Commercial failures

[m4u1nh0]

How do they happen ? are they random? I'm having games reviewed 90+ being commercial failures ... don't get whats caused it matched topics got all sliders right genre is not a hated one , why is it happening? And is it salvageable? 2 games in a row...

[JulesK92]

sound like the new event we had since the update yesterday

Patchnotes

"- New Event: Games can now become a "Commercial Flop" depending on the difficulty level.

[m4u1nh0]

but seems completely random on a well reviewed game and atm marketing cant fix it or at least 5 patches each game wont do much either

[Eggcode Games]

You have done nothing wrong. It is only a negative event. It is used to simulate games that were not successful in the real world, despite good ratings. Examples are: "Clive Barker's Undying", "Messiah" or some games from "Looking Glass".

This is to raise the difficulty level slightly. The chance of this event occurring is between 0% and 4%, depending on the difficulty level.

[m4u1nh0]

I am on Hard, took a toll on my finances specially after a rush of marketing and patches to try and muster interest... didnt work just stalled the inevitable . Fair enough hard should be hard.

[Eggcode Games]

If this seems too "unfair", I can unlock this event only from a higher difficulty level. Let's see what the other players say ;)

[m4u1nh0]

It definitely raises the difficulty specially at the beginning when money is tight but hard is hard have not tested on other difficulties. But money comes easy on medium I doubt it will become an issue.
On very hard and legendary others might have to comment as I don't think Im ready for that just yet

[Panda]

I haven't tested the feature out - so not speaking from experience with it.

But two thoughts - when I initially saw the patch note I wondered if you had seen my 'evergreen title' suggestion? If there are going to be commercial flops (which I agree with) I think even more so there should be 'breakout' titles.

Second - depending on the feedback if it's negative maybe this should be tied to out of trend genres? That way if you're developing a game and the genre falls out of trend, you either have to shelve it or risk it flopping. Gives the player *some* control over it.

[Eggcode Games]

@Evergreen title:
I haven't read through it carefully, but I think I know what it's about. This would be the opposite of the "Commercial Failure" event. Would be a good idea to add the event as well.

@Second:
True. Good idea. I make a note ;)

[m4u1nh0]

Agree, tied to trend genres makes sense and also tied to topic usage so if there's alot of games of same topic, market should be saturated and a new game of the same topic should get a higher chance of being badly received even if well reviewed. For me it felt random so it was a bit of a shock .
Also We should be able to throw money at it to fix it or at least get a chance to do so either by marketing or patching/add ons.
Of course just my 2 cents .

[Kyouko Tsukino]

I have tested it, and while I at times would enjoy the chance to not always win - at times I just want to set the world on fire (thought releasing lots of games that curbstomp the market.) It being tied to the difficulties I play in when not "testing out things" would, thus, make me eventually grow to hate the feature for being enforced. A lot like Bethesda's "sleep to save" foolishness in Fallout 4's Survival difficulty. Except in this game I can't mod that kind of stuff out (yet?)

Rather than "by difficulty," just make it another optional feature. More games need to have difficulty mechanics be completely optionals. "How many more games need that?" you ask? "Well, 100% of those not doing it" would be my final anwser. ;)

Some people want to set the world on fire, some people want to be set on fire instead. We can all get along, right?

[FenomeN✈]

Originally posted by Eggcode Games:

If this seems too "unfair", I can unlock this event only from a higher difficulty level. Let's see what the other players say ;)

Tested at a high level of difficulty with random concepts. Until 1990, there was no such event nirazu. There is already so much money that you can start over) Therefore, I do not think that this is a bad event for a high level of difficulty.

[GrandeLS]

Legendary
One such event in 10 years
A good feature in my opinion. Without such events, the game becomes extremely predictable for a while. I agree that such an event at the beginning of the game can cause a lot of trouble, but there are also events that can bring a lot of benefits (e.g. a drop in real estate prices). Life...

PS
I am trying to imagine a reverse event, i.e. a game so weak that it is good. In the sense that it becomes a sales hit despite dubious quality;)

[Panda]

I think if it's going to be made optional - it needs to be opt-out and not opt-in. That goes for most difficulty changes.

While I understand the desire for some players to play however they want, you also have to allow the developer to create the difficulty curve and vision for the 'base game' that he wants the game balanced to.

If it's something you optionally turn on rather than off, it will likely be used by less people and you will still get complaints about the late game being too easy.

For a lot of players you get one chance to 'challenge' or 'impress' them, once they do a playthrough and 'win' they aren't going to go back and tweak difficulties etc to do it all over again if they feel they already accomplished everything the first time.

[Kyouko Tsukino]

Originally posted by Panda:

I think if it's going to be made optional - it needs to be opt-out and not opt-in. That goes for most difficulty changes.

I'm neutral to this, actually, as I don't see a radical difference between "having to turn off everything" and "choosing what, if any, I want to turn on." Just a bit more time spent in menus, for a game that's already making me spend far more hours in menus than actually advancing time (my fault there for semi-fast game releases, I know.)

I also don't see "randomness" as difficulty. Luck is not difficulty, it's just luck. I've never called Yugi from YuGiOh a "game/card master" in a non-joking way, as his special power was luck, and luck's not a skill. No strategy can defeat RNGesus' favorites.

Originally posted by Red Valour:

I am trying to imagine a reverse event, i.e. a game so weak that it is good. In the sense that it becomes a sales hit despite dubious quality;)

You mean, like Goat Simulator, a game that looks like trash, plays like trash, but everyone loves for some unfathomable reason? Yeah, those do also happen in real life...

[ez66r]

At the very least, developer should remove the "Commercial Failure" event on "Medium" difficulty.
The existence of bad events that cannot be avoided by the player's actions and have a fatal effect is unacceptable.
It should only occur under the condition that "hype is 40 or less". If that is not possible, delete the "Commercial Failure" event now.