101–110 of 147 posts
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Thanks for not obscuring the source, I'm enjoying reading it :)
You're welcome. I knew that obscuring the source code wouldn't do anything to prevent piracy, so I figured I'd just leave it as is so people can see how I did things.
Demo uploaded to mediafire because I don't want to completely kill my server: http://www.mediafire.com/?hh5x0jcvvkiwd5i I tried to get it out fast and just barely tested it, but it should be stable. The demo has three bosses, ~25 areas, and a good taste of the gameplay. My server seems to be intermittently dying, so Chrome Store link for anybody interested in purchasing (buying through my site would be preferable, th…
A back of the envelope calculation suggests that serving the game even on S3 would cost $2 per 1000 players - much less elsewhere (I use 100tb but that's overkill for you).
I don't know if you're keeping track of the conversions - from hit to download and hit to sale - but you should easily make $10 per 1000 hits. $3 is also too low; you're likely to make far more revenue at $5 or $7.
I wouldn't be surprised if this change alone raised your revenue by ten times or more for people not coming from the ultra curious HN crowd.
You also should make the intro more like 10 seconds long at most. Split the intro cutscene up and show it slowly over the levels.
Seriously. You need to do this. I guarantee you're losing at least half the players.
Some other notes from a quick playthrough:
* Shadowing is impressive!
* You should probably scale 2x by default. Full screen is too big and default is too small
* I love the premise of the story
* You should have a visual reaction when you're hit
* Sticking in the same direction as you're firing works but I would limit it to key down, not key hit - let the player turn as normal when they tap fire
* It would be awesome if stalactites fell when you shot them, able to take out enemies
* Unfortunately I closed the game accidentally having gotten this far in the list and couldn't bring myself to button mash through the intro again :)
One last thing; I understand that it's the end of a long project and you just want to get it out. But the hours you spend to get the launch right (marketing, testing, feedback from friends etc) are critically important to the success of the product as a whole.
They're easily worth 10x as much to the bottom line as the hours you spend hacking away in the middle of the project. Single changes can have a 20% or 50% or 100% impact on sales.
I wouldn't try to release quickly and barely test a project I've been working on for two weeks, let alone two years - something to keep in mind so you don't have to learn it the hard way like I (and many others here) did.
In any case, great first project! Do you have a mailing list to sign up to? I'd be interested in hearing about whatever you come up with next.
why most of the games emulate Mario? I am not a gamer, but for me, the first impression appears to be like mario...though the plot and creatures are different.
To be clear: It is in no way like mario, perhaps you misclicked?
Bought a copy. Good stuff. Some feedback: - get the option to skip cutscenes back in - these octopus dudes come way too close. It is too hard to dodge them. - if you get killed, you should start over in the sub-area you were in, and not the main level.
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Maybe I'm just impatient, but after the third consecutive cut-scene I just closed the window and uninstalled it. I think you should give the option to the user to skip the cut scenes altogether.
I did originally have the option to skip cutscenes, but removed it. Is holding X to skip through dialogue not enough? Because I could re-add skipping.
I only kept going because so many people here praised the art style (which is brilliant, by the way).
Pacing. Pacing. Pacing. Three cutscenes in a row isn't a video game, it's a lecture :)
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If javascript could run outside of the browser, I'd use it for everything. Javascript was nothing but pure bliss to work with, but the browsers were hell. Overall I know I'm definitely going to keep making short, simple games with javascript because it's a wonderful tool for the job. Long-term projects are a bit risky due to browser issues, so this'll probably be my last huge game with the language (sadly). If you're…
> If javascript could run outside of the browser, I'd use it for everything. node.js?
The closest analog I can think of is ActionScript in Adobe Flash/Air/Flex, but that's not a mast I would lash myself to right now.
is it really B&W? was that a stylistic choice only, or are there some performance benefits? some of the artwork reminds me a lot of Yellow Submarine stuff.
Full black and white, yes. My original reason was that I'm not at all good at working with color, and especially not creating colored sprites. By sticking with black and white I could easily draw images with my tablet and modify them pixel by pixel to look sharp. I eventually came to like the look, so I suppose it's also stylistic. It wasn't intentionally done for any sort of performance reason, but oddly enough, it…
why most of the games emulate Mario? I am not a gamer, but for me, the first impression appears to be like mario...though the plot and creatures are different.
Are you trolling or serious? In this game you control a submarine, exploring a cave network. The graphics are also extremely different as is the atmosphere. To be clear: It is in no way like mario, perhaps you misclicked?