I asked the developer / publisher Nicalis about it on Twitter ages ago and was told that they would gladly release it here if GOG would offer them the industry standard 70/30 revenue split. Someone from GOG said that they were never in touch with Nicalis. Now that GOG has since publicly confirmed that their rev share is 70/30, why has nothing happened years later? Has there still been no contact between the two? Seriously, what's the deal?

Vote: http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/cave_story
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQpHejqlzzY

"Arguably the most well-known indie game of all time, Cave Story features a completely original storyline wrapped with personality, mystery and hours of fast-paced fun. Cave Story is an action-adventure game from the critically acclaimed independent designer, Daisuke Amaya--or Pixel to his fans. Overflowing with unmatched charm and character, Cave Story takes you into a rare world where a curious race of innocent rabbit-like creatures, called Mimigas, run free.

You wake up in a dark cave with no memory of who you are, where you came from or why you're in such a place. Uncovering Mimiga Village you discover that the once-carefree Mimigas are in danger at the hands of a maniacal scientist. The Mimigas’ only hope rest squarely on the shoulders of a quiet, amnesiac boy who can't remember his own name.

Run, jump, shoot, fly and explore your way through a massive action-adventure reminiscent of classic 8- and 16-bit games. Take control and learn the origins of this world’s power, stop the delusional villain and save the Mimiga!

-Original (320x240) graphics and upgraded "HD" graphics.
-Remastered music as well as the original soundtrack.
-Mix-and-match new/old artwork and music!
-New play modes (Wind Fortress, Boss Rush, Sanctuary Time Attack, Nemesis Challenge, Curly Story).
-Three difficulty settings.
-Seasonal graphics."

Tweet the parties involved:

https://twitter.com/nicalis
https://twitter.com/GOGcom
https://twitter.com/amaya_pixel
https://twitter.com/StudioPixelJP
https://twitter.com/tyronerodriguez

Pretty good game indeed. Even if not a masterpiece definitely well above the average so it should be here.

Because reasons.

It's a pretty solid game. I want to go back to it eventually and beat it in a harder difficulty.

Voted.

Heresy. It pretty much is a modern masterpiece, by Indie standards. Especially considering that it was made mostly by one guy ( at least the original version ).

Did you play and finish it? It's packed with cool ideas and attention to detail. ( And replay value, due to optional content, challenges and alternate endings. )

Who does get? 30 percent? Developers?

Also, let me tell you a story..

...

err..

I got nothing.

Do you Barry_Woodward get that 30 percent because you sure are contacting people? Or is it just a hobby? =D

I finished one of the many ports of the original game (the Caanoo-port actually).
It is a masterpiece.

Have you tried asking Nicalis about it? And questioning them about where they got the idea GOG wasn't using the 30/70 split?

Yes, I did finish it more then year ago :) And I agree it has some cool ideas and nice story but for me it wasn't a masterpiece. My biggest annoyance was tedious and repetitive battles with constantly respawning enemies - you want to save a game, go inside, come back and boom! Every enemy is back! Even though I had a great time with it!

My opinion is that being made by a single guy doesn't make a game any better and thus it doesn't change my opinion about it even a bit. It wasn't a masterpiece for me before and it's not now, after I've learnt that it was done by one person (I didn't know that before). The only thing that changes is that I now think that the guy behind it is very, very talented.

I have. Nada. Maybe the original rev share was different and they learned about it from other developers or maybe it was a baseless rumor. Regardless, at the time, GOG wasn't making that information publicly available. Respawning enemies is an important and necessary part of the Metroidvania genre to replenish health and weapons.

Sigh... I didn't criticize respawning enemies but "tedious and repetitive battles with constantly respawning enemies". Weapon upgrade system was nice but overall the combat part of the game was just solid for me and thus fighting with constantly respawning enemies was a bit boring. Just a personal opinion though ;)

As far as I know that one guy, "Pixel"(?), created not only the game concept, program code and graphics, but also the cool soundtrack. And you're right, objectively it does not change the quality of the game, but it does affect how you perceive it. It certainly impressed me, especially since I was more actively involved in Indie/Amateur game projects myself at the time.

And what makes it a masterpiece, imho, is not the core gameplay ( which is rather old-school and heavily based on genre classics ) but the amount of polish and attention to detail. I don't know if you've only played through the game once, but it's packed with little secrets and optional content. You can tell a lot of effort and "love" went into this project, ultimately resulting in a game that's on the same level as the classics it took inspiration from.

I agree that you shouldn't just arbitrarily label something a masterpiece when you do not feel it is justified, but I'm not sure if you understand the full significance of Cave Story in the development of the current indie game landscape and also possibly in helping shape the current state of video game digital distribution at large.

It's not just that Cave Story was made by a single, extremely dedicated, and unselfish developer. Cave Story was probably the first digital distribution indie game to gain significant mass awareness, and Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya didn't even promote his game (this was circa 2004... think about this, this was a time before YouTube was even founded, a time when MySpace was more popular than Facebook, when everyone had clamshell phones, when PC games were almost always sold on physical media, and when PC gaming was in decline because the PS2/XBOX were pwning everything), and as such, Cave Story marked a turning point for indie games that made them a viability to market and distribute digitally in a way that had never been done before. I believe its success paved the way for titles like Braid and the onslaught of indie games in the late 2000's to become economically feasible.

Cave Story surely belongs in here!

+1

Not often in history has a freeware game by a very humble guy gotten such fame and had so much influence just by the sheer uniqueness and love that has been put into it.