Topic: Amnesia: The Dark Descent (and random thoughts from idol)

[idolminds]

I thought we had a thread on this, but I guess not.

Official site

Game came out last week. You remember the Penumbra games? Yeah, same dudes made this and its a very similar game. Getting rave reviews, its $20, and is on pretty much every DD service that matters...but not the sales they were hoping for.

Can we really judge sales from just one week? According to current graphs: yes we can. Even though reviews keep coming in from major outlets and we keep pushing out marketing material (videos, release of tools, etc) sales are dropping fast. Around 50% of our current earnings where made in less than a week and on pre-orders from before release. The sales where at the top during the last hour of the Steam 20% discount, and has since dropped almost exponentially, being pretty much halved each day. It will be really interesting to see at what level it pans out.

This is of course not all the income we will make from the game, but is still a bit discouraging when comparing to recent XBLA releases and similar. So why is not sales higher? Piracy? People waiting for future massive discounted sales? Game too scary / niched? Right now we have not got a clue, but hopefully it will become clearer further on.

I bolded that one part because I think this might be a big cause. I see that a LOT when people talk about an interesting indie game. If you've got a $50 big name game people won't bat an eye and drop the money, but you show them a $20 indie game and the response is to wait for a sale when its $5. Its a strange perception of value thing.

With the holiday sales roughly 3 months away I'm sure this is getting into the cutoff area for people to wait and see. It would be very hard to measure, but it would be interesting to figure out how much these holidays sales might actually harm indie games and compare it with the release date. Maybe indie games would do better to release in the spring to avoid people waiting for holiday sales, whereas the big name games release in the fall to be on shelves for Christmas.

Anyway if you want a horror game, check this one out. Theres a demo available and the full game is cheap. Give it a go.

[Cobra951]

This is of course not all the income we will make from the game, but is still a bit discouraging when comparing to recent XBLA releases and similar. So why is not sales higher? Piracy? People waiting for future massive discounted sales? Game too scary / niched? Right now we have not got a clue, but hopefully it will become clearer further on.

Fixed.  I quickly found a 10-day-old Skidrow torrent.

I've been arguing with the kiddies over at the DeathSpank (Hothead) forum about why there is no PC version of that game.  I just don't think it's smart anymore to release smallish games on PC until after they've made their nut on the consoles.  Piracy is too prevalent and too easy on PCs.  E.g., the Steam version of Puzzle Quest 2 was pirated in one day.

Edit:  Actually, the torrent is a week old.  The game was released 10 days ago.  So, pirated in 3 days.

[TheOtherBelmont]

I really want to get this since I highly enjoyed the Penumbra games.  It's a shame about the game being pirated so quickly though.

[PyroMenace]

For me, I'm a pussy and the game looks scary as fuck. I may check it out anyway.

[MysterD]

Hell, I still need to play the Penumbra collection [Steam] that I have...

How long/short is this Amnesia game supposed to be?

[iPPi]

Looks like a scary game.

[iPPi]

D, according to reviews the game is about 8 hours in length, but there is no reason to revisit the game.

I gave the game to try and played it for about 10 minutes.  It definitely has a pretty good atmosphere and sound design.

That said, since my PC is dead and I only have my laptop with me, the game barely runs on my laptop.  I have everything set to low and running at 800x600 and I'm only getting like 12-15 fps, which kind of kills the atmosphere and scariness of the game.  I'll definitely try it again when I have a computer capable of running the game.  My laptop's Geforce 7400 can't handle this game, though it can handle Starcraft 2.  Hurray for Blizzard having a great, scalable engine to run on a wide spectrum of machines.

[MysterD]

D, according to reviews the game is about 8 hours in length, but there is no reason to revisit the game.

That's still not bad for a new-game priced at $20.
Many $40-60 games - yeah, they around that length.

[iPPi]

Yahtzee's review

Pretty good, and as he says, it is "unmatched as a constipation aid."

I actually want to play this game but I don't have a computer that can run the game adequately. 

[MysterD]

Bigdownload.com -> Amnesia: The Dark Descent have sold 36,000 units (excluding Russia), surpassing their goal (24,000 units).
So, they're going to make another game.

[idolminds]

Half off on Impulse right now! Makes it $10.

[gpw11]

Fixed.  I quickly found a 10-day-old Skidrow torrent.

I've been arguing with the kiddies over at the DeathSpank (Hothead) forum about why there is no PC version of that game.  I just don't think it's smart anymore to release smallish games on PC until after they've made their nut on the consoles.  Piracy is too prevalent and too easy on PCs.  E.g., the Steam version of Puzzle Quest 2 was pirated in one day.

Edit:  Actually, the torrent is a week old.  The game was released 10 days ago.  So, pirated in 3 days.

This.  Really, semantics aside, I don't think you can argue that piracy doesn't hurt sales.  It's just so fucking easy.

[MysterD]

200K sold, so far.

[iPPi]

I've got to remind myself to play this game when I'm back at home with my desktop.  I got a new video card for my desktop and it will hopefully run the game at a better setting than my laptop.

[W7RE]

I've had this game for a while, and have just decided to play through it.Question though, should I play Dark Descent before I play Justine? Or does it matter?

[TheOtherBelmont]

I've had this game for a while, and have just decided to play through it.Question though, should I play Dark Descent before I play Justine? Or does it matter?

You just reminded me there was DLC for this game.  I only played Dark Descent. Sorry, that doesn't answer your question though.

[PyroMenace]

So I finally got around to playing a bit of this. Patrick over on Giantbomb had a lot to say about it on the bombcast saying that the stress level from playing the game got to a point where it was no longer fun, but he finished it. As much as I am a bit of pansy when it comes to horror titles I do enjoy them when they hit a good balance of being creepy but not to the point where I'm sweating in my seat. I really liked the original Resident Evil, the first Condemned game, and Dead Space I think hits that balance on the nose for me. But I want to see how far Amnesia takes it even if it goes too far, and does it? I played through the first little area and its pretty rough, stress wise. I'm not even seeing any enemies yet (which I was dreading my first encounter with one) and there's been some really tense moments. The ambient stuff can really get to you. I'm wearing headphones to play and there was one instance where I suddenly hear this ghoulish gasp as if it was right next to me and a slight sense of panic hit me and there's been all sorts of atmospheric stuff that tests your psyche from time to time. Light sources are your way of staying alive or else you'll go insane from staying in the dark too long. You have a limited capabilities of making light sources, through tinder and your oil lantern. I tend to avoid using tinder until I find a room with a puzzle or may have more items in it. I had built up a good supply of stuff but towards the end of the first section I am near running dry. I did eventually have my first encounter with an enemy which sucks for a lot of reasons. You have to hide in the dark, which slowly drains your sanity, you can't look at them too long, which also... drains your sanity, and you don't want to make a lot of noise. Fortunately the one I ran into walked the other way when I saw it and I removed myself as far away from the area as I could, but goddamn was I stressed. So in conclusion Amnesia is what everyone claims it to be, horrifying but fun in a thrill seeking sort of way. I think I will play parts of it from time to time as it's definitely not a game I can will myself through in a long play session, to hell with that noise.  

[TheOtherBelmont]

I think I will play parts of it from time to time as it's definitely not a game I can will myself through in a long play session, to hell with that noise. 

I probably should have done this, but instead I went through it in two different sittings over the course of two days and remember my neck and arms being a little sore from being so damn tense for so long.

[PyroMenace]

[MysterD]

Frictional Games on game development cost for Amnesia, amount of $ they made on it, and piracy

I think we have never disclosed how much we Amnesia cost to make, so might as well do that here. The (exactly) three years of development cost a total of 360 000 US Dollars. It has since earned more than ten times that. Take that investors we talked to in 2009!

Piracy
It has been over a year since we even thought about piracy. With sales as good as above we cannot really see this as an issue worth more than two lines in this post, so screw it.