pier solar hd

[Arkhan Asylum]

I still respect that Watermelon is delivering new games to play on our old hardware at all.

I don't.

What they're doing is bastardizing the concept of doing this for fun, and in the spirit of keeping the console alive.

They've decided money and shit are more important, so they better manipulate the market and whore their subpar RPG out to as many platforms as they can possible hamfist the game out onto.

[Gillian Seed]

I still respect that Watermelon is delivering new games to play on our old hardware at all.

I don't.

What they're doing is bastardizing the concept of doing this for fun, and in the spirit of keeping the console alive.

They've decided money and shit are more important, so they better manipulate the market and whore their subpar RPG out to as many platforms as they can possible hamfist the game out onto.

I haven't really been following Watermelon much past the release of Pier Solar, but I think there's still some passion for the Mega Drive over at Watermelon. They are developing a new beat em' up for it and a SNES project as well after all.

Off-topic: but I checked out some of your TG-16 stuff and your MSX coding entry a while ago and love it. I personally thought you had the most impressive MSX entry of all and that's impressive considering you were said to the be the newcomer.

[PukeSter]

Shh! Dont tell Arkhan the beatemup is an RPG...woops...

[Gillian Seed]

Beat em' up RPGs are awesome, but I am worried about Watermelon tackling anything that involves exp after playing Pier Solar

[gbapalyer]

when and where can i preorder the DC pal version? i need that game.

[PikachuWarrior]

on their website I assume. www.piersolar.com

[Arkhan Asylum]

Shh! Dont tell Arkhan the beatemup is an RPG...woops...

I already knew.  They talked about it that one time.

It seems like an interesting idea, but I bet it's done wrong.

If you want a beat em up RPG, look no further than the D&D games.   Anything else is just retarded.

[xcrement5x]

After reading this thread... anyone interested in a reprint edition PS? hehe

I looked up the price for the reprints on fleabay recently myself and I can't believe what people are paying for it.  Just friggin nuts!

[Mathius]

Shh! Dont tell Arkhan the beatemup is an RPG...woops...

I already knew.  They talked about it that one time.

It seems like an interesting idea, but I bet it's done wrong.

If you want a beat em up RPG, look no further than the D&D games.   Anything else is just retarded.

Or River City Ransom.

[BlueBMW]

I sold mine to a good forum member here for a cool Grant.

After reading this thread... anyone interested in a reprint edition PS? hehe

I looked up the price for the reprints on fleabay recently myself and I can't believe what people are paying for it.  Just friggin nuts!

[Arkhan Asylum]

So you mean I can sell my subpar Genesis game for 250$ to some shmoe?

....hm.   Now there is an idea.


Didn't they dump the ROM?   I could basically make my own version of the thing for however much a genesis flash cart costs?


or just take the cart out of the shell and replace it with Sonic.  Its not like the buyer will play it.

[CrackTiger]

They used unique techniques to make the rom not work on regular emulators and flash carts and the authors of emulators won't update them to support PS. The emulator that can run it has been hacked by pirates for PS and is distributed with the rom.

Watermelon has said that they were considering selling a version of the rom that will work on emulators (since they received so many requests), but that it would be only sometime after they sell enough carts. But that was before the kickstarter thing. So it likely won't ever happen now or they'll only sell basically the same thing as is floating around the internets, an emulator with a version of the rom that won't work on anything else.

[Arkhan Asylum]

So what you're telling me is, someone did what Pier Solar's staff arrogantly said was not possible (lolol never say never).

And, then they are like well, we will sell the ROM since some dorks are cutting into our profits!!

here's a question, how many fuckin cart sales were required for a ROM to be sold?  Did they need to hit Reprint Run #6 in order for it to happen?

I bet one day, a flashcart that supports it will show up. 

The fact they went through those kind of processes in the first place helps demonstrate their real motives here.

[Gillian Seed]

Shh! Dont tell Arkhan the beatemup is an RPG...woops...

I already knew.  They talked about it that one time.

It seems like an interesting idea, but I bet it's done wrong.

If you want a beat em up RPG, look no further than the D&D games.   Anything else is just retarded.

I hope you've never heard of Guardian Heroes, if not I'll be very disappointed in this comment.

[Arkhan Asylum]

I know what that is, but still think the D&D games are the go-to for beat em off RPGs.

[Mathius]

I know what that is, but still think the D&D games are the go-to for beat em off RPGs.

Really wish the Saturn version was in English. Kinda removes the immersion somewhat.

[Gillian Seed]

On consoles at least I think I prefer Guardian Heroes. Dungeons & Dragons is very much a quarter muncher and that doesn't really translate well to consoles with unlimited credits. I'll play with friends and they'll just not give a damn about sacrificing themselves to inflict damage.

[Arkhan Asylum]

I know what that is, but still think the D&D games are the go-to for beat em off RPGs.

Really wish the Saturn version was in English. Kinda removes the immersion somewhat.

All they're saying is "ching chong chingy chong.  noodle noodle dishonor family"

I think.

[Tatsujin]

funny nuff they could turn in Emulator makers to not make PS work on them, but it's just right to use the very same Emulators for any other pirated rom in the world. What kind of shitty brainfark is that?

[Arkhan Asylum]

funny nuff they could turn in Emulator makers to not make PS work on them, but it's just right to use the very same Emulators for any other pirated rom in the world. What kind of shitty brainfark is that?

The emulators that they most likely tested the game on until they purposely broke it.

[OldRover]

So, let me get this straight...

- They say the game can't be dumped. It gets dumped anyway.
- Emu authors refuse to allow their emus to run the ROM. Someone else modifies an emu to run it, and distributes them together.
- So no matter what, there are still people who are gonna play it for free, despite all efforts to the contrary.
- And ultimately, the game still blows... yet they've got oodles of people willing to pay for it, and multiple versions of it as well... even though it's still the same game through all the newer versions.

Sounds to me like WaterMelon is more about marketing than gaming.

[OldMan]

So, let me get this straight...

- They say the game can't be dumped. It gets dumped anyway.
- Emu authors refuse to allow their emus to run the ROM. Someone else modifies an emu to run it, and distributes them together.
- So no matter what, there are still people who are gonna play it for free, despite all efforts to the contrary.
- And ultimately, the game still blows... yet they've got oodles of people willing to pay for it, and multiple versions of it as well... even though it's still the same game through all the newer versions.

Sounds to me like WaterMelon is more about marketing than gaming.

Sounds to me like they -thought- they were going to make a lot of $$ doing a retro game, and found out it doesn't work that way So they keep releasing new versions, hoping the collectors will pony up the cash to finally make it profitable.

Maybe they should have spent some of the time they used to do odd things (things the emulators don't support, a borked cd, etc) to actually improve the game; maybe have people outside their little circle beta test it? Get a little feed-back on the game? Listen to the people who wanted it, instead of saying "this is what you get. You want something fixed? Buy the next release" ?

I for one, am not impressed by the 'professional' release angle. All that takes is someone willing to throw a lot of money at the project. I would much rather see them do it on a budget (say $1000 for 50 copies). Producing it cheaply is part of being a homebrew dev.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Like I said before, it's clear they're not really doing this to be homebrew developers who are mostly doing it for fun.    They want to be big time professionals and make a ton of money, and instead of getting out there into the real industry, they're milking money out of collectors and crap.

[SmaMan]

Me? I'm not the crazy collector type. I'm not one to ever trade in any game I own unless I have duplicates, but I'm not a diehard "Gotta Catch 'em All!" type person either.

I just decided to give this game a shot since I've enjoyed other aftermarket homebrews like "Battle Kid" on the NES and such. (Great game by the way, if you like your games good and hard.)

[Arkhan Asylum]

Battle Kid is a better game than Pier Solar.   Yet, there aren't retarded amounts of reproductions and crap tied to it.   It just was what it was, and people went on with life.


If Insanity goes out of stock and someone tries to buy it still, we can either repress the discs, OR, just release the bin/cue/stuff for the world to enjoy (read: laugh at)


;)

[Gillian Seed]

Sivak is a super humble dude. I've talked with him before.

Of all the retro indie titles out there, I think Battle Kid has the most potential to hit it big on HD consoles, so I really respect that Sivak has decided to only support the good ol' NES.

[Joe Redifer]

I wouldn't say Pier Solar "blows". It's a lot more professionally done than Mysterious Song which seems very amateur in comparison. I got bored with that one and stopped playing a few hours in. I'm certainly not saying Pier Solar is the greatest thing ever designed. It has lots of little design flaws in there. It's just not as bad as some of the people who program their own games here would have you believe. Those are the ones who piss and moan about Pier Solar the most. Put your money where your mouths are. Design something that blows it away. So far I've only seen simple arcade-like games and an old, very basic RPG which isn't special at all.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

I've not played Pier Solar (fuck FEKA!), but it certainly looks nice and I've played plenty of clunky and far from perfect PCE games.  Nor do I blame them one bit for trying to keep thieves from stealing the rom - if want the game, pay for it.

[Arkhan Asylum]

It's just not as bad as some of the people who program their own games here would have you believe. Those are the ones who piss and moan about Pier Solar the most. Put your money where your mouths are. Design something that blows it away.

I won't speak for any other developer complaining about the game, even though their comments on the game align with everyone else who didn't like the game, including non-programmer opinions stated in this very thread...

I think being a game programmer has little to do with this and is pretty pointless to bring up, honestly.  Being a game programmer doesn't automatically mean I can't state my opinions on a game without being subjected to stupid counter points like "Well, then go do better.".   What about my opinions of commercial titles?  Am I supposed to do better than those too?


I make goofy arcade games.  I don't want to take part in a like, 15 year long RPG project that starts off as a mediocre fan-game, and then turns into a bigtime, overhyped production of the same game.


That being said, it doesn't take much rocket science to be aware that there are fan games slapped together by 13 year olds in RPGMaker2000 that are on par in terms of story cohesiveness and delivery.  It also doesn't take much to be aware of the fact that the game has balance issues that should have been fixed before selling it.  It's a great looking game on the surface (with reportedly stolen artwork).  Kind of like Lunar: Dragon Song for DS.  Looked awesome.   Great music.   Felt like a Lunar game at first... but in the end, had so many bad elements to it that it just fell apart and sucked.

They had the unique privilege of being able to have a ton of fans playtest it, and the ability to compare these things to all of the RPGs of the era.   I don't think they bothered though.   At least with games like Cosmic Fantasy 2, or the first Lunar on Sega CD, the goofy mechanics (and endless random battles) are made up for with a well delivered story, characters that aren't bland, among a handful of other things.  


Just because I program games doesn't mean I can't state these things without being told "Go do better."   Double standards are for people who shouldn't bother posting in a discussion.


now, anyways, me personally, I am more concerned with the lame ass ethics / actions of the people involved.  You'll note mostly all of my serious complaints/rants aren't about the game itself, so much as they are about the stupid shit that Watermelon Team 9000 does.

What's your counterpoint to that?   Put my money where my mouth is? Do better?

I already did that.  Aetherbyte doesn't create false supply/demand scenarios to cause collector price frenzies.  We also don't lie, make excuses, tell our loyal fans/customers to pound sand when they aren't happy, or come up with stupid schemes to get more money out of this whole homebrew thing.

We do what we say we'll do, keep things up front and honest with the people flinging money at us, and deliver neat little arcade style games for the PCE.   No bullshit involved.

If a problem ever comes up with one of these projects, you can bet your man-tits that Aetherbyte won't be beating around the bush about the problems.  

Excuses are for pussies.

[Joe Redifer]

Well you sure seem to have a giant hard on for bashing anything Pier Solar. I can certainly understand not liking the game or how they handled it, but these are things you've gone on and on about for years now. It's like you take the existence of the game very personally. If I had a product people wanted as much as people seem to want Pier Solar, you bet I'd try to make some good money off of it. People want a Dreamcast or PC version or whatever? That's fine. It doesn't bother me or twist my panties into a wad. I'm not forced to buy it. It doesn't invalidate my real Genesis copy somehow. Let them make real money. They have a product people want, that's how business works. And they are a business now. And I can certainly understand them not wanting the game to be dumped. What's wrong with that? Instead, it's being used here as a reason to complain about Watermelon (not necessarily by you, admittedly). How dare they! They are so evil!

The reason I bring up people who program their own games, specifically, is because it comes across as petty. They have had a great deal of financial success with their game. Now this may or may not bother you, but look at it from the view of someone outside looking in on your comments like myself and probably others. Watermelon doesn't go around bitching about other homebrew games. They had a huge chance to with Oh Mummy ripping off Coryoon's BG. When I look at you guys going off over and over and over and over and over and over and over about Pier Solar, it just seems petty.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Well you sure seem to have a giant hard on for bashing anything Pier Solar. I can certainly understand not liking the game or how they handled it, but these are things you've gone on and on about for years now. It's like you take the existence of the game very personally.

Nah.  It's not really personal.  I mostly keep it here on this forum.  I don't go over to their Watermelon hangouts and piss in everyone's Cheerios.  I don't bring it up on other forums I frequent when it comes up.   Just this one.   

I like to at least make sure all our Turbob friends who are newer are alert to the stuff.  There's always someone new here who at least deserves to be informed about the bullshit drama/history of PS.   Someone has to tell them.  It's obviously not going to be you.    I don't mind being that guy.

Anyway, I also bought the game from them.  I put my opinions on their bullshit aside and gave the game a playthrough.   I'm allowed to bitch about the game.  I paid for it.  Just because I make games doesn't mean I won't weigh in on homebrew games.  They're still games, and I'll still have thoughts/feelings about the game. 

Someone at CCAG won a free copy.  He asked me personally about the game itself.

I told them it was about what you would expect from a homebrew RPG.  I left out all the usual ranting that you see here.

If I had a product people wanted as much as people seem to want Pier Solar, you bet I'd try to make some good money off of it. People want a Dreamcast or PC version or whatever? That's fine. It doesn't bother me or twist my panties into a wad. I'm not forced to buy it. It doesn't invalidate my real Genesis copy somehow. Let them make real money. They have a product people want, that's how business works. And they are a business now. That's silly.

No disagreement there.  The path taken to the current business position, on the other hand...

And I can certainly understand them not wanting the game to be dumped. What's wrong with that? Instead, it's being used here as a reason to complain about Watermelon (not necessarily by you, admittedly). How dare they! They are so evil!

The complaint is that it's a futile effort to prevent dumping.  It always happens.   Big time companies can't even prevent it.  They arrogantly claimed they had it covered, and it bit them in the ass.   I'm not even sure if it's actually a complaint.  It's more like pointing and laughing because some dorks figured it all out, lol.

The reason I bring up people who program their own games, specifically, is because it comes across as petty. They have had a great deal of financial success with their game. Now this may or may not bother you, but look at it from the view of someone outside looking in on your comments like myself and probably others. Watermelon doesn't go around bitching about other homebrew games. They had a huge chance to with Oh Mummy ripping off Coryoon's BG. When I look at you guys going off over and over and over and over and over and over and over about Pier Solar, it just seems petty.

I had a bone to pick with the way PS was handled before it was a grand financial success.   It wasn't even out yet!  Back then, Insanity wasn't even out yet, either.  I was still just fucking around, maybe making a game that would get done.

Heck, after the second print, it was said that they lost money and had to recoup on print #2, so even then, when I was bitching about the newest updates to their really bad decisions, they weren't kicking all kinds of financial ass.  

I'd also bet that I make more money at my real job than they made off Pier Solar/Their kickstarter once costs are factored in, and the money is divvied out to the entire team... so it's not like I'm jealous of the money.  

and, to be fair, Watermelon isn't really in a position to bash anyone, given how their launch went down, along with the rest of the comedy that has gone down since then.


Out of curiosity, why don't you come to SFT's defense when we've gone on tirades about those hilarious messes?   Do you too hate the dreaded Cobbwebb?!


EDIT: Also, like you said, they're a business now.  With a product.   Like any business, with any product, you can expect paying customers to weigh in on their thoughts/feelings about how things are going, both good and bad.

Just like how people are bitching that Namco is a bunch of stupid cock holes with Tales of Xilia on forums, and how people wanted to cut someone because those Ni No Kuni wizard editions got sold to some 3rd party who hiked the price up.

Bad business jive is bad business jive.  Welcome to the real world, Watermelon Assault Force Delta!

EDIT 2: I fixed the first paragraph to be more clear.

I like turtles.

[Gillian Seed]

Hmm... a few pages back you were saying Watermelon is all about money and now you're making it sound like they don't make enough money for it to be worthwhile. So which is it?

[Arkhan Asylum]

Hmm... a few pages back you were saying Watermelon is all about money and now you're making it sound like they don't make enough money for it to be worthwhile. So which is it?

Uh, it can be both, dude.  

Just because you're trying to be a profiteering group doesn't mean you're rolling in the dough...

You can be rolling in some, kinda.  It might be worthwhile for them.  It might not be.  Maybe that's why they might be pushing for things that result in even more money.



If they want to do the whole money thing, I wish they'd just do something else instead of milking PS for all its worth. 

[TheClash603]

Pier Solar is the Kim Kardashian of indie games.  It is popular just because it is popular.

I bought the game and I would buy another game from the company if they came up with a traditional selling scheme, but the guys that make it seem a little sleazy.  I would hope that the efforts they use to promote the game would also be put into the product too.

As a non-game developer, I will say Arkhan is right on the mark with this one.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Yeah..   I might entertain buying PS for Dreamcast because I like having more Dreamcast games... but it's not high on my priorities.


If they make something else that comes out, I will likely try it out.   If it sucks, it sucks.   

If they continue the patterns they did with PS, man will that suck.    At least if they go superfamousDIGITALDOWNLOADS!!1!1 they wont be able to create pretend scarcity.

Or they will.

"Guys! GIVE US MORE MONEY FOR GEMS, AND WE WILL ALLOW MORE BANDWIDTH FOR ANOTHER RUN OF DOWNLOADS!1!!"

[PukeSter]

Arkhan, what is your opinion on Watermelon's Magical Game Factory? Do you like the input and invest idea? Just curious.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Arkhan, what is your opinion on Watermelon's Magical Game Factory? Do you like the input and invest idea? Just curious.

I posted about that before in another thread when it happened.

It's dumb.   To me, it shows that you don't really know what you want to do.  Or, you aren't confident enough to put your thing out there.

If you want to ask the public's opinion, take some surveys and discuss it.   Don't let people buy their way in and pay to influence a game.

I mean what happens if I give them 30,000$ and say "make a game about boners and prison rape."

[TheClash603]

Arkhan, what is your opinion on Watermelon's Magical Game Factory? Do you like the input and invest idea? Just curious.

I wish RegalSin had enough $$$ to make them make the game he wanted.

[Joe Redifer]

The complaint is that it's a futile effort to prevent dumping.  It always happens.

I don't think it's futile to try and prevent dumping. However it IS futile to say that your game can't be dumped. That's just gonna make people want to dump it more. I don't know if this is something they actually said. I know they said they had taken steps to make it more difficult but I don't remember any direct quotes. If I were them I wouldn't have said anything.

[Mathius]

I think the whole GEMS system is ridiculous. I am not the first to say this (probably someone here did) but people aren't usually in a position to know what they want. They think they know but they really don't. If Nintendo allowed fans to decide the important decisions that went into making Super Metroid it wouldn't be the classic we know today. It would most likely be an overstuffed turkey of a mess.

[Arkhan Asylum]

The complaint is that it's a futile effort to prevent dumping.  It always happens.

I don't think it's futile to try and prevent dumping. However it IS futile to say that your game can't be dumped. That's just gonna make people want to dump it more. I don't know if this is something they actually said. I know they said they had taken steps to make it more difficult but I don't remember any direct quotes. If I were them I wouldn't have said anything.

You can't prevent dumping.  The only way to prevent dumping is to just dump it yourself and get it over with.   Enough loyal fans will buy the thing.   Look how many "REAL HARDWARE OR GTFO" people there are on the internet.   

[CrackTiger]

The complaint is that it's a futile effort to prevent dumping.  It always happens.

I don't think it's futile to try and prevent dumping. However it IS futile to say that your game can't be dumped. That's just gonna make people want to dump it more. I don't know if this is something they actually said. I know they said they had taken steps to make it more difficult but I don't remember any direct quotes. If I were them I wouldn't have said anything.

I remember a couple members of Watermelon responding to claims (by at least that guy from China a few times) that the game had been dumped and they said that there was no way it had been done and said something to the effect of it will be a long time (if ever) before any one can pull it off successfully. Of the many different ways it was put out there, that someone would be lucky to ever dump it completely and get it to work on anything, it really did seem to be a challenge taken up by pirates.

I don't have a problem with variations of homebrew such as special editions or distinguishable differences for new print runs (even though Watermelon presents itself as more of a business than homebrew, but their first game seems to reflect that level of quality). But I haven't purchased a hard copy of Pier Solar yet because the combination of it being pre-order only without any kind of shipping date window and it coming with "REPRINT EDITION" across the front simply make to lower priority for me than too many other 16-bit games, newer and older. I don't care how good the game may or not be, it's worth buying just to have another game with Genesis aesthetics. I really appreciate that it is 100% original and new, unlike stuff like Oh Mummy! and Super Fighter Team releases.

I'm one of the people who would be happy to pay for an appropriately priced rom version, even if it only runs an emulator it comes with, as long as the emulator is extremely accurate. But I'd rather play the game on real hardware first.

I'm disappointed by the whole PS kickstarter thing, because I'd rather that effort be put into making more <16-bit games and the only ports I'd be excited about would be to <16-bt consoles. Unless the Magical Factory and kickstarter funding is to hire new teams for all of these projects, then the end result is nothing coming out for many years or that money just sits in one place as a single game is worked on at a time.

[OldMan]

Please note: My original comments were not about whether the game sucked or not. It's a homebrew game, so of course it's not going to be as well done as a professionally made game. That does not excuse their attempts to market it as being 'professionally produced'.

I'm with Arkhan on this. My whole problem is not the game - it's the non-professional way the Watermelon team does things. If they want to be thought of as professional, they should act like professionals. Their mis-statements and abrupt reversals reflect badly on -all- homebrew developers.

In the eyes of Joe Public (who paid his hard earned cash for a new game): If Piers Solar is sub-par, and it's the best the homebrew scene can do (Hey, they're "pros", they even say so), then any homebrew game that gets produced must suck. Never mind that there are a lot of really good homebrew games. This is the one that is being hyped. If you are going to do that, you have an obligation (to the other homebrew devs, and the people who helped you get where you are) to produce a quality game. No broken extras, no 'little' bugs, etc.

If they didn't make enough money to cover their costs, I have no problem with a re-release to help. The problem comes in when you say the second edition is the only re-print, and it's to help cover the costs. And then you do a 3rd edition. And a 4th. All while saying "This is the last one".

Again, we see this same kind of behavior in their kickstarter. Think about it for just a minute: You contribute, and you get to decide what kind of game they write. As my mother used to say, you can't please everyone - so someone isn't going to get the game they wanted. In fact, the little investors are going to get screwed over when someone with more money than brains ( Like EBay resellers) comes in with a wad of cash just so he can have bragging rights and be able to say "That's my game". And it's unavoidable. Another unkeepable promise.

As for porting Piers Solar to other systems? Even 20 years ago, there were cpu to cpu translators. The bulk of the game should be easy to move. Well, assuming they wrote it in any kind of modular fashion. Will that happen? Of course not - they will re-write the game from scratch (probably taking another 8 years). Wasting time when they could be doing something with the things they (should have) learned. And whining because they underestimated the costs - again.

In short, my problem is with people who want to be 'professionals', but don't act like it. They act like children who have to be the center of attention all the time. If they want to be professionals, fine. Let them act like it. Produce a high-quality game.
......................................................................
FWIW: We could do Insanity on the dreamcast. It's mostly in a c-like language, so it wouldn't be that hard. And Yes, I have done Dreamcast programming before - If Arkhan ever finds me a broad-band adapter, I may do more (buring and re-burning cd's got to be too expensive)
We could do Insanity on the ps1 or ps2. I've done dev work there, too. But there's the problem of making it a bootable disc there. No one wants to jump through those hoops just to play a homebrew game.

The real question, though, is why would I want to? There are other things I would rather be doing besides re-doing yet another version of the same old game. I guess that's where my real problem with them is. I just can't / don't understand why they want to keep doing the same thing, poorly.

[Arkhan Asylum]

I don't understand the Project N/Y stuff that they do.   Just come out with the game theme already.

[Joe Redifer]

I think the whole GEMS system is ridiculous. I am not the first to say this (probably someone here did) but people aren't usually in a position to know what they want. They think they know but they really don't. If Nintendo allowed fans to decide the important decisions that went into making Super Metroid it wouldn't be the classic we know today. It would most likely be an overstuffed turkey of a mess.

Quoted for truth. Some people spent so much money voting on things to get into the game, by the time it's all said and done they'll have spent 10x the amount of a normal game. I don't recall the Gems to $ ratio, but you need to pay to vote. You can vote as many times as you want as long as you pay.

PS - You guys are going to LOVE the way Pier Solar HD looks. Love it. High-res backgrounds... same ol' Genesis sprites. Anything that's a sprite will look the same as it did before. But now the blockiness stands out. I don't think a lot of people realize this, they just think they're work in progress screens. Nope, those screens are done.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

I mean what happens if I give them 30,000$ and say "make a game about boners and prison rape."

Best game EVER!

[Arkhan Asylum]

I mean what happens if I give them 30,000$ and say "make a game about boners and prison rape."

Best game EVER!

The tagline can be "they're going in dry".

I think the whole GEMS system is ridiculous. I am not the first to say this (probably someone here did) but people aren't usually in a position to know what they want. They think they know but they really don't. If Nintendo allowed fans to decide the important decisions that went into making Super Metroid it wouldn't be the classic we know today. It would most likely be an overstuffed turkey of a mess.

Quoted for truth. Some people spent so much money voting on things to get into the game, by the time it's all said and done they'll have spent 10x the amount of a normal game. I don't recall the Gems to $ ratio, but you need to pay to vote. You can vote as many times as you want as long as you pay.

PS - You guys are going to LOVE the way Pier Solar HD looks. Love it. High-res backgrounds... same ol' Genesis sprites. Anything that's a sprite will look the same as it did before. But now the blockiness stands out. I don't think a lot of people realize this, they just think they're work in progress screens. Nope, those screens are done.

does the HD stand for huge disaster?

[esteban]

PS - You guys are going to LOVE the way Pier Solar HD looks. Love it. High-res backgrounds... same ol' Genesis sprites. Anything that's a sprite will look the same as it did before. But now the blockiness stands out. I don't think a lot of people realize this, they just think they're work in progress screens. Nope, those screens are done.

This wouldn't be so bad if it was an intentional, aesthetic vision from the game's inception...but it ISN'T. At this point, low-res sprites are simply a cost-cutting, half-assed attempt.

I don't care enough to find the screenshots, though...

[Arkhan Asylum]

/689129_20121105_screen008.jpg


lol.


I mean the only thing I see that is a useful improvement is like:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox360/689129-pier-solar-hd/images/gs_screen-5


The cutscenes portraits look nice. 

If they're not fixing the broken gameplay though, there's not much point to playing an HD version.

[esteban]

^Thanks for linking to the images. 

The cutscenes looked nice before, but this is a definite improvement. However, the sprites....

My prediction: in a year, there will be a new HD SPRITES PIER SOLAR Kickstarter campaign.

Stages...do this in stages and milk every part of the process.

Then, HD DOLBY SURROUND SOUND Kickstarter in 2015...