Why does it cost so much?

[つづく]

It's an indie game and short I hear. $25+ is asking a lot.

[Ka-mai19]

Originally posted by plinplinplon:

As someone in game development, it is absolutely astonishing how people like Billy Basso, Concerned Ape, David Szymanski - just to name a few - can make such quality titles doing all or the vast majority of the work. I will never not be impressed or sing the praises of these people who pull of stuff like that. Making a mediocre game with a 30 person team is hard enough. Making a good game by yourself is absolutely insane.

That said, if Animal Well was just mediocre, I'd call it just mediocre. It isn't. It's a cut above.

I think part of the success is due to being a solo dev, though, since you can focus on realizing your vision without needing to people manage or risk your vision diluting after the project passes through many different hands.

It's a lot harder, for sure, and it's why I assume most solo devs burn out before shipping their games, but there is less risk of the game becoming something that doesn't match the creator's vision.

[soulcandy]

It's $25 for 8-10 hours of entertainment. That's reasonable in any other context.

[| нsт | Victorino Mora]

Originally posted by Ka-mai19:

Originally posted by plinplinplon:

As someone in game development, it is absolutely astonishing how people like Billy Basso, Concerned Ape, David Szymanski - just to name a few - can make such quality titles doing all or the vast majority of the work. I will never not be impressed or sing the praises of these people who pull of stuff like that. Making a mediocre game with a 30 person team is hard enough. Making a good game by yourself is absolutely insane.

That said, if Animal Well was just mediocre, I'd call it just mediocre. It isn't. It's a cut above.

I think part of the success is due to being a solo dev, though, since you can focus on realizing your vision without needing to people manage or risk your vision diluting after the project passes through many different hands.

It's a lot harder, for sure, and it's why I assume most solo devs burn out before shipping their games, but there is less risk of the game becoming something that doesn't match the creator's vision.

I think the key thing we forget about it being a Solo dev, is that he was funded by an extremely popular and most likely "wealthy" YouTuber. I have a friend who is also working on a game herself, but she has to also meet quota on her job so she doesn't have much time to develop and work while also participating in social activities.

For a Solo Dev who is funded by someone, their work is their project. Their only concern was making the game and Dunky is no newbie when it comes to gaming so he must have had some sort of voice when it came to the development in what worked and didn't work.

[SecondLeaseGamer]

Its an indie game made by a single developer over 6 years. Dunkey's company Bigmode picked up the publishing rights for the title and its their first ever release. The dev also completely built the game engine from scratch. The game isn't at all expensive, its just more expensive than most wouldve thought a low resolution pixel platformer would cost.

Buying this game supports two fledgling indie companies at the same time. So support or don't support. But the price is totally fair.

[Fifthranger]

Then wait on a sale or move on with your life

[I'm cucked]

Originally posted by | нsт | Victorino Mora:

Originally posted by Ka-mai19:

I think part of the success is due to being a solo dev, though, since you can focus on realizing your vision without needing to people manage or risk your vision diluting after the project passes through many different hands.

It's a lot harder, for sure, and it's why I assume most solo devs burn out before shipping their games, but there is less risk of the game becoming something that doesn't match the creator's vision.

I think the key thing we forget about it being a Solo dev, is that he was funded by an extremely popular and most likely "wealthy" YouTuber. I have a friend who is also working on a game herself, but she has to also meet quota on her job so she doesn't have much time to develop and work while also participating in social activities.

For a Solo Dev who is funded by someone, their work is their project. Their only concern was making the game and Dunky is no newbie when it comes to gaming so he must have had some sort of voice when it came to the development in what worked and didn't work.

Bro by the time Bigmode picked up Animal Well it was already 5-6 years in development.

[I'm cucked]

Originally posted by Ka-mai19:

Originally posted by plinplinplon:

As someone in game development, it is absolutely astonishing how people like Billy Basso, Concerned Ape, David Szymanski - just to name a few - can make such quality titles doing all or the vast majority of the work. I will never not be impressed or sing the praises of these people who pull of stuff like that. Making a mediocre game with a 30 person team is hard enough. Making a good game by yourself is absolutely insane.

That said, if Animal Well was just mediocre, I'd call it just mediocre. It isn't. It's a cut above.

I think part of the success is due to being a solo dev, though, since you can focus on realizing your vision without needing to people manage or risk your vision diluting after the project passes through many different hands.

It's a lot harder, for sure, and it's why I assume most solo devs burn out before shipping their games, but there is less risk of the game becoming something that doesn't match the creator's vision.

I agree, to an extent. Having a smaller team can lead to better synergy and focus, depending.

[JollyClaret]

Originally posted by Birck:

Originally posted by JollyClaret:

Even in a world where you think the price is fair. This analogy is terrible.

Try an experiment for me Birck
- Stop buying games for a few months see what happens
- Stop buying food for a few months see what happens

If you're struggling to understand, I've not purchased a game since February and I'm not dead ...

You could also try an alternate version where you only eat McDonalds and see how long you last

Lets stop comparing necessities with luxuries.

McDonalds is a necessity? I bet your also a guy that can't go a week without Starbucks.

Food is a necessity that doesn't mean eating out is a necessity. This is basically like someone buying a $10 bottle of water and then claiming well obviously it's a necessity you have to drink water to live.

I think my point went over your finely polished cranium.

Might be an American thing? Since you instantly bought up fast food as something you might buy as an alternative.

[Skrammel]

Originally posted by ujif:

Only $25 for a complete wonderful game. Meanwhile Hades 2 cost $30 for early access lmao.

Find the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ : )

[JollyClaret]

Originally posted by Palmer Eldritch:

Originally posted by JollyClaret:

You can say this but also to counter that you can buy both Stardew Valley and Terraria for under $25. Two very high quality indie games.

It's also comparable because Stardew Valley was made by one guy as was Animal Well, Stardew receives content updates. Terraria for the most part is one guy and a very small team now.

You can compare it to Hades II I guess, kinda falls apart though when you consider Supergiant has 23 employees and they don't make multiple releases just one game at a time. That's more overheads and covering salaries for 23 employees over a 4 year development cycle is quite heavy.

Is it worth $25? It's hard to prescribe value to art which this game clearly is. Both Stardew Valley and Terraria are masterpieces though and their prices are consistent. So given the market it would see a game like this is overpriced.

Since we live in capitalism, it's really worth whatever people are willing to pay for it, if it succeeds then it's worth it. It probably will succeed with Dunkey pushing it, I can't help but feel like it would have been more successful at $15.

I think it's fair to agree based on other games in the market it's at the very least ambitiously priced for a developer and publisher's first release.

The Market:
Vampire Survivors (2022): $5 (base) $2.69 (on sale)
Stardew Valley (2016): $15 (base) $7.49 (on sale)
Terraria (2011): $9.99 (base) $1.99 (on sale)
Exanima (2015): $14.99 (base) $11.24 (on sale)
Hollow Knight (2017): $14.99 (base) $5.99 (on sale)

I could go on but the point is the consistent is that most 2D indie games are priced around $10 to $15 base, and have sale prices anywhere from 50% off to 66% off.

It's just not competitively priced when you can spend the same price and pick up three equally spectacular games that you can sink 1000s of hours into.

LOL at how you paint your picture how you like it xD
With the exception of Hollow Knight which is a bang for the buck even full price, you list every game how much it cost on sale. You can easily add Animal Well here in a few months.

Also, I love Vampire Survivors but it's absolutely, from effort and mehcanics, not even in the slightest comparable to other games you listed. Vampire Survivors is a fantastic game in it's price category, but wouldn't work if it would cost even 10 bucks for the base game.

But let's continue with other indie games during launch:

- No Man's Sky: 60 Dollar
- Tunic: 30 Dollar
- Crow Country (brand new): 20 Dollar
- Harold Halibut: 35 Dollar

So in comparison, with currently 22 Dollar, Animal Well isn't overpriced for what you get. If you love Metroidvania and exploring, you can easily get 40-50 hours out of this game without ever feeling the slightest wind of boredom.

It's fairly easy to list games when they are in a sale. In a few months you can get Animal Well with a 50% off discount for 12,50 Dollar. And even then people will complain about the price because it's pixel art or because some YouTubers publishing studio is behind it. Stop complaining, if it is too expensive for you, and I can understand that in these days and times, wait for a sale or simply ignore it. People who are complaining now about the price, let's be honest here, will never get it anyway most likely.

I specifically listed 2D pixel games for the most part because the cost to build a 3D game is considerably more. If you were to build your own engine for a 3D game you're doubling your development time and I'm not even sure if it would be possible for a single developer to make a good 3D engine solo, which leaves licensing an engine, another cost.

Comparing a 2D platformer to No Man's Sky is actually wild. Can I get a sip of whatever kool aid you're drinking man? There's no world you actually think this is a fair comparison. Animal Well is a considerably smaller game in file size, in ambition etc. No Man's Sky was absolutely overpriced at launch, so I'm not sure what your point was.

Even at 50% off as you say it would still be more expensive than base Stardew and 3 times more expensive than Stardew on sale.

Stardew Valley is a solo developer (ConcernedApe), has offered free content updates for nearly a decade, and offers hundreds of hours of content for less. So yes in comparison it's overpriced. From what I understand people saying this is a 10 hour game?

You're discussion points should be a counter to that not plucking up 3D indie games published by Sony.

Since you're confused, a simple question. Why is Animal Well considerably more expensive than Stardew Valley?

[Obtuse Moose]

Originally posted by /^^\461| 834|_|_:

Originally posted by rock:

They also seem to be dogpiling any reviews featuring remotely negative criticism.

It's copium, pure and simple. Rationality is abused to justify the ego. Criticism is not allowed over their cult fandom. You will be told it is a good game and is worth it from people with 0.1 hours in reviews and if you disagree well welcome to the army of vocal tools deluded by fanaticisim.

People who use the term copium like you automatically have their opinions thrown out the window. You talk about cringe cult fandoms when you're a part of the type of echo-chamber you're calling out is peak irony.

[openlor]

Lol seethe more, I'm just gonna play the funny animal game.

[/^^\461|[ 834||]

Originally posted by openlor:

Lol seethe more, I'm just gonna play the funny animal game.

>hurr durr brain not work me play what spoonfed to me coz thats what everyone else doing lol

[Venator]

I refunded after about 30 mins of gameplay, the visuals arnt enough to justify the price. 10 bucks at most

[JollyClaret]

Originally posted by openlor:

Lol seethe more, I'm just gonna play the funny animal game.

Stardew? Good choice it's $15 cheaper and you get 500+ hours of gameplay instead of just 10