While a coupon would be better than nothing, I sincerely hope that IndieRoyale would tell him to fuck off if that was what he offered. The last thing I want is for that sort of bullshit to become an accepted practice.
I don't care how much the Dev made per sale: if they weren't happy with the split they shouldn't have joined a bundle in the first place. It is hardly my fault that they couldn't be bothered to do the math before hand.
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Greenlit for all indie devs is like sex for men - when you get it, you've succeed and can do whatever you want with a girl...
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Still cannot understand that move :
Why don't he give the keys to the former buyers? Do the keys cost him anything?(Nothing)
Now let's think it another way. Not giving keys will only benefit him when the receiver is going to pay for it. Well... Is he expecting the supporters, whom he betrayed, to pay a cent more to him? For a game they owned?
Moreover, he got nothing from this, and lost the future : yep, we see what a developer this guy is.
Conclusion : a totally retarded decision, couldn't be worse.
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Heh yeah, I thought about this. I'm just guessing his train of thought at the time was that he didn't want to give away a large number of Steam keys because that would be giving up sales in his eyes. Of course in reality, when people already bought your game through whatever means, have a valid Desura key and Steam keys were promised to all early-buyers, there is no chance in hell that original base of people will unnecessarily double-dip with their money. I do believe this is a understood fact now, but that one action puts a tarnish on future sales.
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http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/124474874/846965882820154476/#p4 <= everyone gets a key, but the damage is done (heh as we've seen in the past, developers don't always make the best "people persons" when it comes to knee-jerk comments and such).
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It's not really that big of a deal in the end. Nobody is perfect as the saying goes -- it was resolved quickly and the important thing is it sounds like he is going to honor his word. If he plays his cards right he can repair the damage in my opinion, and people will forget about it before long. Just get people focused on enjoyment of the game, the Co-op experience, and they will forgive and forget. No harm, no foul.
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laurent [developer] 55 minutes ago
I keep my word:
Everyone who bought McDROID on Indie Royal gets a Steam Key!
Sorry for the "hell no" response, I realize now how uncaring it was, especially given your support, but those who followed this game know I am bad with words. Plus in this case I'm pushing close to 18 hours days, 7 days a week to meet the release date and to make it super good, so I'm juggling business and patching up stuff that breaks left and right, while improving the graphics, the sound and the balancing, and making new levels to refine the difficulty curve and teach all the mechanics of the game ... each day is intense like you would not believe. And because I'm reaching the end of my capacity and yet I want McDROID to be awesome, what ends up suffering are human rapports. So words get thrown rapidly, crappy days turn into quick responses and bam the interweb is on fire.
And to tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting this intense of a backlash because I didn't know you people cared about McDROID anymore so I am so so so super happy about what just happened because there is nothing worse than spending 2 years of your life and all your personal savings on a game and have people not give a crap.
So thank you everyone to show you care :-)
(now I wouldn't mind if this caring takes the form of kind words, I could use that as encouragement for the next few days :-)
Last edited by laurent; 37 minutes ago
Give the guy a break. He already knew he did poorly, and now trying to amend the mistakes.
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This will happen everytime; devs put their game in a bundle in the hopes of getting more Greenlight votes,
when Greenlit, devs refuse to hand out Steam keys,
result = devs get a shitload of hatemails and twitter messages and in the end they will bow down to the pressure and hand out Steam keys anyway.
You go guys! peer pressure ftw right?
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Well this time it was justified because the developer actually said he would give out Steam keys but people are starting to feel entitled to getting Steam keys in general when a bundled game gets Greenlit even though the Developers never promised to.
Remember what happend to Nyu Media & Boss Baddie? and those are just two examples.
Devs are getting scared of 'us' and are now just handing out Steam keys whenever they can or they'll recieve a shitstorm like they've never seen before.
So; no, it probably won't become a trend because there is no need anymore.
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No, I have no idea what happened with those games. Sounds like something unfair though from the implication. I agree with you and personally I go by whatever was promised or stated (which in reality may be nothing) by either the developer/publisher or the party who is promoting/selling it.
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As one guy who's been promoting that game for a friend, I'll make a statement.
I agree with you guys, this new statement was absolutely-to fuck-rotten. I would have added him to MY hate list anyways, if a dev had acted like this. I know people, that was a very dick-headed move, but I don't think the the game deserves the hate even if what the dev has done is wrong. Some classique examples are the many games published by Activision (devs aren't more involved than the publisher in this case, tho)
Anyways, I can understand how people feel about this, and I agree with you. Just my one thing, that a dev being rotten doesn't mean that his game is in the same cart.
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Come on now, you're generalizing. I didn't change my mind because of the bad rep, that would imply that I was trying to cheat people (internet suicide anyone?). No, I changed my mind because I promised something on the IR thread 10 month ago, that I had forgotten and that Spoderman & co reminded me (with a gentle kick in the groin) so I was just keeping my word.
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I think that's fair. I'm surprised how many developers follow through with Steam keys on these bundles. You'd think it would be a rare occurrence as opposed to the norm. Do you, however, still believe it should be standard practice now that you've been there first-hand?
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Honestly, with that type of thinking (the damage is done), you don't even deserve a Steam key. Forgive and forget... move on. There are more serious problems in the world than you not getting a cheap Steam key at a huge discount. I doubt you even want to play the game... you just want another game added to your 1,200 Steam game library.
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Except for the fact that, you know, the dev already promised steam keys?
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Update: Everyone who bought McDROID on Indie Royal gets a Steam Key! More info below.
It seems that the developer of McDROID, Elefantopia, has decided to refuse to provide Steam keys for Indie Royale buyers (the game was in The Debut Bundle).
His reason?
Indie Royal was a revenue split amongst 5 games, that's be 0.20$ = hell no Link, SS.
Considering that the bundle in question started at $3.99 (and went up thereafter) I find this hard to believe, even between 6 games. However, even if that were true (and it'd be sad if it was)...
Given the expectation of Steam keys for any greenlit games that many (if not most) buyers would have had, this looks like the developer bundled his game to receive Greenlight votes from the buyers, but now that he's been greenlit, he doesn't want to know them. (This may not be true, but it is how it appears to at least a few of us.)
Before anyone claims that we shouldn't have expected keys: the developer's word should be enough. (Context, SS.)
UPDATE 1: Elefantopia has replied in the Steam community thread here.
I agree with you guys, that would be a rotten deal and I always keep my word so let me see what I'll do, something that's fair for everyone and I'll get back to you.
Sorry for having screwed this one up and thanks for having kept the hate to a minimum.
UPDATE 2: His last replies (here and here) can be summarised with:
`Everyone who bought McDROID on Indie Royal gets a Steam Key! Sorry for the "hell no" response, I realize now how uncaring it was, especially given your support, but those who followed this game know I am bad with words.
There's a lot more in his posts, and I don't feel like I can do them justice if I paraphrase them.
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