Wow, lots to discuss here. I'm about to do some more VO recording for our current project, so I'll probably have to come back and finish.
[quote name='Blackout']I would buy your game if I had a Wii. Once I get one I'm going to pick it up. I hope you get some more sales![/QUOTE]
Thanks for the support!
[quote name='mtxbass1']Congrats on getting a game out there OP. What engine did you guys use to produce this in?[/QUOTE]
We're currently using an engine called the Vicious Engine.
http://www.viciousengine.com. It's a great solution for us because it really is an all-in-one tool, but that also holds it back a little because it's good at a lot of things, but not great in any one area. However, most of the team has been using it for over 4 years, so we're pretty aware of its limitations at this point. Ideally we're planning on creating our own internal tech, but with the budgets we're working with and the time limits (as well as the Wii platform), we're using Vicious on our current project as well as our next one too.
[quote name='Gamelore']Curious. Was the "Real Heroes" brand name created out of desire from the developers or as part of the publishing process?
If your'e curious, it's that apparent "brand" in the title that turns me away from buying.[/QUOTE]
Good to no....this kind of feedback is pretty important. The "Real Heroes" brand name was created for a couple reasons. The first being that we felt there is potential in a series of games that could fall under the "Real Heroes" tag. Although I didn't feel as strongly about that as my partner, I felt it was worth keeping the door open. The second reason is that, well, frankly, naming things is hard. Practically most names are already trademark protected, and if we got too clever with the title, we were afraid the mother and fathers out there might get a bit turned off. We were able to trademark "Real Heroes: Firefighter", so that was a big plus.
However, as I said, this is really good feedback in case we are lucky enough to work on a sequel, which is looking better and better.
[quote name='Fire_Thief']PoltArt.com
hire him.. He would do a sick cover for only $100.. Anything is better than that.[/QUOTE]
A bit too Megadeth for me, but the point is well taken. Appreciate the suggestion though!
[quote name='Gaming-Module']I don't know about the Wii pastel puke shelf thing. I really like the case art of most of the games I own, such as Dawn of Discovery, A Boy and his Blob, Broken Sword, de Blob, Cursed Mountain, Madworld not to mention all of the Nintendo first party stuff that mostly has great case art. Upcoming games like Fragile and Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom have great art that caught my eye and made me want to find screenshots and videos.
My problem with yours is that it looks like it belongs with Monster 4x4, Paws and Claws Pet Vet and Alien Monster Bowling League, i.e. terribly generic looking shovelware that, judging from their current prices, didn't even sell that well to the casual crowd.
Maybe lose the focus group next time, hire a passionate artist and instruct him to make an interesting piece of cover art that looks clean and stylistic while still featuring the visual cues needed to let people know what your game is about.[/QUOTE]
All good points, and for sure it's something we're feverishly working on with our current project. And just as a clarification, when I mentioned "focus groups", I'm actually talking about getting people off of CraigsList to check out the game and talk with us for an hour here and there for a couple bucks. I have a feeling some of you picture this grand hall filled with automatons playing the game and asking questions in a robotic voice. Don't get me wrong, while working on the Call of Duty stuff, I've been a part of many of those. But that's not how my studio does it.
[quote name='n8rockerasu']But the savy gamers who actually read game reviews before making their purchases are going to see the surprisingly stellar reviews about the "Little Developer That Could" (sorry, don't mean to sound patronizing), and be impressed with what they were able to accomplish.
I've bought so many games over the past couple weeks, I was going to hold out on this one. But upon looking around Gamestop.com and other retailers on the web, there don't seem to be many copies out there.
Anyone remember that Firefighter FD18 game for PS2? Anyone seen it in a store lately? Or see how much it costs? I wouldn't be surprised if this game is very hard to find after the initial stock runs out. These are niche games, people. Finding one that's done well is rare enough. Needless to say, I placed my order.
Oh, also, +50 points for having Spike from Buffy/Angel in this game! Too bad he won't be British, I'm sure, haha.[/QUOTE]
Don't worry, "the little developer that could" is something we take great pride in. We're not making rehashed sequels or licensed games, and we own all the IP we're working on. In these ridiculously challenging economic times, we've not only kept everyone working and paid, but we've been able to hire a few extra people.
And yeah, we had some significant distribution issues with this game. Something I'm incredibly frustrated about, especially considering you can't go into a store without seeing some of the shittier titles our publisher and distributor put out, yet we're tough to find.
As for FD18...I purchased a copy off Ebay a while back for around $60. According to some NPD numbers I saw, it sold less than 20k in the US, so it's pretty tough to find. I wouldn't say it's a bad game, it does some cool stuff. But it turns Japanese pretty quickly. You start out in some structural fires, and then all the sudden you're attacking robots with your axe or having a fistfight on top of a building with a jetpack wearing dude armed with a flamethrower.
And I'm a HUGE Whedon fan, so getting James Marsters was really awesome. The guy was SUPER cool to work with, and even though he didn't have the British accent, I think he still sounded a lot like Spike throughout the game. He has a fun character too. Really can't wait to work with him again.