So Neil, do you have any info on the "very special promotion" you mentioned on Twitter? Hints count too... Also read my PM please...
lol its good u think that way but stop living in fantasyland, IN REALITY alot of people dont get paid for what they deserve so i dunno why ur defending these guys so much i too think i should be paid more but i dont so who pities me? no one... its a dog eat dog world man. So if i think cared for them who gives a sh*t about me... nobody so in conclusion i dont care how much effort they put in this i just personally think its over my expected price and i would like to save a few dollars on other apps or other needs u know? AND trust me every dollar matters because the economy isnt doing so well ok? understand
Yes, with this I agree. Emphasizing the generally part as I've seen so much fan-wanking over Rolando that they're ready to give it the game of the year award without even playing it. Just so everyone's clear, I have nothing against the game or ngmoco. In fact, I'll probably pick the game up. I'm just not ready to put it up the pedestal just yet, as many here already have...
I'm just using this game as an example to tell you that I think that everyone (not just these developers) who work harder and longer, doing the best they can, should be paid more. If you're really too poor to pay for that game, then fine... Maybe if your boss was thinking like me he would pay you more and you'd be able to afford the game.
You gotta give credit to ngmoco's PR peeps. They really know how to stir the pot. Also, I think most of the hype comes from the games similarity to PSP's LOCO ROCO... both graphics wise and control wise. I dont need to explain the similarities in graphics so I'll do controls. Using the L & R button for Loco Roco on the PSP really managed to capitalize and maximize on the portability of the device. It appears ROLANDO is doing the same thing with the iPhone this time. Now I have high hopes but there's no pedestal yet.
I disagree with this. Rolando had hype before Ngmoco got involved. I think at the time, the first video was put together very well http://toucharcade.com/2008/07/01/rolando-a-physics-based-platform-puzzler-for-iphone/ and it was one of the few early game announcements prior to the app store opened. I'm sure Ngmoco got involved with Rolando because of all that. Ngmoco's been (publicly) involved since October and since there's really only been one more video release. So, while Ngmoco's name certainly helps now, we were keeping close tabs on Rolando from the beginning. arn
@Superbad: As Arn pointed out, Rolando's popularity is primarily due to fan-wanking and nothing else. The ngmoco people don't even post here often even though there are a few of them with accounts. But you're right, there's high expectations for this game. I don't even know how the devs sleep at night, it must be nervewraking to have the eyes of the world on them...
to the boss thing, im generalizing for a lot of people who are under paid as well basically saying in the real world, not everyone gets what they deserve so in general, i dont think theses guys are any better than others and deserve any better AND open your eyes and read no where did i said i was poor or i cant afford it i just said the price of this game is over than what i expected...thats all and therefore i wont buy it for 10...when u go shopping if a brand sells a shirt for over the price you're willing to spend, you just dont buy it...simple as that in addition im really not the biggest app fan, the way i treat my app is i'll probably play it a few times or beat it but thats all it gets so yea i dun wanna keep buying 10 dollar apps it adds up and being not the biggest active gamer i dun think its worth it i rather save it for more shopping cause im a f**king brand whore
Yeah. sorry. I always forget there are two parts of Rolando. Handcircus (developer) and ngmoco (publisher) I got in on the whole rolando craze the moment ngmoco published mazefinger. By that time, Simon's transition to ngmoco was about 80% done so memory is a little unclear. Im still unsure up to this day why Hand circus needed ngmoco's help at all considering everyone thought the first trailer was great enough.
Handcircus must'd been corrupted and fell into the DarkSide. Seriously, they could've just ship the game and eat the cake with Apple. Now the revenue get split three-ways. What a dumbass. Handcircus could've just ship the game, make a pile of money and work on _ANY_ titles they want in the future without pesky publisher breathing down their throats. @arn I don't see what is the benefit to be had in associating with ngmoco. They are a new brand too and had only what? 3 games. If it had been Gameloft or EA Mobile, yeah maybe there are some PR or technical benefits, but ngmoco???
I've noticed people are kind of obsessed with ngmoco. They toe the line of being an indie developer but churn out big developer quality games. It's a recipe for success, I suppose.
Well, Neil Young (who started this thread) was formerly from EA, so he certainly has experience and funding to bring to the table. I do think there's value added. I mean, there's indie developer success (trism) and then there's SEGA success (super monkey ball). And that's a large margin of difference ($250,000 vs millions). Ngmoco seems to be doing well positioning themselves as a brand on the iPhone with the releases of their solid inexpensive games. They are building mindshare/loyalty that will translate over into their Rolando's. Gameloft is another company that is doing a particularly good job branding themselves to iPhone users. arn
I guess you made a very good point in Neil Young's experience. Beyond that, it would only be money that ngmoco can offer. I still think it didn't make much sense for Simon Oliver to not ship the game himself. Maybe he really needed the money... I'm sure it cost a ton to make a good game...
It's all in the press. I think it had been very clear all along. Ngmoco is a publisher, not a developer at all. They don't have their own development team/studio. All their games are developed externally by single or small development studios. I think the word they use nowadays is "micro" studio, which means a dev studio made up of 1 or at most 2-3 people.
monk666, you really have to do some reading before posting things like that. First of all, why wouldn't Simon partner with ngmoco to publish his game? He gets access to more money, development resources, feedback etc. In fact, he moved the HandCircus developement team to San Fran to live at ngmoco for better work flow. Plus it's Neil Young, from EA, you know EA right, that multi-billion dollar corporation... Also, clearly ngmoco is more than a publisher, who do you think coded Dr. Awesome and Dropship? Certainly not the HandCircus guys, so obviously it had to be some other employees of ngmoco. They are obviously also not a micro studio, and do not outsource their work to other small studios. Everything is done in house. Anyway, can't wait for the game!! Thanks for posting here Neil, and hopefully it comes out at midnight EST on Wednesday
The problem is, i did read about all these before i post here. Yeah, i get it that Simon does stand to get some benefit from letting ngmoco publish rolando and all that Neil Young benefit, don't have to repeat that to me. We'll never know who developed Dr Awe and Dropship, but Rolando is different. For those of us who'd been around since iphone gaming started, we all saw Rolando's video teaser way way way way way before ngmoco even existed. The point is, i believe Rolando would be just as successful if Simon go it alone. I'm might be totally wrong here but i'm sure i'm not the only one thinking what i'm thinking? No, i didn't mean to say that ngmoco is a micro-studio. I mean they work with micro-studios and pays these groups of 1-2-3 guys to develop their games. Are you sure ngmoco has their own full development teams? Ngmoco is purely a publisher for iphone games, not a developer. That was very clear all along. Maybe they'd since expanded and built up their own dev team, nobody knows.
..."makes" games, from their twitter profile. Obviously the game would benefit from being produced in the ngmoco studio, I think you placing too little importance on what a publisher actually does.
