I'm sure all the developers and distributors who give away games or generous discounts are hoping you'll buy their games. I'm now trying to move away from big distributors (even though I've just paid for a year’s subscription to BFG games) as I think the small developers whose original games are usually found on most of the big sites like Reflexive, Gamehouse, Big Fish Games and Alawar deserve to get a bigger slice of the profits from the games they worked on so hard. The big developers then seem to rip off the ideas by releasing umpteen clones of the originals. I’ll happily search out the developer of most games, but it’s not always possible to find them.
I recently purchased Darkside a game developed by Pie Eyed Games late last year. I received an Email from the developer after I’d received the unlock codes, saying that I could choose another game from a selection, because he had a promotion on at the time. I then wrote back to the developer telling him my thoughts about the game and how I’d decided to purchase directly from developers because I thought that it would help to create more original games. He replied by sending me unlock codes for two of his older games (Arklight and Scavenger) as well as the unlock code for a new game he was intending to release soon called System Mania. I replied thanking him, though I told him I’d already purchased the two games he’d given me. Guess what; he offered me even more, which I declined because the initial purchase had been well worth it in the first place.
As for Alawar’s repeat of a game they were giving away a couple of months ago. Okay, for those of us who have been downloading these free games for some time it’s a little disappointing, but I’m sure there are many who have since discovered the game box. So far there has only been one game given away free via the game box that I hadn’t already purchased (one of the snowy games) and that wouldn’t download for some reason.
With respect to Alawar’s game box, I do think it’s the best one of all the game managers out there (of the ones that I know of at any rate); partly because you don’t actually have to use it if you choose not to and you can also add all your games to the manager, even if they weren’t purchased from Alawar.
I do agree with you Suki about it not having been updated for a long time (well, not that I can see; although the ability to add non Alawar games was an addition that wasn’t part of the original release.
Roll on next month. I do hope I finally get a game I don’t already have, but that’s odds against because I have most of Alawar’s games already.
regards Stephen
