7 ms·

Not implying that they don't deserve it (they absolutely do), but I'm blown away by how lucrative this is for the developers. With some reasonable assumptions,

by jere 14y ago

Not implying that they don't deserve it (they absolutely do), but I'm blown away by how lucrative this is for the developers. With some reasonable assumptions, it looks like the original 5 developers have already made $300,000 each. Quite a payday for games that have already been released for a while. I think (from my rough calculations) that's about what Braid made on its opening weekend.

sheldor 14y ago
No trying to be offensive but Indie Developers, might be the only ones at this particular point in time, to make a difference with their creations, in a field that looks so stale. I believe they deserve their reward, if not more, from the current bundle.
- jere 14y ago
  I agree. I love indie games and I think they are important. I'm simply noting that many indie game studios would kill to have this kind of revenue.
- benbeltran 14y ago
  There's a great book on this by Anna Anthropy (auntie pixelante) http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781609803728 http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781609803728 Being a gamer my whole life, it's sad to see how the industry has been in a rut ever since the PS2 era. As of late however, it's very interesting to see how indies are picking up what the big companies left during the SNES era. Also noteworthy for those who are just beginning tojoin the indie game scene, there are some nice games out there that haven't been in a humble bundle yet: look for games by nifflas, cactus, jon mak, kenta cho and auntie pixelante.
  - Fargren 14y ago
    Don't forget Ben Chandler. He's one of my favourites.
  - ericd 14y ago
    Thanks for those. This reminded me, though - I play indie games for their originality, so I'm always sad when I see ones that aren't very different from what came before. Specifically, I really wish indie game devs would stop focusing so much on making new takes on platformers - it seems like they make up a disproportionate number of indie games, probably because they're less ambitious endeavors than strategy games or other types. But, I and many of the others who are no longer buying AAA games because they're looking for something new are sick to death of platformers, regardless of whether it has a new twist on gravity control, or time control, or beautiful artwork, or some other unique twist. It's still a platformer, and the core gameplay is usually not actually different despite the twists. Maybe I'm just not the target market, though. Some wonderful counterexamples to this plague of platformers - Hammerfight (in a previous bundle), Starfarer, Lugaru (previous bundle), Bastion (current bundle), Plants and Zombies. Hammerfight in particular is one of the most entertaining indie games I've played in years and totally unique, I highly recommend it.
    - wlesieutre 14y ago
      Braid has a pretty cool narrative going for it as well, not just the time control mechanic. Have you played it the whole way through? I really wanted to like hammerfight, but I had some mouse sensitivity problems that kept popping up. Do you know if it was made in flash? Definitely felt that way to me. They cane up with a fun mechanic for a game and built a cool world around it, which I can definitely appreciate.
      - ericd 14y ago
        I never finished Braid, good to know! Yeah, I think Hammerfight is a pretty finicky game. It worked well for me (built in mouse-sensitivity buttons on my mouse helped a lot), but if it hadn't, I don't think it would have been very fun. If you get it working well, though, it's an absolute blast.
        wlesieutre 14y ago
        You should give Braid another go if you have the time, I played it on and off for months before finishing. In terms of games that make you actually think about what they're saying, I've yet to find a better one. "Art games" excluded because they usually aren't fun.
Goladus 14y ago
They're offering a product people are quite willing to pay for. Drm, hassle-free, hand-selected[1] indie titles is valuable, and donation models, especially "suggested donation" models have long been used in the right circumstances to get better returns than transactional-style sales when you're offering something people actually want. Users don't have to wait another 5-10 years for the programs to end up on an abandonware site, and the original developers actually get the proceeds. Win-win. [1] I realize there's likely politics and negotiation that happens in the background when arranging the humble bundles-- the point is that there's a level of endorsement here attractive to players who may not have much time and energy to spend trying out indie games.
forrestthewoods 14y ago
I was just thinking how not lucrative it is. When it's all said and done a 500k check for "free" down the road ain't bad, but it's not terribly impressive either when you consider these games truly are the best of the best. It's even less valuable if much time was required to port to Linux as is often the case. Gamers have shown that they are willing to pay a whole entire dollar per game for some of the absolute best indie games released in recent years. I find that far more depressing than encouraging. There's a reasonable argument to be made that the devaluation created by Humble Bundle and perhaps Steam sales cause more harm than good in the long run. Of course there's a reasonable argument they do more good than harm as well. It's interesting to consider but impossible to prove either way.
- batiudrami 14y ago
  >Gamers have shown that they are willing to pay a whole entire dollar per game for some of the absolute best indie games released in recent years. That assumes that people don't already own some of the games, and that they actually want all eight of the games. For instance, I already own Braid, Limbo and Psychonauts (and paid $10+ for each of them), so when the bundle came out I paid my $10 for Bastion and Sword and Sorcery (and I was only really interested in Bastion). Of the additions announced today, I already own Braid and SMB. I think it's a lucrative week for the devs, but I think a bigger issue is that when you offer games so cheaply you significantly reduce your potential purchasing base for the future when you essentially give it away. That being said, I've seen plenty of stats which show game sales slow to a crawl very quickly unless you push it up with significant sales - it's not like 'work' software where a big sale can significantly decrease your perceived value (imagine if Adobe sold it's Creative Suite for 75% off once a year - no one would ever purchase at full price again!). Gamers are an impatient bunch and are prepared to pay full price for something they're really excited for. You have to try and find out whether the increased volume generates more volume than it potentially removes in lost future sales, and I tend to think that it does - especially for games like Bastion which had a huge marketing effort when they were on Xbox Live Arcade which would have given them a lot of full-price exposure.
  - rogerbinns 14y ago

by jere 14y ago

sheldor 14y ago

No trying to be offensive but Indie Developers, might be the only ones at this particular point in time, to make a difference with their creations, in a field that looks so stale. I believe they deserve their reward, if not more, from the current bundle.

jere 14y ago
I agree. I love indie games and I think they are important. I'm simply noting that many indie game studios would kill to have this kind of revenue.
benbeltran 14y ago
There's a great book on this by Anna Anthropy (auntie pixelante) http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781609803728 http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781609803728 Being a gamer my whole life, it's sad to see how the industry has been in a rut ever since the PS2 era. As of late however, it's very interesting to see how indies are picking up what the big companies left during the SNES era. Also noteworthy for those who are just beginning tojoin the indie game scene, there are some nice games out there that haven't been in a humble bundle yet: look for games by nifflas, cactus, jon mak, kenta cho and auntie pixelante.
- Fargren 14y ago
  Don't forget Ben Chandler. He's one of my favourites.
- ericd 14y ago
  Thanks for those. This reminded me, though - I play indie games for their originality, so I'm always sad when I see ones that aren't very different from what came before. Specifically, I really wish indie game devs would stop focusing so much on making new takes on platformers - it seems like they make up a disproportionate number of indie games, probably because they're less ambitious endeavors than strategy games or other types. But, I and many of the others who are no longer buying AAA games because they're looking for something new are sick to death of platformers, regardless of whether it has a new twist on gravity control, or time control, or beautiful artwork, or some other unique twist. It's still a platformer, and the core gameplay is usually not actually different despite the twists. Maybe I'm just not the target market, though. Some wonderful counterexamples to this plague of platformers - Hammerfight (in a previous bundle), Starfarer, Lugaru (previous bundle), Bastion (current bundle), Plants and Zombies. Hammerfight in particular is one of the most entertaining indie games I've played in years and totally unique, I highly recommend it.
  - wlesieutre 14y ago
    Braid has a pretty cool narrative going for it as well, not just the time control mechanic. Have you played it the whole way through? I really wanted to like hammerfight, but I had some mouse sensitivity problems that kept popping up. Do you know if it was made in flash? Definitely felt that way to me. They cane up with a fun mechanic for a game and built a cool world around it, which I can definitely appreciate.
    - ericd 14y ago
      I never finished Braid, good to know! Yeah, I think Hammerfight is a pretty finicky game. It worked well for me (built in mouse-sensitivity buttons on my mouse helped a lot), but if it hadn't, I don't think it would have been very fun. If you get it working well, though, it's an absolute blast.
      - wlesieutre 14y ago
        You should give Braid another go if you have the time, I played it on and off for months before finishing. In terms of games that make you actually think about what they're saying, I've yet to find a better one. "Art games" excluded because they usually aren't fun.

Goladus 14y ago

They're offering a product people are quite willing to pay for. Drm, hassle-free, hand-selected[1] indie titles is valuable, and donation models, especially "suggested donation" models have long been used in the right circumstances to get better returns than transactional-style sales when you're offering something people actually want. Users don't have to wait another 5-10 years for the programs to end up on an abandonware site, and the original developers actually get the proceeds. Win-win. [1] I realize there's likely politics and negotiation that happens in the background when arranging the humble bundles-- the point is that there's a level of endorsement here attractive to players who may not have much time and energy to spend trying out indie games.

forrestthewoods 14y ago

I was just thinking how not lucrative it is. When it's all said and done a 500k check for "free" down the road ain't bad, but it's not terribly impressive either when you consider these games truly are the best of the best. It's even less valuable if much time was required to port to Linux as is often the case. Gamers have shown that they are willing to pay a whole entire dollar per game for some of the absolute best indie games released in recent years. I find that far more depressing than encouraging. There's a reasonable argument to be made that the devaluation created by Humble Bundle and perhaps Steam sales cause more harm than good in the long run. Of course there's a reasonable argument they do more good than harm as well. It's interesting to consider but impossible to prove either way.

batiudrami 14y ago
>Gamers have shown that they are willing to pay a whole entire dollar per game for some of the absolute best indie games released in recent years. That assumes that people don't already own some of the games, and that they actually want all eight of the games. For instance, I already own Braid, Limbo and Psychonauts (and paid $10+ for each of them), so when the bundle came out I paid my $10 for Bastion and Sword and Sorcery (and I was only really interested in Bastion). Of the additions announced today, I already own Braid and SMB. I think it's a lucrative week for the devs, but I think a bigger issue is that when you offer games so cheaply you significantly reduce your potential purchasing base for the future when you essentially give it away. That being said, I've seen plenty of stats which show game sales slow to a crawl very quickly unless you push it up with significant sales - it's not like 'work' software where a big sale can significantly decrease your perceived value (imagine if Adobe sold it's Creative Suite for 75% off once a year - no one would ever purchase at full price again!). Gamers are an impatient bunch and are prepared to pay full price for something they're really excited for. You have to try and find out whether the increased volume generates more volume than it potentially removes in lost future sales, and I tend to think that it does - especially for games like Bastion which had a huge marketing effort when they were on Xbox Live Arcade which would have given them a lot of full-price exposure.
- rogerbinns 14y ago