Author Topic: Theme packs as separate download?  (Read 2236 times)

Offline Martoon

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Theme packs as separate download?
« on: August 10, 2010, 05:58:56 pm »
When I first bought Tidalis and got my download link, I was a little taken aback by the 400MB download size.  That seemed a little high for a 2D puzzle game.  After looking at the content in the installed folder, I see that the great majority of that is themes.

I think the themes are gorgeous, and add a lot to the game.  But I wasn't even aware of them until I noticed the size of the folder named "themes" (I just never clicked on the Theme button when starting a game before).  And the gameplay is not dependent on the themes in any way.

What if just the default theme were included with the game, and the other themes were made available as separate downloads (via an in-game interface, and as separate installer downloads)?  It would drastically reduce the size of the initial download, and I think it would increase the perceived value of the themes by players ("Wow, look at all these themes I can download!").  It would call attention to all the beautiful content you're getting, and make you feel like you're getting a lot of great stuff for free when you buy the game.

Offline x4000

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Re: Theme packs as separate download?
« Reply #1 on: August 10, 2010, 06:34:15 pm »
Actually, the themes are pretty central to the game; they're part of the cutscenes, they're individually tied to specific adventure cutscenes, and by default they are chosen at random when you play quick or custom games.  You'd only ever hear one music track if we just packaged a default theme, and that would drive most people absolutely batty.  Having extra downloads is also something we studiously avoid, as the vast majority of players simply can't be bothered in our experience! 

The reason that the file size is so much larger than a lot of 2D puzzle games is that the music is at a high bitrate (lower bitrates get pretty grating), and the art is at HD resolution (so basically a power of two more pixels -- and storage space -- compared to, for example, Popcap games).  All that extra space goes to good use, don't worry!  Believe me, if we could save download size it would be in our best interest to do so, but having an HD quality game requires more size, same as having a Blu Ray disc requires so much more space than a DVD.

Hope that helps!
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Offline Martoon

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Re: Theme packs as separate download?
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2010, 06:47:22 pm »
Ah, I didn't realize the various themes were that integrated into the game (I haven't played adventure mode much, for one thing).  And the quality of the higher def art and music really shows.  I see your reason for including everything as it is.

Offline x4000

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Re: Theme packs as separate download?
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2010, 08:38:27 pm »
Thanks for your support! It is good to consider these things, though.
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!

 

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