rec.autos.simulators

I`m no programmer, but could it be done, I mean cost/time/sales - wise ?

Beers and cheers
(uncle) Goy

Trips

No, I was trying to say that they sure didn't expect it to be a blockbuster
like N2 (read Page 90 of the driving guide by Steve Smith). So if you are
putting 4 years into the development of a game and then say you don't expect
it to sell that much as N2 so you will need Internet to meet other people
who play GPL, then in my eyes there are more motiviations to develop a game.
And the money will come in time. GPL will sell steadily over a number of
years and part of the development was for other sims like NASCAR 2000 and
CART 200x. And I'm really curious what the break-even point is in this
matter, and if they will reach it.

Harald

Z.

O.k, maybe another reason.

MGPRS2, CMR and GPL all came out within 1 week of each other, and shat all
over each other sales.

CMR came out as the winner.

hmmm

Perhaps more people would have brought both- only if they'd not been so close
together.

Z.

This happens in many areas, not just computer software.  For example,
big console makers like Sony and Sega will often LOSE money on the
hardware they are selling, knowing they will recoup the loss plus more
on the software side, so it is important that they flood the market
with the hardware.  Similarly, Sierra needed that new engine, and
released what they knew was a risk to be a low-selling project with
the idea that it made a good "proof of concept" for the engine and
they could thus more quickly turn around N3.

Of course Sierra isn't going to turn down money by giving away GPL :)

Randy
Randy Magruder
http://members.home.com/rmagruder

 http://members.tripod.com/~HOSHUMUNGUS

    and

 http://www.frontiernet.net/~godsoe/bolt/home.htm

Stuart

--
Stuart Booth
Somewhere in Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Note: My email address is in disguise! Remove trailing Z

+ADw-910191016.20955.0.nnrp-07.c2deb209+AEA-news.demon.co.uk+AD4-...
+AD4-You make some good points - I could draw an analogy with the game our
+AD4-company recently produced - the space-sim Independence War. A lot of
people
+AD4-who first get the game complain that its too difficult, and its
realistic
+AD4-physics put them off. If they stick with it, they realise that
there's a
+AD4-fantastic amount of satisfaction to be had from learning a skill that
is not
+AD4-initially easy to do. We get loads of email to this effect.
+AD4-

   Ya know, after reading a bunch about I-War in
the flight sim group and in the various rags I keep
finding myself tempted to try it out.

  But every time I get serious about buying it the
words +ACI-realistic physics+ACI- show up and then the
title +ACI-M.A.N.T.I.S.+ACI- quickly follows in my brain.

  Overcome with uncontrollable seizures and
revulsion I'm unable to get out my money and
purchase the game.  Oftentimes the poor
register-monkey at Electronics Boutique is
forced to call security and have me dragged
screaming from the store.

  Promise me that I-War is nothing like +ACI-M.A.N.T.I.S.+ACI-
and I'll go buy it. :)

  (MANTIS is the ONLY game I've ever purchsed
that I completely regretted.  I couldn't find ANYTHING
worthwhile in that whole mess.   Dating myself here
too aren't I?    I just realized that a goodly
amount of folks out there will have no idea what
I'm talking about here.)

   -dobe-

I don't blame you at all. Mantis was a terrible game based on a great game -
Warhead which was only Amiga/ST.

Rest assured that Independence War does not suffer from any of the same
problems. Don't take my word for it though, read some reviews by going
through our page:-

http://www.independencewar.com

Sorry for the OT post.

- Michael

you do not ship 200,000 unit pre-orders day one on a title you do not
"forecast huge sales" on.

Z.

I personally would like to see such a thing, but it takes time, and
time which would detract from one or the other. It would take longer
than making a game, and it would take longer than making a sim. Some
economies would occur, such as being able to share graphics, track and
car models etc, but it would inevitably take longer. It could be done
though, as GP2 showed - it probably showed how much time and delay we
could expect also!

Cheers!
John

Now we all assume here that GPL is a fairly "narrow" title and not
really aimed at the mass-market, so it should be fairly easy to increase
sales by a fair amount by adding an "arcade mode" that also lower the
system specs a fair bit, there`s plenty of customers in our shop here
that buys anything that has wheels attached to it, but are put off by
GPL`s _very_ high system demands, I`m sure I`ve could`ve doubled or
tripled _my_ sales, but then again the customer base is too small to
make any conclusions, so....

I`m not dissatisfied with this sim, in fact the reason I`m wondering
about this I really want Papy to make as much money as possible, that
would make it so much easier for them to come out with another "narrow"
project such as this, I`d love to see a 50`s or 60`s GT sim on this
engine, and a Touringcar sim and.......

Beers and cheers
(uncle) Goy

Also known as Frosty the Snowman these days, boy I hate the winter,
standing out in the snow yeasterday changing to snow tyres was NOT one
of my more memorable moments, but considering there are 2 - 3 inches of
snow here right now, it probably had to be done...