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Ready to play dirty?

<span class="bold">Gremlins, Inc.</span>, a fierce digital board game where you must outmanoeuvre other gremlin businessmen at every turn, is now available on GOG.com with a 50% launch discount.

This is a gremlin eat gremlin world of ruthless capitalism, political power struggles, and opportunistic moves. Use cunning, subterfuge, and your conveniently maladjusted moral compass to navigate a steampunk universe of cut-throat profiteering, both in single-player and multiplayer.

Expand your experience further with the <span class="bold">Digital Artbook</span> or <span class="bold">Soundtrack</span>, plus the <span class="bold">Uninvited Guests</span>, <span class="bold">Astral Gamblers</span>, and <span class="bold">Automated Competitors</span> DLC.

The 50% discount will last until May 18, 13:00 PM UTC.

NOTE: The game supports Galaxy/Steam crossplay, GOG Galaxy achievements, and a fully functional mod Workshop, among other things.

When you buy this game, you get 2 products in your GOG Library: Gremlins, Inc. – playable online in single-player and multiplayer modes, with item drops; and Gremlins vs Automatons – playable offline in single-player mode.

Tinker with the trailer.
Post edited May 12, 2017 by maladr0Id
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metricfun: I don't have a problem with it per se. The fear though is that we'll have "gimped", "bugged", "tacked on", not polished versions of the online mode. That fear might also come from the fact that GOG's updating process is less than stellar (so we already have outdated versions of games here) (an observation, not a judgement of GOG's process, which I know nothing of).
I think you just summarised one of the core issues of the discussion that happened in this thread: the presence of that "fear", i.e. lack of trust, which is directed towards both the product and the platform.

If a product is buggy, there's tech support / specific forums. If the product is buggy and this issue is not addressed over time, its reviews will fall down to 1 star, which will kill its sales, which will effectively protect new customers from investing into a buggy game. On top of this, there's the refund policy, which allows to return the game that's buggy / does not work, without much hassle. So what's to fear – if the platform's built-in mechanisms provide enough protection against the products that might indeed have a problem?

A second observation is that if you value the offline version, then why compare it with the online version? Let's say you have a CD with 12 tracks and the band goes live with 15 tracks, playing 3 as a bonus. Did this just make your CD less valuable? I don't see how so, since you got exactly what you paid for: 12 tracks described on the cover.

Of course there will always be games that raise budgets on KS and never ship; there will also always be simply bad games, technologically. It's a part of the creative process, just like having bad restaurants in every major or minor city. There are 2 ways to address this: (1) install a system of permissions like in Italy, where opening a new cafe in a village takes 12 months of correspondence with Rome; or (2) install a system of ratings like TripAdvisor or Yelp, which will effectively guide consumers to the better places, and let the bad places stay in the corner where they can't hurt anyone.
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metricfun: I think the more vocal DRM-free community on GOG just want a place to find what they want to buy / play. And that's getting rare... And part of us are ready to "fight for" / "defend" it.
That's another good summary.

I forget that we're on the platform which is called Good OLD Games.

In fact, the desire for "DRM-free" could be actually a desire for "retro" or "authentic", if you use a more general terminology. There's a chain of shops in Germany called Manufaktum, which sell products produced in a traditional way. For example, a table football game made with porcelain figures of footballers and a wooden playing field. These things recapture the era and tradition of small-scale manufacturing process.

The key to their continued success? The authentic table football costs €1,500 (versus €200 for the modern plastic version). The authentic plush toys cost €40-60 apiece. So essentially you have a small community of people who appreciate certain things, and that small community is generating enough revenue for the manufacturing to happen.

If we apply this on GOG... you'll have GOG actually commissioning the development of new games under the "GOG code of values": no online requirement, LAN tools for everyone to use if the game has multiplayer, etc. Let's say GOG would invest €500K–€2M into each product. Let's say there are 50,000 active consumers on GOG. Let's say that cost of delivering the content/running platform is ~30%. So to pay back €500K, we need to generate revenues of €750K. That's €15 per consumer (Let's leave aside VAT for now). Now, considering the sales events and that people are buying on average at 1/2 price over 2-3 years of life-cycle, this would be more like the game retailing at €30, and scoring average sales value of €15. Moreover, as a bonus, you can still sell the game also on Steam, and score extra revenue there (say, double it?).

The million dollar question: why this is not happening?
Post edited May 16, 2017 by SergeiKlimov
*scraches head* 14 pages of hissyfit because the game has a multiplayer online version which requires the internet in addition of a separate fully operational (?) singleplayer offline version? Its not like its like this Armillo (or whatever that name was) accident.

Well... thank you Devs for the interaction with the community and not getting scared away from more vocal criticism :)
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SergeiKlimov: I forget that we're on the platform which is called Good OLD Games.

[snip]

If we apply this on GOG... you'll have GOG actually commissioning the development of new games under the "GOG code of values": no online requirement, LAN tools for everyone to use if the game has multiplayer, etc. ...

The million dollar question: why this is not happening?
Only GOG now... the brand has changed / is changing. Or trying?

I think you almost answered your million dollar question earlier, with a point that I nodded along to and will quote below. Ironically, I see that as the alignment between you and the GOG denizens that have been engaging with you critically. You all agree that something is changing under the surface.

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SergeiKlimov: When people talk about GOG ... you can generally categorise them ... pioneers of discovery, which ... brought back from the dark a bunch of great games that were too old for (then) mainstream retail but with the digital age blossomed since we (players in their 40s or 30s) were happy to overlook the visuals and still play GBA or GOG's 90s mixes.

I see a big problem with GOG losing that edge, and IMHO this is the thing that can kill the platform, ...
There's a finite amount of Good Old Games and the market for them is also a demographic wave. At some point the audience with previous exposure "dies down" and the "new" good old games (by 2027 games of 5 years ago will be quite old) will likely still be in broad distribution.

It's fairly obvious that GOG management is aware that they have ridden the wave as far as it could take us and are looking for some way to not just stay afloat, but actually keep on riding. What I doubt is that they actually know where they want to go. I think I also raised the potential for content creation as a differentiator some long time ago - although rather on the extras side instead of purer publishing.

Anyway, as per the Wiedzmin's favorite motto: Cos sie konczy...

Something is ending. Indeed.
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Klumpen0815: As I've said before, Eastern Germans on average have a lower income than most people in many European countries and it would still be even worse (like before) if the minimum wage law wouldn't have been introduced recently.
Now some of the other European countries have higher income than even Western Germans and yet you still won't stop about this here being the prime example of "rich people" which is simply nonsense.
There must be some personal gripe involved.
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SergeiKlimov: I did not want to comment on your previous message, but I guess I'll have to comment now.

When you compare groups of people, you look at the averages.

For example, in most countries women earn less than men for the same kind of job performed.

If I say that this is inequality, and you point me to an example of one woman who earns more than any man at the same job, this is not a real counter-argument.

You can check online the PPP value for different countries, and see where that stacks up Germany.

Germany is no.27 for 2016, below Australia and Sweden and Netherlands. But above Iceland, Denmark, Canada, Belgium, UK, France, Japan, etc.
I did check the PPPs and the US is significantly higher up on that list.
The "pay more as a German" thing is and always has been a cash grab.
Regional pricing has never had anything to do with fairness.

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?year_high_desc=true

1. Qatar
2. Macao SAR, China
3. Luxembourg
4. Singapore
5. Brunei Darussalam
6. Kuwait
7. United Arab Emirates
8. Ireland
9. Switzerland
10. Norway
11. Hong Kong SAR, China
12. United States
13. Saudi Arabia
14. Netherlands
15. Austria
16. Denmark
17. Germany

Following the fairness-logic I hope you get only half the wage team members in Stockholm get, seeing that you're from Lithuania, which has a very low PPP, so living costs are so low that wages should be adjusted accordingly.
Post edited May 16, 2017 by Klumpen0815
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anothername: *scraches head* 14 pages of hissyfit because the game has a multiplayer online version which requires the internet in addition of a separate fully operational (?) singleplayer offline version? Its not like its like this Armillo (or whatever that name was) accident.
Did you bump your head a forget your shopping at GOG? This is going about as well I expected...

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anothername: Well... thank you Devs for the interaction with the community and not getting scared away from more vocal criticism :)
Agreed, though I think this dev needs to learn that sometimes less is more...
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deleted_user:
Agreed, though I think this dev needs to learn that sometimes less is more...
Indeed:
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Klumpen0815: Following the fairness-logic I hope you get only half the wage team members in Stockholm get, seeing that you're from Lithuania, which has a very low PPP, so living costs are so low that wages should be adjusted accordingly.
BTW: He is "Trained as a lawyer. Worked as a publisher, bizdev and producer." which I'd hardly call a developer.
(from the linkedin profile)
Post edited May 16, 2017 by Klumpen0815
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deleted_user:
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anothername: *scraches head* 14 pages of hissyfit because the game has a multiplayer online version which requires the internet in addition of a separate fully operational (?) singleplayer offline version? Its not like its like this Armillo (or whatever that name was) accident.
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deleted_user:
Did you bump your head a forget your shopping at GOG? This is going about as well I expected...

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anothername: Well... thank you Devs for the interaction with the community and not getting scared away from more vocal criticism :)
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deleted_user:
Agreed, though I think this dev needs to learn that sometimes less is more...
No, but my rage-o-meter already got depleted by that recent Galaxy/Browser stunt.
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SergeiKlimov: The way it works is that EU directive demands "one currency, one price". So as long as we sell in euros to Poland and Germany, Poland cannot have different price from Germany.

On Steam, there's no PLN, so we sell in euros, and end up not making sales since the game is too expensive. On GOG, we're able to offer PLN pricing, which is lower than European, which means we finally meet the demand for our game as it's finally offered at the right price.

With Romania and Bulgaria, the situation will be resolved once some platform starts supporting the local currencies (if there are local currencies). For example, Humble is huge, but they don't really offer PLN or even RUB. But if the currency is the same euro... then the EU directive makes it illegal to change the prices.
Could yo give a link to that directive? I'm from Germany and I've never heard of it. And many developers are doing it another way and give different prices for different countries within the EU (even for those which use the Euro as a currency).

And it doesn't make much sense anyway. On GOG we always can pay in US-Dollar. So following your claim and said directive, one shouldn't be allowed to pay more or less than the US price in that case (on currency, one price).
Post edited May 16, 2017 by PaterAlf
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Klumpen0815: Following the fairness-logic I hope you get only half the wage team members in Stockholm get, seeing that you're from Lithuania, which has a very low PPP, so living costs are so low that wages should be adjusted accordingly.
We're paying ourselves about 1/3 of what we would be paying/earning in Stockholm. I lived in Stockholm for a while and I paid €2,200 to rent a 40 sq.m. apartment that wasn't even that central. I live in the heart of Vilnius Old Town and pay €800 for 60 sq.m. of a brand-new space. I used to spend €20 on lunch in Stockholm. I spend €7 in Vilnius. One of the reasons we chose Vilnius to assemble Charlie Oscar is that we can afford high quality of life for everyone with a very moderate studio burn rate.
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PaterAlf: Could yo give a link to that directive? I'm from Germany and I've never heard of it. And many developers are doing it another way and give different prices for different countries within the EU (even for those which use the Euro as a currency).

And it doesn't make much sense anyway. On GOG we always can pay in US-Dollar. So following your claim and said directive, one shouldn't be allowed to pay more or less than the US price in that case (on currency, one price).
(1) it's fairly easy to google, here you go:
https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/02/valve-bethesda-capcom-europe-antitrust-investigation/

you can explore the topic further by googling for new developments.

(2) can you refer to specific examples of "many developers" giving "different prices" for different countries that would all use Euros? for example, this is impossible on Steam or GOG.

(3) you misunderstand the concept, I'm afraid: the idea is that the same price has to apply to digital goods sold within EU, if the sale is happening in the euro currency. if you are based in Europe and you buy a product on GOG, is your card charged in USD or EUR?
Post edited May 16, 2017 by SergeiKlimov
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SergeiKlimov: (3) you misunderstand the concept, I'm afraid: the idea is that the same price has to apply to digital goods sold within EU, if the sale is happening in the euro currency. if you are based in Europe and you buy a product on GOG, is your card charged in USD or EUR?
(3) If I choose USD as my currency, it is charged in USD and gets converted to Euro afterwards (+ international currency fee of a few cents).

(1) Thank you for the link. As far as I can see it's not about different prices within the EU, but about geo-locking the keys and thus not permitting trades, gifting and re-selling. But I might have to take a closer look.

(2) Some examples for Slovakia and Germany :

1954 Alcatraz: $15.85 vs $21.15
8-bit Armies: $10.53 vs $15.85
The Age of Decadence: $21.15 vs $29.62
Anna's Quest: $15.85 vs $21.15
Blackguards Special Edition: $35.44 vs $47.61
Blackguards: Untold Legends: $4.76 vs $5.29
Bounty Train: $23.26 vs $26.45
Californium: $8.44 vs $10.53

Is it enough or should I search for more?
Post edited May 16, 2017 by PaterAlf
It's a war of attrition at this point...
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SergeiKlimov: For example, in most countries women earn less than men for the same kind of job performed.
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GOGer: This is a MYTH
Can confirm myth at least for Germany. Yes, they earn less. But what's always swiped under the rug by the feminists is that they also work less hours and in jobs which pay less. So, females, just get MINTed and earn more! You're supposedly so smart, why I saw in MINT jobs about 5% females while I was studying?
- http://www.focus.de/finanzen/news/lohn-maerchen-warum-maenner-gar-nicht-mehr-verdienen-als-frauen_id_4163527.html

So, sorry "the same kind of job" is just bullshit. If anything, they can get [s]fucked[/s] oogled by the superior and thus advance in job more. Does not work with ourselves, or does it..? oh wait, where is my sexy dress and makeup.. Naah, wouldn't work.

I suggest y'alls watch "The Red Pill (2016)" before demonizing any of the two parts of sexes.
Post edited May 16, 2017 by AlienMind
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PaterAlf: (2) Some examples for Slovakia and Germany :

Blackguards Special Edition: $35.44 vs $47.61
Sorry, I don't get this. Where are these prices from? Which company is selling in USD into Germany?
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SergeiKlimov: Sorry, I don't get this. Where are these prices from? Which company is selling in USD into Germany?
Uh... GOG? Here on GOG you can either pay in US Dollar or in your local currency if it is supported, but the choice about that is on the customers side.
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SergeiKlimov: Sorry, I don't get this. Where are these prices from? Which company is selling in USD into Germany?
Prices are from Magog (search engine for GOG games).

Regional priced games in Slovakia

And GOG is selling games in USD. You can either pay in your currency (as long as it is supported) or in USD. Doesn't really matter though, because in the end it's more or less the same price (just in another currency).
Post edited May 16, 2017 by PaterAlf