Has anyone ever paid for a commercial AGS game??

GokuZ · Wed 21/12/2005 16:56:07

I've noticed that a few production games are being advertised as 'Commercial' rather than Freeware. To be honest theres no way I'd buy an AGS game no matter how good it looked (unless It gained such status that It became available in ComputerGame shops and I rarely buy them).
So whats the general opinion? Would You buy one? or have you bought one? and if so which one? and was it worth it?

Ubel · Wed 21/12/2005 17:03:39

I'm gonna buy The Zone from simulacra, if he comes to the Finnish AGS meeting next summer. Apart from that I haven't bought any. Besides, there aren't many commercial AGS games anyway...

Hollister Man · Wed 21/12/2005 17:13:56

I would honestly love to pay for the Apprentice games, I believe that Herculean Effort worked very hard on them, and I have enjoyed them as much as any commercial game I've bought.

Like with shareware, payment of an AGS game is a way of encouraging the creators, letting them know that you appreciate their effort and hope that they continue. If each of the 20,000 downloads they recieved paid only $1, they could probably become full-time game creators.

But no, I never actually bought any AGS games, I've never seen one for sale that I thought looked interesting.

Nikolas · Wed 21/12/2005 17:25:21

I'm very much thinking of paying for "The Zone". And also "How to become a Ninja", seems very promising.

My idea of this community is that AGS is here for the love of the adventure games and not to make money. At least this is what I'm getting from the members, and I totally respect that.

Logic dictates, that Adventure games are outdated and the graphics with AGS will be outdated so there is little chance of financial success. But again there are games with 20,000 downloads and as Hollister man said, this could mean success! So...

BTW, if this is about your game, you have to consider so many things (for example the copyright breaches, which are huge in your case), that won't allow you to really make any money out of it...

GokuZ · Wed 21/12/2005 17:56:13

Quote from: Nikolas on Wed 21/12/2005 17:25:21
BTW, if this is about your game, you have to consider so many things (for example the copyright breaches, which are huge in your case), that won't allow you to really make any money out of it...

LOL God no, I dont belive in using a freeware games creator to make money, I like making games for the love of them, not love of money.
If I created a game from scratch and had a team of over 100ppl working for over a year then yeah It would be a commercial game, but I'd rather just pitch an idea to a computer game company and get them to do the hard work lol. Theres no way I'd use any existing franchise such as tomb raider to make money

Ashen · Wed 21/12/2005 18:15:15

I paid for Ghostlady's Haunting of Mystery Manor, and was quite disappointed by it. (I didn't think it met the potential it had.) This has somewhat soured me on the notion of paying for AGS games.

I'm not saying I would never pay for another under any circumstances, just that something about it would have to really impress me, and I'd have to be fairly certain it'll live up to that promise. While the ones currently in production to be commercial have their good points, none of them really grab me enough to get me to fork out for them - certainly not while there are quality games being made for free.

Squinky · Thu 22/12/2005 01:14:59

I'm not suprised about ghostladys game, it just didn't look worth it to me.

I bought Fatman, and have never played it more than a few minutes. It's a good game, but I bought it more to support the idea of ags games being sold. I have no problem with it, if they are worth it. This to me means that when I look at the game info I can tell the author has worked damn hard on it, and at least it will come off as tidy and proffesional.

I didn't see that with Ghostladys game, it seemed about as good as any ags game. It did have (in my opinion) low-level 3d renderings, but 3d never impresses me much, unless it is well done....

I would buy other folks game though...

Mordalles · Thu 22/12/2005 01:20:36

no, i wouldnt. since i have no way to pay. if i was rich, then yes, i wouldnt mind.

TheYak · Thu 22/12/2005 02:05:05

I paid for Fatman just before the removal from the marketplace was announced. I would've considered it worth it if I'd ever gotten my copy. Since then, I've acquired the ISO for it, so I suppose I got my money's worth out of it.

I'm not quite a graphics-junkie but there's got to be real work put into some visual aspect, whether it's outstanding backgrounds or terrific animations. If I get something impressive to stare at and a decent game, I don't mind paying. After all, it's a pretty significant portion of their free time a person's investing. How to be a Ninja will probably harvest my hard-earned buckazoids, but I'd prefer to try a demo or something first.

Kinoko · Thu 22/12/2005 03:39:06

I paid for the SE version of 5 Days a Stranger and it was money well spent. But I didn't just buy the game outright and I probably wouldn't unless it was extremely cheap, and very easy to pay (I only bought SE 5 Days because I could use paypal, and I had some spare change sitting in my paypal account).

Honestly, I don't want to pay for a game unless I feel it's been IMMACULATELY beta tested and has an absolute professional quality to it. Of course, on top of that, it has to grab my interest too, and I tend to be really fussy and picky so that's a huge task in itself.

Nothing would annoy me more than paying for a game and finding a scripting error or spelling mistakes. I was VERY pissed off when that happened to me with Quest for Glory 4 (luckily I got ahold of a patch but that error kept me from playing more than 5 minutes into the game for a couple of years). It also happened to me after I bought a CD with Lure of the Temptress on it, and I had to get a patch for that.

Just these two examples of -professionally- made games has soured me. This just makes me a hundred times more skeptical of paying for a game created by an amateur (ie. Not a well established company, games aren't available on shelves).

So, I guess the general answer is 'no'. It would have to be incredibly impressive to even make me consider getting my wallet out.

I've said it before but to reiterate, I really like the way Yahtzee did things. I played the -whole- game for free, but I could pay a small amount of money to get something extra. I really dislike the idea of buying chapters, or buying after a demo.

Snarky · Thu 22/12/2005 04:34:02

Yes.

I already bought the SEs of 5DAS and 7DAS, Hauntings of Mystery Manor, and The Zone. I've also bought several other indie adventure games that aren't made with AGS, like Delaware St. John vol. 1. In general, I've been quite happy with what I got. Five bucks, or even fifteen or twenty, once every few months is just pocket change anyway.

The only indie game I regretted buying was Hauntings of Mystery Manor. That game is just broken. The interface is barely functional (several mouse interactions have been disabled, and hotpots seem to be assigned at random) and ugly as hell, the story makes no sense, there are bugs everywhere (at least I think they were bugs, but it might just be the way the game is supposed to work) and the graphics are wildly inconsistent. I don't know what that JA+ reviewer was smoking. If the Adventure Gamers review had been out sooner I could have saved my money and got a couple of burritos instead.

I don't mind paying for AGS games, though, and the possibility of getting a dud now and then is just a risk you have to take.

Candle · Thu 22/12/2005 04:58:55

I'm more likely to donate money when they have a donate button on their website along with their games.
Then pay for the game.

Disco · Thu 22/12/2005 05:16:19

I have not bought any AGS or other indie games...yet. Purchasing the Special Edition versions of 5DAS and 7DAS is somewhere on my calendar, and I have every intention of buying Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine the day that comes out. Speaking of the latter, I believe I would be more inclined to buy an indie game from a person or team that have previously made exceptional titles, as is the case with Himalaya Studios. Whenever there is money involved, there is an issue of trust. Someone releasing a commercial game whom I've never heard of, registered last week and made four posts in GiP, would definitely not get any of my cash even if the demo was good.

The Inquisitive Stranger · Thu 22/12/2005 05:23:05

I'll echo a lot of other people's statements and say I'd buy one if it had a good demo.

I didn't buy Fatman when it was first being sold, but probably would have, if I had a credit card back then. Recently, though, I played the game. While good, I'm not sure whether I would've found it to be worth the money.

Didn't Adventure Gamers give Fatman a bad review as well?

In contrast, Out of Order (yeah, yeah, not an AGS game, but admit it, you loved it anyway

) was supposed to be commercial (or at least shareware), but at the last minute, its creator decided to make it freeware. As a result, it got played by a lot more people than it probably would have otherwise, and ended up winning a lot of awards.

I, too, like the idea of donations pages. I have been known to actually make donations after playing games I thorougly enjoyed. Come to think about it, I even have my own donations page on my website. Maybe when my next game gets released, people will actually start using it.

Candle · Thu 22/12/2005 05:33:38

I think I would of paid for Cubert Badbone, P.I. but it was free.

Ionias · Fri 23/12/2005 21:15:36

Quote from: CoveredInSLUDGE on Thu 22/12/2005 05:23:05

Didn't Adventure Gamers give Fatman a bad review as well?

Yes. Yes it did, and the game didn't sell but maybe one or two copies after that.

Well, I guess in hindsight I should have known better than to bother with trying to sell a game. The fact is to make a game of commercial quality it takes either years, a good team or both. Fatman sucked about two years out of my life. I'm glad I made it and all but from now on I'm sticking to just having fun.

Sorry, you never got your copy YakSpit. Give me a pm w/ your address and I'll see if I can dig up a cd-r with it eh?

MrColossal · Fri 23/12/2005 21:52:53

Don't look back in sadness!

If anything you totally did it man!

woot woot

magintz · Fri 23/12/2005 22:09:54

I bought fatman and do not regret it. It was brilliant and am pleased to have supported it.

Mr Flibble · Fri 23/12/2005 22:29:00

I haven't ever bought a commercial AGS game, but I would buy the SE 5 Days.. etc. if I had a paypal account.
Same story with Bad Timing, whenever it comes out.

TheYak · Sat 24/12/2005 04:16:35

Quote from: Ionias on Fri 23/12/2005 21:15:36
Sorry, you never got your copy YakSpit. Give me a pm w/ your address and I'll see if I can dig up a cd-are with it eh?

Appreciated, but . . . Merry Winter New Year! It was the community support I was going for and I've got the actual product (since acquired ISO) so everything's square. I hope the experience didn't squish your adventure game making spirit, because I'd love to see another game or sequel.