Zeiva Inc. are a two person flash game creating group who make many games full of cute, fluff, anime-styled pretty people and fun stuff. Edit: I forgot Dance Dance Evolution in the poll. It's got Atashi no Riri levels of KAWAII.
It wouldn't let me link in the original post, so I will continue my thoughts here. Zeiva Inc. games, information, and affiliates can be checked out at their website. Most of their games are short, bizzare, pretty, and relatively entertaining. I decided to go home to LP Other Age a few days ago, and the thread got a pretty good response from the LP forum. But people started discussing chars and endings without spoilering... Well, I like talking about the game too, and I think it's super fun! Just.. Not so much in front of people who haven't played and are actually sort of interested in my LP. So I'd really like to discuss everthing about them here! This means SPOILERS WILL BE PRESENT, and SPOILER TAGS ARE NOT REQUIRED. Reading here implies you've played the games or don't care about talking about details within the games! BE WARNED!
I AM SO READY FOR DRAGON ESSENCE But other then that I'm only marginally aware of the other series. Like I've played Other Age a long time ago. I think. Hmm, actually I really ought to go see how the LPs of her work are like. (oh and ETA a link for the demo)
I haven't even read about Dragon Essence yet, honestly. I've been out of the loop on Zeiva stuff until I looked back into it for my LP recently. I was really disappointed by OASE, so I kinda don't pay much attention to their new stuff. I'm assuming DE is a pay to play, also?
I want to play some of their newer games, but I am not about to pay for a game that doesn't reach a certain level of professionalism. I don't mean to be mean when I say that, but I'm really really serious about spending my money on things, no matter how small the cost, so...
Teddybear of Death Yep, pay to play. I can understand, MulMizu. Though, I think for me it's more it feels a bit short. The worlds are big for the game and I just have this sort of internal assessing thing which hasn't yet made me tip my hand.
$15 bucks for a game even the author openly admits she's not proud of? Playing as a male to date their inspid female cast characters? NOPE. Nooo waaaay. I like their games, but they're always way to lacking to spend money on. If it were cheaper, I might CONSIDER it on the grounds that I really do like them and nostalgia. But no. Not at what they're doing right now. Yeah, no. Not interested then. If someone were to get it and LP at least part of the content here though, I'd defintely read.
I really liked X-Note and I thought that had a good story and I'm looking forward to Dragon Essence. I don't know much about their older games, but I know I wouldn't have payed to play Other Age, it just isn't that great a game. I also think it would be better if their games weren't quite so expensive. They might even make a little more money if they were 5 or 10 dollars instead of 15 or 20 because more people would probably be willing to buy them.
BEST ADVICE. I like Zeiva, but they're poor business people. From what I read when OASE came out on Mirage's blog, they're spending way more time and money on their pay games than they're making back. They need help or a new strategy, IMO. Like I said in an earlier post, I'd consider these games for $5 purely because I like them and would give benefit of doubt. But $15? Hell no. That being said, I thought X-Note was an affiliate game. If it's one of theirs, I must have a peek at least. Eventually.
I don't know if it's an affiliate game or not. But the shading on the sprites definitely looks similar to the stuff in Other Age and it has the Mirage Fish in it so I don't think it is? One thing I like about Zeiva is that they have fairly extensive demos that you can try online. I definitely wouldn't have bought a game for $20 without trying it (unless it was Harvest Moon or Rune Factory or something), but after playing the X-Note demo, I couldn't buy it fast enough. There are so many mysteries and I just couldn't wait to find out the answers. (That said, Oure needs some fanfiction because his ending is just too sad.)
The last thing from them I saw/demo'd was OASE, so adimttedly, they could have improved. I rather hope they did. Like I said, I liked them and I wish them sucess. I need to look into the demos of the newer ones. I might be pleasantly surprised. Still, $15-20 is very high. I could go buy a console game with more content and better writing/coding/content for that. SO if you're gonna be in that price bracket, you gotta bring a hell of a game. I'm poor as hell and don't just throw around even $5 let alone 4 times that much. Maybe I'm critical and disappointed they're not doing free stuff anymore? I dunno. I still wish them the best.
About the pricing, I ran into them at Otakon this past summer and the cds for the games were being sold for 10 to 12 dollars. When I visited them on the last day all of the games were sold out so, maybe they're getting money off of that? Also, they were selling their art prints for 5 bucks each and a friend of mine bought 20 dollars worth 'cause the prints were significantly cheaper than all the other artists' and they were pretty.So uh, extra money I guess. Maybe they just don't like selling on the internet?
I hadn't read anything about that, especially since I think they were excited about selling online going into the project. They may have particularly wanted to sell off their CDs since they went to the trouble of having them made. $5 fo rone of their glorious prints isn't outrageous, though. I might spluge on that. Still not sure I'd throw $10 at OASE. $5-8 I'd CONSIDER and probably cave, but double digits still bugs me.
That's understandable, especially since it really is just a flipped gender version of Other Age. I don't think it has much else to it than that, but then again only ever played for like five minutes before dropping it. I am fond of their games. The art is cute, the characters are fun, and they can create good stories too, just, sometimes I wish they were longer is all. I dunno maybe I'm just spoiled by console games or something. Since I tend to sink like 80+ hours on one game, finishing a game in a day is a bit weird to me.
Well, the demo I played of OASE had quite a bit more content than the original, buuut... Still. I wanted an Other Age that was, say, the second date/potential actual wedding, or in some way helped conclude the other two series that they left completely hanging open and abandoned. I'm probably just nit-picking, but it doesn't motivate me to want to spend all that money on it. I really do need to check out their newer demos and see whay direction they're going in now. They may have found a good direction and balance by now.
I wasn't a fan of Other Age, but X-Note and Dragon Essence seem miles ahead in both professionalism and plot. Although the price is too steep for me to buy personally, it's not that unreasonable. Sure, you can compare the price to more professional games, but you can also compare the price to, say, art commissions or plain novels which can also be = or > $15-20. I don't know, I just find it odd that some would be willing to drop $20 on prints, but not the same amount on a game, which takes significantly more time and work.
The only argument I could make for comissions is that you can ask for something customized to your taste to that price. Honestly though you're right, having more content in a game is more bang for your buck.
