Well, apparently, this game's sales aren't very promising. I came across this Flippfly internal analysis of how the game is doing, and it gave me some food for thought:

<span class="bold">Race The Sun, A Month After Launch: Losing Steam</span>

First things first: I only bought this game because of today's bundle, since I really wanted to get Re-Volt (I have some great memories of playing it back in the day and since I don't check GOG's Racing/Sports category I didn't even know it was available here). It's small, my computer is very old, and it runs like a charm even on this tin can of a machine. It's everything I expected it would be, which isn't saying much... that is, it's fun in small doses, but nothing more than that. In the linked post the devs complain about people saying it is, indeed, a good game, but that it should be ported to smartphones and tablets. After a short experience with it, I second that thought. Sorry, Flippfly, Race The Sun would definitely benefit from a smartphone/tablet environment, seems way more suited to those devices than to the PC. Maybe it's the fact it's an endless runner, I don't know, but I was playing it and thinking I'd rather be doing so on my 3DS or on my phone.

So, my thoughts are that it isn't, by any means, a bad game -- on the contrary --, I'm just not sure of how it fits in the PC market. I'm glad it runs on my PC, and I thank Flippfly for developing a game that is aesthetically pleasing and unique without requiring a lot out of the machines, but that's the most positive aspect I can think of... which isn't saying much.

What are your thoughts on this whole subject?

You didn't need to buy both games. Its not actually a bundle. GOG is being tricky.

I like Race the Sun. Yes, Its only good in short bits, but I like to have games around that are only good in short bits. As for the tablet thing, yea, I guess the game would probably have been a lot more successful there. I really hate to weigh in on that sort of argument though. I have encountered so many PC gamers online who seem to feel like games that are on tablets have no place on the PC. They would rather not be able to play a game, because they seem to feel its presence on PC somehow corrupts the PC. I find it rather disgusting, and it makes me sad. I say the more platforms a game is on, the better.

Sir, you make a great and compelling point. I never thought of myself as an elitist of any kind, conversations about "PC master race", or any other "master race" platform, for that matter, annoy me to no end; I think everyone is entitled to play the games they like on the platform of their choice. Yet, I was being just like that, saying Race The Sun "has no place on the PC". What you said made me think about it. Why can't it be on PC? Truth is I've been having fun with the game, regardless of platform, so I shouldn't be so nitpicky about it. It's just a game, nothing more, nothing less, and a good one at that, serving its entertainment purpose rather well, if you're into these sorts of games.

I stand corrected as I thank you for your post, and await other inputs on Race The Sun as well.

I bought it as part of the bundle as well; I think 2,49$ is an appropriate price. That's not to say that Race the sun is a bad game, there just really isn't much to it. It has nothing to do with it doing just one thing, many old games did only one thing (as opposed to the modern mono-genre that does everything), but there was so much content in those games. I will fire up RTS every once in while and play five or ten minutes, but that's really it. It also doesn't help that the game looks like your typical bland endless runner, even though it's not an endless runner.

The game's great fun. I'd say it's "losing steam" because of its pricetag. In my opinion the most this game would warrant is a 5 dollar pricetag. The promotion on steam put it at 7.50 and that was too steep for me after I saw some videos of it. It just didn't look like it had enough to offer to warrant a 7.50 pricetag. 2.50 is a great price and 5 is reasonable, but I honestly think price is what's killing this game's sales.

Has anyone here messed around with the level editor yet? I went over the basic instruction thing. I haven't really done anything with it yet though. I want to get more familiar with the game before I go making levels for it. It looks like its probably not overly difficult though. Its got me thinking that It would be cool to make a set of levels inspired by Starfox on the SNES. Race the Sun uses the same sort of primitives that Starfox used. Heck, it would really cool of the developers would use what they already have to make a shooter like Starfox. I really didn't think you were saying that Race the Sun has no place on PC, and I do agree it is well suited to tablets. The topic isn't far off from that tablet port 'debate' though. I just wanted to say my thing to cover my own butt in case the thread did end up going in that direction. I didn't want to look like I was defending the tablet games staying on tablets position when I agreed that the game would probably be more successful on tablets.

Another thing they should do is get rid of the stupid unlocks. That's something F2P games use to make you buy their microtransactions, but it makes no sense in a paid game. It also makes the highscore meaningless if two player with the same skill on the same run can't get the same score.

The unlocks are one of the hooks that keep me playing. I really enjoy the game. It's great in quick bursts. On another note, it's simple enough for my 5-year-old to play. We've had a blast playing passing the controller back and forth.

Games have had unlocks since long before micro-transactions.

That doesn't make it any better. Also, that was not the case in games which were all about highscores. Highscore games were an arcade staple, where unlocks were non-existent, and as arcades died out console games distanced themselves more and more from the arcades. Only as the arcade roots began decaying did unlocks become prominent. Having unlocks that influence the score just skews the whole notion of a highscore. I've always been of the opinion that if a game needs a carrot on a stick to keep the player motivated, as opposed to the game itself being enough to keep playing, that it's not a good game and shouldn't be played at all. I mean, what are you trying to accomplish? Those unlocks don't give you anything in life, so if you need them to keep playing you're just wasting time. Playing the game should be motivation enough. Whenever I can I use cheats to unlock content (like all the locked ships in FTL).

I can understand if progress is locked in a single player campaign, for example i don't expect in an RPG to just walk up to the final boss from the start. But anything that is not tied to progression should be available, for example an RPG shouldn't force me to play the fighter class before it unlocks the mage class, that would be just stupid.

By that same logic, the simple act of playing a game in itself is "wasting time", since you accomplish even less

It's just part of the fun... "oh, cool, i got the double jump ability... what's next?!"
In a game like this with no story, ending, and no other goal except having fun while dodging obstacoles at full speed, these are only a nice set of milestones that adds a bit of variety to the formula.... since you are gonna play anyway, it's a bit more compelling having those bonues as a step by step achievement

Playing games is a waste of time unless you are having fun in the process. if dodging stuff at high speed isn't fun enough on its own, then what are you doing here? I think dodging stuff at high speed is fun, I don't need an extra carrot on a stick to artificially lengthen the game.

Good for you, but I don't see how some unlock hampers the basic idea... they are extra stuff that you got in the process of having fun with the core gameplay, you are not required to do anything less than just playing.

I'ts not that the idea is anything new, really... its' a staple of most videogames, of almost every genre, that already had that concept of giving you new gameplay tools progressively, even before the explicit "unlock" paradigm went into fashion.... and yes even in games that were all about highscores.

Having to reach mission 5 to access the plasma gun for the first time, getting the double jump after you beat the boss of the second map, new tracks when you win the championship, you name it... i can't see why in this game in particular they got to be a bad thing or "stupid"

Personally, I have nothing against unlockables. If anything, I'm pro-unlockables, they remind me of a time in which you paid for a game and it came as a *whole*, ie, you didn't need to pay any extra money to download anything, the game was completed and you could access its full content by unlocking it via your own skill. Games with unlockables make me feel they're worth my money.

Also, like someone said before, unblockables were a part of video games way before F2P, microtransactions and paid DLC. Fighting/beat'em up games had them, racing games had them. At its core, Race The Sun is a racing game, so I see no reason as to why it shouldn't have unlockables. I understand that your focus on this game is the high score, and that unlockables may somehow hinder "more skilled" players, as everyone can unlock things to make their play through easier, but, in all honesty, unlockables in Race The Sun don't make the game that much easier, and hardcore players looking for that ultra high score will still be better at the game than someone playing for fun in short bursts of time, and both hardcore and casual players can enjoy the game their own way.

Look, I've had this discussion with so many people before and their arguments always boil down to: a) everyone does it, and b) the game sucks, so it needs a carrot on a stick to keep me from realising how much it sucks and that I'm just wasting my time.

First of all, just because everyone does something stupid that doesn't make it any less stupid, it jus makes you stupid for doing it as well. Second, ask yourself: if there were no unlocks, would I still be playing this game? If yes, then the unlocks are entirely pointless and just waste your time. If not, then the entire game is pointless and wastes your time, the only person profiting is the developer. Either way you lose. I mean, those unlocks won't give you anything in life, you won't learn anything useful, all you will get is some immaterial reward and a savegame you will fear losing because it means that all the time invested will be gone in a flash.

At least if the unlockables were just cosmetic stuff it wouldn't affect the game, but currently there is no real difference between unlockalbes and F2P microtransactions. Microtransactions cost you money, unlockables cost you time.