RPG DEVELOPERS AND MAKERS ??? I COMMAND THEE !!!

[crufty]

Unrelated...maybe...

Computers, and software, by their very nature, are ephemeral. Software you buy today, in the blink of an eye, can be rendered completely broken by an operating system vendor tomorrow.

Software, without a system to run it, is thus worthless. This puts a cap on the market value of all computer games.

This hurts rpgs in particular, because they do cost a bit to make. Good ones anyway, unless you can find people who will do it for love of the craft. But love don't pay the rent, so it will take time. Years even.

Other niche entertainment markets--music, board games, analog instruments, pnp rpgs, miniatures--can charge quite a bit for their quality niche. Witness forgeworld and $200 plastic tanks! good lord. But this is because that purchase price won't ever disappear over night (in theory).

Meanwhile, with software...a $200 game today could be worth $0 tomorrow.

Would a programmer and an artist get off their ass to produce a title that sells 500 copies at $200 a pop? yeah. That's nothing to sneeze at for part time work. Would a programmer and an artist get off their ass to produce a title that sells 500 copies for $20 a pop? Probably not--easier ways to make money.

 

[another dumbfuck]

What content? He asked for writing, for things to take him 120 hours, and for volatile, unpredictable, complex surroundings. If you can't think of ways to do that without much content at all (beyond writing), then your mind is closed and your assumptions are many and invalid.
Admittedly, the silly assumptions you're making are probably the same silly assumptions he's making - but they aren't there in his request.

It might be impractical to produce anything conventional to fit those criteria - so don't.

Oy. So I suppose in your world writing is "free" content? Involving no cost at all? And we're supposed to reach this 120-hours of gameplay goal by adding on more and more dialogue, but no extra areas or art content?

Oh, sure, but my mind is closed and my assumption many and invalid.

There are indeed some things that make a project more expensive -- extensive localization and voice-overs are one. Fancy graphics are not. Fancy graphics are what is making games shorter, not more expensive -- and that's ignoring a game like Oblivion which could be short or long, depending on how you view free-roaming content. Even so, graphics don't cost anything -- salaries do.

But whatever -- I suppose it's easier to moan about how soulless companies are trying to screw you over by trying to make a profit. If someone really can't see the issue behind a full team spending 10 years that would be 20 years behind the times by the time it came out, then more power to ya.

So, you are seriously suggesting two top notch writers working for 10 years will cost 50 million dollars? Salaries in gaming are not high. I would be skeptical of even a 4-5 million dollar figure.

Is there something about the project described that would require more than a single programmer working ten years to accomplish? Or more likely you would license an engine for a million dollars or so.

Could it not be that games become shorter due to graphics because the graphics cost MONEY to make? What kind of stilted logic are you trying to foist off onto us?

The fact is that all games were once made for under a million dollars. Something has changed, and it's not the writing and design suddenly costing dramatically more money.

If you want to have a shred of credibility then you will have to do better than that.

 

[crufty]

It's all the fault of Dragon's Lair. Too short, focus on graphics, no gameplay to speak of.

A sign of the end of times, and yet I put my quarters in it like it was going out of style. What was I thinking? *sob*



I don't want to speak for dgaider, but I assume he's thinking of the overall burden that comes with game deveopment. The secretary at the front. The person who manages insurance/401k benefits. The CEO who is sucking your wang for the $50 mill. $50 mil buys you, I assume, an entire company for 20 years. $2.5 mill a year for staff, property, equipment leases, churning stuff out nonstop is a little high but if you have a lot of people I could see it. Who would do such a thing? It's foolish I agree.

And thus...we are where we are.

edit: alternatively, $500k this year and adjust upwards for inflation. etc.

 

[SlavemasterT]

Damn it, Bryce is still alive - ROQUA, WHY HAVE YOU FAILED US?