Well, you stated initially no-one really comments on your game in the WIP thread. I gave you my opinion on why.
The thing is, you have to be careful about who tells you its good. People wont tell you its bad to your face. People behind a computer will. Unfortunately, the people that generally give you the honest truth, are the ones who are not worried about hurting you (ppl hiding behind a computer).
No-one you show it too personally will tell you its boring/crap because they are most likely your friends/family.
In fact some people from my family tell me about the disadvantages and I try to fix them
But you are right here, of course. Anyway, it doesn’t hurt me, because if somebody tells he/she doesn’t like the game, I try to analyze the reason and maybe fix it.
JamesLeeNZ, btw, if you think the game is boring, could you advice something to make it more interesting? Feel free to comment my WIP and don’t afraid to hurt me Any good comment (even about disadvantages) is always welcome!
But the idea should be the same - rather calm 2d game with calm background music and without too many annoying effects.
I told in my WIP that I don’t want to show all the 100 levels now. Otherwise it will not be interesting at all after release. But 5 levels is enough to play and understand the idea and give me some advice.
As for the 100 levels, I also told I had made my own level generator. So my task will be just take the most beautiful levels and put them in the game.
It seems to me like you are making a game that you want to play rather then making a game that people want to play and you take that to the extreme.
For example take a look uncraft me which (starts at 14:34), its a sidescroller, with minecraft and semi-naked anime girls (because thats what sold on xblig).
Aiursrage2k I didn’t understand what you wanted to tell about this sidescroller. I didn’t like this game. More of that, it’s not 2d it’s 2.5d. Back music is annoying, I hate such music. Effects are rather interesting, like lava or this hero’s tale. But I can’t see any example I may use in my game. They are absolutely different.
My game doesn’t need any annoying effects. It should be calm, relaxing. But if the player always sees different blows, tales, particles etc he or she will hate my game.
wow Aiursrage, that game looks HORRIBLE. The gameplay seems kinda lacking for a 2.5d side scroller, but would be ok for kids. However the semi naked girls try to appeal to a more mature audience, look completely out of place with the rest of the game and would have a tough time getting past parents. As a result that game has no audience in my opinion. Remind me of miss teen south carolina speech, that tries to be too much at the same time, and end up not making sense at all.
I can imagine the game design session, that probably lasted all of 2 minutes:
goldbug, some steps have been made! I have asked one admin on the 4pda about placing my WIP there. And I have also asked a question on the MacRumors about the WIP, because it seems they have only threads for ready games (with links to the iTunes). Waiting for their answers.
Well, he’s trying to say that it may be something you like, but other people just aren’t interested in it. It’s not new and it’s not exciting, but that’s not to say it can’t be a fun little game.
Your game may not need “annoying effects” but it needs juice. Your stars could maybe have an outer glow when my mouse hovers over one and then it could lose it’s outer glow when my mouse leaves, etc. Stuff like that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy0aCDmgnxg
Yes, I did understand this part. But I didn’t understand his comparing with that terrible sidescroller
I have watched that video many times, it’s cool. And I wanted to add such an effect, but not glow. I want to scale the stars a bit when the mouse is over them. Like buttons.
I think he was just showing an example of a game that sells well, that you or I may not necessarily like, the game being terrible is subjective though(although it is pretty terrible ).
My best advice as almost everyone in these forums is in the same shoes as you: is to ignore advertising and write your game and when you are ready to publish if you yourself enjoy the game then that is better than all the advertising you could buy. Only huge businesses and franchises get away with peddling crude.
I’ve decided no websites, no domains, no ad words, no blogs…
I’m not a multitalented rock star and I’m not a pretender but a so-so developer with a bit of an eye for art so my time and money are better spent on Unity, Blender, buying good assets from the asset store, and maybe one day actually publishing a game.
Having an audience can be a great motivator, I speak from experience. There is something very rewarding about getting feedback from your work, even if it is to tell you about bugs.
… which brings me to the second point, you want lots of beta testers so that you can iron out the worst bugs before releasing. Don’t test your own game, you only see what you want to see and you spend time that could have been used to improve the game.
Then there is the issue of launching the game. Your fans will be the first to buy it and give you good reviews. The first reviews are extremely important as they set the tone and determine the performance of the game in the first few days.
This does not have to be time consuming, just a post or two per day on a forum won’t kill anybody.
No, no, no: Rovio had to hire management to beat away marketers based solely on the popularity of their game. If you make money, ‘marketers’ and ‘fans’ will come: beware.
Didn’t Rovio fail with about 50 other games before scoring with Angry Birds? And if you read my post I give you other reasons why you want to engage people besides just “selling more”.
Also, be realistic, name 5 indie companies besides Rovio and Mojang that made it big. The reality is that won’t be you or me. If you think marketing will just magically take care of itself, well… good luck.
I believe goldbug is right. Too many really cool games failed. Nobody even saw them. But some games which (only my opinion!) are not so good, but they were successful. So I have to do both - make a good game and attract players. It’s difficult, but I have no choice
