Vault Dweller: Age of Decadence needs to sell 45,000 copies to be successful

[SniperHF]

In the past, other indie RPGs tended not to exist.

True, just existing was something and part of it. But I don't seem to remember just existing helping Frayed Knights much for example.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

What is the best way to promote this game to rpg-interested (but by no means of the hardcore or old school crowd) friends in people here's opinions?

What you will most likely get by promoting it to non-hardcore non-old-school people is shitty reviews on steam saying that the game is boring, difficult and has crappy graphics.

 

[Goral]

What you will most likely get by promoting it to non-hardcore non-old-school people is shitty reviews on steam saying that the game is boring, difficult and has crappy graphics.

It will still be better because "hardcore old-school people" will buy this game anyway and if some suckers/Bethtards/Biotards who won't even bother to try the demo buy this game that's still money in IT's vault. Pecunia non olet.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

I'm not usually one to argue in favour of piracy but, apart from the fact it's impossible to combat even if you do delay release on certain platforms, with a relatively unknown game like AoD it may actually help to spread the word. The main issue I find is getting people to give it a try, to get beyond "it's too hard / graphix look old" to realise the depth of what it offers. After trying it some people find it's not for them but those who like the game tend to become big supporters, given how unique it feels compared to other games on the market. Sometimes they buy multiple copies and try to spread the word about the game.

The demo offers a good introduction, but when the full version inevitably ends up on pirate sites and more people give it a try then perhaps word of mouth will spread faster than otherwise. And word of mouth is the only hope for 30k sales, imo. I wonder about Russia though, given the sheer scale of habitual piracy there. And the Russian community translation is the most advanced one. I wonder how many legit sales AoD will actually get in Russia.

 

[likaq]

It will still be better because "hardcore old-school people" will buy this game anyway and if some suckers/Bethtards/Biotards who won't even bother to try the demo buy this game that's still money in IT's vault. Pecunia non olet.

Nope, because they will receive refund. So ITS will end up with negative review and no money.

 

[Goral]

Nope, because they will receive refund. So ITS will end with negative review and no money.

Refund is applicable only if someone will play for less than 2 hours. I seriously doubt there will be that many players who will buy it and almost immediately ask for a refund and write a negative review. It won't affect "hardcore old-school people" anyway so even if half of these people would play for more than 2 hours it would still be a win.

 

[oscar]

While I don't frequent them I can imagine some of the 4chan video game boards being into this. It seems probable there's some overlap in members between the Codex and 4chan (a lot of shared terminology and concerns) so some kindly poster ought to start a thread promoting it a few days before release.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

This is actually something I was wondering about. Why was the media more interested in the first place a few years back?

It seems like AoD got a disproportionate amount of press coverage over the years compared to other indie RPGs. Now that seems to have died down with both general indie fatigue and the early access conundrum of having two releases.

 

[Septaryeth]

While I don't frequent them I can imagine some of the 4chan video game boards being into this. It seems probable there's some overlap in members between the Codex and 4chan (a lot of shared terminology and concerns) so some kindly poster ought to start a thread promoting it a few days before release.

Maybe it's time to test just how well connected the Codexians are.
Lurkers on other gaming forums, unite! Time to drop the good ol' Codex ad bombs!
"Yo console tards, time to see if you have the brain capacity to pass the first fight!"

In a kindly tone, of course.

 

[likaq]

Refund is applicable only if someone will play for less than 2 hours. I seriously doubt there will be that many players who will buy it and almost immediately ask for a refund and write a negative review. It won't affect "hardcore old-school people" anyway so even if half of these people would play for more than 2 hours it would still be a win.

Steam often grant refund even if your playtime was longer than 2 hours. Not always, but often enough to hurt indie devs like ITS.
As for your doubt that there will be many players who will buy and almost immediately ask for a refund and write a negative review:
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198140458643/recommended/230070/

It is only the beggining. It will be much worse after release.

 

[Aterdux Entertainment]

VD, consider moving to Belarus We have similar situation to you but our costs are less and taxes as well much smaller.

What we learned releasing Legends of Eisenwald:
- Press is not going to help much unless reviews are stellar. There was 0 traffic from reviews on PC Gamer, IGN, Gamespot (all 70-73). However, you need these reviews anyway to attract youtubers who seem the only working force these days.
- Few Russian sites that had their reviews close to launch day helped better than than the bigs ones I mentioned. So, give a copy of released version at least a month before the game is out. Big sites especially take a looooong time to review. We gave 2,5 weeks ahead of release and it wasn't enough.
- Cut your expenses as much as you can - I know this advice is late but well, I think we did a few mistakes the biggest of which was French translation: the guys I hired didn't make it to the release which resulted in much less sales compared with Early Access launch.
- Current SteamSpy statistics show that for most games there is a little to none raise in sales associated with exiting Early Access. We sold less than 10k in the first month and the better result was only because of extra visibility Steam gave us.
- Do make plans to participate in Christmas sale. I hope for good AoD release but for contingency don't make too many promises on how long you won't do sales.
- Special Editions seem to work well. Our Knight's Editions units are about 25% of the overall number of units sold after the release. Don't sell soundtrack separate or other things - I spoke to a few devs and too many things on the page seem to distract.

I'd recommend trying to give someone exclusive copy for a review. A site like RPS would do good since it is much more likely to attract players to your game compared even to all big sites. If you need, I have a very good and inexpensive freelance PR person who did his work really well. He doesn't have many contacts with youtubers but with press he is really good and knows how to do PR for hardcore games.

If I remember something else, I will post more. I really wish you guys all the best! The chance is always there, you just need to work hard and not give up.

 

[laclongquan]

That long play time for reviewers seems to be logical. This game is considerably wordier and harder than the usual AAA games, so they are going to need more time to learn to play.

 

[Prime Junta]

Just about everybody on the Dex knows about AoD so we don't need any shills, however theres probably quite a number of members who haven't bought it because its not complete.

/me raises hand

I'll pay full price as soon as it's released. I have a high threshold for pitching in on forever-in-the-making labors of love, and for a loooong time AoD looked like one of those.

Spoiler

Grimoire, too.

 

[Infinitron]

Basically, everybody should start spamming Richard Cobbett with review requests right now

 

[Goral]

As for your doubt that there will be many players who will buy and almost immediately ask for a refund and write a negative review:
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198140458643/recommended/230070/

It is only the beggining. It will be much worse after release.

I've seen it, it's one such negative review out of thirty four, i.e. less than 3%. And even if there will be more like it, reviews like these aren't taken seriously by anyone with at least half a brain. You just can't rate a game when you haven't even played it.

 

[Septaryeth]

I've seen it, it's one such negative review out of thirty four, i.e. less than 3%. And even if there will be more like it, reviews like these aren't taken seriously by anyone with at least half a brain. You just can't rate a game when you haven't even played it.

It's still a shitty and retarded review that pretends to have half a brain, which is why I guess Vault Dweller see the need to respond.
Other than the self-contradicting mumbling, some of the stuff are just outright lies, and 40% of viewers agreed. Like, what the hell?

in a tale about people who destroyed the world and no ancient evil i didnt expect a glowing amulet that seems akin to magic.
tactics were to get up close to the enemy and swing until one of you is dead.
anticipate random skill checks for almost everything you want to do in this game.
There is your average attribute system and a list of combat skills and non combat skills.

Still, don't let me turn this thread into a shitty review lynch-fest (even though they deserve it)
It should serve as a fair warning as to which crowd you want to show the game to and have them review it.
I for one shall not present it to a college video game club that claims Dragon Age II has exciting encounters and combat, but that's the story for another time.

 

[likaq]

I've seen it, it's one such negative review out of thirty four, i.e. less than 3%. And even if there will be more like it, reviews like these aren't taken seriously by anyone with at least half a brain. You just can't rate a game when you haven't even played it.

It doesn't matter.
What does matter is the fact that game's proportion of negative to positive reviews affects visibility on Steam ( and therefore amount of full priced copies sold ). Get enough retarded negative reviews like this one, and would-be buyers won't even see the game in the first place.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Indie games live and die by youtubers hands these days. If you get someone like TB to do a WTF is AoD, then it's almost a guaranteed success if he enjoys the game, same with that annoying cunt angry Joe.

Problem with AoD is that it's not a game that shows favorably in LP, even worse in short ones.

 

[Turtle-Zone 3000]

Indie games live and die by youtubers hands these days. If you get someone like TB to do a WTF is AoD, then it's almost a guaranteed success if he enjoys the game, same with that annoying cunt angry Joe.

Though not really ontopic, but building up a list of homegrown codex youtubers and other monocled chaps is something that should be done.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

It doesn't matter.
What does matter is the fact that game's proportion of negative to positive reviews affects visibility on Steam ( and therefore amount of full priced copies sold ). Get enough retarded negative reviews like this one, and would-be buyers won't even see the game in the first place.

You can't keep your review active if you ask for a refund.

 

[hivemind]

Indie games live and die by youtubers hands these days. If you get someone like TB to do a WTF is AoD, then it's almost a guaranteed success if he enjoys the game, same with that annoying cunt angry Joe.

Problem with AoD is that it's not a game that shows favorably in LP, even worse in short ones.

How do you even get TB do to a video about a game like this tho ?

 

[roshan]

I'm not usually one to argue in favour of piracy but, apart from the fact it's impossible to combat even if you do delay release on certain platforms, with a relatively unknown game like AoD it may actually help to spread the word. The main issue I find is getting people to give it a try, to get beyond "it's too hard / graphix look old" to realise the depth of what it offers. After trying it some people find it's not for them but those who like the game tend to become big supporters, given how unique it feels compared to other games on the market. Sometimes they buy multiple copies and try to spread the word about the game.

The demo offers a good introduction, but when the full version inevitably ends up on pirate sites and more people give it a try then perhaps word of mouth will spread faster than otherwise. And word of mouth is the only hope for 30k sales, imo. I wonder about Russia though, given the sheer scale of habitual piracy there. And the Russian community translation is the most advanced one. I wonder how many legit sales AoD will actually get in Russia.

I think that piracy can help as a demo tool and also to increase the game's exposure. Both games I bought this year (Serpent in the Staglands and Antharion), I pirated first. Played each game for 15 minutes tops, got charmed, bought them right away. And of course I will always be thankful to piracy for saving me from being scammed by companies like Obsidian.

I don't rely on YouTube, or reviews, or ratings, or demo versions, because I simply don't trust them, and none of them can actually properly convey what the feeling of playing an RPG is like. And demo versions can actually hurt sales if they do not give a good picture of the product. I remember the SITS demo having ridiculously long load times, and combat in the demo feeling very clunky compared to the final release once it had gone through a few patches.

 

[likaq]

You can't keep your review active if you ask for a refund.

You can, unfortunately.
See this:
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198140458643/recommended/230070/

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

You can, unfortunately.
See this:
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198140458643/recommended/230070/

That's disappointing, I was under the impression that they got removed when the owner no longer owned the game.

 

[a bear named spigot]

That's disappointing, I was under the impression that they got removed when the owner no longer owned the game.

that'd be retarded, people who get refunds on absolute dogshit games wouldn't be able to warn others they're about to get a mouthful of shit