something like $40,000 for each patch you make after the first one, regardless of how big a company you are. A company like EA can easily afford to push multiple patches for their games, but a small indie company doesn't have that kind of luxury. That pitch video was amusing. It'll be interesting to see if the game lives up to it; I've no doubt it'll get funded.
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Post subject: Re: Mighty No. 9
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henke37 wrote:
TThe main character is not-megaman Beck. He has a not-roll partner named Call. I don't get the pun here.
It's a reference to Beck and Call. Like, my butler is at my beck and call.
When TAS does Quake 1, SDA will declare war. The Prince doth arrive he doth please.
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I guess I've never heard that expression. As for the cost for consoles, it seems possible, given that they are already half the way to the base goal.
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If I remember correctly when the PS2 was new Sony demanded 8000 USD and required that you had released successful games in the past in order to supply you with the tools to develop games for the console and the licensing paper work. I do not think it's unreasonable that the fees/prices have increased over time.
Post subject: Re: Mighty No. 9
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Pasky13 wrote:
Devkits, approval procedures and licensing costs money for consoles.
I don't see how any of those could cost anywhere near a million dollars. (And this even assuming that they are not making any kind of profit from the PC version.)
Post subject: Re: Mighty No. 9
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Warp wrote:
Pasky13 wrote:
Devkits, approval procedures and licensing costs money for consoles.
I don't see how any of those could cost anywhere near a million dollars. (And this even assuming that they are not making any kind of profit from the PC version.)
You have to understand that along with those costs you also need to pay your staff for a longer duration of work, or even hire new staff that is already familiar with the platform. Time = Money. You can't simply say, "Just throw a devkit at me, I'll port this within a week, no need for testing". It equates to longer development time, which means higher payroll costs among other things. It's not simply the static costs.
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And it's not a million dollars; it's whatever marginal extra money they have after paying for all of the stretch goals "beneath" it (like the extra levels, new game plus, making-of video, etc.). There's $300k between it and the next-lowest stretch goal, which means that in the worst case, that $300k (minus Kickstarter fees and taxes) is all they have to achieve that goal. Probably they'd have funds left over from other stretch goals, assuming they're remotely competent accountants and don't hit any major unexpected challenges, but they still won't have a million dollars spare for that job. Not that I'm a game developer, but I'd figure you're talking about, oh, 3-8 man-months of developer time to handle the ports and fix bugs, which bugs are found by many more man-months of QA time. And that's on top of the fees they have to pay to each console company to get their game listed.
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I didn't like the idea of the game at first, being a clone and all, but this comic strip puts it in another perspective. I empathize with the developers now. http://www.at7addak.com/data/news/2013/9/2/VGS/pc/-HPANV.png
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Mostly unrelated question: Is Keiji Inafune the same Inafking who is featured in the credits of every single Mega Man game? If so, then I look forward to this release :D
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A little update has happened on Kickstarter in case you haven't noticed or checked. They changed the stretch goals around. The Making Of documentary is now at 1.75 Million instead of 2 and the Console versions are now at 2.2 Million instead of 3. Plus, Jools Watsham from Renegade Kid has already told Keiji Inafune and his team that he'd be willing to make a 3DS version of the game. Lastly, the Kickstarter has brought up over 1.5 Million dollars as of writing, so it seems we might get console versions of this game.
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They simply got the money before they could think up the mystery stretch goals. It's simply the honest thing to pull them out from the rewards ladder.
QuizmasterBos
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henke37 wrote:
They simply got the money before they could think up the mystery stretch goals. It's simply the honest thing to pull them out from the rewards ladder.
According to the most recent update, it's partway because of that, but mostly because of fan demand. People were asking them en masse to make the console versions more readily available. It seems they did and that is a good thing.
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I hardly think they didn't know what the mystery stretch goals would be. You don't start a project of this magnitude without having all your ducks in a row beforehand. On the other hand, I do suspect that the mystery goals were probably things that wouldn't inspire much excitement if we knew what they were beforehand, and they were interspersed with the other goals as a way to maintain momentum. I.e. people go from "Oh man, we've almost unlocked the mystery goal!" to "Well, that was kind of lame, but look! We're almost to something that we actually care about!" Whereas the recent reordering is most likely an attempt to keep the "initial wave" of interest riding high, since they honestly have a tremendous amount of momentum.
Pyrel - an open-source rewrite of the Angband roguelike game in Python.
Post subject: Re: Mighty No. 9
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Pasky13 wrote:
You have to understand that along with those costs you also need to pay your staff for a longer duration of work, or even hire new staff that is already familiar with the platform. Time = Money. You can't simply say, "Just throw a devkit at me, I'll port this within a week, no need for testing".
Look at the best indie games out there. Do you think they had millions of dollars to develop them?
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Thanks for informing me about this fundraiser, henke37. I'm happy to be a backer/becker for a project like this! One of the rewards for $500 is to create a challenge/achievement in the game. It would be cool if someone from TASVideos who was going to donate that much anyway could make an achievement for completing the game in an almost-impossible amount of time and name it "TASer". Also, I like Call's proposed design. She looks really cute.
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I'd be more interested in a proper TASing mode. Frame by frame, included debugging symbols, built in save states, built in object examinations and all that stuff.
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That'd be kind of a niche feature. Though saving replays would be more general-purpose, and would provide a baseline for allowing TASing (by modifying the replay files).
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Thing is, it would also be good developer tool.
QuizmasterBos
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The only thing I hate about Kickstarter is the fact that it works with amazon. That means I can only pay with credit cards. Where I am from, credit cards are very uncommon, so that means I cannot support something I am actually interested in. I already asked them if they could include a Paypal option, maybe that will work. If it doesn't, do any of you have an idea on how to pay in a way that stops me from needing a credit card?
Patashu
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QuizmasterBos wrote:
The only thing I hate about Kickstarter is the fact that it works with amazon. That means I can only pay with credit cards. Where I am from, credit cards are very uncommon, so that means I cannot support something I am actually interested in. I already asked them if they could include a Paypal option, maybe that will work. If it doesn't, do any of you have an idea on how to pay in a way that stops me from needing a credit card?
Find a trusted friend, pay them and have them pledge on your behalf?
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QuizmasterBos
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Patashu wrote:
QuizmasterBos wrote:
The only thing I hate about Kickstarter is the fact that it works with amazon. That means I can only pay with credit cards. Where I am from, credit cards are very uncommon, so that means I cannot support something I am actually interested in. I already asked them if they could include a Paypal option, maybe that will work. If it doesn't, do any of you have an idea on how to pay in a way that stops me from needing a credit card?
Find a trusted friend, pay them and have them pledge on your behalf?
Maybe. No one in the vincinity though (I live in the Netherlands). It might work, thanks for the suggestion! I might know just the person.