finally remembered my long lost question.
how big can a game distributed by ambrosia be? i ask this because usually ambrosias games arent on cd, they stated several times they will always be a shareware company, aka downloadable off the internet. so i was wondering, does my game have to be under a 100 megs?

here, lemme put on my game face for a sec. okay, seriously.

i emailed ambrosia awhile back, and basically, got run around answers for certain questions. certain questions that are of monumental importance to me while making this game etc. the answer pretty much always was, make the game, then some of your questions will be answered. maybe. im fine with that. i pushed all questions aside etc. moved on. working on the game.

but this question is a bit different. so if anyone can. here are my thoughts about size.

does ambrosia not like putting games on cd? am i putting them out of thier way to have to physically mail stuff out?

what will it add to the cost of per game sold? will it make the game seem expensive? with shipping and the cost of making the cd's will it add ten bucks to the price tag? you know, who the hell wants that?

its wierd, having to spend forever, making a game, you dont know how much youll sell, you have no stats from earlier games, how they sold etc, to judge where your game might be and how well it would do. you dont know how much you can make per game, if beenox on top of ambrosia gets royalties etc, and the size thing, and the cost of shipping and making the cd, thats just another cloud that you have to completely push out of your mind?

why'll i have faith that i can and will, and that i can dump my suxor job as a secretary and make games for life, a little info here and there would be cool. so while i totally am steaming ahead, putting behind not knowing anything about how the game will actually do, i would appreciate any info at all on how a game on a cd would pork me or not. i mean, i look at kamashins early beta at 70 megs and its nearly as big as pog already was, would people want to download my game at 200 megs? 150 megs? should i really put the graphical hurt on my game or will it play out fine on cd? im at the stage where over half the ingame graphics are done, im starting on the other half which are different themselves, and i just started level design. there are three ways i can go on level design, repitive, varied and my way. i need to know in some sort of way what some of yall higherups thinks about a cd. i dont need any sort of in depth answer, i just need, sure cd is not a bad choice and doesnt kill the game cost or maybe it does. im looking at the 1st level, this game is gonna be big, im not sure how well i can keep it down, but if i need to, and a cd would kinda screw with things then ill do my best to crunch.

really, just curious

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Morvera ner Morden

(This message has been edited by DJ (edited 02-27-2003).)

PoG is 150 MB. I'd download up to 300, personally, if it were a good game. A CD would not cripple a GOOD game, so don't sacrifice anything for size. It just needs to be under 600 MB, and I doubt you'll get it that big.

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CI-I@()s
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well, i mean, what about price? i wouldnt mind if it raised the game, say 5 bucks, but ten on a shareware title on top of normal cost is pushing it a bit? ive pushed alot of questions aside continously and just said screw it, full speed ahead! but i have that nagging that something may have needed a answer and its going to haunt me in the future.

bah, i guess as i am so fond of the saying, Dammit all, full speed ahead!

ive decided to do a level up and see how it big it is then gestimate on game size. ill know in a couple days.

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Morvera ner Morden

(This message has been edited by DJ (edited 02-27-2003).)

First, Ambrosia has nothing against putting games on CDs. Everything they make has the option of being burned to a cd and mailed to the customer. Coldstone is only available on CD.

Second, cost of putting your game on a CD and mailing it out will vary depending on quantity of games sold. Ie, if you are going down and buying 10 packs of CDs you are going to be spending more per CD than if you are buying packs of 100. If you have a company burn the CDs for you, then the same principal applies. Doing things in bulk lowers your cost per item. Ambrosia charges $5 for a CD shipped with a registered game; $10 without a game registration. You can use this figure as you see fit.

Finally, game size. I have no problem downloading a large game if I am getting quality. But little bugs me more than downloading a large game that is bloated for no reason.

I do not look at a game's data size and judge its worth based on that. I've played some extremely entertaining games that were less than a meg in size. I've also seen very poorly done games that came on multiple CDs.

So the bottom line is build a quality game and you will be fine. Bloat a bad one and it will still be poor.

Good luck.

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i can live with that, thank you.

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Morvera ner Morden