Is BG really needed on portable platforms?
egalor_original
Member Posts: 92
I'm just curious. BG never attained the top six games in the Appstore, which was expected. Moreover, as I understand, the team and resources are still being spent on Android instead of finalising bgee1 and moving on to bgee2.
As for me, I could never play such games on any mobile platform (except for a laptop), but as long as it brings money to the devs I'm ok with it.
So, was the effort to release on mobile platforms really worth anything? EDIT: anything other than money?
As for me, I could never play such games on any mobile platform (except for a laptop), but as long as it brings money to the devs I'm ok with it.
So, was the effort to release on mobile platforms really worth anything? EDIT: anything other than money?
Post edited by egalor_original on
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I expect it resulted in a lot of sales though, if that counts as being worth anything
I'm not interested in playing the game on anything but a desktop PC, myself. But I can see how it could be neat to play it on an iPad or Android tablet.
On another side though, the iPad version has some very serious flaws.
There is no mouse cursor, so getting through doorways, looting or opening chests can be a right pain in the ass. Sometimes have to try entering doors 20-30 times, before i actually hit the transition area.. same goes for loot and chests (even zoomed in)
And there are performance issues with stinking cloud and such spells.
As for the opportunity cost being at the expense of team working on BG2EE, that remains to be seen. I would bet that the net delay to BG2EE will be marginal. But who knows.
I personally would not play on a tablet. First of all, I understand that the UI is not ideal and that being able to click/select some things like the knot where the Ring of Wizardry is found can be a bit challenging. But I don't suspect that it is impossible. And as I write this, i am sure someone will pony up and tell me I am wrong on this.
In the end (TO ME) BG is the type of game that I want to sit down and play for hours at a stretch. And I don't think I would enjoy that on a tablet. But that is only my way of seeing it. I am sure others think differently.
If it makes money and proliferates this type of game, win.
If after release the OSX version has good support from the modding community, I'll probably buy it as well.
There are a few other issues with the game and interface, but we've been assured a patch is in the pipeline that should address most of them.
More than anything, I'm excited about what this means for the future. Both the possibility of more serious and involved games making their way onto tablets, and maybe even more retro games being converted too. I don't know if it will ever replace the home base sort of computer, but I sure do love a very capable, very portable game machine.
I'm pleased they did it. iPad port is not perfect but still damn enjoyable and I like having one of the best RPG's of all time available damn near everywhere.
And while there is clearly a market for "More complex" games on the tablet, I wonder just how large it is. I guess this will be a good test to find out.
The OP indicated that they believed it would hit the top three in the App store. I strongly suspect that it will never reach the kind of popularity of something like Angry Birds. quite frankly there are far more casual gamer and non-gamer users of the Ipad than there will ever be RPG enthusiasts.
But I am glad that it is generating revenue. Here's hoping that we get more BG and games like it in the future.
Short : HELL YES!
More exposure = more injections of nostalgia for the unexposed. Their worlds will be changed and chaos shall be sown
I hope that Overhaul finds the support from the Android community it needs for them to justify moving forward with a BG2:EE release for that OS.
And I also think that this work is a great foundation for what may come to the Windows 8 (touch related) movement...
Long answer: I can play BGEE on my commute or - like what happened during the holidays - when I was far away from home and didn't feel like lugging around a laptop. I'm sure there are plenty of people (as evidenced by BGEE's explosion on to the top charts when it was first released) also feel like playing an amazing, classic game in a mobile form factor.
Longer answer: Other than the money? Isn't that the whole idea? If they did just the PC, they'd basically be tying themselves to a business model that existed and flourished from the 90s to the early aughts, if that. PC is not the huge growth market, it's more the mature market. In fact, I would venture to say their potential OS X support is based more on the fact that it'd be an easy get after working on an iOS version rather than because they think there's a lot of opportunity there. Any aspirational project these days _inevitably_ has to be cross platform or at least on a newer, growing platform.
Honestly, I'm kind of stunned the kind of priviliged push-back that self-professed PC gamers/hardcore gamers against Beamdog's push into non-PC markets. Have y'all forgotten what's been happening to the games industry since the 90s or the fact that every AAA title is on multiple platforms these days? If Beamdog had said "we are going to remake BG but just for the PC" they might as well have said "we love leaving money on the table." I mean, Beamdog already had to do a lot re-coding to get the 90s-era code up to snuff (this ain't BGTutu), why stop with the PC?
In this instance the opportunity cost is the amount of time/effort/resources being used on that endeavor that could be used to release BG2:EE or other similar games sooner.
For that, I would say probably. Again, I won't purchase the Ipad version. But clearly others are. And that makes me happy. I can wait a little longer for more BG:EE style games.