Arcen Games in trouble, again

[hawk]

Its tough out there for the small indie developer. At least this time they are not on the verge of closing their doors.The below link summarizes the how and why of their current situation.

https://arcengames.com/great-work-on-st ... -laid-off/

Like a few others on these forums, I am a fan of Arcen Games. Some of their releases (AI:War, The Last Federation) are fantastic games and their owner is the type of all around good dude that even cynical bastards like myself root for. Their lasest release is a lot of fun and is well reviewed by those few who have played it.

If you have never heard of these guys, consider looking through their library. I think you are bound to find something worth trying. If you do, tell a friend.

[Stormweaver]

Well, that sucks. Only really played TFL and AI war from them, but they're damned good games.

[logorouge]

Yeah, they keep releasing games I love but they just can't seem to sell enough copies. Makes me sad. :(

[Stormweaver]

Well, i may has solved the mystery of starward rouge having great reviews and poor sales. It's a great twinstick shoot-em-up - the action can be as fast-paced as you want, the weapons + upgrades have a decent amount of variety and some very powerful combos, the room design is a solid mix of puzzles and challenges, and the bullethell aspect keeps you on your toes no matter how OP you feel.

...the problem isn't that it's a bad game. The problem is that most of everyone who would play it, already owns a copy of the binding of issac - and BOI has a huge community following already that has no reason to move on from thier game of choice, and while this has a lot of mechanical improvements it lacks the striking artstyle and themes that could really grab your attention.

At it's low price, I'd reccomend it to anyone who played BOI and eventually got bored with it - but I'd probably still reccomend BOI first.

[FlowerChild]

At it's low price, I'd reccomend it to anyone who played BOI and eventually got bored with it - but I'd probably still reccomend BOI first.

Hehe...the funny part is, I think you just sold me on it :)

The lack of true twin-stick firing in Binding of Isaac was probably my biggest issue with it. I thought it was cool, but having been a big Geometry Wars player back in the day, and a big Robotron player back when dinosaurs roamed the earth (with a brief period of Smash TV addiction thrown in there along the way), it just wound up feeling unnatural to me, despite how much I liked the thematic elements.

I hadn't really thought of the BOI analogy when I read the store page. If it's a true twin-stick shooter with those same kind of progression elements, I think I'm sold.

[Stormweaver]

If it's a true twin-stick shooter with those same kind of progression elements, I think I'm sold.

Aye, same kind of progression, and it pulls a very similar risk/reward thing regarding trading life/survivability for the more powerful passive skills which I always liked in BOI.

Finally killed the boss not too long ago - I'm not great at bullet hells and refuse to turn difficulty down on games like this - and I'm quite happy with the variety of different aproaches I was able to attempt before I found something I could actually win with. Now to try again without using a cheap strategy >.<

[logorouge]

If you like or at least don't mind bullethell and ever enjoyed Binding of Isaac's gameplay, this game is a gift from the heavens. The different bullet patterns and enemy behaviors will keep you on your toes for sure. And who doesn't like a mech that can stop time? :)

[kregoth]

It's sad when stuff like this happens. I really enjoy Arcen games, despite most of their games lacking good feedback, especially in the art/animation department. But the games have always been original and creative. AI War is a great example of tacking and idea and changing it into something different. Who thought playing an RTS game on the loosing side from the start would have been so much fun!

I really respect Chris, he started the indie seen before Minecraft came along. I remember back when AI war was just starting out, I made a post on their forums because when you used to start with two home bases, you would loose if just one was destroyed. I was confused and posted a topic asking why that was, and suggested a change. The next day I look back at the topic and it had grown to over 3 pages. Chris release a patch to change the mechanic, and I even got credit on the patch notes. Not a lot of devs do that, and that was my first post on his site.

The largest issue Arcen games has is mostly in marketing. They just don't keep up with marketing after release, and generally don't get involved with the press. He needs to get out there and do some PR. Hell I would love to see Chris do a GDC panel

So if you got some extra cash, grab AI War and The Last Federation at least, both are good games.

[Wafflewaffle]

The largest issue Arcen games has is mostly in marketing. They just don't keep up with marketing after release, and generally don't get involved with the press. He needs to get out there and do some PR. Hell I would love to see Chris do a GDC panel

I agree. I didnt even knew they launched another game after The Last Federation. With a budget of ~200k spending on budget would have been creepling to develpment but Youtube and Twitch are really effective and cheap marketing tools and I saw no movement on those. They have a pedigree it should not be that hard.

[logorouge]

I agree. I didnt even knew they launched another game after The Last Federation. With a budget of ~200k spending on budget would have been creepling to develpment but Youtube and Twitch are really effective and cheap marketing tools and I saw no movement on those. They have a pedigree it should not be that hard.

I don't know about Twitch, but I read they did send a large amount of review copies to youtubers and only a mere select few actually posted a video about the game. Maybe more will show up as time goes on, who knows.

By the way, a player made those really neat Starward Rogue gifs:

http://i.imgur.com/kuqVHQA.gifv
http://i.imgur.com/JjFGt6k.gifv

I think those were made while playing on the hard difficulty so it's a bit crazier, but it still gives a good peek I think.

[kregoth]

I agree. I didnt even knew they launched another game after The Last Federation. With a budget of ~200k spending on budget would have been creepling to develpment but Youtube and Twitch are really effective and cheap marketing tools and I saw no movement on those. They have a pedigree it should not be that hard.

I read they did send a large amount of review copies to youtubers and only a mere select few actually posted a video about the game. Maybe more will show up as time goes on, who knows.

I think that has a lot more to do with lack of involvement, as I think they just send keys with little information. I think they put about as much effort into that as they do their art, sadly. They really need to make their own informative videos or do something like Prison Architect.

It can be really hard to explain an Arcen game, let alone show how great they are. They just don't have that same feedback other games have. It just not as easy to play in the short span Youtubers use, without studying the game a lot before hand. So most don't bother trying as they are too busy playing game that are easy to get into. So they could really benefit from making informative videos at least. That would make it a lot easier to showcase their games.

[Wafflewaffle]

It can be really hard to explain an Arcen game, let alone show how great they are. They just don't have that same feedback other games have. It just not as easy to play in the short span Youtubers use, without studying the game a lot before hand. So most don't bother trying as they are too busy playing game that are easy to get into. So they could really benefit from making informative videos at least. That would make it a lot easier to showcase their games.

I dont know man Arumba pulls 11k views on Ck2 and EUIV, Quill pulls 40k on DF and Aurora videos and those are both hard and visually uninteresting games. There are tons of Youtubers out there that can make an audience out of the nichiest of games and bullet hells are generally quite streamable, even though this one, as you said, is lacking in the visuals department.

Its hard to tell how much better exposure would help in sales but I find that previews and Lets Plays are the best way to market your game nowadays. I said it before, Arcen has a pedigree. Its unfathomable to think they are unable to showcase their game on at least mid tier taste makers.

The interesting part of this (if we are looking for silver linings), is to be able to take a peek into the business side of indie campanies. To be the creative lead and business manager of a indie company its probably the hardest job in the industry. I would love to have transparent information such as this more often, hopefully not only when shit hits the fan.

[kregoth]

The interesting part of this (if we are looking for silver linings), is to be able to take a peek into the business side of indie campanies. To be the creative lead and business manager of a indie company its probably the hardest job in the industry. I would love to have transparent information such as this more often, hopefully not only when shit hits the fan.

I should be doing this, I've consulted with many Indie devs with their campaigns (without asking for anything) in a lot of areas. I'm a business consultant, been doing it for a few years I just don't have the means to get into a business myself. I'm like Mark Morris, I just don't have a Chris Delay to work with.

I've been corresponding with Chris Park too. We had a fairly small discussion on the comments section of his blog post at first, but now's he's been forwarding my larger emails to his team. I even told him he needs to take a break, and study the market for a while. I doubt he's taken any time off if at all in a long time, which is bad for your mental health.

Arumba pulls 11k views on Ck2 and EUIV, Quill pulls 40k on DF and Aurora videos and those are both hard and visually uninteresting games

Major marketing difference though, DF been around and well known for years and CK2 and EUIV both are backed by a large company who have a far larger marketing budget. Arcen's own problem isn't Youtubers not covering their game, it's that they don't cover anyone who does. Advertising is a two way street, you have to show off what people are showing off. I don't even want to get into how that all ties in with Google for pagerank and Relevancy :P

[DaveYanakov]

This is the first Arcen title I'm not buying. I really wish I could but I can't justify spending the money right now on something I'll never play.

I hope that things do turn around though. I have a few friends who are into the twin stick scene that I may be able to convince.

[Sarudak]

I don't think you can lump CK2 and EU4 in with Arcen games visually. Arcen is far more 'visually uninteresting'.

[kregoth]

I don't think you can lump CK2 and EU4 in with Arcen games visually. Arcen is far more 'visually uninteresting'.

I really think this comes down to a lack of investment in terms of design and finance. It's not the art itself, they just don't put enough effort into making the art as a part of their design. Which is obvious by how quickly they turn their games out.

I think if they slowed down a bit and took some time making their games, they would do so much better.