10 ms·

I just bought this one but wasn't there another bundle just last week? I wonder if too many too soon will lead to bundle fatigue

twodayslate 15y ago
It was pretty recent, but I think a lot of Indie devs want to get in on these bundles so they won't be going away anytime soon.
- staticshock 15y ago
  The "fatigue" implied by the parent has to do with how much people are willing to pay for subsequent bundles, not how many developers are interested in getting in. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion_fatigue#In_charitable_giving http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion_fatigue#In_charitabl... The fact that they won't be going away any time soon is precisely the problem.
benbeltran 15y ago
I agree. I used to get really excited about the humble bundle. They had a few noteworthy games per bundle (All the games they have are good, but some are less known than others). Now that it's a monthly affair I get the initial perception that the bundles have less noteworthy games and that I'm getting tired of so many of them. After a bit of thought I realize I /am/ paying just a few bucks for a lot of games and helping charity and I end up buying them, even if I already own al lthe games. but I fear there's a lot of people who won't make that leap and just say "meh, been there done that". It's sad because the bundle is great for devs and great for gamers.
- ido 15y ago
  Humble bundles are now back to back. Indie Royal is every 2 weeks, and 2-3 other copy-cat bundles come out pretty often too. Also, I don't know how often steam sales happen, but every time I go online there is one going on (~50-90% off kind of sales).
  - benbeltran 15y ago
    Yeah. And it's weird because with steam sales I get the opposite feeling. It's because I'm so used to them probably. I think it's the fact that the bundle used to be a rare happening and now there's a new one at the end of the month. I'll get used to it probably, I hope other people do to. It's a really great project.
  - agent86 15y ago
    One thing I think separates the Humble Bundle from the Indie Royal bundle is that Humble Bundle games always work on Windows, Mac, and Linux. I primarily use OS X and Linux these days, so that's a big incentive for me, and helps keep my "fatigue" down. That said, if this turns into a never ending string, the amount I contribute towards each bundle would likely drop since frequency would be going up. Probably something for the Humble folks to investigate - which performs better - more frequent small bundles or less frequent larger bundles.
    - fuzzix 15y ago
      "Humble Bundle games always work on Windows, Mac, and Linux" The experience of the mono-compiled Atom Zombie Smasher (from Bundle 1 or 2 IIRC) was pretty poor on Linux. Never got to play it myself - I saw it mentioned that it was easier to get it running using wine + the windows installer (including all the faffing about with dotnet under wine) than natively. Might try that this weekend. All other bundle titles I have played run well, apart from the occasional dual head quirk (though I am more likely to blame nvidia's poor randr support for that)
      - jamesgeck0 15y ago
        I played Atom Zombie Smasher on Ubuntu 11.10 and didn't have any issues whatsoever. I didn't even have to mess with the screen resolution after the game ended (which is generally the norm on my Intel GMA card). It was one of the smoothest Linux gaming experiences I've had.
  - romnempire 15y ago
    copy cat bundles? can I get some info on those?
- corporalagumbo 15y ago
  For my money this is the best bundle so far. Cave Story+, Bit Trip Runner, Super Meat Boy, and Jamestown are all highly regarded games, which I've been wanting to play for some time. The others I don't know much about, but that's part of the reason why these bundles are cool, to experience some games you wouldn't have come across otherwise?
  - chris11 15y ago
    Super Meat Boy is amazing, it is definitely worth the $5. Although Bit Trip Runner seems engaging from the few minutes I've played, the graphics are little blurry and it ends up straining my eyes. The other games definitely look interesting though.
- DarkShikari 15y ago
  Cave Story+ is an updated-engine version of what is probably the most famous indie game of all time that basically started the modern indie games movement. It would not be unreasonable to say it's one of the best action/platformer games ever made -- a completely indie Metroidvania game that's better than most similar games from major publishers despite being made entirely by one person in his spare time. Jamestown is a completely awesome arcade-style danmaku shooter inspired by CAVE games and Touhou -- but unlike some recent poor attempts to emulate these styles (e.g. Deathsmiles), it adds loads of creativity of its own, like its so-absurd-it's-hilarious storyline and setting. It was worth every cent on launch, and now you can get it for way less with a half dozen other games included. This might be the best Humble Bundle yet just because of these two.
  - nazgulnarsil 15y ago
    uncontrollably clicked purchase when I saw cave story+. I'll buy anything related to cave story. The creator is really missing out with the lack of merchandise.
    - duskwuff 15y ago
      Plush Balrog? :)
  - haldean 15y ago
    Not to mention Super Meat Boy, which is (in my opinion) one of the best modern platformers.
  - anonymoushn 15y ago
    Deathsmiles is a CAVE game. Jamestown is amazing. I really like that the player maximizes score and effectiveness by using all of the resources available in this game. In a lot of other games, like DoDonPachi or Perfect Cherry Blossom, you ruin your point run if you bomb. To me, Jamestown alone is worth buying the bundle, but I'll also definitely enjoy Super Meat Boy.
- pseudonym 15y ago
  Honestly, this is just making me spend less on Steam, since I know most of the cheaper games I'm interested in will end up as HIBs sooner or later, complete with Steam keys.
- dkersten 15y ago
  The way I see it, they have smaller (but frequent) company-branded bundles (eg, the FrozenByte bundle) and larger, more exciting numbered bundles (like this one - #4). The numbered ones always seemed to have more games, more hyped/well-known games and also sell a lot more. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I view them. As long as the numbered bundles can continue to include some big well known games, them I think they can avoid "bundle fatigue". But we will see, I guess. Its still too early to know for sure how repeatable it is, though it looks positive so far - I mean, $900k in one day is pretty good!
sounds 15y ago
I actually think their business model is perfect for this: right now they get the "honeymoon effect" -- they're new. So every humble bundle is one-time offer. As time goes by (or maybe it's happening now), they will have to do more market research, find better games, maybe even change their offer so it doesn't expire. I'd personally like to see them directly competing with steam and desura (if the offer doesn't expire, they're directly competing). I think they need that kind of competition to push them. In short, don't rest on your first success!
- chris11 15y ago
  I think that both humble bundle and indie royale are providing high quality games. I think humble bundle is doing a little better, but I still think both companies will succeed. I don't think that they need to directly compete with steam, I prefer getting my games from them. But it would be nice to add accounts to both sites. I've bought enough bundles that I would prefer to have my keys all in one spot.
listic 15y ago
They do numbered bundles AND special bundles. I mean, special bundles do not count towards the number of bundles. I don't know why they do this; looks confusing.
sbochins 15y ago
I used to pay like $25 for a bundle. But with all the bundles coming out, I don't really feel like paying so much. I want to take advantage of the deals, but know I won't have enough time to play more than %10 of the games I buy. So, I've come to the conclusion I should only pay for the amount of time I'm willing to spend on the game. With so many bundles, that amount of time has gone down significantly. This bundle does have a lot of good games btw.
rbugajewski 15y ago
I agree that the bundles are run a little bit too often, but supporting indie devs always feels good.

twodayslate 15y ago

It was pretty recent, but I think a lot of Indie devs want to get in on these bundles so they won't be going away anytime soon.

staticshock 15y ago
The "fatigue" implied by the parent has to do with how much people are willing to pay for subsequent bundles, not how many developers are interested in getting in. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion_fatigue#In_charitable_giving http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion_fatigue#In_charitabl... The fact that they won't be going away any time soon is precisely the problem.

benbeltran 15y ago

I agree. I used to get really excited about the humble bundle. They had a few noteworthy games per bundle (All the games they have are good, but some are less known than others). Now that it's a monthly affair I get the initial perception that the bundles have less noteworthy games and that I'm getting tired of so many of them. After a bit of thought I realize I /am/ paying just a few bucks for a lot of games and helping charity and I end up buying them, even if I already own al lthe games. but I fear there's a lot of people who won't make that leap and just say "meh, been there done that". It's sad because the bundle is great for devs and great for gamers.

ido 15y ago
Humble bundles are now back to back. Indie Royal is every 2 weeks, and 2-3 other copy-cat bundles come out pretty often too. Also, I don't know how often steam sales happen, but every time I go online there is one going on (~50-90% off kind of sales).
- benbeltran 15y ago
  Yeah. And it's weird because with steam sales I get the opposite feeling. It's because I'm so used to them probably. I think it's the fact that the bundle used to be a rare happening and now there's a new one at the end of the month. I'll get used to it probably, I hope other people do to. It's a really great project.
- agent86 15y ago
  One thing I think separates the Humble Bundle from the Indie Royal bundle is that Humble Bundle games always work on Windows, Mac, and Linux. I primarily use OS X and Linux these days, so that's a big incentive for me, and helps keep my "fatigue" down. That said, if this turns into a never ending string, the amount I contribute towards each bundle would likely drop since frequency would be going up. Probably something for the Humble folks to investigate - which performs better - more frequent small bundles or less frequent larger bundles.
  - fuzzix 15y ago
    "Humble Bundle games always work on Windows, Mac, and Linux" The experience of the mono-compiled Atom Zombie Smasher (from Bundle 1 or 2 IIRC) was pretty poor on Linux. Never got to play it myself - I saw it mentioned that it was easier to get it running using wine + the windows installer (including all the faffing about with dotnet under wine) than natively. Might try that this weekend. All other bundle titles I have played run well, apart from the occasional dual head quirk (though I am more likely to blame nvidia's poor randr support for that)
    - jamesgeck0 15y ago
      I played Atom Zombie Smasher on Ubuntu 11.10 and didn't have any issues whatsoever. I didn't even have to mess with the screen resolution after the game ended (which is generally the norm on my Intel GMA card). It was one of the smoothest Linux gaming experiences I've had.
- romnempire 15y ago
  copy cat bundles? can I get some info on those?
corporalagumbo 15y ago
For my money this is the best bundle so far. Cave Story+, Bit Trip Runner, Super Meat Boy, and Jamestown are all highly regarded games, which I've been wanting to play for some time. The others I don't know much about, but that's part of the reason why these bundles are cool, to experience some games you wouldn't have come across otherwise?
- chris11 15y ago
  Super Meat Boy is amazing, it is definitely worth the $5. Although Bit Trip Runner seems engaging from the few minutes I've played, the graphics are little blurry and it ends up straining my eyes. The other games definitely look interesting though.
DarkShikari 15y ago
Cave Story+ is an updated-engine version of what is probably the most famous indie game of all time that basically started the modern indie games movement. It would not be unreasonable to say it's one of the best action/platformer games ever made -- a completely indie Metroidvania game that's better than most similar games from major publishers despite being made entirely by one person in his spare time. Jamestown is a completely awesome arcade-style danmaku shooter inspired by CAVE games and Touhou -- but unlike some recent poor attempts to emulate these styles (e.g. Deathsmiles), it adds loads of creativity of its own, like its so-absurd-it's-hilarious storyline and setting. It was worth every cent on launch, and now you can get it for way less with a half dozen other games included. This might be the best Humble Bundle yet just because of these two.
- nazgulnarsil 15y ago
  uncontrollably clicked purchase when I saw cave story+. I'll buy anything related to cave story. The creator is really missing out with the lack of merchandise.
  - duskwuff 15y ago
    Plush Balrog? :)
- haldean 15y ago
  Not to mention Super Meat Boy, which is (in my opinion) one of the best modern platformers.
- anonymoushn 15y ago
  Deathsmiles is a CAVE game. Jamestown is amazing. I really like that the player maximizes score and effectiveness by using all of the resources available in this game. In a lot of other games, like DoDonPachi or Perfect Cherry Blossom, you ruin your point run if you bomb. To me, Jamestown alone is worth buying the bundle, but I'll also definitely enjoy Super Meat Boy.
pseudonym 15y ago
Honestly, this is just making me spend less on Steam, since I know most of the cheaper games I'm interested in will end up as HIBs sooner or later, complete with Steam keys.
dkersten 15y ago
The way I see it, they have smaller (but frequent) company-branded bundles (eg, the FrozenByte bundle) and larger, more exciting numbered bundles (like this one - #4). The numbered ones always seemed to have more games, more hyped/well-known games and also sell a lot more. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I view them. As long as the numbered bundles can continue to include some big well known games, them I think they can avoid "bundle fatigue". But we will see, I guess. Its still too early to know for sure how repeatable it is, though it looks positive so far - I mean, $900k in one day is pretty good!

sounds 15y ago

I actually think their business model is perfect for this: right now they get the "honeymoon effect" -- they're new. So every humble bundle is one-time offer. As time goes by (or maybe it's happening now), they will have to do more market research, find better games, maybe even change their offer so it doesn't expire. I'd personally like to see them directly competing with steam and desura (if the offer doesn't expire, they're directly competing). I think they need that kind of competition to push them. In short, don't rest on your first success!

chris11 15y ago
I think that both humble bundle and indie royale are providing high quality games. I think humble bundle is doing a little better, but I still think both companies will succeed. I don't think that they need to directly compete with steam, I prefer getting my games from them. But it would be nice to add accounts to both sites. I've bought enough bundles that I would prefer to have my keys all in one spot.

listic 15y ago

They do numbered bundles AND special bundles. I mean, special bundles do not count towards the number of bundles. I don't know why they do this; looks confusing.

sbochins 15y ago

I used to pay like $25 for a bundle. But with all the bundles coming out, I don't really feel like paying so much. I want to take advantage of the deals, but know I won't have enough time to play more than %10 of the games I buy. So, I've come to the conclusion I should only pay for the amount of time I'm willing to spend on the game. With so many bundles, that amount of time has gone down significantly. This bundle does have a lot of good games btw.

rbugajewski 15y ago

I agree that the bundles are run a little bit too often, but supporting indie devs always feels good.