Another ‘little guy’ is gone
Many of us who hang around here are parents watching our kids grow up with a cornucopia of video games and systems that offer an amazing breadth of experiences. Many of us grew up in a time when games and other software created by ‘two guys in a garage’ was actually feasible – and much of the best stuff was created by very small teams. In more recent years niche genres such as PC RPG’s have been served to a larger extent by developers who are not much more than one or two people with some cool ideas and rudimentary technology. They do it as a sideline and sustain themselves on goodwill and a sense of serving a community rather than on hard cash. Today another one of those small developers has decided to call it quits.
David Moffat runs a site called Australian Game Developers from which he hosted a game called ‘The Omega Syndrome‘. This is a nice turn-based isometric RPG that owes much to classics such as Fallout, Baldur’s Gate and the Ultima’s, while still doing things its’ own way with some cool themes of aliens and conspiracies mixed in for good measure.
A preview attached with the demo announcement at Game-Reviews.ca said:
The Omega Syndrome’s story is a breath of fresh air for the RPG genre, as it is set in 1950’s America and the player works for a secret organization that hunts down aliens and UFOs. It was designed to appeal to the mature gamer, who fondly remembers the golden era of computer role-playing games, as it uses a top down view that affords a strategic view of the battlefield. Its combat is turn-based and it uses well written text to describe its quests and dialogue.
The Omega Syndrome’s rule system encourages different playing styles depending on the type of character created and the skills the player chooses to advance in. It also comes with an editor and an online community, so the players can make and share their games.
On his website David said:
After four years of updating and selling The Omega Syndrome online, I have finally decided to take it off sale and shut the site down.
While I may be back with a new site and game in the future, I don’t know if I will have the high motivation that is required to make another computer RPG. Why? Fan expectations are high, the potential audience is small and fractured and the amount of work that is required to create even a low quality computer RPG, far exceeds that of any other type of game. So in short I no longer believe they can be successful financially or otherwise, unless they are properly funded and have the very best people working in each area.
While we all certainly respect David’s choice and appreciate the contribution he has made producing this fine game – and being extremely responsive in dealing with whatever issues people had, there is a part of me that is sad to see him go, as if another little bit of the spirit and style that made our hobby so great from the early days has disappeared.
Just to note – you can still get the demo at GamersHell.
To David: Good luck with whatever you do next, and thanks for contributing to that crazy genre – the PC RPG!
September 10th, 2007 at 11:44 am
This almost sounds like a “I’m taking my ball and going home” approach. Why not leave the game available for sale?
September 10th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
I can’t confirm, but I think that he handled pretty much everything and without a 3rd party to handle the sales it would all cost him in terms of infrastructure and overhead … and ongoing support.
September 10th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
That’s the bad thing about selling anything. When you sell stuff, every paying customer is your boss and working for that many people can be awful–especially gamers, some of whom probably unfairly compared him with the big guns in the genre. If you’re a small-time developer you almost have to give your stuff away and beg for donations. People who donate don’t expect you to cater to their every whim, and the non-donor complaints can be dismissed with a “what do you expect for free?” approach. The public at large doesn’t really seem to understand the value of time and will constantly encroach upon yours unless you have some defense mechanism in place.
September 10th, 2007 at 9:04 pm
I understand your sentiment Bob, but I think it’s a little unfair, and PapaGamer’s response nicely explains why.
I’m a “little guy” myself, and the actually development part of self-published software is the easy and fast part. It’s supporting it that takes so much time and energy, and it can be hard to keep motivated. But if you slack off on the support side you (rightly) earn a bad reputation, so it’s often better just to shut the faucet off completely like Moffat is doing here.
September 11th, 2007 at 5:16 am
If anyone is interested I was alerted to a review of the game over at Duck & Cover – http://www.duckandcover.cx/content.php?id=64
September 11th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Mike — thanks for the great article. I grew up in a time when entire computer companies (HP, Apple) were created by ‘two guys in a garage,’ so I definitely understand the sentiment here.
Is there any way to make those screenshots clickable so we can see a bigger version?
September 11th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Hey KevinH – I’ll give the link where I found the screens: http://the-omega-syndrome.en.softonic.com/ie/screenshots
September 12th, 2007 at 2:19 am
Cool, thanks Mike.
April 27th, 2016 at 1:22 am
We’ve even redecorated my youngster’s lavatory for $8 – detailed with bath curtain,
rug, toothbrush holder, detergent dispenser and trashcan.