Why Didn't You Buy GSB? [Jun 05, 2010, 3:00 pm ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
"Why didn’t you buy Gratuitous Space Battles?" is the question posed by Positech's Cliff Harris on Cliffski’s Blog, attempting to open another dialogue with gamers similar to his query a couple of years ago about why games are pirated. Here's a bit: "I am NOT complaining. I am NOT moaning about sales. I am NOT unhappy with sales, I am not whining or anything like it. I just like making games that people enjoy, and I don’t know why the people who didn’t buy it, didn’t buy it. I’d like to know. The answers may well make it a better game for everyone, if I fix those reasons (if they make sense). It will make the game attractive to current fence-sitters, better for current owners, and more sales for me and my cats."
After playing Sins of a Solar Empire, and my favorite space operas of all time, Homeworld, HW Cataclysm, and HW 2, (those of you who said they sucked- you're dead to me! 
) I initially read the description of GSB and thought that it sounded too 'hands-off' for me as well. That and the price kept me away. When I saw the sale, I initially passed over it, but when I thought about it, I decided to buy, if only to support someone who I consider a working-class indie hero who does his damnedest to do right by PC gamers.
I initially felt that I wouldn't enjoy them once I began to play, but like someone else here, I played longer and started to 'get' it. The game is in the tinkering and the tweaking; the poring over ship parts and stats and deciding how to build your armada. If you think about it, it's kind of like Sim City in that way. The planning and the building IS the game - the payoff is just getting to see your creations in action. I understand that this is not everyone's cup of tea, but I think it is more a case of what kind of gamer you are than whether GSB design is sound or not.
And by the way, I LOVE the name!
) I initially read the description of GSB and thought that it sounded too 'hands-off' for me as well. That and the price kept me away. When I saw the sale, I initially passed over it, but when I thought about it, I decided to buy, if only to support someone who I consider a working-class indie hero who does his damnedest to do right by PC gamers. I initially felt that I wouldn't enjoy them once I began to play, but like someone else here, I played longer and started to 'get' it. The game is in the tinkering and the tweaking; the poring over ship parts and stats and deciding how to build your armada. If you think about it, it's kind of like Sim City in that way. The planning and the building IS the game - the payoff is just getting to see your creations in action. I understand that this is not everyone's cup of tea, but I think it is more a case of what kind of gamer you are than whether GSB design is sound or not.
And by the way, I LOVE the name!
"We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far."
"Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality."
"Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality."
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