Hey, Lets Try Something - Everyone Publish!!!

a sudden idea just popped into my head (the coffee and donuts are both too sweet this morning)...

how many people would have a game ready to publish by the end of this week, or next?

what say we all set a date, we all try our hands at self publishing out games, projects, whatever... at the same time (relatively speaking)... and we all report on how well each of these offerings is doing sales wise, acceptance wise, etc...

is something like this doable... is it practical... would people be interested in something like this...

we might also consider using one of the indie publishing concerns here, i think indiepath is set up along these lines...

anyways... good idea, bad idea... too much sugar in my pre breakfast samplings...

--Mike

Sounds like a great idea! If you have any questions then please ask.

If it'll mean finally getting you to release that sub game... I'm all for it. Next week it is! Release it. :)

i hear ya K... i above all wish that it were ready to go...

it's almost ready... well, about 70 percent...would ya accept something else, something a lil different, but along the same lines though...

:)

--Mike

Red, you saying you have a 70% complete game. Is the the sub one, as it looked about 7% complete last time I saw it in the showcase, no offense. You must mean something else right?

yes... ok, maybe 69% complete... the screenshots you are viewing are primarily from the testing of the submarine control and 'dynamics logic'...
not the final texturing and skinning of the final models... a lot of that is in flux, and liable to change...
the whole process is a lil lenghty, and unnecessary for the immediate work i was focused on (water, bow wakes, diving, sub control, that stuff)...

the models are being refined, but heck, i've got cds of the final game in 3DRAD, with all the models textures and
such... and could use them here as well... and i may have to... i'm gonna need to put this on the market in a hurry...

here... take a look at these from teh RAD version that almost got released...
they look a lil different from what you saw in the lil demos, don't they...




(just pretend that that Russian sub isn't in the picture, could ya :) i was playing around when i captured that :) )

the models have been done, and redone a couple of times... the code is a translation over to Blitz from 3DRAD, of which much of the logic has already been done...

all that's left is crewmen texturing and animations and the interior of the subschool at New London...
oh yeah, and some skinning for the Japanese fleet...

i'm working on this stuff now as i type... but most of the game logic is complete... enemy ai, player interaction...

one key thing missing in the Blitz translation is multiplayer... and that may have to await the next version...

oh yeah.... music... i don't have a good music score or theme... almost forgot that...


but i wouldn't even try to rush this out in a week... i'd put together a few models and stuff and make a tourist sub adventure thing geared at the
general public... sort of an undersea tour of sorts... for a not so sub oriented audience...

--Mike

So there is an actual *GAME* then it's not just an engine? OK, cool. What about a front end?

LOL... yeah there's a game, what'dya think all this sub sh## is all about... and soon it'll be a Blitz3D game...

front end... you mean gui?

there is none, with the exception of the title screen...it's all done in 3D, similar to Medal Of Honor... my inspiration :)

--Mike

As they say in the industry: "The first 90% of a project takes 90% of the time, the last 10% takes the other 90% of the time."

Good luck!

aint that the truth, brother!!!

thx

--Mike

Don't forget that it takes just as much time & effort to sell and market a game, writing the game is less than 50% of the overall task.

Stop it, you're depressing me. :P

> too much sugar in my pre breakfast samplings...

Too many full stops after your sentences.

I'll always agree with this.

So you've put in over 160 hours marketing Easter Bonus hey Indiepath ;-) To be fair you've HAVE put in that time getting all the mechanisms/technology in place and the time learning the skills/making the contacts etc.

Are you going to make a "Bonus" for every holiday?

Why not? Seems like a good marketing idea to me! :)

Red, is your game gonna be freeware or you plan on making some $$$ with it?

We'll that was going to be my next point :D If you don't have the time/skills/interest in the business side them employ a company like mine to do all that for you. As for 160 hours... that just does not make economical sense with a title that has been purposfully developed to have maximum appeal over a short period of time.

I'm not sure making a Bonus for every holiday is a good idea any more. It took ages to convert Xmas Bonus into Easter Bonus although I'm sure I could do the next one quicker. The problem is getting the portals to accept a "seasonal" game, regrettably - even if it does rock. I'll wait and see how Easter Bonus goes first. I did have plans for a few more match-3s but may have to shelve them due to market saturation and poopy portals. Oh and the fact I made it in BlitzPlus not BlitzMax, so no mega fancy effects.

I could probably finish my latest project (or close) this week if I was full time, but alas, this is not the case...

Personally I think, while match 3's sell, make them. If they dont sell, then uh...don't make em, heh...There always seems to be a match 3 game in the top ten of any portal Ive seen lately.

If only 'twas the case of sokoban games :P

maybe. But if the idea is to make a short term game that actually sells double or triple what a normal game would due to it's seasonality, then it may well need a certain amount of intense marketing over a short period of time to ensure maximum return.

@ orca...
money o... i need money... and quickly... it's gonna be a commercial release, around $19.95... maybe less...
i'm about to enter into what looks like it's gonna be a nasty divorce, and i'm gonna need every penny i can get, just in order to survive...

@ aymes...
a week may have been cutting it a lil tooo short... by all means don't try and rush your project for this... as a matter of fact, i think i'm the only one really interested in doing this group thing anyways :)

@GA...
i dunno... at first i wondered about making a seasonal game... but after some thought, i could see why something like this would have broad appeal, not to hard core gamer types, but to the general audience out there... you know, those 2.4 kids, 1dog,2 car households with an aol account and a computer in every room...

...plus, it's reoccurring, Easter, Xmas, they happen once ever year... all you gotta do is revamp the hype to make em look new and interesting... something like this could be a long term backup source of income.

--Mike

red: yeah that's what I thought originally, esp. with the relative success of Xmas Bonus, but I'm not 100% sure now unless I improve/change my engine a lot. Who knows, like I said I'll see how Easter Bonus turns out first.

I totally agree with you there, what I said was really a summary of the feedback from the larger distribution outfits.

Cool. Singing from the same hymn sheet is pretty important in the Indie Choir :-)

Actually I'm probably a bit of a thorn in Tim's side due to me continuously bothering him about marketing and various stuff, simply because I had a lot of marketing and sales experience in my last job, plus I was a manager. *luckily* Tim is very patient with me (hasn't told me to s*d off and leave him to it ... yet) :-) He would probably prefer customers that give him the game and then hide under a rock for a few months haha.

> I'm about to enter into what looks
> like it's gonna be a nasty divorce

I'm sorry to hear that, I hope it wasn't a family dispute about the keyboard?

LOL @ ENAY... ya know, actually, my time spent on the computers may have been part of it...
ahhhhh, who knows...

either she'll make me a rich man... or i'll be posting on the forum from a cell in debtors prison...

women... ya can't live without em... pass the gravy...

--Mike

you should wait until the divorce is over before selling the game so she can't get 50% of the proceeds. If she wants half the source now, fine, give her every other line hehe.