Aztaka - Developers's Edition Sale

Dhruin

Dhruin

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We mentioned Aztaka a couple of times over the last year or so, although a side-scrolling action/RPG probably doesn't connect with our core audience. Still, I thought it might be worth a quick mention of their "Developer's Edition" sale as they try to recoup the $235k they borrowed from friends and family to make the game:
Four years ago Citérémis rented a small office above two bars. The idea was simple: craft a 2D side-scrolling game for the people who loved the old-school genre. The budget: $235,000, borrowed from friends and family who trusted us.
Since its release in May 2009, Aztaka has received positive reviews by many websites, and has achieved total revenue of about $35,000. To bridge the gap: Aztaka Developer's Edition, that will only be available January 7th 9:00 until 11:59 PM on January 31st.
The quest for profitability begins today with two main objectives:
1- to generate enough sales from this edition to let us keep doing what we love and to reimburse our friends and family.
2 -to bring together indie developers.
Click to expand...
More information.
 
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Guess they didn't listen to the advice "Never borrow from friends and family"
 
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235k? Quite a challenge to reach the break even. Good luck to them.
 
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What does a 235k game look like (other than Aztaka)? I'm curious since all of you seem to know exactly what it would look like.

Here's a question for people who are making or have made a PC game in the past, what is the most expensive part of making a game?

I'm guessing it's two things. Time and art. Time is money and artwork is a lot more expensive than some of you armchair quarterbacks would believe. I may be wrong since I'm just an armchair quarterback as well.

As for Aztaka, I have that game and it's a lot of fun. I can't believe they only made 35k. Aren't they on Steam and Impulse? If not then they need to get there immediately.
 
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I would imagine it's as simple as four staff @ $50k/year, licensing music perhaps and some office expenses and your $235k is gone in a year. Two staff if it took two years and so on. Braid cost $200k, as another example.
 
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I don't think that has much to do with it. It's not like you can get to the end, decide it isn't as good as you hoped, and ask the artists for their salaries back. Besides, Aztaka got some good reviews, even if it isn't my thing.
 
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I did some game development and this looks like a 235K worth of development money. I think I'll buy it for my wife.
 
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I bought it last year via impulse and would buy it again to support them. Its really a shame they sold so few items.

Does anybody know what the license status on the included source code of the game is? If i would base my own game on the code, could i sell it?
 
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Dhruin said:
I would imagine it's as simple as four staff @ $50k/year, licensing music perhaps and some office expenses and your $235k is gone in a year.
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Indeed, viewed in this context I imagine that $235k should burn up pretty fast when creating a game like this.

While I'm not a fan of platformers, this looks pretty nice: lovely parallax scrolling and detailed artwork. I hope the studio manages to bridge the gap.
 
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It is available in German retail; although not quite easy to find, I once saw it on a shelf in a shop of the "Real" chain. Amazon Germany has it, too : http://www.amazon.de/EuroVideo-Bild...3Z04/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294832626&sr=8-1

I still have to buy it, and I liked this game very much. To me, it was a refreshing departure from all the ways of presenting an RPG I knew of (played only the demo so far).

I just wish this "Developers Edition" was available at retail, too ...
 
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Aztaka low sells are linked to poor marketing, well lack of it.

I might buy the special edition, I passed on it because I don't like side scrollers.
 
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Alrik Fassbauer said:
It is available in German retail; although not quite easy to find, I once saw it on a shelf in a shop of the "Real" chain. Amazon Germany has it, too : http://www.amazon.de/EuroVideo-Bild...3Z04/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294832626&sr=8-1

I still have to buy it, and I liked this game very much. To me, it was a refreshing departure from all the ways of presenting an RPG I knew of (played only the demo so far).
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Let me know if it is in English. It says "Sprache: Deutsch, Deutsch, Englisch" on amazon.de site but I have to be sure before buying.
Also let me know if you know any German online site with this game and cheaper postage cost to EU (would prefer paypal if possible).
 
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Ok, found it myself for 8 EUR and paypal payment option. Now I just need to know if there is an English language option on dvd. Any German friends who had already bought this retail version on this forum?
 
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skavenhorde said:
What does a 235k game look like (other than Aztaka)?
Click to expand...

As another data point, Jeff Vogel has detailed Geneforge 4 costs before - that came in at roughly 120K. And "it used a lot of code and graphics and sound assets from previous games."
 
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It's a pretty & fun little game. At least it was until I got stuck trying to get up some stupid ass elevator shaft using a wall jump move that I couldn't get to work right...ended the game for me. Platformers aren't my thing but it was in some indie bundle from last year so it was basically free (the price I paid for the bundle was worth it for just And Yet it Moves & Machinarium).

If you like sidescrollers with jumping puzzles thrown in (and very lite rpg-ish elements: gear & skills) it's worth the $10 I'd say. If you don't like sidescrollers or suck at jumping puzzles then don't bother.
 
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