The Best Jerbs in the World

[Zelig]

Minecraft springs to mind, but it's very much a big hit among an ocean of misses.

I think he's looking for examples of misses, the hits are easy to name.

 

[LamaGT]

Good indie games that you've never heard of, or good bigger-budget games which were released immediately followed by the developer going out of business?

I'd like specific examples. I'm sure there are games that failed, but it didn't happen because the universe decided to make the developer's life miserable.

 

[Zelig]

I'd like specific examples. I'm sure there are games that failed, but it didn't happen because the universe decided to make the developer's life miserable.

Yeah, I was just asking if you wanted specific examples of good Indie games, or non-Indie games, which have flopped.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/31/3577838/punch-quest-iphone-game-struggle

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/10/outwitters-sales-disaster/

http://penny-arcade.com/report/edit...how-an-app-with-200000-downloads-led-to-devel

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/Neil...e_games_are_due_for_a_downward_correction.php

“Indies give up a lot to do what they do. At the height of my career/affluence with Solipskier being the hit that it was, I made around $4.50 per hour,” Wohlwend said. “That’s 100 hours a week at a 24K per year salary without vacation or weekends. That takes a hit. It’s easy to get severely depressed pouring everything into it.”

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Ever heard of fez?

 

[AlpsStranger]

Games definitely simply get hosed by the universe sometimes.

I was once in a guild with one of the level designers from High Moon studios on that Bourne Conspiracy videogame. Apparently, outside of the control of the developers themselves, they decided to push the game out right in the wake of Grand Theft Auto 4. Doesn't seem like a great idea to me, not gonna lie.

Ever heard of fez?

I've heard of it but I've never tried it.

 

[LamaGT]

Yeah, I was just asking if you wanted specific examples of good Indie games, or non-Indie games, which have flopped.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/31/3577838/punch-quest-iphone-game-struggle

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/10/outwitters-sales-disaster/

http://penny-arcade.com/report/edit...how-an-app-with-200000-downloads-led-to-devel

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/Neil...e_games_are_due_for_a_downward_correction.php

“Indies give up a lot to do what they do. At the height of my career/affluence with Solipskier being the hit that it was, I made around $4.50 per hour,” Wohlwend said. “That’s 100 hours a week at a 24K per year salary without vacation or weekends. That takes a hit. It’s easy to get severely depressed pouring everything into it.”

Ok, let's make a list:
-Punch Quest: looks fun, though the graphic style may be unappealing to some (it's still nice, I don't think this penalized them too much). Unfortunately I can't play it and I don't know what kind of purchases they put up, but most likely people had simply no reason to buy them. Not every game suits the F2P model.
-Outwitters: Again, I can't play it and the article doesn't explain the game too much, but if with such a heavy advertisement there must be a problem with the game itself, not to mention a poor implementation of F2P (and seriously, how did he manage to spend 300.000$ on a game? Did he include the cost of his BMW in it?)
-Gasketball: Looks nice, but releasing it just on iPad was a bad idea. The low purchase rate could be caused by the fact that the hard levels started appearing in the free levels, effectively making players abandon the game before they had to buy it.

Nevertheless, thanks for this list, great lessons for the game I'm going to release

@Alps: Yeah that's sad to see. Publishers must die.

 

[ParkCungHee]

I have a fantasy of one day being well-off enough that for my hobby, I will have a basement that is a mini Tokyo recreation from wall to wall and I will have my own costume and just trash the city for stress relief. Consequently, I don't care if Nakajima was too big of a whiner to realize how awesome his job was.

Well, enjoying relieving stress for three minutes at a time (there's no air passage in the suit, you just gotta hold your breath). And don't get frustrated when the city thrashes you.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I've heard of it but I've never tried it.

I am pretty sure it wound up as vaporware. In any case it was an extremely promising indie game from a couple of guys in Quebec. They generated a lot of buzz with the game but never really got closer to finishing as one of them kept reworking everything like and OCD perfectionist.

Anywhoo after a couple of years, they lost their grant from the Canadian government to work on it, the non-perfectionist partner left and sued the other guy and the fans of the game all turned on the remaining partner in a vary vicious way (which he didn't help because he's kind of a prick).

I brought it up as a counter to LamaGT who said something about the universe not suddenly making life miserable for indie developers. In this case, it pretty much did and drove the remaining developer into heavy depression. Also, the game on Xbox life, Adventures of Meatboy or whatever - yeah that one made those two guys really poor (one had to live with his mom and dad) and very depressed. They worked their butts off for years and made basically no money before it released and became a hit (which was far from an assured outcome).

Being an indie developer can suck balls. I wish I could remember the name of the documentary I saw on Netflix about indie developers. They're all miserable

 

[_random_]

This one?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Political backroom garroting isn't something I could ever do in the first place, so I couldn't lose respect for myself over not doing it. There's other paths to the Senate though. If David Suzuki* were younger, I could have imagined him being appointed by someone who is not from the Reform Party -- actually, strike the strike let's call a spade a spade.

*not a fan, but whatever

This current government has nothing to do with the real Conservative Party; they just shanghaied the name.

I dunno if anybody would offer Suzuki a Senate seat unless he/she were a Liberal PM. Maybe if Justin Trudeau or Marc Garneau get in and Harper crashes and burns like Mulroney did in the end...

 

[ace99]

What happend to that Orange colored party everyone was talking about a few years ago about how they would supplant liberals? Did they die?

 

[emzie]

This current government has nothing to do with the real Conservative Party; they just shanghaied the name.

I dunno if anybody would offer Suzuki a Senate seat unless he/she were a Liberal PM. Maybe if Justin Trudeau or Marc Garneau get in and Harper crashes and burns like Mulroney did in the end...

Well yes, what I meant was a Liberal/NDP PM could appoint a decent Senator, a person who hadn't done a bunch of unseemly stuff for the PM. Suzuki is actually too old now anyway.

What happend to that Orange colored party everyone was talking about a few years ago about how they would supplant liberals? Did they die?

They supplanted the Liberals and are the official opposition. Oddly enough, in the House, they're a majority francophone party, which I think no one saw coming.

 

[sophie]

So you would take a job even though the process to get it may be soul-destroying and cost you your self-respect?

This is the thought process of every grad student, research assistant, postdoctoral employee, adjunct professor, and assistant professor in the University system today.

 

[Catharsis]

I'd like to be in Far*East Movement, that looks like an easy job.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I've been in the work force for a long time and my favorite jobs have been the ones where I have been in charge at some level. Running successful businesses is the best, though; I've run three different ones. I currently run a small company ($18MM sales). I have a great staff and we are growing. There is no job security and all I can do is the the best I can. It is rewarding and frustrating and demanding. They don't pay me enough, but I've never had a job that did.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

As long as I can do laboratory research, I'm happy. I don't even want that much money, just enough to live on. And having a schedule decided by experiments isn't a problem for me.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

What happend to that Orange colored party everyone was talking about a few years ago about how they would supplant liberals? Did they die?

The leader (Jack Layton) died. The party is still doing quite nicely (but would have been better had Layton survived).

Well yes, what I meant was a Liberal/NDP PM could appoint a decent Senator, a person who hadn't done a bunch of unseemly stuff for the PM. Suzuki is actually too old now anyway.

Suzuki's daughter isn't too old.

BTW, it's nearly as impossible to find a senior Liberal without skeletons in his/her closet as for any of the right-wing parties. The feuding between Chretien and Martin and their followers was nasty... as was the downfall of Stephane Dion.

 

[Antilogic]

This is the thought process of every grad student, research assistant, postdoctoral employee, adjunct professor, and assistant professor in the University system today.

Aaahhhhahahahahahahahahaha. You see, CFC, it's funny because it's true.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

How?
.

 

[JohannaK]

Successful best-seller writer! That must be awesome! Even Dan Brown... yeah, being Dan Brown sure must be a cushy job, even though his books suck.