Jeff Vogel writes: "Spiderweb Software just started our annual sale. It's ten percent off everything we sell for the whole month of October. That isn't really news. We do this every year, and people seem to like it.
But this year, there is much more. We permanently lowered the prices of everything we sell. At least 20% cheaper (in addition to the 10% for the sale). For some products, much more. The most expensive game we sell is now $20, and that is likely to last pretty much forever.
It's a big mental shift for us, and I thought it was worth blogging about. I write about game pricing on this blog a lot, and I'm not ashamed of it. Right now, most of the huge revolutions in the game biz are in the new crazy pricing models, and there are still a lot of questions out there about the most efficient way to make a game make money."
GamesBeat: "Jeff Vogel never pulls any punches. So when the longtime indie success story released the Avernum 2 role-playing game recently on iOS — then yanked it days later — we knew he’d have some pointed things to say. Here’s the story of why you won’t be able to get future Spiderweb Software games on iPad despite the company’s successful sales for tablets in the past. Also, a suggestion: Better move fast if you want the company’s older works on the platform (Avernum, Avadon, Avadon 2)."
I'd be more surprised to read "Apple does care." Seriously, though, I'm sure it isn't good for one company to have such total control over a single gaming platform.
There's Android as well, so at least Apple doesn't have a total monopoly. The biggest problem is is that a lot of low budget developers think the Apple store is a goldmine waiting for prospecting, when the truth is is that on 1 in 10K games actually makes enough money to be worth the time to release on the system. The money is there, but success is rather rare. This is true on Droid as well.
What this guy is saying though is that Apple is forcing obsolescence by not allowing legacy code. They eventually stop supporting old stuff, which is reasonable, but when they do so, they completely remove the ability of that code to run by removing the stuff required to run it...which is unreasonable, and not good for developers.
Apple has never cared for gaming they just want some of the money , yes everyone does but at least those others make an effort to do tons , help and even care .
Apple's never cared about gaming. That's evident enough by the amount of time I spend on my PC and consoles compared to my MacBook. The only good thing the latter's for these days is Garage band, really.
Dont have an ios device but there are some great games available on the platform....Hearthstone is a great example. Most tablets support mice and controllers nowadays so there are some great games to be had on mobile devices.
So basically he's blaming mobiles' hardware and coding evolutions , when he can't keep up with it to release 16bits looking games .
Of course apple doesnt care , you came to their ecosystem , and till it works financially they wont cater to you . They were never about revolutionizing gaming or making it better . If anything they made it regress
At least he acknowledges the same issues , only magnified , should he decide to go over the android world
No, he's blaming the forced obsolescence that Apple implements within their systems. Apple doesn't have to remove legacy code to force upgrades, but they do. One reason is that it forces people to upgrade their software purchases, which means more money for them. Another is that when they remove the code, they no longer have to support the older code, which is good for their profits as that requires resources.
This would be no different than if MS removed the ability to run 16 or 32 bit code on the PC. It's possible to do, but there is no reason for them to do so, since the ability to run that code is already within the system.
There are advantages to not supporting legacy code, but they end up being terrible for the consumer because it means a complete upgrade to new software.
All that being said, this is nothing new from Apple. It's been around since the Iphone3 at least. The only game I released on there doesn't work anymore, despite being a fairly simplistic game. IMO, though, this guy may be better off getting an engine which could do the port quickly, and simply issue an update to the program. It's not that hard to do, and any iOS game engine can build to 32 or 64 bit.
TouchArcade: Hello, everyone. I hope you enjoyed the magical and mysterious GDC week last week. Normally, the RPG Reload Pocast will go up on the first Monday of each month, but with GDC that didn't quite pan out. However, better late than never, and this time around, our main topic is Avernum: Escape From The Pit [$9.99 (HD)], which I covered in my RPG Reload column two weeks ago. It's a really interesting open-world RPG done in a classic style which is oddly coming back into vogue of late.
TouchArcade: This week, we're looking at Avernum: Escape From The Pit [$9.99 (HD)] from Spiderweb Software. It's a game with more history behind it than you might think at a glance. Released on Mac in late 2011, with Windows PC and iPad versions following a few months later, it's a remake of Avernum, released in 2000, which itself was a remake of the 1995 game, Exile: Escape From The Pit, Spiderweb Software's first release. Spiderweb Software has been consistently releasing indie RPGs for almost 20 years, a remarkable achievement all on its own. Ultima did not survive, Wizardry somehow transformed into a largely Japan-only niche series, Interplay and Black Isle are both essentially past-tense, and even Bioware seems to be less interested in the kind of games they used to make. Spiderweb Software, on the other hand, is still here, and the company doesn't look to be going anywhere.
