The Amusement Park is OPEN FOR BUSINESS! I’m really happy to announce the release of PAIN Amusement Park today. If you have been on the “PAIN Train” since the beginning you know this has been a long time coming. If you have never played PAIN before, it’s about time you found out why we have so much fun hurting ourselves and others.
The NEW PAIN Amusement Park represents quite a bit of gameplay evolution from the development side and substantial input from people who post here and on our community site: www.painps3.com
We also took a long hard look at the trophy requirements and after your extremely candid reactions to them decided that it was much better to dial them down. Not everyone who plays PAIN is as good as the top 10%.
Today, we have four NEW content additions:
- One new PAIN Environment: The Amusement Park ($5.99 USD)
- Three new launchable characters: Tati, Yeony and Kenneth ($.99 USD)
- The Amusement Park: A new PAIN environment means you have new modes to cause PAIN, havoc and mischief all over again. Some familiar modes are back (HORSE, Fun With Explosives, Abusement Park) Some brand new modes are here to mix it up (Call da Shot, Clown Toss, Trauma, Hot n Cold) There’s more content in this add-on than there was in the original PAIN release!
- We also have a fantastic new experimental PAIN mode called PAINLabs. PAINLabs will be our chance to give YOU new PAIN-Based experimental environments EVERY WEEK. FOR FREE! Here we will work with the community (you guys) to build new and improved game modes that will make their way into future expansions. Make sure you are there to grab those Lab experiments when they are posted. We will change them every week! And when you see something you like, post to our boards. I can assure you we read them.
We’ve spent enough time in the incubation stage now. PAIN content is now starting to hit a stride. I hope you guys enjoy The Amusement Park. We have a lot more in store. See you very, VERY soon.
Peace
lol whoops my bad, PSN network just got updated here in Australia. YAY :)
Looks like fun!
@Onna: That not BS here are the stats….
8 Trophies w/o having to buy any content
Gold Trophies
Affliction Addiction: Get One 100 Million Points in Downtown
Silver Trophies
Harder Dick’s Balls: Get all of Dicks Balls in the Block Party Dumpster w/o reset
2 Mill Club: Get “Pain in the Park” and “D-Town Destruction” (Change from 10 Mil)
Bronze Trophies
Dude Abides: Use “The Dude” to score 30 Strikes in Bowling (Change from 50 Strikes)
D-Town Destruction: Get 2,000,000 score in Paindemonium and Aftermath (Change from 10 million)
Combo Mambo: Get 15x Combo in Paindemonium, Aftermath, Block Party, Demolition (Change from 20x)
Constipated: Get 100 Strikes in Bowling (Change from 250 Strikes)
Attention Spam: Get every type of PAIN (Groin, Head, Arm, Hand, Leg, Foot and Body) combo in Paindemonium, Aftermath, Block Party, Demolition.
3 Trophies that require a purchase of a character
PAIN Add on Character Trophies
Gold Trophies
King of Pain: Get All Downtown Trophies plus Trill and Grenade-a-Maid
Silver Trophies
Trill: Get Painful Bullseye Trophy with Scurv Dogg or Hung Lo add-on characters (Instead of Tosser)
Bronze Trophies
Grenade-a-Maid: Get Exploded 200 times with any female launchable add-on character*(Change from 500 times)
6 Trophies for the Amusement Park Add On.
PAIN Add On Amusement Park Trophies
Silver Trophies
Rodeo Clown: Use Ed to Explode 500 barrels in Clown Toss (Change from 5,000)
Ninja pwn: Hit the Target Stuffed Ninja in every Amusement Park Mode
Bronze Trophies
Pain in the Park: Get 2,000,000 score in Abusement and After Hours (Change from 10 million)
Horsin’ a Clown: Take the Clown for a ride on the Roller Coaster
Glutton: Make 30 “Eat It!” shots in “Call da Shot”
Pain and Mane: Play 100 Games of Trauma or Horse
I think that’s a fair and even split. For those who would say there is some sort of evil plot to get you to spend money for trophies let me say…
1. Amusement Park was in development before we found out about trophies
2. You only get so many trophy points per game and additional for add ons.
3. We always planned to make add ons for PAIN
There are 2 additional versions of Jarvis for free and Ed he’s free as well. We released a free mode (Single Player Fun With Explosives) as well as 2 additional Downtown layouts at no charge so it’s not true that we have not released free content. And PAINLabs is free and it refreshes every week. You have to give credit where it’s due.
Fun with Explosives is still my fave too Onna.
@Cmargary: It’s coming. We haven’t forgotten.
Those 200+ explosives is that in “1” game of fun with explosives?
Travis, sorry my mistake then, thanks for your explanation, PEACE :-) Game is a lot of fun again, I’m totally addicted :-D
If you have any sense of justice, you will not buy the Abusement park add-on.
The update that brings trophies, requires the purhase of the original game (given) but also the abusement park add-on and 2 additional characters. This brings the actual cost of the game to $17.
$17?!?!? You’re ****ing kidding me.
For **** sake, every developer that requires the purchase of add-on content that is not free, deserves to have their eyes gouged out by rabid wolverines.
The developers of PAIN can ROT IN HELL. I will not be supporting this game ever again. I can only hope humanity will do the same and teach amateur and mentally deficient game developers like you a lesson.
As for Travis and his snide comments back at people giving the cold, hard truth…
Stop telling us we don’t “have” to buy add-ons to get trophies…YES WE DO. If,one wants to attain 100% of the trophies in your ONE game, they need to purchase 3 separate add-ons for it. You look completely absurd every time you try to say we don’t have to buy add-on content for trophies. YES WE DO.
You are officially an average-at-best human being, and an even worse game developer who makes just as awful of choices.
You can take what I’m saying as being jerkish, and frankly it is…but its only mirroring what the majority of people have been saying to you in these comments.
Travis Williams see you are so defensive for Pain now.
Clearly, the users are not happy with your pricing strategy for add-on content. Change it. Talk to Sony.
The King of Pain trophy is pretty cheap on your part.
Travis,
I will try again the Grenade Maid Trophy and back here to relate if this way you explained now work, sorry for the my mistake if is this case.
But the Dick Balls Trophy is very hard, and its not fun when you have to play hours of the same jump moviment trying to do something almost impossible.
To clarify the comment I made earlier: I don’t have any problem with charging money for extra levels or for new game-play features. I’ve already purchased the Amusement Park add-on, and I feel like I got decent value for my money. Where I take exception is being required to pay for nearly valueless items like your extra characters.
And yes, I know that I don’t HAVE to buy them. But the game just feels incomplete without the option to select among various characters. Now, you start adding up all the $1 charges for extra characters, and you’re staring at a game that costs considerably more than $10.
Now, I didn’t post my comments to be inflammatory. And I regret that others have resorted to childish insults. I simply wanted to point out a sentiment that has been associated with the PAIN franchise since release: that a lot of customers don’t feel they’re getting great value for their money.
A simple solution: toss two or three extra characters in with your new level DLC. Same price, greater value.
Some of the comments on here are really ridiculous. If you hate Pain and the DLC structure, then DON’T PLAY IT and DON’T BUY IT! Nothing is being forced here.
To the people who are complaining about the trophies; please be realistic. Are you guys suggesting that ALL of the trophies should come from the Downtown level?? When more levels are released there will be more trophies to attain. I really don’t see a problem with that. If you are expecting to get 100% of the trophies in a game, then you will need to pay for 100% of the game. Adding trophies to the add-on content adds VALUE to the content being purchased. Duh!
I also felt a little underwhelmed after I purchased the core game. Without online play and only one level to play around in, it was a little disappointing. And taking almost a year to get another level out there, and still no online play….it kinda killed my excitement for this game. I also don’t like having to pay .99 for each character, agreed its ONLY .99, it just seems a little off-putting since the original game was packed a little light. (I really couldn’t believe online multiplayer wasn’t a priority for release or shortly after. That alone would have kept this game fresh long after launch.)
But see, I handle it like a big boy, and just don’t buy it. I don’t come on the blog and call Travis and his teams work crap….That is just uncalled for. I am sure they put plenty of hard work into creating new content and making this game FUN! I also have to applaud Travis for being so active on the blog and answering questions, even to the turds who talk smack about his game.
Once online play is added to Pain, I will come back and also purchase the Amusement Park. I have to admit, I did enjoy the time I spent playing Pain.
Keep up the good work Travis; I look forward to what other ideas you have in mind for Pain.
@ Travis. So I’m still the minority on this board?
Jackass.
I know you say their only a buck but theirs so many that the bucks add up and before you know it all characters are more expensive than the game itself. I’m just asking for a bundle of characters that would be cheaper since you usually release more than one character at a time, like this time you released 3 characters so you could have .99 each or a 2.50 bundle for all
Travis, the 100.000.000 downtown, I’m not sure how that works :-?
I’d like to make a comment to some out here who’re getting overheated by all this. I just remember myself…Remember Stardust HD? Remember Warhawk? You also needed to pay for packs to get extra content to get all the trophies? You need a lousy team pack for only “1” trophy in SSHD. About the same story as with Pain, so if you think the makers of Pain should rot in hell, it also means that the makers of Warhawk, Super Stardust HD and other games which have payable extra contents should rot in hell as well.
@TouchyEd: I can understand where you are coming from and as far as the “feeling complete” part I don’t know what to tell you there. I don’t make the pricing for PAIN. So honestly you are talking to the wrong person. When we decide to add more value to PAIN it’s done various other ways in adding new layouts, challenges, modes etc… while characters are by and large pay items. I appreciate you not being inflammatory as quite a few people seem to not know how to act sometimes.
Like I said before PAINLabs, our future content/features when all is said and done it will more than worth the money paid. Honestly the reaction to pay per content as it pertains to PAIN runs the gamut of emotions actually. Some people love having that choice. Some people think there is some nefarious plan going on (there isn’t). Some people just seem to act out. We won’t call names. I think choice is good. I would rather have the choice than pay for options/content that I don’t like. You know?
@KidCommando: Well said. I think people don’t understand the amount of work that goes into making a MODE in PAIN. It’s more work than people realize, and even though the setting is the same the work that goes into a mode is often more than most games have in another level. The heavy lifting in PAIN is the scripting part and making sure that new modes work within the area. Some games just change the background color and give you a different shape to shoot. That’s a lot easier than making a mode in PAIN. Multiplayer was a consideration but online Multiplayer is a different story. There’s a lot of debris you have to consider in PAIN and it’s no small feat to track it all multiplayer wise. In most game debris is just window dressing and it really doesn’t matter. In PAIN it matters a lot and that’s where the complications come in.
PAIN was always conceived as a game where we work with the community to make cool options/modes/characters. So the base level of PAIN will always grow. I think the investment is worth it (but once again I am biased) Our game is roughly the price of a good time at Starbucks for you and a friend. And I think we give you more for your money than two venti drinks and a scone.
@Onna: It’s a cumulative score. Since you have installed the patch PAIN is adding up your downtown PAINdemonium scores. Once you have scored 100 million in total you will get the trophy.
Game expansions or supporting a game after release is becoming more popular as people find a game they like they want to have more content made for it. It’s not really logical to assume that this should be ALL FREE people have to work to make this happen and they have to be paid. It’s sorta like saying you have a car and because you paid a lot for it your tire replacements should be free. I just don’t like responding to those kinds of assertions because they just don’t make sense to me.
Adding trophies to expansion material adds to the overall value of an expansion. It’s not a ploy. These expansions would have come out anyway (not just for PAIN but for any game). When you make an expansion your game becomes larger. Sony guidelines say that if you have more content then you are allotted more points for trophies. We would not be doing our customers any favors by NOT making more trophies. So the assertion that we are making more game for more trophies is kinda backwards.
@Jayceon: We are actually looking into bundles actually. As soon as our marketing department gives us the prices we will do it. I’m not opposed to it at all. I think it’s a great idea.
finally the long wait is over with already, i’ve been waiting for this for a very long time… yahhhooo! “PAIN”
What Sony should do Travis, is make the DLC and actual game seperate, so people who want that 100% can always obtain it. Then you can buy whatever DLC you want, and then those trophies are added to your overall score, taking it down from 100%.
This would fix all the whining about DLC content needed for trophies, and make it a win win situation on everyone’s terms.
@103 Travis
I think you’ve just proved our point. There are 9 Trophies which REQUIRE us to buy stuff and only 8 Trophies that can be gotten with the core game.
The fact remains that PAIN is a VERY mediocre game. The novelty of the rag doll physics wears off within the first 5 minutes.
I’m a Trophy whore. I have no problem in admitting that I bought PAIN purely for the Trophies. I booted up the game, bought the Amusement Park and reluctantly bought a couple characters that are needed for a couple Trophies. I then started playing.
After 10 minutes I realized that I wasn’t having fun and quit the game and back to Pixeljunk Eden. I love collecting Trophies but when a very mediocre game forces us to buy characters just for Trophies I start to question the developers intention.
The characters download and install within 5 seconds. Which indicates to me that they comprise of just a very smallsize and take little work by you guys to make. I bet you guys (or rather 1 guy) can churn out 20 characters within half an hour.
Sorry but the Trophies are too hard and the game is too crap for me to even bother trying. I’m not gonna force myself to play a game that I don’t enjoy just for a few measly bronze trophies.
@Travis, thanks :-) Just got my first trophy, grenade-a-maid :-D
So that means we can even expect a lot more in the future when it comes to features in Pain? Sounds cool.
@Devils_Demo
I guess you’ve never played Pixeljunk Eden, now that’s what I could being difficult for only a silly bronze trophy. I don’t find the Pain trophies to be that hard when I look at em. And if you don’t like Pain, no one is forcing you to buy it, or is it?
Erm “now that’s what I call… not “could” :-?
@ 122
I have Eden and love it. I enjoy the difficult Trophies in Eden because I like playing the game. It gives me a challenge. I only need 4 more Trophies in Eden.
The biggest challenge in PAIN is pressing X to boot it up. I’ve no problem with having hard Trophies…IF the game was enjoyable enough to endure.
To each their own I suppose. I’m just gonna skip PAIN trophies and instead focus on the Burnout, Bad Company and Ferrari Challenge trophies when they get released.
Travis, are those 2.000.000 trophies also cumulative?
@Devils_Demon, what if every single game in the future has trophies, its not like you’re going to buy them all or would you?
I wonder how many people would whine about the lack of playable characters if they were never released in the first place?
We’d probably see comments like ” I’d be willing to pay for new characters, you should add a few”.
I’ve purchased a few other characters but I don’t see the need to get any more. Maybe the fat guy? We’ll see. I would, however, be interested in purchasing someone like Ratchet or Kratos. If Hot Shots can do it so can you, right?
Anyway. I downloaded the new content this morning and I’d like to say you did a phenominal job with the amusment park. I do not want to imply that the downtown area was bad but the park is way better. Everything is laid out great. In the downtown area I depended on the cars or the train to keep me moving. The rides in the park are much more helpful in launching me around and keeping my combos going. Great job to you and your team Travis.
Omg, these trophies are way to hard. Good job and all but seriously they shouldn’t have been released.
@120 and Travis.
I too am very suspicious about those 100kb files that are supposed to contain the extra character data.
So in those 100kb we have:
-Textures
-Skeletal files
-Polygon models
-Audio recordings
-Scripts
-AI to determine which sound goes with which pain
-Animation for all the poses
-Picture data for the character select screen.
Sorry buddy but I call BS. I’ll bet anything that those “extra” characters that you sell are actually included in the game and we’re paying for is the unlock. That speaks volumes about your business plan.
Thanks for this update Travis!
Just got my 4th Trophie – Affliction Addiction (Gold)
Looking forward to some more updates soon!!
hehe, i got PAIN when it went on sale for only $4.99, so this add-on is ok by me!
(actually my girlfriend and i have been waiting FOREVER for the amusement park addon, so we’re stoked it’s finally out! thanks!)
also, the add-on charachters are $.99….$.99!!!!!!
if someone doesn’t have a a dollar, how the @#$#$% did you afford a PS3?
looking forward to PAIN labs, also!!
oh yeah, TRAVIS!
anyone who has ever read any of your posts here or at your website knows you speak your mind and don’t care what anybody thinks, so i have this one question 4 ya..
Who would win in a no-holds barred bareknuckle brawl, you or cliff blezinski? (another outspoken developer)
or you vs. Dennis Dyak?
or you vs. Uwe Boll (videogame to movie director)
just wondering!
thanks again for the new add-on!
These guys are giving away a copy of Amusement Park:
http://gamesareevil.com/2008/09/ps3-abusive-giveway-win-pain-amusement-park/
heck yeah, i agree FritoZ!
And I am excited too for more PAINlabs! :D I love things like game physics and seeing how hitting one thing can cause a massive chain reaction! Too much fun!
It’s sad to see this war going on, it’s a bit out of control, lol.
Anyways, I LOVE the game! I probably won’t buy all the characters but probably the 2 ones I need, and it’ll be all good.
If anyone should be feeling ripped off or cheated it should be all of us that own GTA4 for the PS3! Now that is something we need to get changed! Exclusive content only for the 360… whatever Rockstar… that’s pretty sad, I paid $60 for the game too…
Also the trophies are rip-offs, you have to buy something get them.
Travis, appreciate the reply.
I definitely have no clue in what it takes to create a level in Pain or any game for that matter. I’m sure it takes much more time and effort than any of the posters on this blog realize.
I do know that you are proud of your game and want it to be the best it can be; just by viewing your responses. There have been countless topics posted on this blog with over 100 replies that NEVER even get acknowledged by the original poster.
I like to think that game developers make games because that is their passion, not because it makes money. While this might not always be the case, I would rather support a developer who keeps in contact with the community and listens to feedback.
Tonight I am going to pass up getting a Venti and a Scone from Starbucks after work and buy the Amusement Park add-on. Spending $6.00 on a dedicated developer (and Sony) feels much better than supporting an overpriced coffee giant….and much more fun too!
P-A-I-N, P-A-I-N, PAIN!
You would think that with all the times you’ve had to defend yourself, Pain devs, that you would get the point.
I can remember way back when….when I first saw the demo of the game at one of the conventions…so many things were promised to be in the release and then the release comes and we pay 10 bucks for 1 level and 2 characters. Yeah, uber rip. None of the promised features were in it.
So I don’t get how you can’t understand most of our frustration here.
Then you guys come along and add characters at a buck a piece(not a bad price but still sucky none-the-less). You add another level(about fricken time, it’s only been out just about a year now). And yet, still some of those promised features still aren’t in the game yet.
You’re claiming no one has to buy anything to get trophies. Well, um…you’re forcing people are are completionists to buy characters they don’t want and possibly even levels they don’t want just to be able to get all the trophies. How is that fair to us? The ones who paid ten bucks for a shell of a game. Granted, 6 bucks isn’t bad for a new level (depending) but still isn’t great considering your track record. You’re batting a thousand in pissing off consumers, that’s for sure.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the work, the game..but you guys are doing this all backwards.
I paid ten for Eden and wasn’t not remotely let down. I paid ten for Pain and played it for a week after I got it and haven’t really touched it since(until i got a second controller). It wasn’t worth it in replayability or anything like that. Oh wait, I played it for a day or two when those free updates came out but even that was weak by today’s standards, tiny dev or huge dev.
You guys just don’t get it. You are biased cause you made it but you really need to step away and really look at the situation.
I’ll probably get the new level, but I refuse to buy new characters just so I can trophy whore cause all of the characters really aren’t my thing (just a personal preferece, I don’t like any of em. they’re all stereotypes).
I bet if you released a survey in-game asking about pricing, happiness levels, so on and so forth…I don’t think you’d be overall happy if people were honest. I think you would get a lot more of what you’re getting here that you’re attempting to justify here.
Sure, business is busiess…but you can’t have a business without the consumers. You’re always gonna have those that buy psn games for trophy whoring who don’t care about the quality of a game but in the end, the gamers won’t be playing your game anymore.
Hi Travis, have you given any thought to using the PS3’s Youtube video upload feature?
I think it would be a great addition, Pain is the prefect sort of game to make use of that feature.
Btw, I’m loving the new update
Keep up the good work :D
Sorry if the question has already been asked btw
-Ad-
I can see you’re ignoring the great majority of complaints and assuming people who are against your trophy scheme are in the “minority”.
Too bad. No one takes you or your development studio seriously after this fiasco. Good luck ever selling another game on PSN…I certainly I say I would be a top runner for campaigning against you and your products. Bad choices, bad PR, bad communication with consumers who paid for this product A LONG TIME AGO IN FULL…you’ve pretty much obtained the hat trick of game developement failure.
Bravo.
@Onna76_NL:
I would just like to point out to you something about games such as Warhawk and their trophies. Warhawk gave us a huge update for free and included a lot of stuff. They may have had server issues at the beginning of the game but the game for many is still great without the DLC. Furthermore, they have a bundles for their Booster packs which makes it cheaper. For the price currently you pay for all three boosters it is actually the price of two booster packs.
Moreover, you must remember the Warhawk developers stated and I am paraphrasing “We don’t believe it is right to force consumers to have to pay for DLC to get all trophies.” While there is trophies which require DLC to get the Platnium trophy you just need the base game and not the DLC. That is of course that Warhawk is a disc based game and not PSN game so there is a platnium trophy. For Xbox Achievements the base amount of achievements is 1000 and anything above that is what you would pay for DLC so people can get the full 1000 achievement points.
As for Superstar Dust HD I am not forgetting that to get all the trophies you must pay for the DLC. But the difference here is that Superstar Dust HD is an excellent and fun game. Also it is loved by many it seems then PAIN is loved. That is an option though to purchase the DLC as it is with PAIN yes.
I do not agree period with the fact that you have to get DLC to earn all trophies. However, the difference here to me personally is that in Warhawk to get the Platnium you just need the base game. Thats good for people who want the Platnium which is like getting 1000 ahcievement points. However, in PSN games to pay for DLC is needed to get all the trophies and there is no platnium trophy. Its all a matter of if you look at having all trophies or Platnium trophies.
In the end though I once again thank the developers for all the hardwork. Also thank you Travis for taking your time to respond to all of us. I still disagree though with all these characters being charged seperatly. Also because in some places such as where I live I must pay tax. It would be much cheaper if there was a bundle of all characters which now I believe is needed. If you ever did release a bundle then I would look into purchasing the extra characters.
Hey Travis thanks for the post.
I knew I should have picked the full game up when it was 4.99 and thought, I’ll do it tomorrow, not realizing it would go back to regular price.
Well, you’ve talked me into purchasing it.
Just downloaded today.
Again, thanks for the trophies and all the support you are providing us…appreciated at least by me.
Could you guys please put in game xmb music in a future update, I hate having to go to the jukebox
@Fritoz: CliffyB is a good friend of mine and I have known him for almost 10 years. I will KNOCK HIM OUT! Haha. And you can tell him I said so. He’s got a Lambo though so I doubt I could catch him. I don’t know Dennis. UWE I wouldn’t fight his movies make me so ill I doubt I would be able to stand up to him. Seriously how do you cast DA BANDIT in a period movie.
@KidCommando: Thanks. We are very proud of PAIN and I don’t dwell on the negative. Value is always a slippery slope. No matter how many times I tell my lady how I NEED another TV I am sure I won’t be able to get another one (without grief) until my current one catches on fire. Thanks for the support. If you ever see me at a show remind me to take you on a Starbucks run. It will be my treat. Aiight?
@Vix: Dude I’m not in your closet forcing you to purchase content! It seems like you want to hold me responsible because people are “completionistic” What am I supposed to do about that? Are you really saying I should give things away because people WANT them? Isn’t that why you sell things in the first place? Think about that for a second. I want that TV but I am sure because I bought a model almost a year ago it doesn’t entitle me to all the new features of a brand new TV. And let’s be clear I think a few vocal customers who want free items is not batting a thousand. Once again if you don’t feel the price is worth it say so by not buying it. I can honestly respect that.
You said you paid 10 dollars for a weeks worth of entertainment. I paid 10 bucks to see a movie last week. I think it’s all relative.
If you do buy the new material thank you. And the free content we offer in PAIN I think more than justifies the price. Online Multiplayer is coming (for free), Advanced Replay and movie playing will be free. PAINLabs is free.. whatever I can give away for free I do. At some point though I have to pay the people who work on this content. You don’t work your job for free. No one else should expect to do free work ALL THE TIME.
And do you really think polling people about free things will be scientific? I’ll take all the free things I can get. I would expect everyone else to vote in a similar fashion. What I WILL do is continue to examine what is a good opportunity for that kind of content. I go back to PAINLabs because it wasn’t because we felt guilty for our pricing it was because we really want to continue to advance our gameplay and if we could do that while generating content that people enjoy (and have input into) for free then WHY NOT? If we were really all about $$ we would have made PAINLabs a mode and charged for it.
So in closing let me say again I see your point. I really do (and I respect it). But it’s a subjective point. Some people will see it your way. Some will see it my way. Some will be torn. I think the beauty of having choices is that if you think some things are not worth it you have the choice to buy it or not. A dollar is a lot to pay for something you don’t want. A dollar is nothing for something you REALLY want. Personally I like being able to decide for myself. So while you say we don’t “get it” I would submit that perhaps you might be missing the point all together. If you don’t want it you don’t have to “get it”. We planned this whole incremental content plan before we even knew about trophies so we aren’t making new content for the trophies. It’s merely an added feature that we don’t mind adding. PAIN had in game trophies before PSN did.
@Adz: That’s coming up my friend.
@Madman: I am not ignoring anyone I simply choose to respond to people I feel have a point that I would like to acknowledge and speak to. As I have said before I am in Product Development. I don’t make the prices. I make the donuts. I don’t sell them. But when people are demanding content for free and compare your business model to a business model of a game that costs four to six times your product is there room for a rational dialogue?
@ChocoDK: Okay lemme explain this to you because it seems like I am not getting through…
We made PAIN and launched it a year ago. Since then we have made two other PAIN versions (Europe and Asia) now it was always our plan to make more areas and characters for PAIN. It was our plan to do this with the help of our community. PAIN has a history of integrating Playstation®Network tech into new releases. We also love making sure our feature set is current. Go back and check.. We were one o the first games to do DualShock3, User Interface Patching, In Game Commerce, In Game MP3 Support… We are doing Online Multiplayer and we will have Voice over IP when we release. (All these additions to PAIN will be FREE) We will also support YouTube uploading and even editing of your replays to make it look more “professional” AND Trophies. Most game development teams make a game and MOVE ON.
Because of the size and type of game PAIN is we have a certain total points we can award you for playing (this is a Sony mandated total we don’t control that number). It just so happened that trophy support was enabled about the same time we were finishing the Amusement Park. Because the AP was just as large as Downtown (content wise) we got more points to award. So we made trophy goals for that too. We didn’t make AP for trophy fanatics. We were making it anyway. Since we support trophies it would be silly not to include it. So what I am getting at is we would have done this anyway. I am just a bit confused why people are upset that a add on which has a lot of content has trophy points. That’s a good thing right?
To be sure there will be releases after this (and will get us more points), but once again this is not why we release content incrementally. We do it because that was the plan from the beginning. We pride ourselves in being sensitive to our customer base. When you said you don’t agree that you have to get DLC to earn all trophies you have to take that up with someone else not me. Those are the rules. I didn’t make them. It makes sense to me. If you have more game that means you have more things to do and as such you have more achievements.
And on another note… thanks for being cordial and not inflammatory. It justifies the time we take to explain how or why we do the things we do.
@GCCAN: Thanks dood.
@Jayceon: I really am trying to get that done. I will tell you when that happens but it is on my list.
Everyone have a nice weekend.
First off thank you for dialing down the trophies. When I saw the first ones I thought, “Well I won’t be getting any of those.” I then carried on with my life because I’m 36 years old and can’t seem to work up the energy to really care.I like that you made them more accessible and listened to the fans.
I do have to say though regarding paid content. Some people are cheap and ignorant and don’t realize that you have to earn a living. They are children with no bills and no girlfriends. I would not blame you if you didn’t reply to another complaint post about money.
Travis,
No one is arguing that you shouldn’t try to make money. Your example above, “It seems like you want to hold me responsible because people are “completionistic” What am I supposed to do about that? Are you really saying I should give things away because people WANT them? Isn’t that why you sell things in the first place? Think about that for a second. I want that TV but I am sure because I bought a model almost a year ago it doesn’t entitle me to all the new features of a brand new TV.”
This is entirely asinine. If I buy a care with a gas tank the size of a beach bucket, is it right for the dealer to say “LOL, sorry, its not my fault you want to use your car to drive across town, you need to pay for a real gas-tank if you want that!”. Should someone purchase your game, they should be able to complete it, 100%, that includes get all of the trophies. As it is, your consumers can’t complete your game unless they fork over for 3 MORE ADD-ONS.
Do you ****ing get it yet? You have in essence, admitted to only deliver “part of a completed game”, charged 10 bucks for it, and are now trying to act like thats a rational decision. If you want fair, TAKE OUT the trophies that require add-on material, or switch them over to requirements that only need the original game to complete. That is how REAL game developers do it…its true that SSHD did it, and that sucked a lot…and there was a lot of backfire from that. The dev team took a lot of flack for that move…on the other hand, SSHD is actually an amazing game, and has reviewed astronomically well for a PSN title. PAIN on the other hand, was panned across the board by critics, so gouging consumers for more money is a little suspect.
No one is asking you to change the price. As you say, you don’t make the prices…you make the donuts. Well make the donut right, don’t **** it up and then blame our complaining about crappy donuts on us…its YOUR FAULT. YOU AND YOUR TEAM ROYALLY SCREWED UP, admit that. You and your team have lost all dignity as a developer at this point…man up and attempt to rectify it. I’ve already spoken by not giving you anymore money, but the problem is, you’re likely going to continue burglarizing your consumers wallets by forcing them to buy add-on to content to actually complete your game.
Bottom line: don’t ****ing try to say “OMG don’t be a completionist”. I bought your game, I should be able to finish said game 100%. What you are doing is the same as if an author with held the final chapter of their novel, and sold it later at a premium.
To reiterate what you need to do (because you don’t seem to understand after countless replies from everyone here): remove the add-on content trophies or reassign their criteria to the main game. No one is saying their can’t be trophies for the expansions either, but they should be their own separate game, not in the original release.
@Travis:
Thank you for responding and I understand where you are coming from completely. Let me just say that I cannot say I know how PAIN was from Day 1 as I had it only since the very end of August so I don’t know how much it has evolved. I do realize that you were working on the Amusement Park way before trophies was released and it wasn’t just a marketing thing to push it in to get the trophies. I do now have the Amusement Park since last night and it is very well done and adds a lot to the game. I have no issues with purchasing an extra level. I am not a developer so I don’t know how much work it takes to make a level but I could only imagine it will be a lot.
I completely respect and admire the fact that your team is one of the developers who don’t just throw your previous games to rot and keep on working on it to improve it. I think that is a great thing that developers do so the game doesn’t end up dying. I can see your points and I completely agree with them fully.
Also I understand why you put the trophies into the Amusement Park because if you didn’t then people probably would’ve whined about that too. I think that it was a great idea for you to implement the trophies and even if they didn’t exsist I am sure there would’ve been a lot of purchases for the Park. As for the points system that Sony has. I didn’t know about their rules with trophies and all I knew was that PSN Games didn’t have Platnium trophies because they are smaller.
Thank you once again Travis for responding to my comments and enjoy your weekend as well.
Travis, helpful to know you aren’t involved in the pricing decisions. The pricing strategy is the only issue I have with this game. That’s clearly the main issue in the minds of the people who have issues with the game. You notice they’re not a bunch of ‘bug’ posts which is pretty common in gaming these days. Remember that.
Also, people continue to post because they know you are listening and responding, so I give you props for that.
If you have any influence in pricing, I would encourage the PTB (Powers That Be) that it’s in the best interest of everyone involved if you offer bundle discounts for your add-ons. Clearly, this game has a strategy of having numerous optional add-ons, so why not give gamers a little discount if they want to grab a bunch of them.
Any update on the Bullseye trophy, there are now rumors, you have to do it on the most difficult setting, is this true?
Here’s a solution, get a job you tight fisted weasals.
i’m sorry but $17 all in for the content you need for ALL the trophies is not alot of money. You hating on a game that costs that much, yet you wonder into stores and pick up a game for $59.99 out of your mothers purse without batting an eyelid?
And if you dont want all the trophies, you can still get the 8 that are available in downtown.
Honestly, you guys amaze me some time, if I was Travis & co, i’d given up on you ungrateful phucks a long time ago.
@Uganja, couldn’t agree more, I’m tired of all the kids whining around here. No matter what Travis says it doesn’t seem to get through those thick heads. If you’re not willing to pay 17$ then why the hell do you have a PS3 in the first place? I paid for the main game, Amusement Park and a character and have a total blast for hours and hours. Go to a pub, have 4 beers and it’ll cost you more (at least in Holland).
And again: NO ONE IS FORCING YOU TO BUY THE GAME. If you don’t want it… DON’T BUY IT!