Hey Tom, The only way I can relate to your situation is to compare it to music, seeing as games are the thing you create and music is the thing I slave away for. I know all too well how it feels to have to wrap up a project that's turning out far different than you expected because of financial and sanity deadlines, not good. I also know what it feels like to have that slightly mixed up type product out there on sale that you're not happy with.
I wasn't on the list or even playing accessible games much to see the drama unfold the last time this question was posed, and I also don't know enough about your financial situation to know whether this is viable, but the part where you said you'd grown to resent the game made me think "dude, turn this back into a game you're a fan of as a developer and a player. If it's truely fun to play, for every person who whinges that they want their money back someone else will surely try it like it and buy it". Of course, I don't know whether refunds for the few who're too stubborn to embrace a good product are financially viable for you. As someone who's now feeling a tad guilty for harping on about realism and the like, I don't actually think I can vote, because I don't think this is our decision. Even if you convert this into an FPS, there will still be the whingers who say it's too hard now, the winers who think it's too easy, blah blah blah. I can tell you that so long as the final product is satisfying to play in some way, I'll buy it, regardless of whether it's a side-scroller or an FPS, because I'm in the fortunate position of being able to get my head round both methods of navigation, and that's as deep as the divide goes in my mind, it's just a method of navigation. In all honesty, I think the best thing you can do right now is read what Dark is saying, take a step back from fixing hand to hand stuff and sleep on it for a day or two. The chap seriously has a point when he says that no other game exists with this old-school simple method of navigation, this amount of replay value, combined with these modern killer sounds and music. If you can take enough of a step back, hopefully you'll see that you have a unique and easily accessible product that in one way or another will appeal to many gamers across the board, and if games are anything like music then mass-appeal will sell no matter the genre. MOTA in it's current form would be the go-too game for those who are new to accessible gaming, those who've just lost their usable vision, those who want a quick blast of a game to play on the train that doesn't rely on intensive accurate listening as much as most FPS's would, all this is because of the side-scroller navigation. Similarly, the expert mode is ridiculously hard enough to grip the hardcore gamers for at least one full run through, the quality of sound and music won't disappoint that group, and sooner or later most of those newbies from the previous sentence will get to the point where they're playing on expert which gives the game a new lease of life for them. My point, though rather long, is that in it's current form it's a very cool and original product. Surely, that's something that you can be proud of as a developer, something you can remember how to enjoy as a player, and something that you won't have a problem selling. If Dark and myself and whoever else has jumped onboard with this train of thought while I've been typing this can get that across to you and you can actually manage to see the merits of MOTA in it's current form and put the frustrations of user feedback aside, then that'd be a better outcome than any vote. Youzer, bit longer than I intended... Scott On 10/29/09, matheus <an...@bol.com.br> wrote: > thomas, > you're never going to make everyone happy with a game, and you are not > forced to add a feature just bekause someone requested it. the game is > really awesome now man, but you know what to do,you're the developer, so > you decide > if i were you, i whould continue with the game how it is, create the > other levels, and finish the product. if you're allays going to listen > to all the user comments, you'll never get a game finished bekause one > way or another. > > > -----Mensagem original----- > De: Thomas Ward <thomasward1...@gmail.com> > Para: Gamers Discussion list <gamers@audyssey.org> > Data: Quarta, 28 de Outubro de 2009 20:10 > Assunto: Re: [Audyssey] MOTA Side-Scroller vs FPS > > Hi Milos, > The problem is that I took orders for Montezuma's Revenge in December of > 2007, and shortly afterwards I was ordered to stop developing and > selling the game by the game's copyright holders. Since that is the law > in the USA I had no choice but to comply with that court order, or I'd > have to get a lawyer and fight it out in court. Since I wasn't about to > fight it out in court I complied. > Now, I started work on Mysteries of the Ancients. In order to satisfy > those customers who purchased the game I promised to deliver on a > classic side-scroller, but that isn't what happened. I have dug myself > into a hole by listening to people who want modern features So some > people who purchased the game want their money back, because they aren't > getting a classic side-scroller. Still others won't buy the game if I > don't add some of these features. So I'm pretty much damned if I do and > damned if I don't. As a result I no longer want anything to do with this > game, because there is no unified group of customers. I basically have > two groups each asking for two different styles of games. The best I > could do was is sort of merge the two types together and come up with > something that is a little of both. Still even that doesn't make > everyone happy. So I'm trying to figure out if there is a consensus one > way or another. > Then, there is my own opinion and feelings to think about as well. > Generally when I work on a personal project I like to create it the way > I want to create it, but since I took orders for this game I feel I owe > them the game they paid for. Yet since I can't give them Montezuma's > Revenge exactly I've been trying to come up with a similar product with > people nagging my heals that they don't want that kind of game. If it > were totally up to me I'd do an FPS, but I have customers to listen to, > and so I don't feel the decision is completely mine to make. So that's > the problem. > > HTH > > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/gam...@audyssey.org. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/gam...@audyssey.org. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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