If this is indeed the reason, I'll be discussing "this topic" in my upcoming panel I'll be giving at MGC.
 

This is indeed the reason, and I think it would most definitely be an issue to discuss.  I look forward to it, I love listening to your panels Ferris Bueller.     Something I really like is discussion, we don't all always have to agree on everything, but discussion promotes thinking, and that's what I like. 

If you look at the developer's initial thread, he states how "I know that there are a lot of users on NA forum who have a bad impression FC game made in China, but I can understand it, it is because many pirate FC games and sham products are produced in China. "  I personally find this offensive out of the gate, and doubly so if we consider mainlanders' view of what comprises "China". 

Recently I have been playing again a lot of the unlicensed Famicom games I own, and to be quite frank about it, the vast majority of them are fun or at least average.  Even companies with poor reputations such as Sachen, actually I spent several days playing the mahjong-based games and they were quite fun.   The platformers may have sucked and had wonky controls, but they made up what, 10% of Sachen's total output?  If you can't play mahjong or mahjong-based games, does it mean that the games were poorly made?  I think not necessarily.  It's like thinking a Chess game sucks just because you don't know the rules.

So this guy tries to separate his product from "sham products" and crappy Famicom games coming out, ignoring all of the great games coming from that region.  Okay, fair enough, it's marketing, but then he doesn't even build a release for his people, or others in his region or even his continent?  I wonder how many people in mainland China, in Japan, in other Asian Famicom regions even have a NES or a NES adaptor allowing them to play the game on the Famicom?  I'd imagine not many, aside from those from families that have relatives in NES regions.

So essentially, what we have is a mainlander that developed a game, then released on a format that only folks could play, who live OUTSIDE his region, all the while trying to market his product and stating how his isn't like such "sham products" and essentially crap, produced in the past from his region (a statement that isn't even true, some "repro" makers here have often reproed Chinese games...).  I don't care about the guy's game, but he made a product and cut out his own people to sell the thing, marketing it only to what amounts to westerners.  

 

So a white guy from the US living in Taiwan, Is offended by a chinese guy who said fake things are made in China?

Makes sense.

To me, it doesn't sound like he was criticizing traditional Asian-market games such as mahjong, but Western-targeted games like The Lion King 4 or Super Baby Mario 37. That's the type of Chinese-market stuff that tends to make it's way to Western audiences, and I think it's more than fair to try and differentiate your own product from pirate games like that. Even Western developers like myself have accusations like flung at us from time to time. During my last Kickstarter I was accused by some people of peddling a Mario 3 hack, so I can understand the need to stay away from that image as far as possible. It's never fun feeling like you have to legitimize your own work.

This is certainly a new an interesting take on feeling indignation on behalf of someone else...



 

That was my take, as well.


But if Dave wants to take offense on behalf of Taiwanese people who he thinks this guy was smearing (when I think it is much more likely he was referring to crappy mainland China products rather than "Republic of China" products  )... well more power to him, I guess.

Though that is a cultural battle that really isn't up to Dave to be fighting, IMO.

 

The problem here is that you pop into someone else's thread, call them names, and hijack the topic. As usual, the only reasoning for this are your own very specific and narrow views about what people should and should not be doing with their efforts. Classic thread crapping.

Also as usual, any response (in nearly any direction) just feeds your trollish behavior (chest pounding cyclical justification, or the other direction), but otherwise the rest of us are left watching you insult someone and throw your own personal little tirade. Why those temp bans have not stuck is beyond me.

The guy made a game and didn't even bother to sell it or market it to his own people, rather just going for the market that ironically enough pays the most for these types of games. While it's probably coincidence about the money factor, it's would still be shitty not even to produce for your own people, and that's something I can't respect. I view it as being the same as those musicians or athletes who grew up one place, and then never looked back after gaining fame.

If the guy wants to explain himself, I'd gladly write to him in Chinese, though I'd of course use traditional characters.

The comical irony here, with your indignation, is that EVEN IF he sold this EXCLUSIVELY to "his own people" -- YOU would never have been able to buy a copy in Taiwan!

And the last thing this dude is going to care about is the opinion of some white guy transplant in Taiwan.
(especially if you're going to get pretentious about his native language and writing)

The initial topic isn't about reselling this game for mucho moneys, so I'd argue that those people discussing said topic are also thread crapping compared to the original spirit of this thread.

I explained how it's a slap in the face to produce a product and not even market it for your own friends, colleagues, and comrades, not sure why you'd feel otherwise. In other areas such as music and what not, people feel the same sentiment.

I'd put forth that a shift in conversation (in any direction) in a necrobumped 5 year old thread is about as far from "thread crapping" as it gets...

If you've followed Asia politics recently, you'd see things are heating up greatly between Taiwan and China, especially since president Tsai Ying wen had been elected a few years back. Think about China poaching away Taiwan former allies, the gap shirt incident, the airliner situation, etc etc. Need I go on? If this guy was properly indoctrinated, he should already believe Taiwan is part of mainland China, and if not, he's probably a likely candidate to be offed at some point or another.

For me it's not personally about buying the game, rather the situation ...guy makes a product but doesn't market to his own people. It's a slap in the face.

Thank you.

As I mentioned to Ferris Bueller in my first reply, I think discussion is good...we can all have different opinion and that's ok. No need to get so bent like some others have, just because I have a different feeling on the matter.

Fair point that he may just outright consider Taiwan part of China, but at the same time, I wouldn't be surprised if there are sufficient surveillance threats from the state/party machine over there to deter him from having much interest in selling/communicating directly with Taiwanese residents.


I don't really see the "slap in the face", though.

The guy made fewer than 100 of these things. 
No matter how he sold it 99.99999% of China wasn't going to have access to it.
 

The dude tried to sell it to "his own people." He couldn't.

 

Fun fact: China and Taiwan are serious trade partners despite their "differences" ... It's why when the economy gets poor (such as now when Green party president Tsai Ying Wen is in power), people look towards voting the Kuomintang (KMT ， the reunification party, the party the kai Shek was a part of) in. After 20 years ， Kaohsiung replaced Green party with KMT, and the guy had even killed a dude in a car accident and paid the family off , years prior.

You're also assuming a lot about the developer based on what seems like nothing. How do you know what he has and hasn't done with his game in his community? Maybe he shared it with friends, colleagues, and others and they didn't care for it. Or maybe they liked it and said he should market it overseas because it would be popular there too. Do you think that because you haven't heard anything about this game where you are that it must never have been offered there? You're assuming a lot about the homebrewer's motivations without talking to him, though I feel safe in that assumption because if you had you would have said so by now.

Doesn't explain why not to make both...

Besides, wouldn't Japanese, Thai, etc but it if it were on Famicom format? What about south American people, eastern Europe, etc?

Another fun fact: look up company such as Waixing and Nanjing, jncota, nice code, etc. Many of those still producing original games into about 2008 or so , some still developing games. All for China market.

Actually I think I did reach out to him years back, as I found this incident quite odd and sad at the same time.

Maybe he had limited capital to produce a small run and needed to make a choice, and picked the region he knew would sell. I mean people here rioted to get Gloves' shooter tool on a cartridge, and that wasn't even a full game. Pretty obvious that the US is a surefire market.

But maybe you know of a market for this game in your region. If so, step up! Put your money where your mouth is and find him enough pre-orders that he can do a Famicom run.

Otherwise, you're just talkin'.



 

If I choose to release the game I am making, I will make 50 - 100 carts. The first I will give to my friends at a loss, on Famicom format, and the rest I'll sell here on Nintendo age. Some of the guys here are on the list already for a free copy, btw.

I think my comments have come full circle, btw ..if he chooses to sell to a larger guaranteed market, over his own friends and comrades, isn't that selling out? I think typically it would be considered so, in the music world  

Your game and situation =/= his game and situation.

Just because you're willing to take a loss doesn't mean he can or is willing to do the same. You don't know his financial needs. It seems he already tried his circle and couldn't make it work. It's all fine and well to sit on your high horse and say what he should do, but at the end of the day, he's got to do him.

BTW, when a band chooses to make a run at success and get away from scraping by and people start calling them sellouts, that annoys me, too.
 

What do you play?

When people choose money over their roots, their initial supporters, etc, it annoys me. Generally quality goes down as well.

Btw, you make the guy out to be a pauper or something, did you talk to him?  

Did you? I have his words. "I did not find enough buyers and supporters in china" Seems pretty straightforward. 

If we went by your standard, no musician would ever get away from their shitty local bar. But that comparison is irrelevant to his game. Because the game would be the same whether he sold here or there. The quality wouldn't go down. In fact, getting the game out to strangers who don't know you and have no personal stakes can make the quality go up, as opposed to friends and family who will say that they love whatever crap you put there just to be nice.

 

Haha, good try on it all. Laughable at best.