[Caliburn]

Originally Posted by dekaneas297

Apart from that, what you state for movies is false. No "pulling the plug" during production, fixed dates, no pushing back due to other releases, lots of information in official web sites. The things you are refering to happen only in b-movies or movies straight to dvd.

Forgive me if I am misunderstanding what you have written above, but are you saying (among other things) that A-list movies never have their release dates pushed back for the sake of marketing? If so, I can think of some counterexamples. One famous recent one was the sixth Harry Potter film, which was originally scheduled for Nov. 2008, but was pushed back to July 2009, because Warner Brothers realized they didn't have a lot of big summer movies, and they believed HP6 would make more money there. They were very open about their reason (see here), and it had nothing to do with the film not being able to be finished by November. It was purely based on financial and marketing considerations, as Producer David Heyman further explains here.

Though it is not always necessary to push back a release date to accomplish this if the release date was set well in the first place, film studios constantly time their films to come out when they feel the window of opportunity for that film is biggest.

Also, as a side point: Adventure games in the current market are the rough equivalent to B-movies, independent movies, and straight-to-DVD movies, to the extent that they're all niche products. So why not compare them to those? The analogy should be cautious (as no analogy is perfect), but it can be made.

Originally Posted by dekaneas297

In addition, it is trully pathetic to announce officially in dtp's forum that "the release date can change even if the game is complete". [...] We know that all you care is sales. At least DON'T STATE IT OFFICIALLY. How stupid can you be by saying "the game is complete but we won't release it since Black Mirror 2/15 days/lost horizon will be fresh in market". Non professionalism.

Based on what I've said above, I don't think it's unprofessional for DTP to admit on the forum that they might wait for a good window of opportunity to release the game, even if the game is finished soon enough to be released a little earlier. I realize it's a silly argument to say "Warner Brothers did it, therefore it is professional." But at the end of the day, what is professional if not the norm for behavior among companies?

Originally Posted by Kazmajik

Next, bookstores should carry adventure games as well, especially those with a literary bend to them, such as this one, Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, and so on.

That's an excellent idea, though the difficulty is in persuading big bookstores like Borders and Barnes & Noble that this would really be a worthwhile venture for them.

There is a used bookstore chain called Half-Price Books that I believe is the biggest used bookstore chain in the United States. They do carry software, but they do so at bargain prices, often inheriting overstock from the distributors (as well as selling used software that customers bring in). Otherwise, I'd recommend pursuing a store like that, instead. I don't know if there are any smaller chains in the U.S. or chains worldwide that already carry new books and new software who might be interested.

I think Jane Jensen's idea from the GK days was to advertise in magazines for mystery/thriller book enthusiasts. Sierra wasn't interested, but if DTP is smart, they should be. A trailer before a feature film or a TV spot would be way too expensive, but an ad in a magazine like this shouldn't cost any more than it would in a mainstream gaming magazine. Of course, I don't know how deep DTP's pockets are . . . maybe they don't even usually buy ads in gaming mags.

Originally Posted by Jannik

The words on adventure game releases are getting out. Even mainstream sites write about them, post videos etc. [..] But they unfortunately get less attention on mainstream sites compared to many other genres [...] This is of course understandable.

Sites like www.gametab.com and www.gamerankings.com are good places to get an idea of the adventure game situation

Thanks, I'd never seen GameTab before. Glancing at it, it seems the mainstream attention to Gray Matter is a good bit more than I expected, but it has trickled off in 2009 a little, especially compared to 2007. When a game is in production for awhile, especially if the game is in a niche genre, I suppose that's to be expected. Hopefully, nearer to release there will be a run of such articles, though I do agree with DustCropper that mainstream gamers shouldn't be our only, or even our best hope as far as audience goes.

Originally Posted by ozzie

I think if you already capitulate beforehand then yeah, your title won't sell. Sure, if you do your best you can't be sure either, but at least there's a chance.

Exactly.

-Luke