Holiday Bonus is Live on my site! Please test.

Hi, I've spent all day getting Holiday Bonus live on my site. Lots of boring stuff to do but finally it's done WOOO! Please help me test the web page, download, installer, wrapper and buy buttons. Thanks loads!

http://www.greyaliengames.com/holidaybonus.php

***AND if you feel inclined to buy it, I've set up a special 10% DISCOUNT for Blitzers! Just use this discount code: UYR000HR

This is the first game I've self-published, it's not easy believe me, but I'm really pleased now that it's done :-)

*puts on flameproof hat*

To be honest I'd get rid of everything below Xmas Bonus on your games page. The standard visibly falls and I can see certain things putting people off some of the more recent and better stuff.

Having a back-catalogue is all well and good, but you need to 'prune' it over time. When I finish my site, I'll have all my games on initially but I plan to wash my hands of all but two or three of them by the end of 2007.

Gfk: Yep don't worry, next on my list is to revamp the games page so it just has like a summary of the games (but not the old/crap ones, there'll be a separate link to those) and each one will have it's own proper page with buy buttons etc. Singing from the same hymnsheet.

So, what's next, Grey? You must be bored of doing match-3 games by now. :)

Big10p: don't know. Got 3 job offers, 2 are match-3s and one is a casual game for a big name company. I was thinking of doing a horror match-3 one with a plot, and maybe a summer one. Valentine is another option but I really won't have time to get it ready. Anyway, as I've hinted I really want to make a platformer and/or shoot 'em up cos I love them, but I'm worried about profitabilty (as this is my job). Also I have a cool idea for a casual game that could be a big hit...um what else, oh yeah I'm doing NOTHING in December, ahhh, just spending time with the kids and doing the odd job, maybe code something for fun (gasp!). Also I really want to get back into making trance music again and see where that takes me. Oh yeah and I'm part of a self-realisation group so I'm gonna be spending a bit of time with them and moving forward our business ideas. Plus I'm gonna eat, drink and be merry til January :-)

Yeah, unfortunately the game you want to make doesn't always mean profitability. It was interesting hearing Anthony Flack talk about this in his podcast interview. Personally, I've come to the realization that I dont have what it takes (at the moment) to even think about trying to make living doing indie dev stuff. :( Maybe sometime in the future, though...

Good luck with your endeavours, though! ;)

Hey, do you have any vids on it yet? Im still woking on the commercial, and I still have a hard time getting anyone to supply some of their work. You all, must think I ended that project, but im still currently working on it, even as many obstacles as I have run in to. :)

Big10p: thanks man. I've come a long way since I borrowed those fruit from you.

Trooper Dave: Good idea, I've just added a video to my to do list.

lol. Yeah, you've sure come a long way since then. Seems like ages ago. :)

There are plenty of people making money off of Platypus. Just not Anthony. I'm sure he won't fall into the same trap with Cletus. Point here is that a shooter isn't unmarketable in the casual realm.


Grey.. I've recently played your Wizard of Oz game, and it is incredibly well done. Very professional and polished.

I really think you should do a shooter. Who knows, you might expand the boundary of your audience now that you have one.

RocketGnome: Many thanks for the positive feedback. Yeah I played enough shooters over the years to know what makes a good one + I get to "research" by playing loads more :-) I had to research tons of Match-3s to make mine. Basically you just work out what is good and bad about them and them duplicate the good only, make it all ultra polished and add in something new an hopefully it's a winner. Actually there are more match-3s than shooters so perhaps it's a niche market worth getting into...However, the ones that are out there are really good and I can't afford to make "entry level" version for 6 months whilst I make no money...ho hum, what to do. Also I love platformers of course and there are event less of them. Perhaps a really nice casual platformer with some depth to it would inspire me and actually make some money...

Thank you, Thank you :)

Must say I'm pretty impressed with this one. A huge improvement over the last 'bonus'.

I had a problem... when I went to install it Avast went nuts and insisted that the: Win32:Mex-B [Trj] was in it... I deleted that file and kept on... won't run. It was probably forced in there along the route of the DL (Sprint or MCI server NY is my guess!!!) but I can't play it!!!

:(

Maybe you could make a single level version using grasshopper and put it direct on the site??? (hope hope!)

I have avast too, I'll give it a whirl!

Dabz

Yep, I pick it up too... definitley a show stopper! :|

Not good grey, any potential customers downloading your game who has Avast will definitey stay away... And since it's shipped on PC Mags CD-ROMS etc, that could be a HHHUUUGGGGEEEEEE problem!

lol, and you thought you were going to have christmas off! :D

Dabz

Or in any realm really. Ikaruga was a shooter.

I had a smiliar problem with "Part One" - it turns out that some of the code morphing tech used by Armadillo (Software Passport Pro) is falsely identified as a Trojan in some free virus checkers. Problem with free virus checkers is that they miss important stuff and incorrectly tag other things. It's worth noting that decent security software, the stuff you pay for and can rely upon, does not give such false information.

The bottom line though is your end users don't know squat and will believe avast everytime it cries wolf. I suggest you grab an armadillo update, play with the controls and re-package.

Thanks for the heads up guys. I have the latest armadillo and can verify that the pure exe doesn't cause a problem with Avast but the wrapped on does, sigh. So it's not really a virus but an incorrectly identified one.

Cicero: Cool, glad u like it :-)

OK I take it back, I thought I had the latest Armadillo (got it just the other day) but they have more up-to-date programs on antother page. Anyway it resolves the problem so please redownload and try again :-) Thanks for the tip Indiepath

Just realised what I did in the other thread - sorry - I deleted it. It was a serious question but one I should have asked you offline.

Thanks Tim.

You *MUST* test your application thoroughly when using packages such as Armadillo, Molebox and the likes of others. These falsely reported virus alerts happen more frequently than you think and will cost you in the long run.

I once used Armadillo Pro and it came with more support emails than what I wanted to deal with.

Well I know that now. I've heard of molebox problems so I haven't bothered with that, but I assumed Armadillo should be OK as it's pretty industry standard.

Works fine now Grey! :)

Dabz

YAY. Thanks Dabz.

Nice work! I love it when people help each other. Forum members, pat yourselves on the back!

IPete2.

My direct competitor:

http://www.bigfishgames.com/downloads/holidaygift/index.html

I'll tell you what I think after some other people have commented ;-)

Would still love to see a grasshopperized version that runs frm site!!! :) will D/L again and test.

Oh, and I did pay for Avast. Not that I think that wuold have given me any different level of AV libs! I can't wait to run this!

WOW! I am a fan now!!! The package DL and installed flawlessly! I love what you did... It works!!!

I nit pick that there weer tooo many snowflakes falling from the mouse (maybe that could be adjustable?) and the score was per level, but I didn't see where it was cumulative?

BUT I see a seller there!!

Hi Rook. Glad it worked for you! Haha those mouse snowflakes people kept saying add more, and I had to restrain myself. Yeah score is level only, no global one, sorry. Next game...

I cannot wait! -> PUTTING PLUG IN FOR A MOUSE DAZZLE SLIDER CONTROLLER NOW!!! ;)

Grey, you've got 4 match-3 games already on your site - however successful I really think you should move-on and get some variety in your portfolio.

Why don't you contact the artists that produced the graphics for your Oz game and make a platform game?

For that to work I think you'd have to produce a very detailed plan of the game before you do though. Platformers are tricky to get right, but if you do get it right it could do really well.

Shoot 'em ups are easier to get right and are still popular so that might be an easier project.

lol @ Rook

Steve: Yeah I know my site is match-3 central. I have joked that I'm gonna become the "match-3 king", and I actually have 3 job offers to make more match-3s now, we'll see if they pan out. Did you ever play Iron Fist? That took a long time and made me realise that a reasonably complex platformer would take ages and need lots of cool graphics too. You say shooters are easier, but I don't know, there are some pretty avanced ones out there now - but yeah I fancy giving them a go. Platformers and shooters are pretty much my favorite 2D genres. Also I like 2D overhead RPGs like Ultima.