TIL the dev of Iron Lung, an acclaimed indie horror game, faced significant backlash over increasing the price from $6 to $8

Then, responding to those who have said he’s “only doing this for the money", Szymanski tweeted: “Yes, no fucking shit. I make games for a living. If I didn't want to earn money from them I wouldn't charge money for them.”

The game follows the premise of being trapped in an underwater submarine out of necessity to capture deep pictures.

whereisk, (edited )

I hope this is clever marketing from the developer because I had never heard of this game until now and also because I can’t for the life of me figure out why anyone would abuse an indie developer for $2.

I understand some people might do that, but they’d have to be a tiny percentage.

CorrodedCranium,
@CorrodedCranium@leminal.space avatar

People bully FOSS developers when their creations are free so I can’t say I’m surprised.

I hope this is clever marketing from the developer because I had never heard of this game until now

The same person made DUSK and Squirrel Stapler. Squirrel Stapler and Iron Lung are shorter games that have been popular with streamers.

Kage520,

I once made an app for Samsung watches for disc golf scorekeeping. It could accept any number of players, apply a handicap throughout the game so you could know exactly how you were doing vs your opponent with different handicaps on every hole, and gave a nice scorecard at the end to view. It was $0.99

Someone complained that I made them “throw away their money down the drain” since it didn’t also have gps to tell them how far they were from the hole.

whereisk,

Yes, some people will literally waste 100x more resources, in mental energy and time, than the price of admission to complain.

But my point was that this type of criticism can be ignored - if you get 1000 sales and 2 people turn out to be dickheads you shove them in the (mental) bin.

Flax_vert,

Dunno how Samsung store works, but ik on Google play you can literally refund the app in one click within two hours of buying it. I’ve literally just bought apps to try out before and refunded if I didn’t like them.

therealjcdenton, (edited )

Isn’t only like an hour and a half or something?

Aatube,

The price change was accompanied by an update that included

the addition of the Terminal, which, located in the back of the Iron Lung, opposite to the photograph display monitor, could be used to look up certain terms relevant to the game's lore. Aside from the addition of the terminal, the update also included the addition of the SM-8[(a new location to explore)], Steam achievements, trading cards, and a point shop. The update also fixed collision issues with the Humming Monolith, as well as moved it to a different location.

therealjcdenton,

That makes more sense thanks for informing me

TonyTonyChopper,
@TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz avatar

I picked this one up a few days ago, very cool game concept and well executed

Swedneck,
@Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

I wonder to what degree people react because it’s a cheap game and for some people this is the only stuff they can afford (especially in the current economy), so raising the price feels like a personal attack to them.

People who buy 70$ games don’t care as much because they’re already able and willing to drop such hideous sums on games, and the hardware needed to run them.

Starkstruck,

if an increase of two whole dollars is enough to freak someone out, they don’t need to be buying video games. Like if you’re really THAT broke, you’ve got other priorities.

runeko,
@runeko@programming.dev avatar

Tale as old as time. I’ll just leave this here: genius.com/Tool-hooker-with-a-penis-lyrics

AVincentInSpace,

Cool song, question: why’s it named that?

RustyShackleford,
@RustyShackleford@programming.dev avatar

Maynard James Keenan, the singer of Tool, is artfully insinuating that he is a “hooker” prostituting his music, and since he is male, he has a penis.

Notyou,

From singing about prostituting his music to now being a black belt in BJJ and having Mike Tyson train in his gym.

It’s crazy how things come around.

kryllic,
@kryllic@programming.dev avatar

"I like the business model of ‘I want money so I make something that I think is worth money, and you pay me that money and you get the thing, and we’re all happy’,” Szymanski continued. “That’s it. There’s nothing complicated or hidden here.

Lmao I love it, gonna get this game now

Duamerthrax,

Also check out Dusk. It’s a full length game as opposed to a one and done streamer game.

eskimofry,

Buying the game now

CriticalMiss,

Lmao…

AAA dogshit shovelware game increases price from $60 to $70 and some people are unhappy.

Small time indie dev bumps game price from $6 to $8 to keep up with inflation and people lose their shit to the point it goes on gaming msm

No wonder we’re the most abused market.

RecluseRamble,

Well, one is a 17% and one a 33% price hike, so outrage is totally understandable! I’m not being serious, btw.

A_Random_Idiot,

This is an excellent example of how you can use statistics/percentages to push a false narrative.

Cause you hear “Dev increased game 33%” and you wonder what the fuck is going on, and in that same vein a 17% price hike doesnt sound nearly as outrageous. Despite the fact that 33% is a paltry 2 dollars, that came with a massive increase in content, and the measly 17% is a massive increase in price for a game that is fundamentally worse than what was made 10 years ago in scope and content.

and to be clear, I am not saying RecluseRamble is in any way pushing any kind of negative/false narrative. I’m just using his % without context (within the vein of his own post) to show how things can be manipulated.

Aatube,

I agree, I hate it when I say "removing unemployment payouts to millionaires can save our nation tens of millions of dollars!" to be met with "that's just .418% of our national debt"

Drewelite,

Consumers these days have so much entitlement. I understand not wanting to be tricked with advertising or wanting a safe product, without toxic chemicals or whatnot.

But at the end of the day, assuming that’s the case, someone should be able to make whatever they want and charge whatever they want. If no one buys it, they’re a bad business person. The end. But lately I’ve seen so many people doing things like starting witch hunts to go after makers of something they don’t like. Or trying to strongarm a company into changing a product by holding their reputation for ransom. Or deciding as a community on an idealized business model and punishing companies that don’t use it.

And the gaming community is the worst of them. Like if you don’t like multiplayer games, fine. Don’t shit on a game for like 5 paragraphs just to finally say, “See? RDR2 did just fine, we should be making single player games. Anyway I didn’t actually play this and neither should you. 0/5 stars.”

Like bro, this team worked really hard to make a game they believed in. They didn’t have to run it by you. If you don’t like it play something else. But people will claim you have no right to have created what you did, the audacity that you thought you could is appalling, and frankly… You’re an immoral person to work for money. Like damn guys, chill. Nobody has to make you games. I don’t go see Starry Night and write a letter to Van Gogh’s estate like, “I’m not a fan of blue”

FlashMobOfOne, (edited )
@FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world avatar

The people complaining about a $2 price increase are the same guys harassing women on Instagram for free OF subs.

HappycamperNZ,

Fuck you all, im going to go buy it out of spite

adam_y,
@adam_y@lemmy.world avatar

No mate, I’m doing you a favour playing your game. You should pay me. It would be great exposure. I’ve got literally some followers.

And yeah, I’ll bang on about minimum wage being too low and I’ll post about AAA Devs ripping off their workers, but a lone developer asking $10 for something that probably took them months, too much. Too much.

What a sell out.

(/S just in case)

adam_y,
@adam_y@lemmy.world avatar

And what’s worse, half of those complaining bought Elon’s blue tick!

Drewelite,

Gamers: Where’s my game? Why do you subject your developers to crunch? Why is it so expensive? Why don’t you pay your developers more?

nitefox,

Just print more money no

Buddahriffic,

Why haven’t you released the game yet, this is outrageous! Why have you released this unfinished and untested mess, this is outrageous!

Landsharkgun,

$8

Empricorn, (edited )

Did they face significant backlash? Or is IGN just trying to “make fetch happen”? I might have just missed it.

Aatube,

Yes they did, just read the tweets linked

Empricorn, (edited )

Thank you for responding, but no, I’m not going to xitter.

Aatube,

IMO, not even visiting is very weird. Just use a blocker and steal their revenue.

As an uninformed, I also wonder why you think IGN would make up stuff.

Empricorn,

They (including Musk) make money off of how ubiquitous it is, even if you’re not viewing ads. They leverage that daily view count.

No judgement, but if you’re visiting X/Twitter, you’re supporting them. As for IGN, there’s the “too much water” controversy, but basically, they’re just way too corporate for me…

asteriskeverything,

You can’t say things like that here! We are a bunch of nerds who cling so tightly to online privacy and morals it is practically our personality!

Nah it is weird, in the sense that most people really won’t put in that much energy to avoid a site even if it was to gather information. It’s atypical.

avater,
@avater@lemmy.world avatar

it’s called ethics.

Kedly,

Not using a service that you dont like and dont agree with is weird? Really?

Aatube,

It's like insisting on always paying with cash imo. Does some ethics but quite a bit of an inconvenience if you're in a queue.

Kedly,

Ok yeah, you can be annoyed, but your cash example is ALSO perfectly fine if a person decides digital money isnt for them

Aatube,

Yeah, I get the same level of annoyed on both of these. Cheerio

GBU_28,

Tweets do not represent significant backlash .

Edit Significant backlash would be something like getting delisted from steam

Aatube,

A ton of people attacking the dev on Twitter is significant backlash. An earthquake does not have to cause a Tsunami to have a big effect.

Snazz,

I believe it. A friend of mine raised the price of his game from free to $2 with a big update, and still kept the download for the older version free. He got all sorts of backlash, even death threats. These people are children.

RobotToaster,
@RobotToaster@mander.xyz avatar

Didn’t it only become popular because of that sub that joined the Titanic?

all-knight-party,
@all-knight-party@kbin.run avatar

Not sure if that coincided with the release time, but it is on its own a very cool game, if that event got people's foot in the door to experience it and enjoy it on its own merits, then hey.

Aatube,

No, it got popular before that 'cuz Markiplier.

Caesium,

it had boosted sales thanks to the uncanny similarity with the sub. prior though it was still pretty big in the indie horror gaming sphere

Aatube,

did you use to make a dank bot by any chance

Caesium,

nope, you’ve got the wrong person

RizzRustbolt,

Sounds like something that someone who made a dank bot would say.

littlewonder,

I like how this subtly suggests the developer sabotaged the Titan in order to gain more exposure.

wellee, (edited )

That’s fine, I wasn’t going to buy it anyway :) especially if the creator only did it for the money. I will stick to indie games creators make because they like games <3

Edit: hahaha apparently I hurt some people’s feelings by having an opinion. Too bad. Indie game isn’t worth $6, and it’s made by someone who doesn’t care about the game, but yeah, go off. I’m going to go play Stardew, something worth money by someone who cares about their game :)

Dangdoggo,
Dangdoggo avatar

Oh yeah Eric Barone and Toby Fox gave their millions away right? Stfu.

Croquette,

Shut up. That indie dev has to eat as well. Indie devs also need to get paid to eat and pay rent. Just like a painter selling their art to make ends meet.

You’re the kind of person that want arts for free from artists because “it’s only 5$ bro”.

As the dev said, go pirate it or something.

DeadPand,

I hope you do your job for free too cause you just like to work :) <3

Aatube,

Why else would you add a price to something?

wellee,

The distinction is he agreed he was only doing it for the money. Idc if they charge for their hard work, they should. But if an indie game is only in it for the money, it’s no better than a gacha.

Aatube,

He never said he was making the game only for the money; he said that he set the price for the money. Things like a filter that turns everything into Markiplier and continued updates show that he also has passion.

wellee,

He literally did, and you even put it in your post.

“to those who have said he’s “only doing this for the money”, Szymanski tweeted: “Yes, no fucking shit."

When people tell you who they are, listen.

Aatube,

"this" refers to bumping the price

frezik,

I guess pronouns really are difficult for some people.

RizzRustbolt,

Welcome to the world.

We do shit for money.

Money helps us eat.

frezik,

Turns out, it’s not possible to fill your stomach and keep a roof over your head by having enough passion.

“haha, I hurt your feelings by having an opinion”. No, you’re setting unreasonable expectations in a society that requires money to cover the basics of living. If you’d like to start a revolution to jump directly into a moneyless anarchist collective society, then that’s different. Actually, no, it’s not, because that revolution isn’t happening anytime soon, may not actually work out that way in the end, and even if it does, people shouldn’t have to wait to solve the basics of living.

wellee,

Lmao, no this does not have a larger meaning. An indie dev stated he only cared about the money and started charging $2 more. Shocker.

frezik,

stated he only cared about the money

He did not. He said “I want to earn more money”. That does not preclude being passionate about something, just wanting to have a roof over his head.

“If you’re passionate about something, you should do it for free” is not a workable position in our society.

wellee,

You can rewrite it as much as you want, but no, he did say that. It’s even in the post.

“to those who have said he’s “only doing this for the money”, Szymanski tweeted: “Yes, no fucking shit."

I have no idea why everyone is taking this so personally. I said it’s not the game for me, and you all melted LMAO

frezik,

We’re taking it personally because a lot of us are in exactly the same position, or have someone close to us that is. Our passions have to feed us. You’re directly undermining that.

wellee,

I literally am not, this is not the guys passion. He is in it for the money. He stated that directly.

frezik,

Being there for money and passion is not mutually exclusive.

wellee,

I know that, that’s why I didn’t support his comment on his game.

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