Flashbang Switches Gears, Plans Full-featured Velociraptor Safari

Pity. They're trying too hard to make a business out of this.. Their games are inhenerently one-trick. They tried to add longevity with reams of achievements and bonus point multipliers but they remain only entertaining for minutes to perhaps two hours maximum, on average.

I do not think this is a wise choice. They need to batton down the hatches and keep doing what they like doing while supporting their finances intelligently, instead of trying to make people pay for a shinier version of an amusingly retarded casual game.

The surreality of the concept limits the variety available, and the mechanic of handbrake-spinning a car to impale dinosaurs is an awkward one, and not particularly satisfying.

Grand Theft Raptor, perhaps, would offer some more variety. Or a true safari, allowing freeform exploration to hunt for a large number of different species by different methods in a massive, complex enviroment - akin to the carmageddon level design. Imagine taking down a apatosaurus like an AT-AT, using cables from the rear of the car to tie its legs.

I looked into the numbers on small indie game development quite a bit earlier this year and came to the conclusion that it's damn near impossible to make a living at it. I wonder if it will get harder as do games and games on the web get more sophisticated.

Say you make an iPhone game that sells 10k copies at 1.99. That would be a ridiculous success. The revenue would be 20k. Now take out cc fees and the app store cut. Your at 12k. Lets assume your he only one getting a cut as a sole developer (unlikely). Regardless, you probably still had to pay for some art and sounds. Take out 1k.

You're at 11k...Now take out taxes. Depends on your income but let's say that leaves you at 9k. This is a best case scenario IMO. Outstanding sales for a game made by one person. How long can one person live on 9k? 6 months at best. The more likely scenario is that the money coming back to you is much, much less.

But...but..but what about Jetpack Brontosaurus?

Not sure if I'm excited about this, or kind of disappointed.

I love Flashbang's games as they are always hilarious and really well made, but at the same time many of them feel like physics toys or tech demos and when you need to install their special software to play their games online, it taken some of the fun out of casual online games, especially on computer's that aren't your own.

A full featured Velociraptor Safari could be great, the first felt like there was no real point to the game, but it was laugh out loud hilarious and fun to play, if it was fleshed out it could be great.