Amnesias's price vs content

**Nye** · 02-10-2011, 11:18 PM

AMNESIA IZ TEH BEST. END.

**Tryggvi93** · 02-10-2011, 11:36 PM

In all fairness, some events are based upon your current sanity level. This means, that you can't expect the monster at the top of the stairs to chase you, but rather burst out of a room where he normally doesn't spawn. Like the others said, there are some fairly decent custom stories on the forum that you should play. They aren't as long as Amnesia, but given that they are free to play, so in sense you bought infinite+1 games for 15eu.

**pedritti** · 02-10-2011, 11:40 PM

I feel people don't read previous posts.
I have already commented on the custom stories yet everyone just answers: yeah but there are custom stories.
Going to copy paste it to see if anyone reads and comments on it. Feel like people read the thread title or something and answer without reading the rest.

"As for the custom stories i feel that this was a way for the developers to not have to worry with extra content and leave that too the fans. Although i applaud the possibility i cant help but feel that the reason they put this is to not have to look at this game ever again .

The problem with custom stories right now is that in all fairness there are few good ones and you finish them in 8 minutes. Its very hard to make custom stories and takes ages of your life to make a decent one.

I could only see custom stories getting good if this game sold like 2 million copies and teams of people joined up to make them. Right now its just 1 person doing them and that takes months if not years to make a long custom story. Add to that the fact that not all of the population who played amnesia comes to these forums .

Like the guy who created "Wake" said: I dont feel like spending months of my life on something 50 people are going to play" "

Add to that the fact that for me most people who are making custom stories don't know how to make a good story.
Thye just go overkill on the monster and scary shit which either makes it dull after 5 mins or unplayable for others.

It amazes me how so few have the notion that trying to make people scared 24/7 is not good because people will react badly, they will either reject it and not play it, or your body reactions will kick in and you will become numb. A grunt is really scary if you see him once in a while. If you see him behind every corner it's like " oh him again"

People should learn to lul you into a false sense of security and then BAMB!
No one does that. A shame. I would like to see more custom stories like the actual amnesia game where this is what happens.

**hollowleviathan** · 02-11-2011, 09:41 AM

In reality releasing mod tools in a form useable by the fans takes a lot of effort, and the devs are quite active in the forums, offering tech help and such. I don't get the vibe that they never want to see the game again after they finished it - they worked on patches for all three OSes to run well, and made sure the tools also ran on all three OS environments. That's a lot more TLC than most would expect.

Sure, it was short, but as others have said, they tailored a concise focused game and development cycle because of relatively dire financial straights. One of the things mentioned in the recent blog article on Dead Space 2 is the high production value and polish in that game, and you can detect no small amount of envy in that comment - they wish they could have given the game some overhaul, likely to integrate Agrippa better earlier, for one thing, and possibly expand on Alexander's motivation and backstory for another - but they just couldn't.

You could always hold out hope for a Director's Cut version of the game, but I bet they would consider their time better spent on a new full length feature.

**jens** · 02-11-2011, 01:27 PM

The above sums it up quite well, but i would say that "they tailored a concise focused game" has not anything to do with financial limitations, we want to make "they tailored a concise focused game".

Most movies are 1.5-2 hours long and most books take a couple of hours to read. It makes sense that a story driven game is a couple of hours long, else you will go into a type of game and gameplay we are not interested in.

For many games (too many?) replay value and length might be important and might work well, for us replay value and length is of no importance. We want to make a single great experience (not saying it is great, saying we aim for it) and to create a game based on how long it takes to convey our idea of story, pacing and experience. We do not want go the route of making a game a certain length because we decide that it must be a 20 hour game to be able to charge 50 usd for it.

**mattwestwick** · 02-12-2011, 12:42 AM

Seems Frictional games rely on quality to succede. Hopefully they can continue to fill the gap in the market between mindless minigames and big budget sagas. But then it's really difficult being the middle child.

I have been thinking about the tendencies of marketing and categorising games a lot recently (it's what I do in my spare time...) but I don't think it can be properly examined within an online forum. My goal is to get into the game's industry somehow but because it is so sub-divided into individual roles it's difficult to grasp the entirety of a project without getting carried away philosophising over the psychology of the consumers, design aesthetics and creative integrity. Plus, I trust that the developers have thought about everything we might suggest a thousand times over already.
I could go into audio design or hardware or whatever but I like to see everything happen together at once and would get bored with just one area to focus on.

Anyway, that's what I like about Frictional and their games. They are the epitome of the independant games company and the sheer quality and individuality of their work should carry them into the future safely between constrictions of blockbuster titles or the obscurity of pocket-money minigames.

A more sophisticated, refined approach.
I always remember during the period where graphical adventures were dead compared to 3d games. "In 2015 graphical advancements will cap and adventure games will return"
Well this is already in motion so there is definitely a demand for intelligent and provocative material in manageable sizes for a manageable price.

I'll write a book that's what I'll do. Sorry for yet more ramblings, I'm tired and should be working.

**pedritti** · 02-12-2011, 12:44 AM

(02-11-2011, 01:27 PM)jens Wrote: The above sums it up quite well, but i would say that "they tailored a concise focused game" has not anything to do with financial limitations, we want to make "they tailored a concise focused game".

Most movies are 1.5-2 hours long and most books take a couple of hours to read. It makes sense that a story driven game is a couple of hours long, else you will go into a type of game and gameplay we are not interested in.

For many games (too many?) replay value and length might be important and might work well, for us replay value and length is of no importance. We want to make a single great experience (not saying it is great, saying we aim for it) and to create a game based on how long it takes to convey our idea of story, pacing and experience. We do not want go the route of making a game a certain length because we decide that it must be a 20 hour game to be able to charge 50 usd for it.

I applaud you for making the game as you think it would suit it best. I hate things that drag on just because.
I guess it's just the fact that i loved the game so much im angry it was over so quick

I do hope and am sure this game will still show its true potential in terms of custom stories in a few months when much more people have played it .
I believe this games sucess is going to be based on mouth to mouth publicity and when its true numbers are reached there will be more people investing in custom stories and i guess my thirst for amnesia will be quenched

**house** · 02-12-2011, 07:43 AM

If it was even 40$ or more I'd get it. Anyways, theres still more to go on after the story....
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CUSTOM STORIES! Big Grin

**pedritti** · 02-12-2011, 07:30 PM

(02-12-2011, 07:43 AM)house Wrote: If it was even 40$ or more I'd get it. Anyways, theres still more to go on after the story....
.....
.....
.....
.....

CUSTOM STORIES!

Please read the thread before posting or go away
Seriously even in an underground forum people post without reading. What the hell?

**Xanatos** · 02-13-2011, 08:29 AM

I think it's one of those 'quality vs. quantity' games. Think of it as a nice meal at a classy restaurant; it's short & sweet but it's not something you'll want to eat everyday (due to taking a night out to book a table/adjust the lights & headphones) but after a few months of eating McDonalds, KFC and perhaps a few home cooked meals you'll want to indulge yourself with that classy taste again.

Or something like that.