Maggie the Gardener released

Hi
We are very pleased to announce Maggie the Gardener. This game is introducing to casual gaming world hires graphics of 1024x768 resolution. You can download it from here:

Game website:
www.anawiki.com/game_mg.php

Download link:
www.anawiki.com/download/maggie.php (8,5 MB)

Screenshots:
[img http://www.anawiki.com/screens/mg/!start.jpg] [img http://www.anawiki.com/screens/mg/!playground.jpg] [img http://www.anawiki.com/screens/mg/!garden.jpg]

www.anawiki.com/screenshots_mg.php

Requirements:
Let's say it needs 3d gfx card and some memory. Didn't test it much, so please post your lowend specs if you can

Story behind:
Maggie loves gardening. She plants flowers, bushes, designs fountains and places dwarfs. Her gardens are known in neighbourhood. Every year Maggie win's Best Garden prize. Can she win this prize this year? With your help for sure.

We plan to add online garden gallery and probably some kind of story line, but as it is now it is great stand-alone product.

Any kind of feedback appreciated. New ideas, background, flowers or objects propositions, etc.

all the best
Roman

Looks like a really intresting game. What are the game dynamics? Like how do you win or loose?

ya know... i have a strange feeling that this is gonna appeal widly to some yet untapped niche segment of the market... i dunno, young girls who like to do things like this, artistic womens clubs, guys who are into landscaping... i dunno...

i just have this gut feeling that this is similar to some sort of SIMs thing...

anyways, i'm gonna take a look at this, just outta curiosity... and because the graphics look real neat and clean, and i'd like to see it in action...

good luck...

--Mike

Just tried this ...

How exactly do you play or is it just a garden builder .. if the later then I was bored after 10 mins?

Looks fantastic mind you and very professionally put together.

Stevie

So far it is garden builder... but within 2 weeks will add online garden gallery and ability to show your gardens to others and vote for the best. So it is a community thing.

I was bored with Mystic Inn after 5 minutes, so it's just not the type of game for you ;-)

The game is targeted at kids, but we found it being addicting to their parents also.

Anawiki, CONGRATULATIONS to you and your team - you have done it again!

Red is right it will appeal to a niche, but who cares, I think you are bang on target again. Keep it up dudes!

Looks Fab, looks simple to play, good luck with the online version.

Best regards,

IPete2.

certainly the look is fantastic. Good luck with the community aspect of this game.

Another game!

Has the same eye-pleasing graphics as the first one.

Very nice.

WOW, this is very nice looking!

Looks great.

Looks excellent...

Not my sort of thing, but I certainly know it would appeal to my daughter, exactly the sort of thing she'd play with for hours.

Thanks for the kind words :)

@GrahamK: So please show it to her and ask for opinion.

all the best
Roman

Really nice gfxs + sounds.
But all is useless if there is proper game concept.
It's extremely boring. And I doubt kids will love it as there is nothing happening on screen!

Add some animals or people moving around doing things.
Add a gardner that plants the objects you select.
Let them take some time to "grow".
Just add stuff that bind players to the game.

P.S.: Replace the tiny inno setup logos in the installer... :)

@Grisu: Thanks for comment. But I guess you don't have kids or did not give the game to them. Anyway, we'll see soon how the concept works out :)

I think the issue is that you are pitching it as a "game" and people quite obviously have pre-conceptions of what a game should be.


You don't really play this software, you interact and create as a recreation or as an exhibition of skill.

Having said all that this software can still be called a game but you might want to pitch it as something else.

@Tim: And that something else is called in english ...?

Ummn maybe a Garden Construction Set?!?!?

Looks really clean, and highly polished. Well done :).

And as for the type of software, dunno. I would put it as a Toy, since you "play with it" rather than "play it". If that makes any sense what so ever, if not, read the first paragraph and forget this one.

Man this is a GEUCK. Grow 'Em Up Construction Kit! Just needs a sound FX generator to finish it off ;-)

I agree with Indiepath and Snarty - this isn't technically a "game" but more like a construction set or toy (which isn't a bad thing). There are differing sets of definitions; here's one possible set from Chris Crawford on Game Design:





That should indeed make it a possible competition (for anyone who chooses to submit their gardens to be voted on).

Regardless of what it is exactly, your team has done a nice job on it. I did notice a few things that you might want to look into, though:

During installation, the graphics converter gives the message, "procesing file <x> successed." That should be "processing" and either "succeeded" or "successful" (but your English is infinitely better than my Polish!).

This may be the intended behavior, but pressing the spacebar during the Anawiki logo display at the start of the game restarts the logo display rather than skipping it and going on to the game.

I created my first garden and saved it, but there was no preview of it under "My Gardens" (it was saved, and could be loaded, but the preview was transparent). On my second garden, there was a preview. And when I loaded my first one and resaved with the same name, it had a preview.

When the game is started, if you load an existing garden, select Back to Menu, and answer "Yes" to "Do you want to save?", the name entry is blank (it doesn't know what the loaded garden was previously named). This seems related to naming in general: if you save a garden as "test," then load one called "fred," when you return to the menu and save, the default name is "test" rather than "fred." Perhaps that's intentional, but it seems a little strange to me.

That's a great graph :) Thanks. And thanks for the comments about save and load and other things.

@Grey: What sound fx generator???

Anyway, tomorrow we'll put updated version with themed sfx (like birds singing in parks or wave sounds by the sea house).

anawiki: Sorry it was a joke. Years ago there was a SEUCK (Shoot 'Em Up Construction Kit) for the C64 and it had a brilliant sound FX generator built in which some retro folks loved.

^^Good one, Grey Alien! :)

phew, someone got it. I felt like I'd dropped a clanger at a dinner party.