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Quoting: CheesenessThe most relevant reason for distinguishing, of course (and this responds a little to Hamish's post), is native support, which the Weekly Sales have been established as not being a reliable source for. I'm definitely not denying that Humble is diminished and made "less special" by not sticking to its guns on the cross-platform, DRM free and "no middlemen" angles, but I do think that if they want to explore that stuff, relegating it to a separate, lesser product is certainly more favourable than polluting their core offerings.

Oh, it is certainly better than pulling another straight THQ one. But it all does seems a lot like what the Molson Canadian brand has become - about thirteen years ago they had this big patriotic advertisement push, the most famous being the whole "I am Canadian!" spiel they came up with which was widely parodied. Then they got bought out by Coors, and no longer were Canadian. And yet they still play the same card, trying to pump up national pride while the money earned heads south of the border, even though a large part of their previous advertisements was playing on (admittedly gentle) anti-American sentiment. The beer is still there, and objectively the same, but the spirit behind it is soiled, and their advertisements feel like feeble protestations.

Draw whatever parallels you like between that and Humble Bundle, but I can not help but feel the DRM free side of the main bundles now feel like weak protestations. I still appreciate them being there, appreciate their products, but I am under no illusion I am buying into something greater. And considering that is the message that was originally sold, it can only feel like a betrayal. At least there is still the charity aspect...

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not really though, it's only the overlay and stuff. game's still do not have the integration (that is achivments), so it's still a while off.

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QuoteIt won't get cheaper than $40 before next year since the retail release isn't until December so keep that in mind guys.

I can wait. I waited 10 years for Fallout 3, I have been waiting for 14 years for the next Planescape (pledged), 25 years of waiting for Wasteland 2...I could go on! :D

I could also add that I waited for years for Linux to become a ghaming platform, and this is happening right now.

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Well the just pushed out a new patch enabling building on the moon :D, it also has a new version of the UI code in which for me grabs the mouse properly but it's not working for everyone yet but it's progress, the Linux version is really shaping up :D.

It won't get cheaper than $40 before next year since the retail release isn't until December so keep that in mind guys.

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Good to know it's going to be cheaper in the future, I just hope that future is sooner rather than later :P. Just constantly spamming units and having a real all-out war is crazy fun. Thanks for the article Liam.

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the game is excellent; it runs great on wine, but I'm excited for it to get native.

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Quoting: s_dRegarding differentiating Telltale, I quite disagree.  The 11 bit studios sale feels a lot like the old one-studio bundles (which I don't think we'll be seeing ever again, as those will be converted to weekly sales, I suspect), but the Telltale sale feels like the THQ one (which was not a weekly sale).  Hence, I feel the distinction is somewhat arbitrary and unhelpful.

Actually, the THQ stuff returned as the first weekly sale. The original intention from Humble (at least when I talked to people prior to the Humble THQ Bundle going live) was that it would be presented as a different product off the main humblebundle.com page (much like the Weekly Sale and Amnesia Fortnight promotions). I view the THQ bundle as the exception (the mistake I referred to in my last post) rather than the benchmark to compare others against.

If anything, overlooking the differences between Humble's spectrum of products seems to me to be unhelpful.

It helps Humble manage people's expectations. Remember all the flack they copped between the Humble Indie Bundle #4 and The Humble Indie Bundle V when people were saying that Humble's quality had dropped and were getting cranky enough to say they wouldn't buy future bundles (it's sad how often that gets thrown around these days)? If the differentiation between the Indie bundles, Android bundles and debut bundles were better highlighted, that would have helped people make more informed buying decisions (the same also applies for all the people who missed the first Android bundle because they thought it was Android only and all the people who purchased the Mobile bundle expecting it to support desktop platforms).

The most relevant reason for distinguishing, of course (and this responds a little to Hamish's post), is native support, which the Weekly Sales have been established as not being a reliable source for. I'm definitely not denying that Humble is diminished and made "less special" by not sticking to its guns on the cross-platform, DRM free and "no middlemen" angles, but I do think that if they want to explore that stuff, relegating it to a separate, lesser product is certainly more favourable than polluting their core offerings.

Quoting: s_dHumble have always offered bundles/deals of varying sizes and apparent "value", so I don't really see why the branding should somehow cause their offerings to be considered a vastly different thing.

Humble were expecting customers to see them as being separate products/brands under the Humble umbrella, but people were still mislabeling the Humble Indie Bundle #3 as HIB4. It wasn't until the real Humble Indie Bundle #4 that people started to catch on that were more than one type of offering. Though Humble failed to communicate it, those varying styles of bundles were internally seen as discreet, differently structured products (I've touch more on Humble's branding troubles in my articles and the interview I did with RYG last year).

Quoting: s_dThe averages are certainly lower, but they run for half the duration of the other offerings, but I'm fairly certain that most of the bundle revenue comes in the first week anyway (hence the goodies added to the beat-the-average bonus halfway through).

I track hourly data on weekly sales to help make it easier to look at this sort of stuff. Sadly I missed the first two days of the Telltale sale due to markup changes at Humble's end (and a lack of free time on mine :( )


Edit: Woah, wall of text. Sorry guys :D

s_d: Would love to discuss what defines an adventure game and how the broad range of potential mechanics/presentations/styles all fit together/relate to each other, but I think I've derailed this thread enough >_<

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QuoteYes, distributing personally is great and all, but I'd much prefer Desura keys (and a standalone installer on Desura to download).

I wish Desura had more traction, they are such a great site. AND I believe totally that they can live alongside steam. Maybe steam can buy them, although I suppose the whole greenlight project is just that. It is however difficult for developers to get any sales if tyhey are not greenlit.

Anyhow, pledged for this. Looking forward to this game as I sometimes enjoy just going around virtual worlds just to see the lore. I bought proteus just for that, a quiet world without too much violence, but after an hour of playing with it felt quite bored. Frontier certainly takes a lot of influence from Morrowind, possiblty Gothic as well. Looking forward to playing this from my Linux machine.

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I'm really liking this trend of devs simply doing something nice for us because they like us.  I'll definitely be supporting the Northways in the future (and I hope they transition from the Adobe suite, over to Unity3D or HaxeNME).

Incredipede is fun, and I think I'll be able to play it with my kid :)

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Quoting: CheesenessOh, you are right! I can't believe I forgot about Samorost 2, Machinarium, Botanicula and Sword & Sworcery (I think they're all unarguably point-and-click adventure games).

I'd probably place TRAUMA in whatever box Myst lives in, which gameplay-wise is fairly different from the first few mentioned.

The Telltale stuff hasn't been in a Humble Bundle though (only a Humble Weekly Sale to date), which I think is important to differentiate - Too many people have trouble telling Humble's different brands apart.

Yes, my definition contains all of those titles, and I include TRAUMA as well, with caveats.  It was an interesting, and thought-provoking, experience.  The navigation mechanic was a bit obtuse (to me) in that your last polaroid per area inevitably ended in pixel-hunt territory, but I certainly see what you mean.  Both it, and Myst, are puzzle-heavy, inventory-less, first-person adventures, with ambient/emergent story structures.  One could place The Seventh Guest (and it's ilk) in that box as well, and still, they are basically point-and-click.  For me, The Room falls over into puzzle game territory (although it purports a story as well;  I have yet to finish it, so I can't vouch for the story aspect).

Regarding differentiating Telltale, I quite disagree.  The 11 bit studios sale feels a lot like the old one-studio bundles (which I don't think we'll be seeing ever again, as those will be converted to weekly sales, I suspect), but the Telltale sale feels like the THQ one (which was not a weekly sale).  Hence, I feel the distinction is somewhat arbitrary and unhelpful.  Humble have always offered bundles/deals of varying sizes and apparent "value", so I don't really see why the branding should somehow cause their offerings to be considered a vastly different thing.  The averages are certainly lower, but they run for half the duration of the other offerings, but I'm fairly certain that most of the bundle revenue comes in the first week anyway (hence the goodies added to the beat-the-average bonus halfway through).

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Yes, distributing personally is great and all, but I'd much prefer Desura keys (and a standalone installer on Desura to download).

It appears that the Humble Store is aggressively seeking out cross-platform Kickstarter successes (such as Whispering Willows, Dog Sled Saga, and dozens of others) and offering up a Humble widget on their sites, PLUS offering to help them gather pre-orders... at only a 5% take.  That's hard for indies to say no to, and is a very, very good deal, indeed.  I still prefer Desura because I use the updater client for convenience, and back up the standalone installers to protect my investment.

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My Question: "Gog does not support linux games. Steam does not support drm-free games. Will there be an option to get drm-free version for linux?"

Lars Simkins's answer: Hello - yes, if it comes down to it I will supply a drm free Linux version
personally. A Drm free option is important to me.

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As to people complaining about the performance of Unity games, I have only played Rochard as of yet, but it ran just fine on my older card with free software drivers. So bad performance certainly does not seem to be some kind of rule with it.

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Thanks for using My Gameplay :)

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Hey if you've got the cash, go for it! :P. Had my eye on it for awhile, but I'll hang around until it's on sale for $19.95

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Supreme Commander i loved because of the scale of it, but yes it was quite tricky, you had a lot to learn especially with the upgrade system as well, thankfully PA is a bit simpler!

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I actually bought Supreme Commander because of all the positive reviews when it was on Steam sale the other day. Unfortunately I found it extremely frustrating to play in terms of its User Interface and unit visibility. Hopefully these guys don't make the same bad design decisions.

Regarding Planetary Annihilation, for anyone looking for a good large-scale strategy title until this game is down in price, take a look at Wargame: European Escalation (or it's Windows only successor Airland Battle).

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I have no doubt the game will come down in price from it's retail release at $40 but I doubt it will happen for a while after release. It seems so far even at it's expensive Alpha price it's selling rather well, considering it's been in Steam's top selling since it's Early Access release!

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It was already in my Desura shopping cart, for the time someday in the future when I can actually empty it. Got about $50 worth of games I would be interested in sitting in there waiting to be cleared (with most of the cost being Salvation Prophecy).

Regardless, another fine example of why a Steam monopoly would be a bad thing to promote.

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Love the spirit ! Doesn't make me regret having bought it on GOG, on the contrary. :)

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Quoting: CheesenessThe Telltale stuff hasn't been in a Humble Bundle though (only a Humble Weekly Sale to date), which I think is important to differentiate - Too many people have trouble telling Humble's different brands apart.

I do not think the problem is telling them apart, but actually caring about the distinction. All are done under the Humble label, and that is why I find it so damaging for them to espouse DRM free gaming in one venue and completely ignore it in another. One can, and in some ways should, see how they are handling this and come to the conclusion that not even the Humble guys are really that interested in ensuring that we have DRM free games. Thus we loose one of our largest stalwarts and are made to look weak, ineffective, and uncommitted.

I know this rant is somewhat off topic, but considering the email I got from them is entitled "Get six awesome games for Steam and Android!", the whole situation seems worthy of commenting on, as they are not even willing to truly promote this bundle's DRM free nature in a message to their followers. I have subsequently unsubscribed from the Humble Bundle's mailing list. If they put something up I may be interested in I will learn it from GoL, but if they are no longer truly committed to being DRM free, I can no longer be committed to them, and as such there is no point for me to have a subscription.

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Yes, I will definitely buy it, but not at that price. I can see that people are annoyed by the price but then again, if you want to buy it for that price, buy it at that price, if you are not interested, wait until the price comes down. I don't see what all the fuss is about. Some people are happy to pay that amount to play early.
The game itself does not break any grounds when you look at the "planet" view, but truly becomes innovative when you see the space/universe view. Bombarding someone from a moon, great idea!

Edited For typo
Edited again: I think the game may be trading for $20 dollars by 2014.

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It will come down to around $40 at release, see my chart in the article (you can buy from their own store now, any purchases from their store can be turned into Steam keys).

It plays rather a lot like the original Supreme Commander on the scale of it but the mechanics are slightly more like Total Annihilation (so taking the best from both and expanding on it).

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If this is like Supreme Command (the first one), then I can't wait for it's final release! Can't afford it at it's current price in Steam though, hope it goes down little by little.

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pledged.

also i like the developers of this game

they sent me email about "ask anything from us" right after i pledged.
then i explained how important this kind of games are for linux crowd.
then they replied again and were happy that linux is gaining ground and that they are part of it.

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Quoting: liamdaweThe width is staying as it is, it auto adjusts for screen size and tables and mobiles I don't want to make it any bigger on the desktop as I think it fits quite nicely right now, unless others agree?

The width is good as it is because our eyes get tired quicker if they have to follow too from one side of the screen to the other all the time. The auto-sizing for small resolutions is a great thing.

As far as width is concerned, the only thing I have a problem with currently is that a video embed gets stretched so much. Besides that, an interesting idea for future site development would be a column-like articles layout for extremely big resolutions.

I believe you should start a new 'Suggestions & Bugs' thread to accumulate input for next year. :P

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Quoting: titiI would like to see some improvements on the news:
- real date when something was posted, nut things like yesterday/friday/11 hours ago. Place this date prominent in front of the news.
- More obvious separators for each news ( a line?)
- use more of the width for each news. There already is much more space!

The date bit I can work on, I have been meaning to change it so once it's past 24 hours to give it a proper date as I don't like "yesterday" much.

I don't think we need any more separation, you have an image for each article, a bigger header and above it a line, personally I don't see why we need even bigger separation, is it that big an issue to differentiate between articles? If it is then I can look at doing something else but speaking personally I don't see a problem, does any else?

The width is staying as it is, it auto adjusts for screen size and tables and mobiles I don't want to make it any bigger on the desktop as I think it fits quite nicely right now, unless others agree?

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This is yet another brilliant bundle... if you have Android. Most of these titles have been in the other bundles... but not for Android. Frozen Synapse is really a great CROSS platform multi-player. It is its debut on Android. Aquaria is another great Linux title if you are into platformers. Steath Bastard has been awarded several prizes. Broken Sword is a point-and-click that you should not pass. I do not know the other games intimately, but strongly recommend these if you have a large phone, or a tablet, and are tired of the same old Angry Birds and Zynga games that unfortunately sem to clutter the mobile gaming space.

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Quoting: s_dOh yes, certainly.  Well, at least, depending on your definition of the genre!

Recall the Amanita Designs titles, specifically Samorost 2, Machinarium, and Botanicula.  These are probably the closest (though, the narrative in Botanicula is thin enough that some, including Speedster, would prefer to call it more of a puzzle game).  Loosen your definition a little, and we can include TRAUMA, Sword & Sorcery and Stacking as well.  Loosen your platform a little, and there is, of course, the Telltale Games bundle.  Loosen both, and we might include The Room (though, it's more of a puzzle game linked by a loose plot than Botanicula!).

Oh, you are right! I can't believe I forgot about Samorost 2, Machinarium, Botanicula and Sword & Sworcery (I think they're all unarguably point-and-click aventure games).

I'd probably place TRAUMA in whatever box Myst lives in, which gameplay-wise is fairly different from the first few mentioned.

The Telltale stuff hasn't been in a Humble Bundle though (only a Humble Weekly Sale to date), which I think is important to differentiate - Too many people have trouble telling Humble's different brands apart.

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Quoting: KamilSet up a Flattr button and I'll subscribe.

Well, we have no Flattr here, but you can donate directly via PayPal (hit the donate button at on the left of the top menu bar of the site, which goes here.

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