Aquaria on XBLA or PSN?

[futurewrestler]

Why don't the creators of Aquaria pushing this? Indy games have already been put avalible for download in the past and Aquaria definitely better than everything avalible for download now.  If it was on the arcade or PSN it would sell loads more than other games, even at $30. It would increase sales  for Bit-Blot and get their name out there even more so than now.

So, why aren't the devs. pushing this?  I and I'm sure a lot of other people would much rather play Aquaria from their Xbox or Playstation than from their computer.

Edit: just read the faq, and probably should have done so before I posted, but I still don't understand why a mac version is being pushed more so than a console one.  2D gamers =/= PC gamers.

[Alec]

I don't know what you mean by "push".

We can't make a console version unless the console makers are interested, and only if they present us with a deal that makes sense.

Its not like you can just go release a console version of your game whenever you feel like.

So beyond talking to console makers and seeing if we can sort out a deal, there's nothing more we can do.

[futurewrestler]

So beyond talking to console makers and seeing if we can sort out a deal

That's what I'm saying though.  Obviously MS/Sony isn't going to go around to random game devs (no matter how awesome their game is) and ask them to put their game up, and it doesn't really look like you guys are really pushing for a console version.

I don't understand why you aren't pushing releases where you'll get more attention for your game, rather than focusing your attention on releasing a soundtrack and a mac version.

Either way, I love to see developers that are so active on their forums : )

I'm just trying to put in my two cents, there's probably a lot I don't understand about how things like this would work. 

[Alec]

Well we've talked to all three. I don't know what else we can do beyond that.

Obviously we're not going to release our conversations with them here or anywhere, so how would you ever be aware that we were "pushing" or not "pushing" for it?

Do you think we should organize an army and storm their corporate headquarters or something?

[futurewrestler]

Well we've talked to all three.

 hmm... 

Obviously we're not going to release our conversations with them here or anywhere, so how would you ever be aware that we were "pushing" or not "pushing" for it?

In the FAQ all it said was you guys were "considering" porting it to xbox 360, wii, PS, ect.  I actually didn't think you had talked to any of them.

Do you think we should organize an army and storm their corporate headquarters or something?

Maybe if you had more than 2 people...

I'm surprised-and more than a little disapointed that you've actually tried to contact all three major companies, and that none of them (or at least it looks like) have responded. Funny, I wonder what their thought process is for what games they place for download against what they don't. 

[Alec]

Well I think some are interested, but its a slow process and it also hinges on whether we get a fair deal from them or not. Its a complicated ongoing thing, so we'll see if anything comes out of it. Its not like you email a company and they're like "alright let's do it" and everything is happy instantly. There are lots of things to work out and lots of things to consider.

Personally, right now I'm more interested in making new games than doing ports, so I'm not terribly worried if a console port of Aquaria never comes to light. The business process for this stuff is very tiring and it doesn't make much sense to me.

[futurewrestler]

Personally, right now I'm more interested in making new games than doing ports

This might just be the best quote from a developer ever. 

Sounds like you guys are satisfied with the money you've made so far, which is great news. I'm very interested what you plan on doing next, although I'm sure it will be more than a little while before anything on it is released.

[Alec]

I'm very interested what you plan on doing next, although I'm sure it will be more than a little while before anything on it is released.

Yeah, we'll see! I'd love to talk about it now, but its probably not the right time yet.

[DSProgrammer]

Yeah, something not a lot of people know about the big console manufacturers, they all have really strict requirements for people to develop for their systems.  Nintendo, for example, requires that your company have a business license, an official office, and proof that you have the money to guarantee a quality game.  And on top of that, you then have to pay a couple thousand dollars to buy a dev kit.  If you can't do all that, they usually just tell you to get lost and find a publisher.  Oh, and then on top of that, the game has to fit a bunch of strict standards too.  And it came out recently that even Nintendo's "Wiiware" system still has every single requirement that a standard console developer has, so isn't really friendly to indy developers.

[Glamador]

But Nintendo released the Wii dev kit to independent devs for free if I recall.  In the hopes that they would develop for their console.  But the whole wii-ware concept is newer than that I think.  Perhaps if you talk to somebody who has gotten on one of these consoles you could figure out what it takes?  If they're ignoring your e-mails, well, maybe we fans should e-mail them saying we'd gladly purchase it if it got a release on that console?

[Gnerma]

The size limit for Wii ware is probably a bit too limiting (~40mb supposedly) for a game with such a high quantity of 2D art. Also, it's not free. You have to get the full blessing of Nintendo and use a fully featured dev kit ($$$).

[Fearless Son]

I currently work in Microsoft's SQL group.  Can you give me the name of the person that you contacted at the company?  Maybe I can give them a little gentle nagging from this side of things.   

[Alec]

http://tigsource.com/articles/2008/03/26/metanet-n-and-the-state-of-xbla