Harsh Fatman Review?

[m0ds]

sth

[SSH]

If you want to compare like with like, then Fatman should be compared to games with a similar level of graphical ability: I think it is fair to say that at least it is in the same ballpark as some of the "Classic" games that m0ds listed. Maybe you don't liek a cartoon style, but then plenty of those classic games had a similar cartoon style.

However, I can buy these games on ebay pretty cheap (if I'm not after signed limited editions like Rodekill) or even in shops in some cases (GF, S&M, DOTT) for cheaper or around the same price as this.

I would say that it is probably overpriced
I would say that Fatman is hardly the best character name ever thought of
The graphics look pretty good to me, but are not state-of-the-art
A lot of hard work must have gone in to it, but the above things are still true

And m0ds, are you seriously trying to argue that if you didn't like Fatman you wouldn't like DOTT, FoA, etc. Not everybody has the same taste!

Congrats to the guy behind Fatman for pioneering the commercial use of AGS and for his hard work. That doesn't mean that it couldn't do with some improvement!

Oh, and M0ds: go and try out III Spy. I think that will show you how much gaming experience Steve has.

[m0ds]

sth p2

[Kweepa]

Like I said, if it was free, I'd play it.
I certainly appreciate the work that went into it.
I just don't think you can say that the graphical style justifies the graphical quality.

Oh, and I've finished DotT, Loom, FoA. Those had style and quality. (Somehow I missed out on the Sierra games first time around.) And I haven't played Myst.

I'm really looking forward to FoY!

SSH: As for III Spy, it doesn't have much graphical quality, but then again, it's free.

Cheers,
Steve

PS "The Adventures of Henry Smythe"... I like the sound of that

[Erwin_Br]

I look at it from another way:

I think it's an honour that Fatman Adventures got reviewed as being a commercial poduct. Why do 'amateur' adventures need to be reviewed at a different scale? Aren't amateur adventures good enough to be compared with professional games?

I mean, it *is* a commercial game so I would find it denigratory if my game would be labelled as 'amateur'. Amateur sounds a bit negative to me, as in 'not as good as professional'. I've seen many freeware 'amateur' projects which deserve a much better label then that and are way better than a so-called professional game.

The good thing about this review is that it raises the bar and might stimulate independent developers to develop even better games, to try harder. I'm not sure if Socko! is going to develop more games (I hope so) but I'm sure these games will be even better!

The voiceacting wasn't so bad, btw. Maybe some voices didn't fit the characters, but I've heard MUCH worse acting in other commercial games.

Personally I would've given this game 3 stars, or 2 and a half.

--Erwin

[Ionias]

OUCH! That was a harsh review.

But I'll tell you the truth I expected every review to be as harsh as this one. I'm just not that proud of Fatman as a commercial product. Don't get me wrong I put my heart and soul into this game (as did everyone who helped) and I'm very proud of it ... just not as a commercial product. Somehow I feel dirty? I think he's right as a "free-ware" product it would have been met with open arms. You just can't argue with FREE!

 Now ... I've made back the cash I invested into this game, and I want to make Fatman a FREE download. However, I would need someone to host it for me. This monster weighs in at 212mb on the CD ... and I don't have the orginal files to modify anything. So I can't shrink down the size of the setup file by removing the voice support etc ... Does anyone have this kind of bandwidth?

 Also another question (Forgive me I've been away from the forums ... darn StarWars Galaxies) ... is there going to be an AGS awards this year? Last I heard Dgmacphee wasn't doing it?

[Kweepa]

Hurrah! FREE!
I look forward to it!
And hopefully, no hard feelings?

Cheers,
Steve

[Igor]

Nice reply Ionias looking forward to your next game!
About web space- did you try to contact AD?

In general i don't think there's a point in arguing against reviews anyway. Every reviewer is standing behind his/her opinion.
Lets not forget Gilbert Goodmate started out as amateur project as well and nobody seem to spare it any harsh review or comment.

Besides- AG gave Broken Sword2 2 points out of 5. I think Ionias can be proud

[Evil]

YAY! ITS FREE! YAY! YAY! \o/

[Erwin_Br]

OUCH! That was a harsh review.

But I'll tell you the truth I expected every review to be as harsh as this one. I'm just not that proud of Fatman as a commercial product. Don't get me wrong I put my heart and soul into this game (as did everyone who helped) and I'm very proud of it ... just not as a commercial product. Somehow I feel dirty? I think he's right as a "free-ware" product it would have been met with open arms. You just can't argue with FREE!

 Now ... I've made back the cash I invested into this game, and I want to make Fatman a FREE download. However, I would need someone to host it for me. This monster weighs in at 212mb on the CD ... and I don't have the orginal files to modify anything. So I can't shrink down the size of the setup file by removing the voice support etc ... Does anyone have this kind of bandwidth?

 Also another question (Forgive me I've been away from the forums ... darn StarWars Galaxies) ... is there going to be an AGS awards this year? Last I heard Dgmacphee wasn't doing it?

If you look at the complete list of reviewed games at AdventureGamers you'll see that many games got lower scores than FatMan! (and those games cost more than $15 I tell you). So it's not all that bad, you should be at least a little proud

--Erwin

[Nellie]

Um, won't people who paid $15 for Fatman be a bit annoyed if you make it free less than half a year after releasing it?

Besides, I don't see why you're dissatisfied with it - it got positive reviews elsewhere, and I've not heard anybody express disappointment in the game after buying it (on the contrary, the people at Gameboomers seem to universally love it).  Besides, it's less than half the price of other commercial games - it doesn't have to be as spectacular as the big-boy commercial releases to be worth the price tag.

If you really are concerned with its worth as a commercial release, why don't you just drop the price even further rather than remove the price completely?  The lower the price of the game, the better value for money people get.  If players and reviewers thought your game was great at $15, they're going to love it at $8 (or whatever).

Anyway, this post is just to say I don't believe you should make it freeware, because from what I've heard, it's a game worth paying for.  I have no doubt that when I get round to buying it, it'll provide me with more pleasure than some of the pricier commercial releases I've had the misfortune to buy (*gack*feeblefilessimon3dstarshiptitanic*gack*).

[MrColossal]

yea i would be terribly annoyed if a game i just bought came out as freeware a few months after i purchased it...

drop the price or something just don't make it free

[DGMacphee]

Yeap, I'm still doing the AGS Awards, Mike.

I'll be doing a complete site redevelopment soon in a new sylpher.com account.

[Ionias]

Hrm ... you're right I hadn't thought of that. I guess releasing the game as FREE now would be a bit unfair to the folks who shelled out thier hard earned buckazoids. I think I'll just lower the price to $9.99 w/ free shipping.

Oh ... and thanks for the kind words folks. I might not post as much as I used to but I'm always lurking and you guys mean a lot to me. And as far as my next game goes ... I'd love to team up and do a freeware adventure with someone. I've had it with commercial stress!

DGmacphee: Alright bro! It just wouldn't be the same without you.

[Toefur]

What about a pay-for-download sort of thing?

[Pet Terry]

Hey Mike, save a copy of Fatman for me so I can buy it at the next Mittens

And about freeware game... I'd love to team up with you

[Chrille]

Hey Mike, good to hear you're still alive. Never on MSN anymore, eh?

How about releasing it free without speech and without any of the special features and still have the cd available for purchase?

[GarageGothic]

Chrille: Great idea, but:

I don't have the orginal files to modify anything. So I can't shrink down the size of the setup file by removing the voice support etc ...

Too bad

[remixor]

Not even the sound and/or speech packs are different files?

[Chrille]

Speech packs are separate files and you can run ags games without the speechpack, it should be possible to just extract the files using the setup and make a new installer.