After all these years visiting Amaranth Games I finally found the forum.

Having read the details about Aveyond 3 being made into chapters, I am not amused.

I thouroughly enjoyed the previous Aveyond games. Aveyond 1 was my introduction to the RPGmaker games and since then I have played quite a few, maybe as many as 100.

I visited all the RPGmaker forums hunting out games to play and reading the comments. So I can say I'm a rather experienced RPGmaker player.

I have played games divided into chapters and although the games are very good, I would no longer play a game that is one part or a chapter until I had ALL the chapters waiting ready to play. I hate playing a game, spending many hours enjoying the story, only having it end mid stream and having to wait to see how things turn out. A lot of times the game was never finished by its creator, leaving 1000s in the lurch wanting to know what happened (I won't go into the reasons why). Other times the next chapter was months, years, away, by that time you forget what has happened in the earlier chapters and have to play it through again to remind yourself (when you play as many as I do, that happens).

So I, for one, will not be playing Aveyond 3 at least until the whole story is available which means, if you want to see how well the first chapter sells before releasing the second, it will not be accurate.

BTW: Aveyond 1 still rates as my all time favourite RPGmaker game. Aveyond 2 would have been better if I had not ruined it for myself by reading somewhere about the secret bits (which I found very easily once I knew they existed without knowing their positions). I even played Ahriman's Prophecy and enjoyed it (on my mini laptop the low resolution looked quite good).

I guess I can understand how you feel, Anne, but I know that I, for one, will NOT be able to wait with that much patience. This is one game I think I'd stand in line for a few hours to get, much less jump at the first opportunity to download from the comfort of my desk chair.

It makes me think of the Harry Potter series, which I'd have loved to buy, and read, all in one big set, but I had to have each book as it came out there, too. Oh, well. I wish you all the best and hope you enjoy it when you are able to get them all.

@Anne

Amanda has already said the chapters would be only months apart. After Chapter 1 is released, chapter two will be released relatively soon afterwords. And it's extremely doubtful Amanda wouldn't finish the game. She puts a lot of work into these games, why would she just give up?

I wonder how many of those RPGMaker games you've played, that were split into chapters and never finished, were commercial games? I don't know of very many RPGMaker games at all that are available commercially, but I do know of many, many hobby games, and just as many reasons why they're not finished (or a series is not continued).

The difference here is that this is Amanda's income. If she doesn't get the games made, and made faster these days than ever before, she has to go and find herself a boring job so she can keep eating

I don't think you need to worry about a game not being concluded.

However your comment about preferring to wait for the whole thing to be available is perfectly valid. It's likely that you're in a minority (which I don't mean in a bad way), but that's not the kind of numbers she's talking about - it's more the reaction of people who DO buy the games in chapters as they're available. And if the reaction is bad, she'll probably choose a new approach

Aye, I think it's irrelevant to take into account the number of unfinished freeware games that are divided into chapters. In fact, I believe that is the same percentage as the number of unfinished freeware games that aren't divided into chapters: *insert a number in the upwards of 90s here*. As Amanda does already have a steady record of finished games (as expected for one's income source), I don't think there's much of a worry in that regards.

As for the preferring to wait for the whole thing, there is still always the option to choose to wait and buy all the chapters of one complete game when it's all available, which is equivalent of waiting for the whole project to be completed and released at the same time. The difference is that those who do desire playing episode-by-episode as they come out have the option of doing that.

I guess it's all because Ara Fell never passed the first chapter, leaving all of us in the lurch, right? But Ara Fell's a freeware. Amanda won't give up on Aveyond 3, that's for certain.

At first, I wasn't too keen about the idea of chapters, mostly because of other RPGMaker games that have used chapters taking forever to come out, if at all. But like others have said, this is a commercial game rather than a hobby game and Amanda has started and completed several games already. So I'm confident that they will get done in a timely manner. Even if a chapter gets delayed, it's no reason to get bent out of shape. Keep in mind, it's just a game.

Could I ask a question? I don't think it has been mentioned before but, is Aveyond 3 going to become one chapter or several chapters?

From the sounds of it, it'll be a few chapters.

So, Aveyond 3 is already made right? The whole thing. And Amanda is going to release one chapter at a time right? Or is she going to release the chapters of Aveyond 3 all at once?

From shaz's signature ("Coming June AND July 2009" ) , it's most likely 2 chapters released in consecutive months.

What WAS AV3 is now the first 2 chapters of AV3. But there will be more.

So the first 2 chapters have already been made (which is why they're going to be released so close together). They both just need to be tested again, as they've only been tested as a complete game, not as individual chapters. The focus will be on chapter 1, which will be released in early June, and then we'll work on finalising and testing chapter 2, which we plan on being released sometime in July

This is definitely going to make things easier for my cubs as they have had to restart Aveyond 1 a few times due to losing files, changing computers, etc. and it has taken them years to finish. In fact, they are still working on it, but are losing enthusiasm. I plan to help them finish it as soon as summer break begins.

@momma22smallbears: I hope your 2 small bears are happy then after the release

Me likey! Means more games for me

Is this a new release system Amanda came up with? Shuud patent. Cus iz Brilliant!

So, if it has been tested as a whole game, why not release it as one and release the intended AV4 & AV5 as the subsequent chapters, instead? I still have reservations about this "chapters" thing but whatever... i'll just have to wait and see and will support the Aveyond games.

@Marphlets

No, Amanda didn't come up with this system. It's been done before. You'd have to search around to see who came up with this idea.

So chapter 1's in early June, while the 2nd chapter will be released sometime in July? And there are more chapters, consecutive to the first and second? System's alright. More computer sittings for me, more thrilling...

It seems like a lot of people have reservations about the whole chapter thing. Im not really sure about it either but im keeping an open mind.
The other games have been amazing and im sure it will all work out.
And chapters give me more to look forward to since I always feel a little twinge of disappointment when i finish a game

Mopiece wrote:
Quote:

Hrrrmmm. Nah. Too busy playing games

Personal theory:

The system was invented as a dastardly plot by evil socerers, to make casual gaming even more addictive to the general public. Then, one day when the entire world is too busy playing the forty-second installment of Aveyond 3, the evil sorcerers will take over the internet and sieze control of the entire universe! *pant,pant*


Oh no! That means. . .Amanda is one of them!