I'm just about finished with that one project I started 4 YEARS ago (lol), but I have a predicament: I spent countless hours making this kickass soundtrack, but the problem is that even with extensive compression on the tracks the total game file size is about 45 MB.
I've been out of the Game Maker loop for a very long time, but last time I checked even 20 MB was completely unheard of. I'd like to know if 45 MB is just so completely out of whack that nobody would download the game. To be honest I don't really care if nobody downloads the game just because of the file size; I finished the game mostly for myself rather than for the community. Still, I'd like to know how the file size fits in the general scheme of things. Something to keep in mind I guess.On that note, for those of you interested I'll be uploading the game in the next couple of days. I'll also be making a video walkthrough of the game on YouTube and also put up the soundtrack for download to those interested in listening to the music by itself (yeah, right :P).Peace.
What was Ark22? I believe it was over 60mb, am I right? I would have no problem with the size as long as it is a quality game with quality music, I think that is the main problem.
As Ferret said, just do an available download without the soundtrack.
Personally I don't care and would download the soundtrack version if the game looks good.Never have the music alone be more than the rest of the game combined. Offer high-quality music as an optional download but make the main version have reduced bitrate music.
Pretty much what most everyone said. If it's a good game, there's nothing wrong with size. Most people I know have fast download speeds anyway, and 45 MB obviously isn't going to dent a giant hard drive like most of us have now as well.
I don't like the idea of playing a "lite" (music-free) version of a game unless it's arcade, but music is as essential to any other game as any other aspect. Especially if you have cutscenes, the music makes the game.Thanks for the advice, everyone.
I have decided to make two versions: one without the music (8 MB) and one with (33 MB). Turns out it's not actually 45 as I feared, but 33 is still pretty big it looks like. Yes, I have reduced the songs' bitrates as much as I possibly can. It's down as far as it'll go short of making them sound like they're on a telepone ;)Purianite, I don't think I have your soundtrack anymore since I've changed systems since then, but I'll look anyway. I think I might have it somewhere in the folders of the stuff I transferred over.You could probably make the game itself smaller if you use PNG or GIF files, and index colors. Plus it would improve the game speed if it didn't have to deal with a ton of 16bit images. You can mix and match for quality purposes.
In truth (and targeted at GHG), I haven't seen any game file which exceeds around 5MB unless the designer is storing MP3s in the file. Having a large game mostly composed of external music is understandable, and I don't see a problem with it.
Yeah, I'd download 33 MB. I don't care very much about file sizes so long as the game is good.
I always laugh at how GM users demand the games be small downloads. It discourages so many things, like higher-quality music and actually having more than a couple frames to your sprites, which have to be pretty lo-res like everything else to fit the unspoken constrictions.
I'm making an RPG that I put off redoing the engine for so I could have native PNG support, and am using a DLL to play OGG files for the audio. I'm in no place to gripe about 33 megs when my three-room demo of a title screen, view control and menu are 5 megs.