[Enter the Story]

It's an old game, but I'm curious. I'm interested in amateur adventure games that are sold commercially. Usually the good ones sell a couple of thousand at least. But "Eye of The Kraken" doesn't fit the pattern. It got reasonably good reviews (averaging 70%), it had some interesting new ideas, it was available in both English and French, and you could buy it from two different web sites using PayPal. Yet it only sold about 500 copies in three years (released 2002, went freeware in 2005). How come?

[artwking4]

I had never heard of it until it was released as freeware. I also didn't pay much attention to adventure game sites until about a year and a half ago.

[Karmillo]

This is the first Ive heard of it

[Yemeth]

Never heard of it before.

[Squinky]

The main reason I didn't buy it back then was because I was too young to have a credit card and/or Paypal account. (hence me selecting "I buy very few games anyway") If Eye of the Kraken were developed today, and had money being charged for it, I would probably buy it. But that has more to do with my being gung-ho for supporting indie developers than anything else.

Other than that, though, I recall that the AGAST engine (which EotK used) had some problems with bugginess and certain features not yet being completely implemented, making the game have some annoying engine-related quirks that gave it a slightly unprofessional feel. That might have factored into things.

Also, in general, good reviews don't necessarily mean good sales. Look at Grim Fandango and Psychonauts, for instance.

[Fien]

I bought it. Played it, got frustrated with something, don't remember what, traded it.

I disagree with the reviews. The humor was kind of intellectual. I don't mean that's bad, I vaguely remember I kind of liked it. But the entire game had a very amateurish look and feel. And it was isometric. Which I hate. There were other offputting aspects, but I've forgotten what they were.

[Terramax]

I only got it freeware. The graphics were terrible looking and the game felt restraining. It just didn't have atmosphere, which means alot to me in an AG.

[colpet]

I bought it and still haven't played it.

[Gonchi]

Originally Posted by artwking4

I had never heard of it until it was released as freeware.

Same here. I'd buy it today if I'd get more than the freeware game on a CD-R.

[dnldnl]

I saw the game on adventuregamers. It featured a demo of the game, which wasn't even a part of the full game. I liked the demo and humor appealed to me. I considered buying it when the game is released. But soon enough I forgot about the game and never heard of it again until I saw the news that it became freeware.

I played the game earlier this year and enjoyed it. Despite the annoying music, this game really should get the attention it deserves. I guess it just didn't get proper marketing.

[Andromus]

I played the freeware release, and it was OK for a free game, but I couldn't say it would have been worth paying for. I was put off by the bad English translation and mostly lousy attempts at humor.

[[toj.cc]Phantom]

Never heard of it...until today.

[MdaG]

I had never heard of it before it went freeware and after playing and finishing it I'm glad I didn't spend any money on it. Blä!

[Enter the Story]

Thanks for all the replies - they are very helpful. I am especially interested to see that most people had not heard of the game. That was something I could not prove until now. And the comments about atmosphere really help to sum up everything else. Forgive me for asking a couple of more questions:

A reviewer said there were no ambient animations. Does this mean that the waves in the background did not move?

Also, how important was the lack of a download option? And was PayPal a turn-off back in 2003?

Finally, another reviewer said that the music cut off at the worst possible moment - during an opera, so you had to read the sung notes in silence. Was this a bug or was it typical of the game?

[SoccerDude28]

Just to add to your survey as well I also never heard of the game. I joined AG.com around the summer of 2004, so I never knew what's the latest games coming out every month. Unless you frequent this website, it's pretty much impossible to have heard of the game. Even in many game stores, I've never seen a copy of it.

[the gnome]

I actually enjoyed the game and liked its style and humor, but didn't hear about it until it went freeware. I would have gladly paid something like 5-6 euros for a download, but definitely not through PayPal.

[insane_cobra]

I heard about it, but it didn't pique my interest. Most "traditional" adventures don't these days.

[Claire]

Originally Posted by tolworthy

Finally, another reviewer said that the music cut off at the worst possible moment - during an opera, so you had to read the sung notes in silence. Was this a bug or was it typical of the game?

I think that you might be referencing my review here, and to my knowledge, the music cut-out wasn't a bug, but just the way that the game had been designed. Obviously I appreciated that there was no voice-over work done for the game, so I didn't expect singing, but some kind of operatic soundtrack would have been helpful. In silence, the opera was just silly!

[Toefur]

Originally Posted by tolworthy

and you could buy it from two different web sites using PayPal. Yet it only sold about 500 copies in three years (released 2002, went freeware in 2005). How come?

This says something to me. Available from two different websites with Paypal as a Payment method. Was this game marketed? If so, was it marketed outside adventure gaming fans? Did it try and get distribution elsewhere? Did it try and use payment methods other than paypal? What was it's marketing program like?

I'm sorry but from the more I hear about independantly developed games that fail to be a success, I'm seeing a pattern...

Just because something is on the internet does not mean it will automatically be succesful.

[Enter the Story]

Originally Posted by Claire

I think that you might be referencing my review here, and to my knowledge, the music cut-out wasn't a bug, but just the way that the game had been designed. Obviously I appreciated that there was no voice-over work done for the game, so I didn't expect singing, but some kind of operatic soundtrack would have been helpful. In silence, the opera was just silly!

Yes, it was your review (and it was a very fair and balanced review - thanks). I was particularly interested in Kraken because of the audio. My game also has no spoken words - mainly because the finished game would need over sixty thousand audio files and it's just not practical. So I need to be extra careful to maintain the right atmosphere. There will be no silent singing in my game!.