Castle Paradox

8bit · Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 12:07 pm Post subject: How big is too big?

So, I've been working on my game for a couple months now and it is getting down right HUGE. I am using mp3s for the music and sound effects. There are many different environments and each one has it's own music. Each one has its own battle background as well. I am also using backgrounds for various 'cut scenes' in the game, too. I'm only a quarter of the way through and this file is already HUGE. How big is too big? Would it deter anyone from downloading my game? I just wanted to get some opinions...
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Bob the Hamster · Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 12:22 pm Post subject: Re: How big is too big?

"Too big" is subjective. it depends on who is downloading it.

Some question:

1) How big is your RPG file? How many megabytes?

2) How big is it after you put it in a ZIP file? Although zipping will have no effect on your music and sound effects, it will shrink your backdrops nicely.

3) What compression level do you use when converting your MP3 files into OGG format when you import them?

J.A.R.S. · Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 5:33 am Post subject:

people play games that need 3 dvds nowadays, but the truth is they expect fun out of the box. It is not always a matter of graphical appeal so I'd say you'd have to base your idea of big on the quality of the game itself.

Rya.Reisender · **Snippy** Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 821

Well first of all there's some MB limit for uploading a game here (10 MB I think). If you don't upload it here, chances are already lower people play your game.

Other than that, a game can also be bigger, but I can tell you if the download takes longer than one hour, many people won't want to download it. So it also depends on the upload speed of the server you host it on.

If the game is 100 MB big, but I can download it within 10 minutes (my connection is good enough for that) I won't mind the size at all.
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TwinHamster · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 7:45 am Post subject:

I think that if I'm downloading a 100mb file, it'd better be the final version.

A would consider a 20mb Zipped file to be really big.
Anything larger than that would be... :O

LeRoy_Leo · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 10:05 am Post subject:

Man, I remember how it would take me a couple hours to download EverQuest back in it's golden years (several years ago), but I still did it. Why? I loved the game that much. Minnek and I were major EQ addicts. So I guess the formula in most people's minds is Game= Game play + Graphics - download time (X = P + A - T: P= play/fun/design A =art/graphics T= Time). Superb graphics and game play, even replay value, overpowers time.
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Inferior Minion · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 7:42 pm Post subject:

Uncommon · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 9:45 pm Post subject:

Rya.Reisender · **Snippy** Joined: 18 Jan 2008 Posts: 821

Y'know, sometimes I'd be awesome to download the music separately. Like the game file comes only with BAM/MIDI music and is like 1MB but you could also download an MP3/OGG package (>100MB) that is placed into the folder of the executable and names like the game and if the game detect this folder it uses those 'better' sounds instead.

Man I wish Radar was still here, wonder what awesome sound he could pull off now that BAM isn't needed anymore.
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Snippy:
"curt or sharp, esp. in a condescending way" (Oxford American Dictionary)
"fault-finding, snappish, sharp" (Concise Oxford Dictionary, UK)
1. short-tempered, snappish, 2. unduly brief or curt (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

TMC · Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:50 am Post subject:

The current playtesting version of Adventures of Powerstick Man Extended Edition is 20.4MB zipped and growing fast (50.3MB unzipped). Yikes, it contains 6.1MB of only BAM/MIDI music, plus 14.1MB of sound effects. With CP's comparatively slow upload speed (768kbps I think?), it took a while download.

If you have a really big game like that, you should distribute it as an .rpgdir folder (by running it through unlump.exe) so that game.exe doesn't have to uplump it, which can take a looong time.

As for Rya's idea: I hope that the new CP will give people the ability to upload multiple resources. Also, how about letting people browse the contents of uploaded archives, and autogenerating an alternative download when applicable: "without .exes or .dlls"
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Bob the Hamster · Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 9:23 am Post subject:

Starting with the ypsiliform release, an RPG that contains both an ogg version of a song and an midi/bam version of a song will favor the ogg file.

This means that if anybody wants to make a fancy installer (like with NSIS or something) they could make an option to download and install high-quality music separately.

Pepsi Ranger · Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 12:57 pm Post subject:

The Drizzle · **Who is the Drizzle?** Joined: 12 Nov 2003 Posts: 432

Bob the Hamster · Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 3:28 pm Post subject:

Inferior Minion · Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2008 7:10 pm Post subject: