Re: I am back, and so is Tomb Hunter
Jade, most of the content seems fixed, but I swear there are some random elements. Then again, the more I play,the more I think that it's pretty much all fixed. In regards to the learning curve, I do think that a few tweaks could be made to the first couple levels. But anything beyond level 4 should be left where it is because otherwise it's boring. While I found the chalenge of AAC and The Gate quite irritating, I like that it's there. The chalenge that TH presents seems fair and just. I think that there is a large division between hardcore audiogamers who need a fast-action thing with a high level of chalenge lest they find it boring, vs. those who are either starting out or aren't really good at those types of games. A game like Super Liam is good for the latter group, as I've seen firsthand and heard a lot of other stories of sighted people, who have never touched an audio game before, playing at least the first couple levels successfully. Those people
probably would have a considerably harder time with Aac or The Gate. They'd likely have less patience and skill than someone who is used to that level of challenge in an audio game. As a developer it is undoubtedly difficult to balance difficulty, but I've always enjoyed side scrollers and I've tended to enjoy difficult ones. We see that in the mainstream world too, but because that's such a wide audience, devs can do what they want. Here it really needs more consideration I think. I personally don't want TH to be a game where apart from a few challenges, I can beat the game in 2 hours, with hardly any hits sustained in the process, and once beaten I have nothing left to do but play it again exactly the same way, without any realistic ways to make it harder. This leads nicely into my next point.
I also agree with you on your observations of people's reactions to the price. Why would people pay as much for this game as they refused to pay for somet
hing like The Gate or Psychostrike. Some of that is down to history, the argument is that AAC is better than The Gate and AAC is free, etc. And before someone starts ranting about how we should let that go, I'd remind you that these kinds of squabbles have no doubt made pricing in audio games a very touchy issue as of late, and is yet another thing that taxes developers, and thus becomes very relevant when discussing and making decisions about a game like TH which is under development. With that said, only a handful of people were in support of the price of TH, but that is because only a handful of people have checked out this game or saw the price. There was a somewhat larger opposition, both by the larger audience seen by VGStorm games and the subsequent noise they made, about their pricing. I do hope TH doesn't have that issue but the incidents really shook me and showed me a lack of respect I had not seen yet.
If you ask me what I'd personally be willing to p
ay for TH, I'm not picky on price. So long as I feel I am not spending a fortune and it brings me some enjoyment, I'm happy. I understand though that not everyone is able to spend more money than they absolutely can get away with, so for them it becomes a bigger issue. I gently suggest the price be lowered a bit. I think a price of $15 or $20 for the game makes a little more sense. Montezuma's Revenge and later Mota has considerably larger levels, if I recall Mota levels had around 20 rooms each and there was intended to be 10 levels. I can't remember what the intended price was, but it was in the neighborhood of $30, and expectations I think have changed since then. For $30, TH really does imho have a lot to hold up to. If it stays $30 I will still gladly buy it when it's released, but that's only me. Money and its value is a very subjective thing. So are the benefits you get from purchasing something. So there's no right way to do it really.
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