I'm going with $8 for a number of reasons. This is the price of several other top premiere games (2XL Supercross, MGS Touch). I think given the nature of the game there will be a limited number of people who buy it. It's not a casual game or an impulse buy. It's made for hardcore gamers. I expect around 50k-100k people would be interested in this. I've noticed how quickly Wolfenstein and MGS Touch have dropped in the charts. This means the people that want this kind of game will buy it as soon as it comes out. I know that when Blue Skies came out people said it was the same thing over and over again which is true. This game has a TON of gameplay with 64 levels. Some of the harder levels take 30-40 minutes to complete. If you compare it in terms of entertainment dollar per hour, it's cheap. Going to a movie costs around $10 for 2 hours. This is $8 for about 10 hours of gameplay plus you can play it as much as you want over again. If anyone is a reviewer and wants a promo code please contact me at [email protected]. I'll be giving out codes and the trailer to post on your websites when it's ready.
Hmmm...you've done your homework. Nice. Quite true...though I wonder whether the comparison, directly, to Wolfenstein and MGS Touch are fair to yourself. Those games had the benefit of brand recognition. 2XL had the benefit of being a racing game (and while not "casual", it does appeal to a broader audience than action/adventure games on this platform). But...hell...it's a good bit of strategy on your part all around. I would've gone with $5.99 or $4.99...but I can see people buying this at $7.99. There aren't many games of this sort on this platform...in fact...there really aren't ANY now that I think of it. It's an action/adventure, kind of like LoZ...and the closest to that that we have on iTouch/Phone are the environmental puzzle games like the Sokoban like games (Fission Quest, Ankagua3D) and the puzzle/platformers (Archibald's Adventure, Toy Bot Diaries, Rolando). Oh, and the port of Adventure of course. I never understood that complaint. It was a shooter...what the hell did they expect? Actually...now that I think about it...I did go in expecting more of a Jungle Strike sort of game, with hostage rescues and boss battles and whatnot. ... Hey...will you ever update Blue Skies to include those things? That would actually be cool. Or if you ever make a sequel....
Wolfenstein and MGS are well known names, but they aren't the best games. One is a remake of a very old game, and the other is a simple tap shooter. Dark Raider is a complete and very polished game with a lot of variety in the gameplay and puzzles. I didn't rush it out the door with plans to add things later. Judging from the sales of Blue Skies and the market trends there seems to be a group of core gamers that will buy all the big name titles as soon as they come out, and they're willing to pay 5-10 bucks to get the latest cool game. I can always put it on sale later in a few months for less hardcore gamers. I won't be updating Blue Skies unless it's for bug fixes. If I'm going to add different missions and more of a story I'd make a Blue Skies 2. Dark Raider 2 is already being planned though. I've never been this excited over a release before. I hope Apple approves it soon!
True...but even great games are sadly overlooked by crap games simply due to the latter being tied to known IPs. Why? Consumers feel "safer" buying known brands...even if they are of comparatively less quality than lesser known or new IPs. I only need point to the history of EA securing the NFL license (the 2K Sports NFL games were usually ranked higher by critics, but struggled against the Madden brand juggernaut). That said...I like the confidence you have in the game. Gives me confidence as a consumer (and, yes...that means I will be among those paying full price for this game ). Yep. That's the strategy that works in the long run. If? If? There's no "if" about it. Get crackin'... *waves fist in air Aw...crap. I forgot all about Apple's approval. *sighs Guess it's time to light a candle and whip out the old rosary beads, as I've got some more prayers for quick approvals (CJS and this game)
Marketing your product though is key to getting the necessary initial visibility. 2XL, Wolfenstein, and MGS besides being "name brands" got front page action at TA and top row advertising at the App store.
The trailer is out now! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdpDDPWyblc&fmt=22 Subscribe to the TouchArcade YouTube channel
Yeah, you should be seeking out editors at top reviewing sites to send them promo codes, not meekly asking them in this thread.
I will be doing that once the game is available, just thought I'd mention it if anyone else is reading this thread. Let me know your thoughts on the trailer
Nice trailer, the guy at the end reminds me of Indiana Jones. Speaking of which, the trailer kinda reminds me of an old Indy pc game. Let me go look for it EDIT: Found the game it remind me of. Indiana Jones and His Dekstop Adventures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_and_His_Desktop_Adventures
That's a great trailer. I'm actually more interested in the game now that I know you can play it with the camera locked in place. Certainly has a lot of detail put into the enemies, level layout. I'll just have to how good the puzzles and pathfinding really are. Not sure if the real human avatar fits with the 2d drawing of the game. Perhaps if that too were drawn like in Doom, and still reflected your status etc? Time will tell. If the game truly has a ton of variety and levels then $8 is definately a fair price (updates too!). If push comes to shove you at least have room for price drops.
The controls look a lot like apex design's controls for payback. I can't wait to get my hands on this one!
And put better tags in your youtube videos! People type in "iphone game" and "upcoming new game Appstore" in search to find the latest games. "Darkraidermovie", only someone who already knows about your game/ company would type that.
I've posted some new screenshots. The controls don't look like payback as much now with the final art
I know we're over this but how about a one day sale for three to five dollars? The only game I bought over eight bucks is BIA... other than that, usually five and below. Just wondering... are there dragons in the game?
Looks pretty cool RPG Guy and I enjoyed the trailer. Very movie like trailer Was the character who is pictured in the avatar based on a real person? If so, he's pretty hot.
