Yes! Latest game finished.

Finally finished my current game. It's taken ages, mainly due to the fact I made the framework first then made the game in the framework. Oh and because the art came in drips and drabs which slowed me up a lot. Anyway it's been beta tested and has been sent off to the portals (and some have accepted it already).

I'm only the developer for this game (which I can't talk about much until it's officially released), not the producer (who is publishing it). And I can't post a beta in showcase as he is doing private beta testing :-( boo hoo. But when it's released on the first portal, I'll post a link to it then.

It *IS* another match-3 game but with tons of cool BMax polish. Now I'm going to reuse the engine, tweak it (new features etc), add in new media and release Holiday Bonus, but I've only got 3 weeks to do it! Luckily I've contacted the portals in advance to pave the way for an on-time release as these things often take ages it seems. Holiday Bonus will be all mine so I can beta it in showcase.

Anyway, please wish me luck for both games! Thanks. :-D

Good luck for your games then !

Can't you ever post a screenshot ?

:-)

BTW, at which portals have you sent your games ? How does it work ? - I mean, sending a game to a portal.

Sergio.

Awesome, congratulations, and good luck! I have yet to revel in the sense of accomplishment that must come from finishing a game, and unfortunately won't be anytime soon.

Do you have anything planned after Holiday Bonus?

Wow! You're knockinng them out! Looks like you're onto a roll now. Good luck selling it.

Thanks. Can't post a screenshot even no :-( I'm under an NDA.

Anyway portals: Well the producer is sending this game off to the portals, but I've began contacting portals about my next game. Basically the first bit is to find out who to contact and this can be quite hard at some portals for some reason. Then I've emailed them all to make contact and introduced myself and talked about my previous games. Then of course, if I had a demo I would email them a link and get them to test it. Some portals get back to you quite quickly and others I seem to have to chase over and over (not really very good!) Some portals actually have a game submission form on their site which you have to use. Also bear in mind that some big portals get several submissions per day so your "sales pitch" has to be pretty good. Plus you have to have a finished game, they aren't interested in conecpts or WIP (except for possibly betas). I'm currentl contacting them to see if a) they will distributemy old games and b) if they are interested in my new Holiday Bonus game when it's ready (providing they like the demo of course), and so I'm trying to build up a "contact list" of the correct people to talk to and making sure they also know who I am when I send my HolidayBonus demo in a couple of weeks.

couple of ideas. I either reuse the match-3 engine a couple more times (depends how well these games sell), or make a new causual game (have a great idea - it's secret sorry), or make shooters and platform games which is what I *really* want to do but these games need a lot of media and code and testing etc and are big jobs - also harder to sell!

Actually one thing I want to do more in 2007 is be a game producer, so have a few projects on the go that I'm managing (I can give the developers my framework to give them a 250 hour headstart) because I think I'm pretty good at making sure games have what the portals and customers want (due to tons of analysis of current, and past games). I'm also trying to build up contacts to make potential teams of artists, musicians and developers to make this happen.

Congrats dude.

You Deserve a Holiday Bonus.

Remember to send a demo to Tracy to keep her out my hair for a bit! ;)

Yep will do haha. So hopefully Holiday Bonus will be done on time and I can relaxe around Christmas (except for frantically checking sales every day :-))

Well done Grey, hope your games do well.

Jason.

grats Grey ;)

now we'll never make that platformer :p

Which portals are you using?

My new game is 99% finished and I'm likely going to be looking at the portal route myself. but that stuff's all new to me just now.

Congrats on completion, look forward to seeing it!

Gfk, any chance of you posting a screenshot or two?

Can't at the moment - most of the work thats left to do is the graphics. Its not much to look at.

Only 1% work is being put into graphics? ;-)

Not really. Half of the graphics stuff is done. I'm not happy with the rest.

99% is representative of the amount of code that's done/required. I started the project over 6 months ago.

Not even a sneak preview screenshot?

So people can tell me it looks crap (which I already know)?

Bit pointless, yes?

haha, well I look forward to a screenshot when it's ready. Bearing in mind you've made so many games before, I'll trust you 99% assessment, whereas with most people that wuld really mean 9% :-)

yeah sorry dude but maybe...


Sent to loads, some are slow to respond and others have already accepted. No negatives yet. Here's a (reduced) list:

Real
Big Fish Games
Oberon Media
Iwin
Reflexive
Disney
AOL

That should be enough to get started :-)

Gfk - please send me an email at: tore(a)artisan.nu
I would like to contribute a 3D model, just for fun :)

Hello.

Well done, again. Hope it brings in lots of bucks to spend on wholesome things.

Goodbye.

Hey! Well done Mr Grey! Cant wait to see it!

thanks, and maybe just one or two teensy weensy unwholesome things too! ;-)

Aymes: Thanks dude. I'm really proud of this game and the portals seem to love it. Week or two and I should be able to official post a link.