[casual_games] The 10 meg file limit

[James C. Smith]

I don't believe in a magic threshold.  I think 11 meg is only 10% bigger
than 10 meg.  I always try to make games no bigger than necessary but don't
stick to arbitrary limits.  3 or 4 years ago most people talked about 3 or 5
meg as an ideal size but Ricochet/Rebound shipped in January of 2001 as 6.2
MB game and did amazingly well (64 weeks in the top 10 of Real Arcade's best
sellers).  More recently people have been talking about 10 meg limits but
Ricochet Lost Worlds was a very successful 12 MB game in early 2004. (21
Weeks in Real Arcade top 10).  In 2005 with Big Kahuna Reef I was able to
fit everything I wanted into a 6 MB package. I didn't sacrifice quality to
cram it into 6MB. That was all the space I needed for that game.  But the
new Big Kahuna Words shipped this month weighing in at over 10 MB.
 
I would try to keep it small and not waste any space on unnecessary details.
But don't sacrifice quality just to keep it under 10 MB.
 
James C. Smith
Producer: Ricochet xxx, Big Kahuna xxx
Reflexive Entertainment

-----Original Message-----
From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
On Behalf Of James Baker - WDDG/Inferno
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 3:36 PM
To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
Subject: [casual_games] The 10 meg file limit


In the past, there was an unwritten rule of casual games that you shouldn't
go over 10 megs for the download.  While it wasn't a hard and fast rule - I
had heard from a number of portals that cracking ten megs would noticeably
impact your sales and downloads.
 
I'm wondering if you all think that is still the case - 
 
We just finished up a game and it weighs in at a hefty 11megs.  Squeezing
that last meg out looks like a very very difficult task - I'm wondering if
it is worth it.
 
Thanks!

James Baker
Principal
WDDG/Inferno/Funtank
212-219-9222
james at wddg.com

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