BPM Boy (by RetroNinja) - (in VCS Store)

[E. King]

Just now, ColecoGamer said:

Being optimistic is different than being ‘blindly positive’, but I digress. So, if you bought the game, can you add some context to your previous comments? Do you like the game? What don’t you like about it? I’m not home to log into my VCS to buy BPM Boy (otherwise I would).

I had some initial concerns since I honestly was not expecting it to be $20. I had some conversations with fellow gamers on various platforms and decided to go ahead and buy it. If my words of uncertainty bothered anyone, that was never my intention.

 

I just started playing and so far it is very fun and challenging. The graphics and music are great and it the controls/physics are very good.

 

I do not want to give any cons or things I may not like yet as I need more time playing to be sure before I speak as I do not want to offend anyone here but here is a video of the 1st level with no commentary.

 

If you are interested I will be posting various levels with no commentary over the next couple days while I work on the review.

 

Again, I apologize if any of my words came off as being overly critical in anyway as that is not my goal here.

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

 

[WAVE 1 GAMES]

I bought it JUST to support the developer as I dont really even have time to play games anymore. But I could see the effort put into it and this is the kind of thing that needs to continue. I did play the game for like 5 minutes but I had other more pressing issues at the time. From what I played it reminded me of super monkey ball and jet grind radio.

 

I think people have gotten so used to complaining when something new comes out that its just forced habit at this point and they have forgotten how to even be excited. If $20 is too much for you then maybe you shouldn't buy it. But that IS the price.

[Djmicklovin]

2 hours ago, E. King said:

LOL, I bought it an hour ago and am playing it now.  I had no intentions of "crapping on anyone's game".  I guess you expect everyone to be blindly positive about a game with no concerns ever. Ok but that is not me. 

No one cares to watch your garbage reviews. Talking about being “blindly positive” but what about “blindly negative?” You jumped to conclusions before you even played the game, over $20.. If you’re concerned about $20 like your  family might not be able to eat, then you might wanna consider a new hobby because video games happen to be expensive my guy.

Edited June 12, 2022 by Djmicklovin

[WAVE 1 GAMES]

I forgot to mention that when you die there is a chicken clucking sound effect.... I don't know why but I love this! ?

Edited June 12, 2022 by WAVE 1 GAMES

[Deteacher]

Glad to hear that this game has been released.  I will be buying it and can't wait to give it a go!  Congrats on your accomplishment! 

[SizzleAtari]

After spending more time with BPM Boy, I stand by what I said. $10 game at best. Not enough content. Too simple of a game. Not every game that releases in the store is gonna be a great game. We get excited by games simply just being released in the store, when on another console, most of us wouldn't even think about purchasing it. I do have appreciation for the effort put into the game, but time isn't what makes a game great. Quality and value is, and the value of this game to me is $10. My opinion. You may love the game. It's not a bad game. It's an ok game to me. I was just let down after the anticipation of it for me.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

I’ll be picking this game up for sure when it hits all the other platforms down the line, I’ll buy it on each one. I would have bought it on PS4/PS5, Xbox etc because it my kinda game though and I’ve been following it for a while. I’ve been spending a lot of time playing this game because it’s actually really really good and addictive not because I’m starved for games to play and it’s a VCS game and as such I just have to get it. I had planned to start playing a few PS5 games I picked up this weekend but they’ve been put on hold as I’m having such a blast playing BPM boy. 

[Djmicklovin]

38 minutes ago, SizzleAtari said:

After spending more time with BPM Boy, I stand by what I said. $10 game at best. Not enough content. Too simple of a game. Not every game that releases in the store is gonna be a great game. We get excited by games simply just being released in the store, when on another console, most of us wouldn't even think about purchasing it. I do have appreciation for the effort put into the game, but time isn't what makes a game great. Quality and value is, and the value of this game to me is $10. My opinion. You may love the game. It's not a bad game. It's an ok game to me. I was just let down after the anticipation of it for me.

What more content does it need? Of all the games in the VCS store, this has some of the most content and is the most graphically impressive. Just because it's not your style of game doesn't mean it lacks value. The game is a fun, smooth, and solid made game with good music. "Time doesn't make a game great." Yeah act like you know more about game development than a man that has spent 40 years making games... 

[WAVE 1 GAMES]

1 hour ago, SizzleAtari said:

After spending more time with BPM Boy, I stand by what I said. $10 game at best. Not enough content. Too simple of a game. Not every game that releases in the store is gonna be a great game. We get excited by games simply just being released in the store, when on another console, most of us wouldn't even think about purchasing it. I do have appreciation for the effort put into the game, but time isn't what makes a game great. Quality and value is, and the value of this game to me is $10. My opinion. You may love the game. It's not a bad game. It's an ok game to me. I was just let down after the anticipation of it for me.

Its cute that you think you can regulate the price of the game based on your opinion and wether or not YOU like it. Unfortunately in the real world you don't decide the price, the author does.

$20 isn't going to break anyone and this is the price point the author has decided on. As somebody else already mentioned you cant even get a tank of gas for $20 anymore. Speaking as a developer myself, this is not what devs want to hear when they release something they put their hard time and effort in. The sacrifice of time that could have been spent with their families they spent creating something new and unique for people to enjoy. Its very discouraging and frankly unnecessary. If you didn't want to pay $20 you didnt have to. The best thing to do if the price point is too high for you is to just not buy it. Sitting their trying to justify what YOU think it should be is bonkers to me. You have no reference point or anything, you just stick a price on it just because you say it should be so. You wouldn't barter with a game store on a new release so why the negative comments here with this guy? $20 is a fine price for the game. I dont see what all of the bitching is about.  Stop gauging peoples hard work on your own personal budget. In the end you do nothing but piss the devs off with that crap. And guess what? It's still $20 so move on!

Edited June 12, 2022 by WAVE 1 GAMES

[davpa]

21 hours ago, E. King said:

I searched Youtube and have still not found anyone post a gameplay video of complete levels with music sound. Davpa had a nice video where he did show 2 levels but it was without sound for some odd reason and I thought it could be due to copyright claims on the music.

 

Is the music creator copyright claiming gameplay video of this game? If I were to purchase the game, which I still might, I would want to make numerous videos showing the gameplay with the music and give my review of the game. 

 

If I do decide to buy it and give it a fun run of play, will I be able to post videos with music without getting a copyright claim?

I usually keep game/music sounds lower as not to cover over my sultry voice (/joke), but when I cleaned up the sound, removing computer fan noises and such, the in-game audio got a little washed out.  You can hear it in the background if you listen, but yeah, it pretty much got nuked.  That was mostly my mistake rather then a choice.

[davpa]

On 6/11/2022 at 1:21 PM, Tony Barnes said:

...Donut Dodo decided to launch at $5 (I think that's a $10, easily, but that's my opinion).

I agree.  I was surprised with the $4.99 price.  I wouldn't have blinked if it was $9.99.

[E. King]

12 hours ago, Djmicklovin said:

No one cares to watch your garbage reviews. Talking about being “blindly positive” but what about “blindly negative?” You jumped to conclusions before you even played the game, over $20.. If you’re concerned about $20 like your  family might not be able to eat, then you might wanna consider a new hobby because video games happen to be expensive my guy.

LOL, yeah I bought the game and my family can not eat for 2 days. I guess I made the wrong decision. I wish you would have told me not to buy it before I spent that $20 that was supposed to buy food for my starving family.

 

It is quite interesting the level of defensiveness that a handful of people are portraying in this thread.

Edited June 12, 2022 by E. King

[Mockduck]

I have been struggling trying to figure out how to get past one of the recurring things, first encountered in level 9: Think three lines of color across the path, blue/red/blue or red/blue/red, and you are somehow supposed to get to the other side. I can't seem to figure out how to do it without taking damage, which is stopping me from getting past the 9th level. Jumping doesn't seem to work; do you have to hit the tile or just be above it in order to take damage? I - seem - to be jumping over it but still taking damage, but I also can't figure out how to swap colors mid-air or while rolling across without taking damage. If I build up enough speed to jump high enough over it I have too much speed and roll off the edge. So, so far I can't figure out how to get past this level at all, and after about 30 tries I'm calling it a day for now. Any advice?

[E. King]

13 minutes ago, Mockduck said:

I have been struggling trying to figure out how to get past one of the recurring things, first encountered in level 9: Think three lines of color across the path, blue/red/blue or red/blue/red, and you are somehow supposed to get to the other side. I can't seem to figure out how to do it without taking damage, which is stopping me from getting past the 9th level. Jumping doesn't seem to work; do you have to hit the tile or just be above it in order to take damage? I - seem - to be jumping over it but still taking damage, but I also can't figure out how to swap colors mid-air or while rolling across without taking damage. If I build up enough speed to jump high enough over it I have too much speed and roll off the edge. So, so far I can't figure out how to get past this level at all, and after about 30 tries I'm calling it a day for now. Any advice?

I think I know what you mean, If you use the color of the first and last line of colors and jump the middle one that is the other color that should work.

 

So if it is Red/Blue/Red just use Red and jump the middle Blue.

 

Hopefully that makes sense.

Edited June 12, 2022 by E. King

[Mockduck]

28 minutes ago, E. King said:

I think I know what you mean, If you use the color of the first and last line of colors and jump the middle one that is the other color that should work.

 

So if it is Red/Blue/Red just use Red and jump the middle Blue.

 

Hopefully that makes sense.

Right, so that was my expectation, but I seem to keep taking damage from the middle block even while jumping over it? Either that or I am not actually jumping over it enough because I am not going fast enough, but going fast enough lands me off the edge rather than on the platform on the other side...

[E. King]

50 minutes ago, Mockduck said:

Right, so that was my expectation, but I seem to keep taking damage from the middle block even while jumping over it? Either that or I am not actually jumping over it enough because I am not going fast enough, but going fast enough lands me off the edge rather than on the platform on the other side...

I was having the same issue until I was able to time it correctly.

If a single jump won't do it, try a double jump.

Edited June 12, 2022 by E. King

[+SabertoothRetro]

31 minutes ago, E. King said:

I was having the same issue until I was able to time it correctly.

If a single jump won't do it, try a double jump.

It definitely requires a double jump. That's the first truly challenging level and can be frustrating at first.

[E. King]

Why isn't Atari posting game trailers for Donut Dodo and BPM Boy on the Atari VCS Youtube page?

 

Seems to me it would take them about 5 minutes to post a quick trailer for these games that could reach thousands of viewers.

 

It seems like a missed opportunity for Atari to promote these games.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

BPM Boy should be getting a space on the back of the Atari VCS console box in the same way as Danger Scavenger. I agree Atari should be posting some trailers and promoting Donut Dodo and BPM Boy these games would definitely help Atari shift a few systems. 

[+SabertoothRetro]

Here's a casual play of levels 1-4 for those curious about the game.  I'll be uploading these in segments over the next week or so.

 

 

[ColecoGamer]

I’ve only spent a couple of hours with BPM Boy and I have to agree with whoever said it plays a lot like Super Monkey Ball. Maybe even a little bit of Atari’s Marble Madness for good measure, as you travel up and down high peaks; collect musical notes; and jumping when needed. The speed at which BPM Boy travels is fast, giving the game an arcade feel. I haven’t made it very far into the game as of writing this comment, but I feel (based on my limited experience with the game so far) that BPM Boy feels like a highly polished title for the Atari VCS, which is also fun to play.

Edited June 13, 2022 by ColecoGamer

[zzip]

On 6/11/2022 at 1:21 PM, Tony Barnes said:

I knew the price would be controversial, especially after Donut Dodo decided to launch at $5 (I think that's a $10, easily, but that's my opinion).

That actually made the $20 price easier to swallow!   The way I looked at it, I was getting my two most anticipated VCS games for $25.   I too thought Donut Dodo was underpriced.

[zzip]

The price debate is just like the homebrew scene on other consoles.   Lots of people producing games for retro systems and charging eye-popping amounts (Circus Convoy for 2600 for $99?).   These are small markets without the volume of the major names.

 

A lot of people are happy to pay extra to support this kind of development.   Of course it doesn't mean you have to buy every title if it doesn't appeal to you.

[Mockduck]

For Donut Dodo I think they could absolutely charge more, as the game is totally worth it. However, you run into the bit where being cheap makes it an easy impulse purchase, sort of a no-brainer, so you sell a whole bunch of copies you wouldn't otherwise and the awesomeness of the game gets the chance to spread by word of mouth. BPM is worth $20, but it will keep a bunch of people from playing it, thus spreading the word about it. It's an extremely tricky balancing act, and one I don't have advice for other than "do what keeps you alive and able to eat." 

[davpa]

Also remember, the $20 on BPM Boy will also include the future DLCs. The game is going to be expanding in regular-ish increments with DLCs. These will be free expansions. So there will be more mileage on the game.