Re: Why KoDP is not popular?

From: Gargantua <gargantua_at_...>
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2003 19:30:29 +0000

>If David D. wants to he'll tell you about the experience of
>getting a computer game on store shelves. It boils down to
>major retailers want a significant chunk of change in order
>to stock a game, and A# didn't have the money.
>The randomness and lack of determination and the lack of feedback
>turned off some members of the buying public.
>I think Glorantha turned off several people. There is a significant
>investment in learning the legends and the culture and that turned
>some people away. Just learning the rythem of the clan year is
>something outside our regular experience and then there are all the
>hero-quests you must largely memorize.

While i partially agree that "there are not moving parts" factor turned off several people, I still think people generally are not aware of this game, there are many intelligent people among gamers (again civ, AC, EU) that do not wish to play 'one more ordinary rpg' just from general principles.

>So it doesn't appear in stores and it doesn't appeal to the regular
>audiance of on-line computer gamers, who are you going to sell to?

There are games you cant buy from stores, only from the publisher directly, while they are very popular. Examples: "Space Empires IV", very well known, has huge community and only available from online store. Another example: "Uncommon Valor" by Matrix Games, again only online store. There are thousands of fans , while there are almost no "moving parts" and in game graphics is not even close to KoDP art. And finally, "Dominions" by Illwinter, there are almost no graphics, awful design, still people seem to like it to alot, there is regular discussion on usenet, and now Illwinter is working on the sequel. Again, good game ( played the demo), but not as good as KoDP, not even close.

Probably, KoDP was released too early for its time, at that time new game meant better graphics with better effects, and KoDP got lost among them. Right now, many people are tired of stupid meaningless 'shoot 'em up in cool 3d world' games. Smart games nowdays become more popular. Had A# have released KoDP now, it would've been a hit.