But as far as I understand it, the PC version was done first (maybe not 100% complete), and then a different company bought all the rights and such needed from the original creators to do the console version and get it published independently to them… The original creators apparently don’t even have access to portable development kits or any of the code created for those, and that’s one of the many reasons they can’t themselves create a patch to satisfy all the sad fans that got a bugged version.
At the very least a PC version seems to have always been planned as the website lists online play as a feature for when you buy the full version, though the console ports (or versions if they aren’t the ports after all) lack that.
I don’t see a title like this from a small company costing that amount either…
If it’s already mostly done, then that does change the landscape. I hope the game makes them some money, though. They deserve it
As for costs, that’s just the nature of development. DS games can be made for under $500K, but they can also cost in the millions. PSP starts at around just under a million… Depending on how both SKUs were developed, it’s likely that the dev cost is toward the lower end of that spectrum (i.e. somewhere around $1M, give or take), but assuming it cost less is risky. Even mobile games cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars a lot of the time (though you can still get mobile games made for under $100K sometimes).
But like I said it wasn’t the original creators that did the released versions. If you look into it you will see a different developer and publisher listed for the PSP/DS versions. They weren’t involved in that, they have no portable console dev kits, they basically licenced their game to the other companies involved, though on what terms I do not know.
Doesn’t matter who ended up finishing the development. I talking about the total costs. Even if they did just the PC version, they’d still have a hard time covering their costs selling only 10K.
If they did the PC version completely independently, I could see it costing nearly the same as it would for the PSP (though I don’t know for sure, I’d have to see the production values and unique features of the PC version to make a better guess). They are probably using the sublicensing money they got from the handheld versions to offset dev costs for the PC version, but generally sales on PC games are less than 50% of console sales for games that are released on console first, then PC.
(But, my gut feeling is that it was simply farmed out to subcontractors to finish the game… Not like it was done completely independent of the original creators. They still are pimping the game on their site, which means they still have an investment in the PSP and DS versions. That’s just the way most deals like that are done.)
Yes, you are talking about total costs, when what I care about is the cost for the original developer. For all we know they broke even by selling the handheld market rights to the other company
I still find it hard to believe it would cost so much to make a game like this. Perhaps Sega or another strict business-like environment like them would really evaluate that kind of total costs, but smaller companies, from what I know at least, do not work that way.
Then again I don’t know the specific environment of these developers myself. At first I thought they’re indies but they seem to have done some higher profile titles in the past. I’ll need to look into them further but I can’t bother at the moment
They probably didn’t. If the publisher ended up having to pay for dev costs for the PSP and DS versions, there wouldn’t be much reason to pay the original developer, other than for the assets. Given the amount of pride/investment the original developer seems to have in the PSP and DS versions, it seems like their involvement was much deeper than just a simple handing over of assets, though.
Whether or not the publisher broke even, and whether or not they own the rights to the IP is the big question, to be honest. If the publisher didn’t make their money back, pursuing the PC version would be like throwing “good money after bad.” However, depending on the potential return, it could be used as either adding additional profit/revenue, or if it’s cheap enough, lessen the losses taken by the portable versions.
Still, I’ve been surprised by games like this before. The developer is claiming that sales are impressive, but I’ve also heard reports that a lot of major retailers aren’t even carrying the game. We’ll know in a month or two.
Maybe they even get royalties from the profits of each sale or something. Still, why wouldn’t they be proud? It’s their game, ported to the handhelds. If it gets good reviews, it’s for their work, for their great game design etc. The ports aren’t even perfect given the various bugs but, that’s not their fault as they didn’t do them.
Their involvement as far as handheld development goes does seem nonexistent other than handing the assets since they have stated they do not even own handheld dev kits and therefor can’t provide support with a patch. There are other reasons for that too ofcourse (how do you patch a PSP game?), but if you can’t do the basic thing the rest are not even worth discussing… Anyway, without having dev kits, how would they get involved in the handheld versions?
They could have been borrowing dev kits from the publisher. Dev kits are expensive, and many times the publisher will lend dev kits to the developer for the length of the development cycle.
As for royalties, those only happen once the publisher has “recouped” the dev costs. i.e. The game has made enough money to earn back the dev costs, plus some predetermined level of profit. After that goal is achieved (the goal is agreed upon by both parties), the developer can then start earning additional royalties. That’s a really rough way of explaining it, but whether or not they are earning royalties depends on how they negotiated the deal and how well the game is selling.
And sure, they would be proud of the game if they created it, but the tone on their website makes it sound like they are a lot more involved than simply handing over assets. Again, that’s all speculation, but that’s just my read into it.
…wait. What the heck were we talking about again???
I don’t know, it’s a special situation that you seem to think about in the same way you would think about ordinary situations… Maybe you are right and I’m wrong though
Haha… As usual, I’m simply playing devil’s advocate. I honestly don’t know and you could very well be right. I just hope that they do make enough money to justify making this game, simply because it is a creative idea that seems to have resonated with at least the hardcore.
Well they are already making another title with the same concept, though this time it’s in a sci-fi setting. To be honest, from the few screenshots they have shown so far I’m not so excited for it. Perhaps because I’m really not into puzzle games at all and they don’t seem to be using the same style as in Dragon Quest therefor even if the game ends up great I may simply not like the puzzle style they chose/deviced for the combat this time. The art isn’t of the same quality either but it’s still early days so that could change of course. infinite-interactive.com/galactrix.php
While going to get that link I noticed this news bit on their front page:
[quote]Puzzle Quest DS is the number one selling Nintendo DS game in the USA at the end of March, with the PSP version running a close third.
From the article at Gamasutra:
“Demand for the game has reached such a fevered pitch that the title has even managed to outpace established, first-party hits like New Super Mario Bros.”[/quote]
Yeah… to a degree. Penny Arcade definitely carries a lot of sway with the hardcore, but it doesn’t always help. They gave PDO its own comic strip, but it didn’t really affect sales.
Gave up and just picked up the game for PSP. Friend of mine had it for PSP and the graphics/interface was much better, and while annoying, he said that the bug wasn’t really critical to gameplay. I will be playing it intensely while in Japan for the next 2 weeks. Impressions later!
It had one bug in the PSP version that was major, but not a game stopped. The DS version, from all accounts I’ve heard, is clean.
The gameplay only gets as old as any other puzzle game, but keeps the mechanics fresh by having different strategies between players and creatuers (although there were several spells that were almost game-breakingly unbalanced).
The game scored very well (low 80s) and is a perfect game for handhelds, but it was poorly marketed and the concept was, admittedly, too niche for most major retailers to be willing to take a risk on it (particularly coming from a small publisher like D3).
