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PlayStation Mobile Thread of Indie Games, and Apps on Android/Vita

N

Number45

Member
Chimpact coming tomorrow (EU).

Priced at £3.15/€3.99, Chimpact is a one-touch arcade puzzle game that is fun to play and hard to master. It features the very cheeky Chuck the chimp, who catapults his way through the jungle searching for bananas and hidden gems.
Click to expand...

8456460344_22d26b565f.jpg


Looks like a Sonic (I think) game on iOS whose name completely escapes me, that I got free around Christmas.
 
I

Infernal Monkey

Member
Beats Trellis might be the quickest I've gone from downloading to deleting. Should have been free to begin with, what a waste of time and space. =\

Also PSM prices are still fucking disgusting in Australia. Chimpact is double the American price for absolutely no reason.
 
B

billsmugs

Member
Are there any other indications of PSM sales figures other than this: http://www.gamedevblog.com/2013/01/big-in-japan-playstation-mobile-sales-data.html ? I'm making something for PSM at the moment, mainly because I've always dreamt of making a game for a PlayStation console and now I can finally do so, but it would be nice if I could at least make back the £65 publisher licence! Most of the games have very few ratings, but what are the sales figures like?

The game I'm working on at the moment would hopefully make me £1 per sale (whatever that means for the actual price), so I'd only need around 70 downloads to make a profit, but I don't know if I can expect 10, 100, 1000 or more, or what time frame they would be spread over.
 
H

HadesGigas

Member
Whatever you're making, try to price it reasonably. Way too much stuff on there is $3-5 and most of it is horribly ugly.

Just kind of baffling how some developers think their games with average at best graphics, no demos, on a service not high profile enough to get reviewed on websites is going to sell to anyone priced at more than $1-2.
 
N

Number45

Member
Well Samurai Beatdown is horrible. In your face proclamation that it's a rhythm game, followed by completely forgettable music and the interaction has no punch to it at all.

On the other hand Cubixx is great, and I suck at it.

Going to give Aqua Kitty a whirl.

EDIT: And Aqua Kitty is amazing.
 
DiscoJer

DiscoJer

Member
billsmugs said:
Are there any other indications of PSM sales figures other than this: http://www.gamedevblog.com/2013/01/big-in-japan-playstation-mobile-sales-data.html ? I'm making something for PSM at the moment, mainly because I've always dreamt of making a game for a PlayStation console and now I can finally do so, but it would be nice if I could at least make back the £65 publisher licence! Most of the games have very few ratings, but what are the sales figures like?
Click to expand...

Dang, I had missed that. Very interesting

That sort of fits with what I knew of Minis sales numbers, that about 1:25 ratings to sales (it can vary wildly, but as a general estimate.

The only thing I've heard is from Super Icon, who didn't go into specifics but said he was disappointed with Life of Pixel sales, which actually has a pretty decent number of ratings.

I would guess whether or not you actually make back your money on the license depends on the title. Does it involve cricket? That cricket trivia game still doesn't have a rating in NA.

kassatsu said:
Here is some info on the semi-finalist from the IndieCade PSM GameJam

http://www.psnstores.com/2013/02/playstation-mobile-gamejam-semi-finalists/

Crystallon and Crumble sound really cool
Click to expand...

That's a great article. I knew those Jams were going on, but all I could find out was the winner of a previous one, he posted a youtube video of it.

I have to wonder though if these things are perhaps doing a disservice to PS Mobile by apparently only have a 24 hour period (and presumably only attendees) as opposed to a longer time and open to anyone.

I look at these and am very underwhelmed. Then I look at the results of the Ouya Gamejam where some of the games actually look like things that I might really want to play.
 
T

Takao

Banned
These three new games look like something I could've made by myself.

#iamnotanartistnorhaveievertakenaprogrammingclassinmylife
 
T

Takao

Banned
The new SDK beta includes the option of playing games in the PC emulator with a PS3 controllers. I wonder if that means anything ...
 
B

billsmugs

Member
Takao said:
The new SDK beta includes the option of playing games in the PC emulator with a PS3 controllers. I wonder if that means anything ...
Click to expand...

People have been asking for that feature for a while, to let you debug games that use the analogue sticks without having to deploy to a device each time. I highly doubt this release means anything other than the fact that they are listening to developer's ideas about the usability of the tools.
 
B

BomberMouse

Member
billsmugs said:
People have been asking for that feature for a while, to let you debug games that use the analogue sticks without having to deploy to a device each time. I highly doubt this release means anything other than the fact that they are listening to developer's ideas about the usability of the tools.
Click to expand...

I reaaaaally hope they use PSM as a platform to get indies on PS4.

I would suddenly be much more tempting if you could deploy to PS4, PS3, PSV + Android. Also, trophies :p
 
B

billsmugs

Member
BomberMouse said:
I reaaaaally hope they use PSM as a platform to get indies on PS4.

I would suddenly be much more tempting if you could deploy to PS4, PS3, PSV + Android. Also, trophies :p
Click to expand...

PS4 is more likely, perhaps, with that touch pad on the controller allowing touch screen games to possibly work. For PS3, they'd have to let you choose to develop specifically for PS3/Vita or smartphones (+Vita), which they seem reluctant to do at the moment with Vita only titles. (Mainly because I think they're worried that no-one would bother making smartphone compatible stuff, as I suspect most PSM developers are mostly interested in the possibility of getting games on Vita. I personally hope they change their mind, because I am one of those people!)

Trophies would be great; although I don't personally care all that much about them and they would present more work for developers, there's no doubt that the allure of cheap trophies would attract a lot more customers to the PSM section of the store.
 
H

Heart of Black

Member
kassatsu said:
Here is some info on the semi-finalist from the IndieCade PSM GameJam

http://www.psnstores.com/2013/02/playstation-mobile-gamejam-semi-finalists/

Crystallon and Crumble sound really cool
Click to expand...


They are all cool, and a lot of the other games are still being worked on as well.

Don't wake the bear is my favorite of the finalists, but all of the games that were worked on (well save for one in particular that was really forgettable) all looked really cool.

I was a part of the introduction to the jam because of my current involvement with PSM as I am working on my game with a contract with Sony. I also with my programmer gave some feedback/tech support the first weekend of the jam as well.

The jam being only certain teams was because it was also a part of Indiecade East & Sony's sponsorship & involvement with the festival. People could come by and check out the games during the event. Also the teams were all well known and experienced teams throughout the New York/NJ game development scene, so you are getting some seasoned devs, even if certain participants were students.

All in all I am really impressed. My favorite game in the jam didn't win (I forget the name, but it will most likely see release as well) and that's speaking to how good everything is otherwise.

I'm looking forward to GDC to see more of these... and other projects...

Takao said:
These three new games look like something I could've made by myself.

#iamnotanartistnorhaveievertakenaprogrammingclassinmylife
Click to expand...

Nut up or shut up.
 
DiscoJer

DiscoJer

Member
T

Takao

Banned
So I went off on PSM, discuss the complete flop of the platform so far:

Happion Labs, developer of sixty second shooter Deluxe stated that the game has grossed a paltry $2000 since launch in late October. The $2.79 game currently sits with a 4.73 star rating (out of five) after 34 reviews on the PlayStation Mobile store. This doesn't seem to be an isolated case either, as Super Icon's Life of Pixel (sitting at a 4.22 after 86 ratings with a price tag of $1.99) has been described as commercially "disappointing so far", with the revenue generated failing to "afford half a programmer a month". Despite this, the company will be releasing an extensive update to the title to address some of the complaints users, and reviewers had this week.
Click to expand...

And give oodles of suggestions on how Sony can improve the situation.
 
DiscoJer

DiscoJer

Member
Takao said:
So I went off on PSM, discuss the complete flop of the platform so far:
Click to expand...

Funny enough, I made a blog post on Gamastutra about the same thing. Which I don't think got approved.

But you know, having played Sixty Second Shooter, it's an okay game, but I honestly don't really think it deserves to be a huge hit. $2000 in 4 months doesn't seem too bad to me. It's a common as dirt twin stick shooter that was originally a browser game.

Games are getting to be like novels in the days of e-books. I've written 5 of them. Put the sales of them together and they wouldn't come close to $2000. Would it be nice if I could make a living writing novels? Sure, but the same can be said for millions of other people out there doing the same thing. For most, there doesn't seem to be much of a market, unless you get ridiculously lucky, like that 50 Shades of Grey thing.

And I hate to be mean to the Super Icon guy, because he's nice, but while I liked Life of Pixel for the most part, again, it's a sort of game that lots of people are making. If you follow Kickstarter, there are a lot of platformers that blow Life of Pixel away and people aren't getting much funding for them. Super Ubi Land for instance. Or Tom Hall's recent failed KS. Whispering Willows.

Anyway, getting PS Mobile world wide should happen, but I think it's covering the major countries in Europe except for France, I think. It won't boost sales that much.

And I just don't think getting quality software is possible for PS Mobile. By its very nature (running on a virtual machine), it's crippled in performance compared to full blown games on either Android or the Vita. I don't know what sort of voodoo Sony used to get Lemmings working on PS Mobile, but if you look at say, Gun Commando and compare it to the FPS offerings on Android, why would anyone with a choice pick PS Mobile?
 
M

Massa

Member
PSM needs to run on PS3, support trophies and leaderboards. That would dramatically improve sales, although I think the biggest problem for sales right now is the lack of quality games.


DiscoJer said:
And I just don't think getting quality software is possible for PS Mobile. By its very nature (running on a virtual machine), it's crippled in performance compared to full blown games on either Android or the Vita. I don't know what sort of voodoo Sony used to get Lemmings working on PS Mobile, but if you look at say, Gun Commando and compare it to the FPS offerings on Android, why would anyone with a choice pick PS Mobile?
Click to expand...

Gun Commando is actually better than most shooters I've seen on Android. :p The only shame is that the button controls are really poorly optimized.

Takao said:
Do you really think some like Game Dev Story wouldn't be possible on PSM?
Click to expand...

That game would run on anything. It was the first Android game I ever bought, and that was before I had an actual Android phone. It ran fine on my Windows Mobile phone which I hacked to very poorly run Android. Even the web browser was slow as hell, but Game Dev Story ran perfectly.
 
R

Redhood

Member
Toki767 said:
Wish you could've asked them off the record why the price is $4 on PSM and 99 cents on iOS. An exclusive chimp isn't exactly worth an extra $3.
Click to expand...

This is the reason PSM didn't took off! Most games are not good enough when compared to their free equivalents to Android. Or they are overpriced. And this is coming from someone who has bought many psmobile games. And lets not forget its only available in 10 countries!

The only psm game I am interested as of now is life of pixel and that depends how the patch changes things! Comeone developers put on your thinking hats and whiz away!
 
K

kassatsu

Banned
PSM Update 2/27

Games

Fujo Gakkou Monogatari ~ Sanae-hen ( ¥300 )
Super Brain Eat 3 ( $0.49 / £0.40 )

Price Changes

OMG-Zombies! (was Free now $2.99)
Super Skull Smash GO! (was $3.29 now $2.79)

Patches

Life of Pixel (ver 1.02)
Meltdown Moon (ver 1.02)
 
I

Infernal Monkey

Member
Super Skull Smash GO! and Meltdown Moon also finally made their way to the Australian PS Store today. Not sure what the delay was all about. Skull Smash is almost $5 though, bleh.

Edit: Oh! Life of Pixel's update is pretty wonderful.
 
R

Redhood

Member
Infernal Monkey said:
Super Skull Smash GO! and Meltdown Moon also finally made their way to the Australian PS Store today. Not sure what the delay was all about. Skull Smash is almost $5 though, bleh.

Edit: Oh! Life of Pixel's update is pretty wonderful.
Click to expand...

Wow really! does it solve all the problems? If yes I am definitely going to buy it!
 
RpgN

RpgN

Junior Member
Keep up with those impressions about the new patch. I wanted to get life of pixel day one but then it turned out to be not as great as it looked. If the patch fixes those problems, then I'll be getting it after all.
 
I

Infernal Monkey

Member
I'm really enjoying Life of Pixel now! It still has a few unfair leaps of faith (the C64 stages especially) and a tiny bit of slowdown on the larger levels, but the patch is a freakin' massive improvement. Double jumping actually works, and the different music for each system makes a world of difference. I... think the graphics got an upgrade, too?

I've got about 12 more gems to get before unlocking the Master System stages, pretty excited to see those.
 
K

kassatsu

Banned
Infernal Monkey said:
I'm really enjoying Life of Pixel now! It still has a few unfair leaps of faith (the C64 stages especially) and a tiny bit of slowdown on the larger levels, but the patch is a freakin' massive improvement. Double jumping actually works, and the different music for each system makes a world of difference. I... think the graphics got an upgrade, too?

I've got about 12 more gems to get before unlocking the Master System stages, pretty excited to see those.
Click to expand...

They are pretty cool. The final level has 102 gems :)
 
R

Redhood

Member
Ok! I have played Life of Pixel a bit! The art style and music is top notch! Kudos to developers. Still hating that some levels have leap of faith. And is it me or do the controls improve as you move from one generation to another?
 
T

Takao

Banned
Yopis said:
Would rather have Gamebiz 3 personally.
Click to expand...

Gamebiz 3 is too hard though. My games rarely sell a million units, and it always reaches a point where games take years to make despite high level employees. Since I'm now losing money on software I fire everyone, and then just start pumping out consoles with $300 margins, lol.
 
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