

Humble Indie Bundle back with Humble Frozen Synapse Bundle - jolan
http://www.humblebundle.com/?unique

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masterzora
I like the new twist where you only get the extra games if you beat the
average. It's always pained me a little bit to see how low the averages have
been on these things for some quality games. I understand that the
participants in these bundles are willing to accept those prices or they
wouldn't do this so it's not as if they're unfair or anything, but I'd hope
that people would have given better value judgments. I hope this new twist
helps!

~~~
scotty79
I have bought all humble indie bundles so far. I was always paying below
average.

I didn't have time to play any of the games though so I have probably not
exploited anyone's hard work (yet).

~~~
masterzora
May I ask why you were paying below average? The average has always been what
I would call "ridiculously low" and, except for some form of financial
hardship, I don't understand what good reason there is for not ponying up a
more respectable amount.

~~~
scotty79
This will probably offend some people but I grew up in a culture of not paying
for information. Piracy was for long time the only way to obtain interesting
software in my country.

If I'm hitting some paywall while searching for something crucial for me I
always go extra mile to find the thing I need (or equivalent) without paying.

I sometimes pay when acquiring software but I don't view it as paying for but
rather as voluntarily supporting a cause.

That's the case with Humble Indie Bundle. I think the idea of "pay what you
want" is worth the support.

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doomlaser
Don't forget that the Humble Bundle guys are also backed by a $4.7 million
venture capital investment by Sequoia:
[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/34255/Humble_Bundle_Backe...](http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/34255/Humble_Bundle_Backed_By_47_Million_In_Venture_Capital.php)

Puts an interesting spin on the whole situation. The sliders are set to give
the organizers 15% of the gross, and they claim that when all is said and
done, that's approximately the rate that they actually get.

How many more bundles until Sequoia turns a profit? What's been the total
gross so far?

Anyway, an interesting business / promotional model.

~~~
reitzensteinm
I assume (with zero inside knowledge) that the Humble Bundle guys have
big(ger) things planned in the future - otherwise what's the point of taking
that much funding in the first place?

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huhtenberg
I don't know. The bundle with Machinarium and Auditorium - that was truly
awesome with original games that were one of a kind. but this one... it is a
bundle of, essentially, the same run-and-shoot game. Maybe it's me getting
old, but this is just not interesting.

~~~
7rurl
Frozen Synapse is not a run and shoot game. Instead it is a turn based tactics
game.

~~~
judgardner
Description of Frozen Synapse reminds me of RoboSport, glad to see games like
this are still being created.

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darklajid
Don't get the negative vibes here (complaining about the number of games
included, for example).

I watched the trailers and videos for that game [1] and _wow_, this will be
the 3rd? 4th? (got every one so far, I guess) bundle I'll purchase. It's quite
on topic as well, in my opinion: The idea is so frikkin' simple. Well executed
(didn't play yet, but the videos and reviews so far are promising), this is a
well played "launch". I'm impressed.

1: <http://www.frozensynapse.com/media.html>

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cookiecaper
Not really a "bundle" when you just have one game. I hope that the Humble
Bundle people don't make a habit of this, the inconsistency will diminish
their brand significantly imo.

~~~
keenerd
I am a little annoyed with how Mode7 is handling this. I bought it for full
price a while ago (because everyone said it worked great in Wine, and it
does). Still no linux download for their previous customers!

They should have

1) quietly released the linux build to their customers so that we could find
bugs (and I am hearing there are a lot of bugs, good luck getting it to run on
nvidia)

2) waited three months (while polishing the linux build) and been the big
title for the next "real" bundle

~~~
ido
I don't know Mode7, but as an indie-developer myself I can tell that you that
if HIB knocked on my door I wouldn't tell them to wait 3 months.

I am not sure you realize how much of a king-maker/lottery HIB is.

For one developer I personally know whose game was on one of the previous
bundles, it single-handedly brought him from losing with little to no chance
of ever recouping costs to paying for more than a year of salaries for the 3
people involved thereby financing their next game.

That's mostly due to the money HIB brought in directly but also due to
bringing a lot publicity that helped them after the bundle was over.

It's basically the indie-games equivalent of a brand new unfunded startup
getting a phone call from PG asking if they want to join the next YC, starting
in 1 week - you don't say no to an opportunity like that.

~~~
keenerd
I seriously doubt the "one game bundle" was HIB's idea. (Or rather, I really
hope it was not. Does not bode well for the future.)

And I know exactly how profitable the Bundles have been. This de-values the
bundle.

Here are the options:

1) Do a one-man-show today, with just you. This is what Mode7 is doing. (The
included Frozen Byte stuff does not count, it is a rehash of the worst selling
HIB. Desperate!)

2) Wait for the real HIB in December-ish and release with 4 other games.

How does being part of a bigger bundle hurt you? This is not like "join the
next YC, starting in 1 week", this is like "you have not have coffee or a
shower and are still in your PJs, but get down to the board room and pitch
right now". YC's value is that it is a group event, with lots of startups.
HIBs value is that it is a group event with lots of games. This is not a group
event. It is one game, with a desperate attempt to recoup more from the least
popular past HIB.

~~~
ido

        I seriously doubt the "one game bundle" was HIB's idea.
    

Whose idea do you think it was? Mode7 is hardly in a position to dictate HIB
how to do their bundles, if they're not interested there is a long list of
other developers waiting to replace them.

I seriously doubt this __wasn't __HIB's idea.

    
    
        2) Wait for the real HIB in December-ish and 
        release with 4 other games.
    

And get 1/7 of $x million instead of 1/3. It was a gamble but looking at how
much money it has brought in after scarcely a day - seems pretty much the same
as the average of the other bundles.

Whether or not it's a good idea for HIB is a good question (I don't know the
answer but I can see both pros and cons).

But Mode7 are making out like bandits and would have been fools to turn this
offer down.

~~~
keenerd
I find it much more likely that Mode7 said "Hey HIB, we just finished a linux
port yesterday. Can we be in your next Bundle?"

HIB has been approached by developers before. There is quick profit and
massive exposure in the HIB. Case in point, the devs who have asked to be in
the bundle for free, just for the exposure.

HIB might have had to ask devs and make offers in the early few, but not now.

Regardless, let's not get distracted from the central point: Frozen Synapse is
a great game :-)

(Still no linux client for their previous customers though.)

~~~
keenerd
Thinking about it more, this may have well been HIB's idea, if only because it
is so different and they are very curious/experimentive people.

If this bundle works out well, I could see them trying to float an entirely
new business model. Something similar to Woot, with a new game every two
weeks. Not sure if this is good or bad. It would certainly be hard on my
wallet.

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chaostheory
For those who haven't played Frozen Synapse yet, to me it feels like 21st
century chess.

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RobLach
I understand having too many games and having to cut some out.

I don't understand having too little games. There's dozens of indies who would
love to have their game in one of these bundles.

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sbochins
They really shouldn't release these bundles that often. Last bundle had some
really great games. And they included an earlier bundle. It was around 10
games. For this one all you get is Frozen Synapse. Personally, I was never
really interested in that game. Maybe if they released a proper bundle with a
lot of variety, I'd be willing to put down some money. I only played 3 or so
games from the last bundle even though I had access to 10. I wasn't interested
in the other 7.

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ddw
Ha Linux customers (including myself) pay twice the amount as Windows
customers!

To the people complaining here - seriously? Are we so used to just torrenting
everything that you can't throw a few bucks at this? The average purchase to
get all of the games is currently $4.53.

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hennypenny
Not a big Frozen Synapse fan here but I like donating to the EFF through these
things. Since they have Amazon payments it is dead simple and it helps me
expand my Steam library. In the past they have added more games later in the
offer, hopefully the trend continues.

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Angostura
I play games, I buy games.

I looked at this Web site and didn't have a _clue_ what it was all about.

Either I'm irredemably dim, or their front page could do with some work.

~~~
wingerlang
Try reading the text. I mean, the tagline is: "pay what you want ... get
games" and this is repeated like everywhere.

