Republique (story driven stealth game by Camouflaj Studios, founded by Ryan Payton)

[famousringo]

Originally Posted by bouxdag

Also, virtually every gaming website except this one has covered Republique. IGN, Shacknews, Game Informer, 1UP, Kotaku, GameSpot, Giant Bomb, etc. These aren't small time "blogs." Sadly, the concensus in the comments is, "lol, iOS." Unfortunately, iOS isn't viewed by many "hardcore" gamers as a viable platform for "AAA" games. Equally unfortunately, the only gaming website I'm aware of where the concensus would disagree with that statement, has an editor with a bizarre stance against Kickstarter where he won't even acknowledge that Republique is at the very least...news worth reporting on.

It's pretty disappointing, isn't it? I'm actually a little outraged that a site which should be the greatest ally to ambitious iOS game projects is undercutting them if they have the bad taste to associate themselves with a site that the editor has a personal vendetta against.

I've been using Toucharcade pretty much exclusively as my iOS gaming news resource, but now that I know they're blacklisting news items associated with "shitfarter," I need to find another iOS game site willing to report and let me decide.

Anybody have any suggestions?

[novery]

Originally Posted by John Francis

Being more transparent with your costs will probably be awesome BUT if you surf Joystiq you'll find posts a similar breakdown from the devs that made Auditorium. Sadly, a lot of comments there were from kids who thought getting paid 20 bucks an hour was too much for a mid thirties programmer and back seat tech directors who said you could build the whole thing with freeware if only you knew how.

Oh wow. I didn't know that. Those guys will hate us, then. Building a cinematic pipeline is not cheap and requires the help of very talented (and also expensive) people. With that said, we still plan on offering up more details on what we're doing...

Originally Posted by famousringo

It's pretty disappointing, isn't it? I'm actually a little outraged that a site which should be the greatest ally to ambitious iOS game projects is undercutting them if they have the bad taste to associate themselves with a site that the editor has a personal vendetta against.

I wasn't under the impression that Touch Arcade has anything against Republique. (Unless I said something that upset them?) My assumption is that they just have A LOT of games to cover every day.

Hopefully some of the announcements we'll be making in the coming weeks will entice them to do some coverage!

-rp

[Codhisattva]

[QUOTE=John Francis;2222521]

Originally Posted by John Francis

I think spending a lot on development is easy but I also think traditional cost models are crazy too. Having finished a game with a 0$ budget I'm pretty convinced 100k could go an extraordinarily long way.

$100k won't even build a top quality Twitter app. Consider http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2...926493#3926493

Of course TinyWings didn't cost that. But it's severely less ambitious too.

But that is the audience; the enthusiast, right? I really have concerns (as someone who heavily invested in a quality story based experience in my own game) that casual gamers don't really want to support unknown intellectual properties that require a serious time commitment. If your hardcore gamers are your mavens and they don't want it, then who is going to spread the word? Infinity Blade is a good example but I think a lot of other high budget games have failed with similar aspirations. Oddly enough, that the sentiment of one of the Halfbrick guys speaking in an IGN article.

One thing that's certain about the iOS ecosystem is that it huge - larger than we're used to picturing. The size of market dwarves what we used to think of as hardcore gamers, enthusiasts and mavens. IGN readers don't even add up to a fraction of a percent of what iOS reaches. So, traditional ideas about market are out the window too. Republique can be massively successful and it won't matter if every IGN reader is a hater.

Top 10 games in iTunes App Store are bringing in upwards (and over) $100k per day. In the game market that's astounding outside of a very few AAA successes, no?

[wendezeit]

Originally Posted by famousringo

I've been using Toucharcade pretty much exclusively as my iOS gaming news resource, but now that I know they're blacklisting news items associated with "shitfarter," I need to find another iOS game site willing to report and let me decide.

Anybody have any suggestions?

Competing sites slidetoplay and pocketgamer both posted a news item about this Kickstarter campaign.

[Eli]

Originally Posted by wendezeit

Competing sites slidetoplay and pocketgamer both posted a news item about this Kickstarter campaign.

Yep, both great alternatives. Here's some others:

http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=98029
http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=96403

[John Francis]

Originally Posted by Codhisattva

$100k won't even build a top quality Twitter app. Consider http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2...926493#3926493

Of course TinyWings didn't cost that. But it's severely less ambitious too

I don't think the cost/value ratio evens out in development though in many ways. While making a simple app ussually means more competition (endless runner, tower defense, etc.) I'm skeptical that multiplayer or huge backend support or production pay for themselves either. I won't even say I'm skeptical because it really is a question mark for me. Also, doing work for hire and calling out a 150/hour rate for programming is not a realistic measure of cost considering that most games are self funded and most engineers in games don't make 120k+ unless they are pretty senior or amazing.

Originally Posted by Codhisattva

One thing that's certain about the iOS ecosystem is that it huge - larger than we're used to picturing. The size of market dwarves what we used to think of as hardcore gamers, enthusiasts and mavens. IGN readers don't even add up to a fraction of a percent of what iOS reaches. So, traditional ideas about market are out the window too. Republique can be massively successful and it won't matter if every IGN reader is a hater.

Top 10 games in iTunes App Store are bringing in upwards (and over) $100k per day. In the game market that's astounding outside of a very few AAA successes, no?

Right but my main concern is that Republique is communicated to the hardcore first. The hardcore iOS market is an unknown to me as well. It's the same reason Nintendo continues to struggle with good 3rd party support. They have consistently communicated their system as a Nintendo software system. Do genuinenly thing that a high production iOS game for mature audiences could grow organically?

[novery]

Originally Posted by famousringo

It's pretty disappointing, isn't it? I'm actually a little outraged that a site which should be the greatest ally to ambitious iOS game projects is undercutting them if they have the bad taste to associate themselves with a site that the editor has a personal vendetta against.

I figure Touch Arcade will cover Republique when they're ready. (That is, unless I've said something to offend them!) The amount of games seeking coverage on their site must be ridiculous.

[klarence]

What's this? Finally a game exclusive,deep and good-looking for IOS? The selfish Apple company should funds the developers who help to make the IOS devices the better masterpieces.

[Kerrby]

I love how against this project you are hodapp yet you splooge all over the same awful games GameLoft continues to shit out.

Keep continuing to sell out, wouldn't expect anything less from this site anymore.

[novery]

Originally Posted by Hodapp

Regardless, it'd be weird for someone to buy advertising for vaporware, wouldn't it?

Republique is not vaporware. In fact, I'd be willing to fly out to wherever you are, show you the game and have you play it on an iPhone or iPad. I think you'll like it!