Hi all, Yeah, I don't think it will ever come to us not having any developers developing accessible audio games simply because there a lot of developers like Jeremy Kaldobski, Jim Kitchen, among others who do it for free, and as a result don't have to put up with nearly the crap Liam or anyone else who charges for their games have to put up with. Oh, sure, there have been times I myself had made it known I preferred they developed their games a different way, added such and such a feature, but I think that is pretty minor compared to the arguing I've seen over the lifetime of this list over some developer or other who failed to deliver a game or product keys in a certain time frame.
That said, every loss is a loss to the community no matter how you cut it. Many people forget how instrumental someone like James North was to the early audio games community, because the controversy over Montezuma's Revenge, Raceway, and Max Shrapnel has overshadowed anything and everything he did before that point. Yet, he was one of the best developers we had during the late 90's and early 2000's developing such games as Alien Outback, Dynaman, ESP Pinball Classic, Monkey Business, ESP Whoopass, the original Change Reaction, and had a few other games in the works. He did all this in the space of a couple of years, and no one was complaining then. Its only around 2004 when he opened Alchemy Game Studios, got into a bit of a rough patch, the community crucified him for it and he quit. Thus we lost one of our better developers over what amounted to the fact he took pre-orders, and then was unable to meet project deadlines do to various personal issues. Other developers like Daniel Zingaro and Justin have come and gone for their own personal reasons. In the case of Justin and Daniel both have found steady employment so were unable to keep BSC Games and DanZ Games going as a sideline. That's understandable, and the way this community treats anyone regarding key replacements etc I probably wouldn't be developing games for this community if I were them because its difficult to put in a 40 to 50 hour week programming at a day time job, and come home to do more the same for a community who is ungrateful and disrespectful to what developers they have got. Anyway, my feeling is audio games will likely always be around, but the nature of those audio games and developers will change. In fact, it is changing now that newer more mobile devices like iPhones are accessible. Look at how fast the number of playable games for iOS has exploded onto the market, and the best part of that is games for iOS does not require a product key. Everything is handled through the Apple Store, and once you purchase a game from the app store your account keeps track of your purchases if you need to redownload and register a certain app or game which means there is no 24 hour, 72 hour, or week wait for a product key. So right there that is one area where I see audio games continuing to be developed and grow just because we don't have any of the pitfalls of PC game development. Then, there are the freeware/shareware developers who will likely continue developing free games for themselves and the community just because they don't have the same problems as the commercial developers. Granted the freeware games may not have great sounds, music, and seem a bit cheap compared to a game developed for commercial consumption, but I see that kind of developer always being around. There is less hassle involved in freeware development, and I think its understood that sort of game is a take it or leave it kind of thing. There is no obligation by the developer to be held accountable for keys, for developing a game on a certain schedule, or for adding feature x just because someone says so. The truth is after Raceway and MOTA I have considered restructuring USA Games around an open source type model for exactly the reasons listed above. This last year has been the most trying time in my life on a personal level do to illness, mental stress, and it really didn't help having people asking about Raceway, MOTA, whatever when I really wasn't up to programming them and running a business. Were those games open source or developed as freeware there would have been no pressure from people who had pre-ordered said games. So I feel taking donations or something like that is a better way to make money without having to go full commercial. Cheers! On 6/24/13, Charles Rivard <[email protected]> wrote: > I doubt that it will come to that point, but every one that quits producing > is a loss to all of us, and if it is due to a few impatient and childish > gamers, it makes me furious! > > It is ture, though, that it should not take months to get a registration key > after you have paid for one. Then again, in comparison to the number of > good experiences, how often does this unfortunate mishap happen? And, has > the developer never come through with the paid for key or keys? > > (Sent from my iPhone) --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. 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/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
