Pretty sure he joined the studio. It sure as hell sounds like his music.
edit: http://www.heart-machine.com/our-team/ yeah he's doing the soundtrack
I love HLD to death, but this looks a LOT like Ashen. Like, too much so. The world looks pratically the same.
Another good-looking indie game bites the dust. Oh well. I certainly don't blame Heart Machine for taking the money. Best of luck, and all that.Looks great. Shame I won't be buying it because of the storefront.
Yup, kind of a shame but honestly, I have too much to play as is.Looks great, but if it's not also going to Steam. No buy. Just gonna watch a streamer play it.
Game looks cool!
The whole "won't buy it because Epic store" shtick is becoming somewhat grating though. If the developer decides this way, I can't fault them. Also I can't remember people not stopping to complain about Overwatch or Destiny just being available through Battlenet, for example.
I feel like exclusivity, be it permanent or temporary, is the only way to actually compete against the behemoth that is Steam when creating new online stores, and attracting devs by either better deals on sales or exclusivity deals is - imo - the only logical way to do this. Oh and by not putting your game next to gazillion of horrible, cheap, offensive or plainly hateful shovelware crap without any sort of promotion or help to get it to the user.
If Epic's successful with this and if developers are happy with EGS, I'm happy to use multiple stores. Exclusivity sucks as an idea, but it's not like you can't get the game if you're using Steam as your 'main' store. You're not excluded from creating an EGS account. And besides, Steam most probably will not be the king of online stores forever, that's just how things go, especially on the internet once competition turns up. I don't really get why people purposefully put all their horses in one stable instead of using what's available.
surprised annapurna's waiting on announcing outer wilds as exclusive
it's a shame that they're moving their output like this since all their published games so far have been great.
What's grating is Epic shutting down everyone else from playing all these amazing games unless you agree to support their toxic business practices on PC. I'm tired of hearing about them as much as you but this shit won't stop until it has consequences.
I don't even like Steam all that much. I remember the paid mods debacle, I remember all the rather greedy and corporate comments Newell made. They are not angels and much of the criticism levied at them is fully justified. But they are by far a saner and healthier symbol for the PC than Epic has shown itself to be these past months. They don't care about PC and would gleefully ruin the place if it afforded them a dominant position.
I do feel for the developpers but remember that the 70% cut is an industry standard on consoles and that they can get 100% if they sell keys elsewhere. There is also a marked selfishness in many devs that just don't give a damn about PC and care only about getting in while the moneyhatting goes on. I don't get the impression that this is about being a rising tide that lifts all ships for the indie world. It's much more of a "screw you, got mine" mindset. This isn't about helping those struggling indies choking below 10k yearly sales on Steam. Those that before Steam opened up would have had to pray they got picked up by a publisher or indie program to get on a distribution and advertising platform. These guys are still getting nothing from Epic. These handpicked studios are all already highly successful and visible.
This isn't about the devs, this is about handpicking the games Epic knows we want and taking them hostage to force us to make their shitty store successful.
I just can't agree to such short-sighted and destructive, so-called realistic business tactics. They will lead us to a very unpleasant place if they become the norm. Being a better platform with better prices and feature parity is actually enough, it just takes time. Wanting to dethrone Steam in a day just isn't a realistic expectations to begin with, especially not by wanting to get away with doing the shit-bare-minimum.
Anyway, sorry for this thread derail, I just wanted to justify the nagging about Epic. I love HM's work on HLD, their world and vision for adventure games and I can't wait to see what they've been cooking. Disasterpiece returning to the party is awesome to hear as well :).
Game looks cool!
The whole "won't buy it because Epic store" shtick is becoming somewhat grating though. If the developer decides this way, I can't fault them. Also I can't remember people not stopping to complain about Overwatch or Destiny just being available through Battlenet, for example.
I feel like exclusivity, be it permanent or temporary, is the only way to actually compete against the behemoth that is Steam when creating new online stores, and attracting devs by either better deals on sales or exclusivity deals is - imo - the only logical way to do this. Oh and by not putting your game next to gazillion of horrible, cheap, offensive or plainly hateful shovelware crap without any sort of promotion or help to get it to the user.
If Epic's successful with this and if developers are happy with EGS, I'm happy to use multiple stores. Exclusivity sucks as an idea, but it's not like you can't get the game if you're using Steam as your 'main' store. You're not excluded from creating an EGS account. And besides, Steam most probably will not be the king of online stores forever, that's just how things go, especially on the internet once competition turns up. I don't really get why people purposefully put all their horses in one stable instead of using what's available.
It should ALWAYS be about the games. I will reward good games, period! If Epic gets their hooks in them and turns every game into a GaaS monster then we can agree they are toxic.
You keep saying "holding hostage" but...If you deliberately remove everything else from the discussion, I'm right with you in celebrating whatever Heart Machine is working on.
Unfortunately, Epic added themselves to the equation by removing everyone else and holding hostage a large part of coming indie game releases to promote their store. The impact their business practices will have on the PC ecosystem means that their behavior cannot be ignored. I'm sorry this situation has to suck but it's on them, not on people for voicing their opposition to seeing a historically open platform turned into a battlefield for moneyhatting and exclusivity wars.
You keep saying "holding hostage" but...
Aren't these developers making the choice to go to Epic?
The recent decision to move Metro Exodus from Steam to the Epic Game Store was made by Koch Media / Deep Silver alone.
Okay so it's the publishers making the decision then, not Epic taking them hostage?
You keep saying "holding hostage" but...
Aren't these developers making the choice to go to Epic?
Developers are not making the decision in many of these cases, the publisher is.Okay so it's the publishers making the decision then, not Epic taking them hostage?
But if Epic is cutting the devs/pubs a greater cut of profit, isn't that worthy of a consumers support?I am referring to the absence of choice given to the players who have to suck it up for a year or cave in and support Epic. You can also make the point that in the case of HM, it was perhaps less their choice and more Annapurna's.
Ah ok, so Epic is strong arming then.Developers are not making the decision in many of these cases, the publisher is.
And Epic are paying to get these games pulled from competing stores.
I imagine in general a developer would like their game to be played by as many people as feasible, and available on as many stores as feasible.
How is Epic paying games to get pulled from competing stores in any way a good thing?But if Epic is cutting the devs/pubs a greater cut of profit, isn't that worthy of a consumers support?
Aside from that, Steam has had a theoretical monopoly on the market for long enough and personally, with Steam's whole "hands off approach to moderating content", it leads me to feel more comfortable with paying attention to Steams competitors. That's just my angle. I mean, I can support both, but in the end, if my favorite devs are releasing games on a platform where they get a fair shake and I'm not put off by it, then I'm all around happy.
Yeah apologies, I read your response about them strong arming while I was typing that one post up.How is Epic paying games to get pulled from competing stores in any way a good thing?
I'd have no problem with it being on Epic store in addition to other stores, but removing consumer choice is transparently a bad thing.
I'd much prefer Epic were compelled to improve their store to compete with rival stores, but they are not interested in this, they are just seeking to prevent games being available on competing stores.
But if Epic is cutting the devs/pubs a greater cut of profit, isn't that worthy of a consumers support?
Aside from that, Steam has had a theoretical monopoly on the market for long enough and personally, with Steam's whole "hands off approach to moderating content", it leads me to feel more comfortable with paying attention to Steams competitors. That's just my angle. I mean, I can support both, but in the end, if my favorite devs are releasing games on a platform where they get a fair shake and I'm not put off by it, then I'm all around happy.
No worries, I'm not here to argue either! I'm just not very informed on the big picture of things. Your points have been educational and I appreciate it.VALID POINTS WRITTEN IN A RESPECTFUL MANNER. I also don't want to piss everyone off because I love HLD as much as everyone else in this thread. I just hate that Epic got their hands on it, I voiced my displeasure and I think that should be the extent of it.
As a side-note, I feel it's interesting that we are seeing an increasing number of indies make that jump from 2D in their previous work to 3D. It's like seeing that time in the late 90s all over again and I feel these guys might do some very interesting things.
No worries, I'm not here to argue either! I'm just not very informed on the big picture of things. Your points have been educational and I appreciate it.
I love HLD as well believe me. Lemme grab onto that side note of yours...
Interesting observation! That just plucks the nostalgia strings in me thinking about that. What are some other indies that have done this transition that you can think of? I swear I've got one in my mind but I can't figure it out.
OH YEAH I FORGOT ABOUT THAT ONE.Risk of Rain 2 was the other one I was thinking about :). And thank you!
Maybe if Epic stop their anticompetitive behaviour, people will stop calling it out.Man, so much port/launcher begging in here. Is every thread about games launching on Epic going to be like this?
Man, so much port/launcher begging in here. Is every thread about games launching on Epic going to be like this?
Also, Isn't platform begging against the rules? I don't see the mods doing anything about these "no Steam no buy" type posts. But posts highlighting how stupid that complaint is get flagged. Really shitty and derails threads constantly but seems to go unchecked.