Would You Actually Buy A Commercial Game For Gp2x?

[skeezix]

Obviously a cart has that advantage; also note that they'r emuch more expensive Of course, by the same token.. a ESD download means you get instant satisfaction..

1) Demo is free for download
2) If you like it, you buy .. full game immediately.
3) The cost is that its harder on people with >1 unit; few people are in this situation
4) A bad DRM screws you when the company loses interest; this isn't something I would do, assuming I was in a position to prevent it.

Names don't work too well, since of course 'Blew Melater' would buy real fast

One of the most common buyers in Palm OS is 'Kracked Dude'

jeff

 

[skeezix]

I'll worry about it later. It may never happen. Depends on a lot of factors, and if folks and myself think its a viable platform for making a few bucks (or breaking even) at this point in time.

jeff

Don't worry, I'm still doing my homebrew

 

[Vimacs]

It woould for sure eb a high risk, and doing it without some sort of copy protection would be pure suicide.
Especialy for downloads there have to be some sort of protection, if not you have it warezd instantly, thats for sure.
With physical media its different, first its usaly bigger, second people will like to have the box, 3rd i think theres another thinking if you rip the software and uplaod it someware bla bla you feel more that its wrong, if you jsut put a thing up you jsut downloaded its a different feeling(at least it would be for me).

However, 500units sold seems to be reachable, 1000 seems a bit unlikely to me.
But you realy cant say how good it will say until you have actualy seen it, i would for sure pay 15$ on a good software with resonable copy protection.

Joygp did a great job, i bought gpcinema and pinball dreams there, onyl thing that could be better is a option to encrypt to media instand off unit.

And that crying about "aääh wääh the unit will die and i have to buy that extremely expensive 15$ software again" crying, i think its pretty unlikely that a game card or the unit brakes, hardware wise, i still have all of my handhelds and old computers (think gb/c64) and yet i have to see one die, so this is just a unreasonable argument to me.

 

[DaveC]

And that crying about "aääh wääh the unit will die and i have to buy that extremely expensive 15$ software again" crying, i think its pretty unlikely that a game card or the unit brakes, hardware wise, i still have all of my handhelds and old computers (think gb/c64) and yet i have to see one die, so this is just a unreasonable argument to me.

​

Well yes units can break and/or upgraded versions can come out (GP32 NLU, FLU,BLU for example). Doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

And while you may think losing a $15.00 game is no big deal it adds up. Buy 10 games and that is $150 almost the price of the unit. Whatever I don't like the lack of freedom with it some don't mind. I would like if it could be encrypted to the card rather than the unit, that would be best then you could use it on any system.

 

[SatanClaus]

And that crying about "aääh wääh the unit will die and i have to buy that extremely expensive 15$ software again" crying, i think its pretty unlikely that a game card or the unit brakes, hardware wise, i still have all of my handhelds and old computers (think gb/c64) and yet i have to see one die, so this is just a unreasonable argument to me.

​

Well yes units can break and/or upgraded versions can come out (GP32 NLU, FLU,BLU for example). Doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

I have this problem with Pinball Dreams on my GP32. I bought it for my NLU, but I snatched a cheap FLU from Lik-Sang a few weeks ago. Joygp is closed and I can't play it on my new unit and I can't buy it a second time.

 

[saboteur]

Making it downloadable for a fee and then activate with a serial number, that seem's a workable solution - and if people want to install on more than one GP2X then they can buy another serial number for a nominal fee - say a $1.

If you really want to secure it u could get the GP2X to generate a key based on the unit's serial number when installed, the purchaser can then log in online and use this key to get the unlock serial number specific to the unit_serial no.

I for one would be happy to pay for games - I think commercial games & software can only strengthen the GP2X and maybe bring it more into the public view. And judging by all JEFF's wok so far I don't think i'll be dissapointed.

The only mine field I think I can see is price : to high and u put people off, to low and people will think it's not a good game - personnaly I think your first commercial forray should be around the $10 mark, u will shift more units and then the price can go up for your next piece. But this price must reflect the amount of time and effort u have put into this game - no one expects u to make a loss.

I think the best thing in JEFF's favour is the community. We all know what good work he does and people here are not shy in communicating their thoughts about what they think. Word of mouth can be very powerfull and a few good reviews on these forums will definately do your sales no harm - of course that can go in the other direction as well

Cheers

 

[jislizard]

I would buy a good comercial game that would show off what the GP2x can really do just to taunt my friends.

If the emulators are using up a lot of the processing power just to run ancient games then the new games should have all that extra power to really do something special.

I would pay 15 quid for a decent game like Tomb Raider, It works pretty good on the Ngage, how about making an ngage emulator instead?

I would still be prepared to buy an emulator if you didn't keep giving them away!

As for how I got them, downloaded is fine, DRM is fine, I probably won't buy 10 to hit the $150 price tag so losing one wouldn't really matter to me much, and if I bricked the unit I can't see me forking out any money to buy another lemon.

Good Luck if you decide to go ahead, just don't give people a date for when it is due to be released, they will hound you to death in the forums.

Mark

 

[Julius]

It really depends on the game, but I might buy it (but no sports game please ).

Maybe you could make a vote on the games you could port?

Oh and I would be kind of unwilling to pay if it was a port of a game that has source available freely, like Descent for example (open source doesn't mean it can't be commercialized).

 

[parag0n]

I couldnt see having it put on an SD card being that difficult, the best way to do it imo would be to sell a DRMed download, but allow certain resellers to make their own SD cards with the game locked to it. small SD cards are cheap, and stickers for them can be made with an inkjet printer and some special paper.

Basically, the resellers could buy bulk licenses to resell, which lock to the card using a special key. That way, the resellers make a profit on selling the physical media, you make profit on selling the software.

 

[jmetal88]

And that crying about "aääh wääh the unit will die and i have to buy that extremely expensive 15$ software again" crying, i think its pretty unlikely that a game card or the unit brakes, hardware wise, i still have all of my handhelds and old computers (think gb/c64) and yet i have to see one die, so this is just a unreasonable argument to me.

​

Well yes units can break and/or upgraded versions can come out (GP32 NLU, FLU,BLU for example). Doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

I have this problem with Pinball Dreams on my GP32. I bought it for my NLU, but I snatched a cheap FLU from Lik-Sang a few weeks ago. Joygp is closed and I can't play it on my new unit and I can't buy it a second time.

​

It's too bad Gamepark.com only has that stupid "XGP COMING SOON" page now, 'cause I suppose the game purchasing page (where I got Pinball Dreams from) would really help you out about now.

 

[dadioflex]

Make it a Fallout-inspired turn-based party-driven RPG and I'd be in.

You really are up against it with the amount and the quality of the emulated product though.

 

[Digitalrat]

It's too bad Gamepark.com only has that stupid "XGP COMING SOON" page now, 'cause I suppose the game purchasing page (where I got Pinball Dreams from) would really help you out about now.

That's because Gamepark Holdings needed to give back gamepark.com to Gamepark. You could always try to contact GPH about it.

 

[skeezix]

Well, the one project read the thread and they bailed out, but likely just as well; it was higher risk.

I'll see about the other one.. its something I'd do for fun, so its less risk; I would just make it as low cost as possible (ie: time; no SD printing or fancy stuff) so that it wouldn't hurt so much if it tanked.

Its a risky platform at this juncture, for the little guys like me With a couple commercial apps coming out soon though, it coudl legitimize tha pltform, and if they're good.. could attract more users.. which makes Craig and such happy; more people bring even more people.. who knows, maybe the unit has a shot at "it"

jeff

 

[nickspoon]

Well, the one project read the thread and they bailed out, but likely just as well; it was higher risk.

I'll see about the other one.. its something I'd do for fun, so its less risk; I would just make it as low cost as possible (ie: time; no SD printing or fancy stuff) so that it wouldn't hurt so much if it tanked.

Its a risky platform at this juncture, for the little guys like me With a couple commercial apps coming out soon though, it coudl legitimize tha pltform, and if they're good.. could attract more users.. which makes Craig and such happy; more people bring even more people.. who knows, maybe the unit has a shot at "it"

jeff

Good luck with that first commercial game we've been waiting for!

 

[DJprocyon]

I would definitely be up for any commercial games released, as long as there was a demo or something to try out first.
Something I would like to point out though, why is everybody thinking about having to distribute the game on SD? Personally, I would like to be able to have it on my existing SD along with my MP3s and other games. Also SD is an expensive format. I wouldn't wanna have to shell-out so many additional £'s just for the cost of the medium. Everybody seems to think that the only other viable method is through downloading, but something entirely more obvious has been overlooked: CDs!!
CDs are cheap to produce, cannot accidentally be overwritten and will hold more than enough for the average game on GP2X. I know it probably sounds like a slightly wierd idea, but here's my proposal:
Since pretty much everybody who owns a GP2X also owns a computer of sorts, you would insert the CD into your computer. The CD would come with 3 install apps: One each for Win, Mac and Linux. Each would request a CD key given on the inside of the box or instruction manual before the game is installed. The game would be then installed onto the SD, and you would be free to play the game after that. Sure, I know it doesn't really get round the issue of piracy, but in my mind a far better means than the other 2.

 

[Paradox]

just to say again...definetly be up for a commercial game, even if i didnt like it much (ok, if its a sports game of any sort, i probably would not buy it, since i hate sport but enjoy anything else games wise)

i plan to try to buy every commercial game for the gp2x, just for the sake of having all the commercial games

 

[skeezix]

I imagine most content will be via download, but I've not talked to real game publishers abot gp2x so naybt their view is different.

ie: Burning CDs is realtively cheap, but its a cost; more to point is packaging, inserting things into the packaging, wrapping, storage, shipping.

Or just buy and download, get the thing right away and your'e up and going in 10 minutes; lower overall cost, higher overall happiness.

jeff

 

[Paradox]

i like paying for software and downloading it right off the bat, but i prefer to have something in my hands, but if it makes a difference between having any commercial games at all, then i'd have no problem with just downloadable games.

 

[hando]

You can count on me. 15$ bucks for downloadable game without that all shipping fuss is ok price for a quality product. But maybe 12$ would be better

 

[ingrin]

Well, the one project read the thread and they bailed out, but likely just as well; it was higher risk.

I'll see about the other one.. its something I'd do for fun, so its less risk; I would just make it as low cost as possible (ie: time; no SD printing or fancy stuff) so that it wouldn't hurt so much if it tanked.

Its a risky platform at this juncture, for the little guys like me With a couple commercial apps coming out soon though, it coudl legitimize tha pltform, and if they're good.. could attract more users.. which makes Craig and such happy; more people bring even more people.. who knows, maybe the unit has a shot at "it"

jeff

​

The odds are actually more in your favor to make a game now an release before other commercial products dilute the pool.
In fact, I'll make an oath. If you make a commercial game before the end of March, I pledge to purchase it sight unseen (provided price doesn't rise above $20). I'll be pissed if its just Manticore Deluxe (although I do love Manticore, don't get me wrong), but I will fork over the money regardless.
Does that comfort you at all?