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Hi,

I'd like to know which game in your opinion had the biggest budget to be developed and generally was the most expensive SMS game back in its time (not necessary the usual "best" game).
Also I'd like to know which game had the biggest sprites and the highest amount of animations on screen simultaneously.
Thank

Good question dude. Since Sonic 1 and Phantasy Star have the best graphics, maybe they were expensive to make. Phantasy Star has a huge backup battery as well. Ultima IV could have been expensive in production because of the map and the high quality books.

Another expensive games for developers are probably the light phaser games, like Assault City or Space Gun (because they were progammed especially for the phaser). But I´m not a developer, they are just my guesses.

Edit: I forgot Power Strike II, which is just incredible in performance on screen.

Gordman wrote

Good question dude. Since Sonic 1 and Phantasy Star have the best graphics, maybe they were expensive to make. Phantasy Star has a huge backup battery as well. Ultima IV could have been expensive in production because of the map and the high quality books.

Another expensive games for developers are probably the light phaser games, like Assault City or Space Gun (because they were progammed especially for the phaser). But I´m not a developer, they are just my guesses.

Edit: I forgot Power Strike II, which is just incredible in performance on screen.

Thanks; I'll look for these games.

Also I imagine maybe the size of the cart chip did increase the costs for the game but maybe not necessary the amount of work needed for the code itself where some games could have needed more space just cause (I don't know) had digitized voices sound/effects.

For example on the Mega Drive I imagine Virtua Racing SVP cartridget was the most expensive to make and buy but looking at the game it seems more like a technical proof of concept. A game like Sonic 2 probably could have been more expensive if we consider the lack of the SVP chip?

Larger games cost more for the hardware and thus the retail cost too. The extra space would all require more money to fill - more code or more data, either way it's more content, although in reality most games required more work to reduce the size to the requirement. There's a part in the Phantasy Star Kodama interview where she mentions finding a little extra space for the final ending picture, for example.

It's also the case that it became easier and cheaper to develop larger games, so it's not as simple as looking at the size. A simpler metric might be the fact that multi platform games are cheaper per platform (work is reused), plus the amount spent was probably related to the chance if profit so look towards the peak of the system's life. Phantasy Star is probably a contender.

Light gun games would not have been expensive to develop.

The other stuff is probably deserving of its own thread. Games with large sprites are probably not actually good games, better games don't use sprites for bosses. Simultaneous animations likewise isn't a big deal, I could animate every tile and sprite on the screen subject to rather a lot of repetition.

Really great! Just read the Kodama interview Maxim!

http://www.smspower.org/uploads/Translations/PhantasyStar-SMS-EN-videofenky-inte...

Maxim wrote

Larger games cost more for the hardware and thus the retail cost too. The extra space would all require more money to fill - more code or more data, either way it's more content, although in reality most games required more work to reduce the size to the requirement. There's a part in the Phantasy Star Kodama interview where she mentions finding a little extra space for the final ending picture, for example.

It's also the case that it became easier and cheaper to develop larger games, so it's not as simple as looking at the size. A simpler metric might be the fact that multi platform games are cheaper per platform (work is reused), plus the amount spent was probably related to the chance if profit so look towards the peak of the system's life. Phantasy Star is probably a contender.

Light gun games would not have been expensive to develop.

The other stuff is probably deserving of its own thread. Games with large sprites are probably not actually good games, better games don't use sprites for bosses. Simultaneous animations likewise isn't a big deal, I could animate every tile and sprite on the screen subject to rather a lot of repetition.

Interesting, thank! I imagine also costs depended on how many people did work on a single SMS game usually compared to the hundreds of people nowdays. I imagine must games like Sonic did have more people coding or designing plot/sprite/maps.
I read that interview right now.

EDIT: as expected in the interview is already specified the number of people working on Phantasy Star. Great.

Some late games have huge credits lists with all sorts of testers, accountants, marketing credits, etc. It's hard to judge the real cost of all this. For example, Sonic 2 had a huge advertising spend globally (albeit mostly aimed at the Mega Drive version), should that factor in?

Maxim wrote

Some late games have huge credits lists with all sorts of testers, accountants, marketing credits, etc. It's hard to judge the real cost of all this. For example, Sonic 2 had a huge advertising spend globally (albeit mostly aimed at the Mega Drive version), should that factor in?

Yeah I wasn't thinking to the advertising costs too. I imagine Sonic serie ad costs were really high back then.
Sonic 2 on the MD looks like a huge game with an impressive amount of details not only graphically but also on the maps,animations... I imagine the number of people in the team must be quiet high.
Of the games you were saying about the credits, can you tell some titles?

An example of a long credits list: http://www.smspower.org/Credits/FredCouplesGolf-GG

Maxim wrote

An example of a long credits list: http://www.smspower.org/Credits/FredCouplesGolf-GG

Impressive!

Author	Message
386DX Joined: 13 Jun 2017 Posts: 96	Most expensive game (for developers / users)? Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 6:10 pm
386DX Joined: 13 Jun 2017 Posts: 96	Hi, I'd like to know which game in your opinion had the biggest budget to be developed and generally was the most expensive SMS game back in its time (not necessary the usual "best" game). Also I'd like to know which game had the biggest sprites and the highest amount of animations on screen simultaneously. Thank

Gordman Joined: 21 Aug 2012 Posts: 363 Location: Berlin, Germany	Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 7:09 pm
	Good question dude. Since Sonic 1 and Phantasy Star have the best graphics, maybe they were expensive to make. Phantasy Star has a huge backup battery as well. Ultima IV could have been expensive in production because of the map and the high quality books. Another expensive games for developers are probably the light phaser games, like Assault City or Space Gun (because they were progammed especially for the phaser). But I´m not a developer, they are just my guesses. Edit: I forgot Power Strike II, which is just incredible in performance on screen.

386DX Joined: 13 Jun 2017 Posts: 96	Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 7:53 pm
386DX Joined: 13 Jun 2017 Posts: 96	Gordman wrote Good question dude. Since Sonic 1 and Phantasy Star have the best graphics, maybe they were expensive to make. Phantasy Star has a huge backup battery as well. Ultima IV could have been expensive in production because of the map and the high quality books. Another expensive games for developers are probably the light phaser games, like Assault City or Space Gun (because they were progammed especially for the phaser). But I´m not a developer, they are just my guesses. Edit: I forgot Power Strike II, which is just incredible in performance on screen. Thanks; I'll look for these games. Also I imagine maybe the size of the cart chip did increase the costs for the game but maybe not necessary the amount of work needed for the code itself where some games could have needed more space just cause (I don't know) had digitized voices sound/effects. For example on the Mega Drive I imagine Virtua Racing SVP cartridget was the most expensive to make and buy but looking at the game it seems more like a technical proof of concept. A game like Sonic 2 probably could have been more expensive if we consider the lack of the SVP chip?

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Sun Dec 03, 2017 11:42 pm
	Larger games cost more for the hardware and thus the retail cost too. The extra space would all require more money to fill - more code or more data, either way it's more content, although in reality most games required more work to reduce the size to the requirement. There's a part in the Phantasy Star Kodama interview where she mentions finding a little extra space for the final ending picture, for example. It's also the case that it became easier and cheaper to develop larger games, so it's not as simple as looking at the size. A simpler metric might be the fact that multi platform games are cheaper per platform (work is reused), plus the amount spent was probably related to the chance if profit so look towards the peak of the system's life. Phantasy Star is probably a contender. Light gun games would not have been expensive to develop. The other stuff is probably deserving of its own thread. Games with large sprites are probably not actually good games, better games don't use sprites for bosses. Simultaneous animations likewise isn't a big deal, I could animate every tile and sprite on the screen subject to rather a lot of repetition.

Niloct Joined: 25 Dec 2005 Posts: 607 Location: São Paulo - Brazil	Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 2:24 am
	Really great! Just read the Kodama interview Maxim! http://www.smspower.org/uploads/Translations/PhantasyStar-SMS-EN-videofenky-inte...

386DX Joined: 13 Jun 2017 Posts: 96	Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 10:55 am
386DX Joined: 13 Jun 2017 Posts: 96	Maxim wrote Larger games cost more for the hardware and thus the retail cost too. The extra space would all require more money to fill - more code or more data, either way it's more content, although in reality most games required more work to reduce the size to the requirement. There's a part in the Phantasy Star Kodama interview where she mentions finding a little extra space for the final ending picture, for example. It's also the case that it became easier and cheaper to develop larger games, so it's not as simple as looking at the size. A simpler metric might be the fact that multi platform games are cheaper per platform (work is reused), plus the amount spent was probably related to the chance if profit so look towards the peak of the system's life. Phantasy Star is probably a contender. Light gun games would not have been expensive to develop. The other stuff is probably deserving of its own thread. Games with large sprites are probably not actually good games, better games don't use sprites for bosses. Simultaneous animations likewise isn't a big deal, I could animate every tile and sprite on the screen subject to rather a lot of repetition. Interesting, thank! I imagine also costs depended on how many people did work on a single SMS game usually compared to the hundreds of people nowdays. I imagine must games like Sonic did have more people coding or designing plot/sprite/maps. I read that interview right now. EDIT: as expected in the interview is already specified the number of people working on Phantasy Star. Great.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 11:18 am
	Some late games have huge credits lists with all sorts of testers, accountants, marketing credits, etc. It's hard to judge the real cost of all this. For example, Sonic 2 had a huge advertising spend globally (albeit mostly aimed at the Mega Drive version), should that factor in?

386DX Joined: 13 Jun 2017 Posts: 96	Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 11:32 am
386DX Joined: 13 Jun 2017 Posts: 96	Maxim wrote Some late games have huge credits lists with all sorts of testers, accountants, marketing credits, etc. It's hard to judge the real cost of all this. For example, Sonic 2 had a huge advertising spend globally (albeit mostly aimed at the Mega Drive version), should that factor in? Yeah I wasn't thinking to the advertising costs too. I imagine Sonic serie ad costs were really high back then. Sonic 2 on the MD looks like a huge game with an impressive amount of details not only graphically but also on the maps,animations... I imagine the number of people in the team must be quiet high. Of the games you were saying about the credits, can you tell some titles?

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 2:36 pm
	An example of a long credits list: http://www.smspower.org/Credits/FredCouplesGolf-GG

386DX Joined: 13 Jun 2017 Posts: 96	Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 5:21 pm
386DX Joined: 13 Jun 2017 Posts: 96	Maxim wrote An example of a long credits list: http://www.smspower.org/Credits/FredCouplesGolf-GG Impressive!

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