Mivo

Well, it's a remake, sure, and I bought the same "core game" for the third time essentially (the first time through CompuServe's shareware registration service!), but I'm still getting three dozens of hours out of this, so I'm fine with it. It's an improved and extended version.

According to Valve, this is a decision made by the publisher, not by them. You'll see plenty of indie games with properly converted prices. Yes, it irked me, too, but because of the principle, not the actual price. I think the game is way under-priced.

I picked it up at Steam for the achievements (sad, I know!), but made up for it by also buying the iPad version.

Been playing and enjoying it tonight. It's as close to a Dungeon Master remake as they could come without it being an official Dungeon Master remake.

 

My only gripes with it are the apparent absence of a volume slider (unless I am totally missing it, I can only either have sound and music at 100% or mute it) and the fact that ESC always brings up the menu instead of closing the inventory if opened.

I think I prefer the home button to be on the right side because then the volume controls are at the top rather than rubbing against my pinky. May just be the way I'm holding the device.

I think those who are unfamiliar with the iPhone/iPad market and feel that the iPad version is unreasonably cheap need to understand that selling Avadon HD for $25 on the AppStore would be like offering the Windows/Mac version for $99. Only die-hard fans would buy it, and to everyone else it would seem outrageous.

 

Even at the current price of $9.99 it is among the most expensive games in the store and Jeff may have made more profit if he had offered it for $4.99. (And even $4.99 would be in the top 20% as far as AppStore prices for games go.)

 

It's not about whether or not the game is worth $25. For me, it's worth more than that, so of course the $9.99 for the iPad version was a super deal in my eyes. But if I didn't also play on the PC platform and had not been paying $50 for pretty much every new, non-indie game that I have bought in the past thirty years, and had instead "grown up" with iPhone and iPad games, I would have had a hard time justifying ten dollars for a game.

 

Prices need to be looked at in their relative context, and that's not limited to just Avadon or even video games.

I had some screen-size concerns, but those proved to be unfounded. My only nit-picky nitpicking is that the screen is fixed and doesn't rotate (I like my home button on the right side), but that is really very tiny!

It's a different market with a different culture. Even at $9.99, Avadon for the iPad is more expensive than pretty much ever other game, except for SE's Final Fantasy series and their shallow Rings of Chaos. The game is certainly worth $9.99 (and $25 for the PC/Mac version), but value alone doesn't determine whether something sells.

 

iDevices users are used to paying $0.99 to $1.99 for the vast majority of games, so anything that costs more is seen as "wow, that's expensive!". It's peculiar to observe if you game on other platforms, too.

 

I hadn't bought my iPad2 for gaming, but it somehow became my go-to gaming device after just a few days. (And ironically I barely use it for the purpose I had picked it up for: as a study tool for Go, the board game.)

It is out! 7.99 Euro, so probably 9.99 dollars, which is high by AppStore standads, but a great price for this game.

 

Downloading ...

Count me in the camp of those waiting for the release. I had planned on getting the Windows version, but then an iPad 2 "happened", and so I figured I'd wait an extra month or two. It isn't easy, though!

 

I'd offer my help in form of beta testing (totally unselfishly, of course!), but that already seems to be covered.