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broken age initial thoughts

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Jim Purcell - 16 April 2014 03:05 AM

Everything I’ve seen shows Broken Age doing decent sales numbers. Not game development redefining numbers, but anyone expecting that was also guilty of wishful thinking.

So I don’t know where the idea of disappointing sales numbers are coming from.

Only 70,000 copies of a Tim Schafer game sold in 8 weeks is NOT disappointing? If it hadn’t been an adventure game he would probably be banging his head against the wall right now. A highly controversial game like Dear Esther sold that much in one week and is now close to one million copies sold, although people can still download the free mod.

Taking into account the millions of their own money DF put into Part One, I’d say DF must sell at least 300,000 copies (+ the KS dollars) to break even. Maybe closer to 400,000 cause the price will have to drop, Steam, GOG, and everybody take a percentage, and of course we don’t know how many millions will go into developing Part Two. I’m not saying they won’t break even in the long run, but I’m sure Schafer was hoping for much better figures.

I don’t know how much importance we should attach to GOG’s list of bestselling adventures, or if it is even accurate. BA is currently in the 8th position from the bottom, which is three positions better than Moebius. Journeyman Project Pegasus Prime is in 24th position and all three games are tagged as “New”. Until today Tesla Effect in 21st position was also “New”.

 

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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teme - 16 April 2014 06:57 AM

I guess some people don’t like Broken Age, because it’s quite different than Schafer’s previous game, and they were expecting something more similar than his earlier work. I’m one of those people, personally I don’t like Broken Age, but I know that it’s a matter of personal taste and it doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with the game. I don’t find the story interesting at all, and while I understand the graphics and animations are really professional, I just really dislike the trendy children book art style.


Fair enough that you dislike the game. But…all of his games have been very different from each other, always! I don’t get it. Confused Full Throttle and Grim Fandango…not very similar adventure games, or am I wrong?

     
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It was quite evident from the new episode of DF doc that Schaffer & co. were hoping for bigger sales numbers. They said it was in their expectations, but when you look at their expressions there’s some amount of disappointment there.

And I do agree, all Tim’s games differ from each other quite a bit in style of humour and in control mechanics. I don’t think there’s any definitive style of game that you can point out and say “this is the style of games he does.”

     
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Jim Purcell - 16 April 2014 03:05 AM

Everything I’ve seen shows Broken Age doing decent sales numbers. Not game development redefining numbers, but anyone expecting that was also guilty of wishful thinking.

So I don’t know where the idea of disappointing sales numbers are coming from.

Possibly the last documentary episode, Tim & co. are smiling through all of it like always, but you can tell they’re kinda Confused about the numbers; both when the marketing guy discusses the first day with Tim, and then later on in the team meeting at the end.

D’oh, the Finnish Ninja strikes again.

     

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ozzie - 16 April 2014 07:03 AM

Fair enough that you dislike the game. But…all of his games were very different from each other, always! I don’t get it. Confused Full Throttle and Grim Fandango…not very similar adventure games, or am I wrong?

Yeah I know, and I don’t know how to explain it. I have liked most of his previous very different adventure games, but for some reason I don’t like this new one. Maybe I’m just picky about the theme and story, and in ‘Broken Age’ those are not for my taste. I also think that ‘Broken Age’ is more ‘love it or hate it’ -game, because the theme and story are not as generally likeable as Monkey Island for example.

     
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teme - 16 April 2014 07:19 AM

I also think that ‘Broken Age’ is more ‘love it or hate it’ -game,

I don’t think so. The quality is clearly lower. Only a few things to examine, not many interactions, cheap graphics. They should not have busted all their money on voice actors (Elijah Wood? You can’t even tell it’s him!) and got the guy who did RHEM to make the puzzles. The toughest puzzle of the game was that timed puzzle clicking the grab-hand over the right time.

     

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Zifnab - 16 April 2014 07:45 AM
teme - 16 April 2014 07:19 AM

I also think that ‘Broken Age’ is more ‘love it or hate it’ -game,

I don’t think so. The quality is clearly lower. Only a few things to examine, not many interactions, cheap graphics. They should not have busted all their money on voice actors (Elijah Wood? You can’t even tell it’s him!) and got the guy who did RHEM to make the puzzles. The toughest puzzle of the game was that timed puzzle clicking the grab-hand over the right time.

I think you’re missing the point of what a “love it or hate it” game is. Just because you hate it doesn’t mean everybody else does too.

     
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I don’t hate it. It’s remarkably average, as if they analyzed all the adventure games of this era and slapped them together in a simplified presentation. Nothing stands out and it just passes you by in a sort of hazy, mildly-entertaining and drugged “meh-ness”. It’s actually so average I cannot see how anyone could either hate it or love it.

     

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Zifnab - 16 April 2014 08:14 AM

It’s actually so average I cannot see how anyone could either hate it or love it.

Yet they do. Life is full of mysteries Smile

     
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That’s true. Like the popularity of The Beatles, for one Wink

     
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Zifnab - 16 April 2014 07:45 AM

They should not have busted all their money on voice actors (Elijah Wood? You can’t even tell it’s him!)

They didn’t bust all their money on voice actors. Repeat after me: THEY DIDN’T BUST ALL THEIR MONEY ON VOICE ACTORS.

When will this misconception ever die? The voice director of Broken Age, Khris Brown, said, that their voice acting budget was maybe even smaller than that of Day of the Tentacle.

Just because Double Fine hired famous people doesn’t automatically mean they spent a lot of money on them. Both Jack Black and Elijah Wood are fans, so they probably did the job for the lowest fee the Screen Actor’s Guild allows.

Of course, maybe Khris Brown lied to us. You can believe that, if you will.  Shifty Eyed

     
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Whoa, settle down..! I don’t know much about accounting or games design, so who knows where the money went. Wasn’t it over 3 million? Maybe Tim spent most of it on donuts, who knows?

     
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2.2 Million of the Kickstarter money went into the game, the rest was spent on the documentary, the rewards and Kickstarter and Amazon Payments fees. For Act 1 Double Fine already put a bit more of their own money in.
San Francisco is one of the most expensive places to live in in the USA, so the wages at Double Fine are accordingly high. Also, I think you can see on the screen where the money went to. “Behind the scenes” the money went into the creation new development tools on top of Moai. Art, music, programming, writing, design, marketing, that’s where the money went.

     

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