Slashman wrote on Jun 21, 2015, 20:41:

Slick wrote on Jun 21, 2015, 20:32:
and has one of you PLAYED this fucking game? no. but apparently you're all experts on how much it sucks, and how they deserved to fail. from what I've read this game got GOOD reviews from the press, no? how heartless are you fucks?

Have YOU played it? Would YOU have bought it from the description and trailer?

How many adventure games do you own and play?

No i didn't play it, but I also didn't judge it as obviously being a lame title (from a trailer alone?! what is this, IGN?) that had no appeal to gamers because it wasn't mainstream enough.

I've played many point-and-click games, I miss them, if I wanted to play another one and this was well-reviewed, I'd consider buying it.

It's just odd that we're A) talking about a game that so far no one on this thread has played. and B) shaming them for "being too niche" when every other thread on blues is devoted solely for bashing games that take a too populist approach.

or, in the words of the great harlock - "gaba gaba mmmph harum pbbbbbbbpf"

Cutter wrote on Jun 21, 2015, 21:23:
And this is why you don't design by committee. They obviously had no vision or passion. The most successful things come about because of those two things. Someone asked John Lennon once how the Beatles wrote so many hits. He replied, they never tried to write hits. They were just writing music they themselves wanted to hear. And being for average working class lads there were millions just like them around the world who wanted the same thing.

But yeah, I guess it's everyone else that's the problem for not realizing they're hipster geniuses.

Exactly! One of my favorite Mexican places they guy started it because he couldn't find the type of Mexican food he used to eat as a kid in my area. So he started a restaurant and it's done pretty well. You can't appease everyone so do what you do best. God these guys sound so freaking stuck up.

The PR company probably didn't do a good job cause I never heard of the game before coming here. Also why only an ad on RPS? They love this type of quirky game. Why not reach out to them and ask them to play a preview copy?

And this is why you don't design by committee. They obviously had no vision or passion. The most successful things come about because of those two things. Someone asked John Lennon once how the Beatles wrote so many hits. He replied, they never tried to write hits. They were just writing music they themselves wanted to hear. And being for average working class lads there were millions just like them around the world who wanted the same thing.

But yeah, I guess it's everyone else that's the problem for not realizing they're hipster geniuses.

Slick wrote on Jun 21, 2015, 20:32:

Krovven wrote on Jun 21, 2015, 16:16:
if you had turned it into an RPG, it would have done much better.

yeah, they should have added character progression, weapon unlocks, a dash of DLC and a smattering of pavlovian-response gaming mechanics would have made this a blockbuster hit.

lol, i'm only half joking, you gotta admit that it's pretty funny reading this thread that are all being mostly negative towards these devs for making something that doesn't "fit in" with current gaming tropes.

then every other thread is getting mad at games that only try to fit in with current gaming tropes. it's lose-lose.

and has one of you PLAYED this fucking game? no. but apparently you're all experts on how much it sucks, and how they deserved to fail. from what I've read this game got GOOD reviews from the press, no? how heartless are you fucks?

Nobody's criticizing the game itself. We're criticizing the developer's rant about the game's failure. It makes them sound like they feel entitled to success. Other developers have made similar rants when their games failed and all were met with equal criticism. Tale of Tales made a game that appeals to a very small audience and it sold as any reasonable person would expect it to.

Slick wrote on Jun 21, 2015, 20:32:
lol, i'm only half joking, you gotta admit that it's pretty funny reading this thread that are all being mostly negative towards these devs for making something that doesn't "fit in" with current gaming tropes.

then every other thread is getting mad at games that only try to fit in with current gaming tropes. it's lose-lose.

and has one of you PLAYED this fucking game? no.

You're right, I didn't play it. But from the look of things, while it might not fit with modern mainstream tropes, it totally looks like a casual point and click / hidden object 'adventure' style game from anywhere in the last decade with a slight twist - a genre marketed at bored housewives before the iPad became their platform of choice. Only these devs deviated from the formula enough to alienate the housewives but stuck with a genre that hasn't resonated with the mainstream masses in decades. 4000 sales is disappointing that's for sure but did they honestly expect this to be a blockbuster?

Slick wrote on Jun 21, 2015, 20:32:
and has one of you PLAYED this fucking game? no. but apparently you're all experts on how much it sucks, and how they deserved to fail. from what I've read this game got GOOD reviews from the press, no? how heartless are you fucks?

Have YOU played it? Would YOU have bought it from the description and trailer?

How many adventure games do you own and play?

Who was the audience that this was trying to appeal to?

No one is saying its a bad game, it just isn't an appealing game based on how they marketed it. People do things that are vastly different sometimes and sometimes those things fail.

"Hey I made this awesome game where you play as a housekeeper in the 70s!!"

"Uhhh...yeah?"

"Yeah it's great you should totally buy it! There's a civil war going on and everything!"

"And you're a housekeeper right...?"

* REMOVED *
This comment was deleted on Jun 22, 2015, 07:02.

Krovven wrote on Jun 21, 2015, 16:16:
if you had turned it into an RPG, it would have done much better.

yeah, they should have added character progression, weapon unlocks, a dash of DLC and a smattering of pavlovian-response gaming mechanics would have made this a blockbuster hit.

lol, i'm only half joking, you gotta admit that it's pretty funny reading this thread that are all being mostly negative towards these devs for making something that doesn't "fit in" with current gaming tropes.

then every other thread is getting mad at games that only try to fit in with current gaming tropes. it's lose-lose.

and has one of you PLAYED this fucking game? no. but apparently you're all experts on how much it sucks, and how they deserved to fail. from what I've read this game got GOOD reviews from the press, no? how heartless are you fucks?

lol, you guys trolling?

Yeah I'm not sure the PC is the place for a casual game. Most certainly a casual point and click game is not a "game for gamers" anyway. They probably should have went after mobile. Ah well.

Adventure/point and click games aren't really in the "hit it big" category.

I personally don't play very many, but this one doesn't really jump out at me as something that screams 'must have for all adventure game lovers.'

When I saw the description on Steam I thought they were making a more mundane 'Viscera Cleanup Detail'.

This is pretty weird. I wouldn't have considered Sunset a "game for gamers" at all. I haven't played it, but figured it was more along the lines of walking sims like Gone Home and so forth, more of an emerging niche (a very boring one imo, but some people seem to like those games). I don't know why they were trying to compromise their own ideas if they went the Kickstarter route; surely Kickstarter is good for putting your own ideas out there, not making a game for some imagined audience.

Anyway, these two might be interesting artists, but they're not game designers. From reading some Steam reviews, it seems like the "gameplay" in this game involves pressing one of two buttons occasionally, and just doesn't sound very interesting. And it inexplicably suffers from performance issues.

Have to agree with the others, Sunset is still a bit Avant Garde. They don't call people starving artists for nothing... Although I doubt this will be their last game, game dev seems to be in their blood and they've been an aspiring indie company since for over the last decade

"Developer Tale of Tales is ending game development"

When did they start?

They make it sound like they were making a game made by beancounters, kind of like your basic Chevrolet sedan model. Hit all the checkboxes except the exciting one.

Saboth wrote on Jun 21, 2015, 17:28:
"... but playing a black housekeeper piques my interest at level 6...out of 1000.

Ever been over 9000? It's amazing.

"It's 1972 and a military coup has rocked Anchuria. You, Angela Burnes, are trapped in the metropolitan capital of San Bavón. Your paradise has turned into a warzone. You take up a job as a housekeeper. Every week, an hour before sunset, you clean the swanky bachelor pad of the wealthy Gabriel Ortega."

I guess I'm a bit of a childish adult, as I prefer my games with at least one of: 1. Wizards 2. Robots 3. Ninjas 4. Pirates 5. Dragons 6. Werewolves. 7. Zombies 8. Spaceships 9. Mutants 10. Boobies.

I'm sure the game was very artistic, thoughtful, beautiful, historic, deep, etc., but playing a black housekeeper piques my interest at level 6...out of 1000.

well then it would be that "almost no one cares" and that would be basically super-accurate

also, from what you guys are saying, it all makes sense.. especially this melodramatic outburst, the proverbial "slamming door" response

basically, these guys thought they were genius (like most "artists")... nobody gives a shit, and suddenly they dont feel like genius anymore - and thus, "WAAAAAHH!" but in this very particular way

stereotypical artist response, really... they should move into the fine art world, where you can easily sell complete bullshit for 100K+

If the game got good reviews I wouldn't say no one cares. I'd say people are being put off by being beaten over the head with the darkness and melodrama in that trailer. Bet it would have done exceptionally well if they'd only presented it differently.

(And maybe released on GoG, where I'd buy it right now just to support them, but alas...)

Duke Christopheles wrote on Jun 21, 2015, 16:32:
The premise behind the game doesn't grab. For an adventure ...

This was no ordinary "adventure". Games from Tale of Tales were always experiments in interactive narration and story telling. Artsy? Yes! Fascinating? Depends on your taste and what you want from a game.

This comment was edited on Jun 21, 2015, 17:28.