Make a 3 minute video of the gameplay and upload it to youtube
Show HN: I spent 6 years making a cool free game
51–60 of 100 posts
Re: Show HN: I spent 6 years making a cool free game
#52Congratulations on the release! Any tips for how you managed to spend 6 years on the same project without getting board?
Hard to say really because I did get bored a lot. I just kept it in my mind and always came back to it. I'd really like a career doing this so I guess having a wager on it is good too.
Re: Show HN: I spent 6 years making a cool free game
#53Is it this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhZ-SM104wk
Matches the name and description, for those hoping for a video.
Re: Show HN: I spent 6 years making a cool free game
#54While I'm pretty sure you don't have any bad intentions, you may want to consider how this looks like to someone [paranoid] like me: - New HN member makes his first post claiming he made a game. He shares only a binary blob, no code. Also he doesn't have a website, or even a gameplay video. On top of that, he shares the game via dropbox. Would that make you suspicious? We live in a scary world, not everyone trusts 'b…
Set up a VM. Why not keep throw-away VM to play with stuff like this? You can make a snapshot to always start from your chosen state.
I could, but honestly, I dont want to go thru the effort just to try out the game. I think this is a big part of the learning process as well - learning how to make your game easily accessible to potential users.
Making a game open source is more about the 'statement' in this case. It says: "I dont have anything to hide". That's enough for most people.
Re: Show HN: I spent 6 years making a cool free game
#55It would be nice if you put the open source the game as well (seeing as it's free atm, so no profit loss from it). I'd like to see how you wrote it, and learn from it!
> It would be nice if you put the open source the game as well (seeing as it's free atm, so no profit loss from it).
This is terrible advice, unless you think you'll never be able to profit from the product itself. Don't give up prematurely!
That said, the typical case is that hobby games don't make any money, so it may be a good idea to open source it, but later. Definitely not immediately.
Re: Show HN: I spent 6 years making a cool free game
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
I might do that. I'm a little shy about it since I'm self taught. No one's actually looked at my code before haha
Don't be shy about that. The code in some successful commercial products is terrible. People who play a game care less about how elegant the code is and what language it's in, they just want to play something fun they enjoy. Please take advantage of the offers here to help bootstrap your own permanent website, and please consider making a paid version. Even if it's just an "I donated!" edition that does nothing but s…
Thank you so much for your kind words. It really means a lot to me more than you know.
You can bet I definitely would like something to come from this. I'm working on it full time without being paid. Even just a job would be life changing right now.
I'd love to hear your take on what I'm thinking of doing with it and get any advice anyone has. I thought about making it a commercial game, but I'm very strong on the coding/design part of it and not so good at the marketing and promotion side.
My current plan is to open source it actually and maybe set up a patreon account to help fund the development with donations. There are features I'd like but can't afford to do like online multiplayer. I haven't yet because I'm not sure how it conflicts with unity generated project files. I also made use of a few creative commons sound effects and I want to attribute and mark them right. So I'm not quite sure what I'll have to do to set it all up. I want to do it right.
I'm thinking about doing the open source + donation route because I figured it would take the same amount of marketing effort as a commercial game and I'd much rather give it away than charge for it. Games are best when they're shared with each other.
Re: Show HN: I spent 6 years making a cool free game
#57Is it this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhZ-SM104wk Matches the name and description, for those hoping for a video.
Wow. I can't believe you found that. That video is from the version I lost from a hard drive failure. This version I completely rebuilt from scratch (with version control). This one is much better actually.
For a look at the improved visuals check out these screenshots. http://imgur.com/a/Tyw5z
Re: Show HN: I spent 6 years making a cool free game
#58Ignore all the people here telling you to open-source this (for now). You have a product and a compelling story. This could be one of the rare games that actually makes money.
Once you have a playable game that looks good and is fun, your main problem is getting noticed and making it easy for people to get your game and pay you for it.
You've got a good story, which is key to marketing and getting noticed. You worked on a game for 6 years -- that sounds crazy. The media likes crazy. You're on social assistance -- people love feel-good rags-to-riches stories. So those boxes are checked.
Look at all the help that random people on HN have already offered!
I'd say run with this ... and ignore the open-sourcing advice. Only open-source it if either you've given up on profiting from it (as a product rather than a portfolio piece).
There've already been a lot of good suggestions about hosting and putting up a website, so I wont' repeat those.
Re: Show HN: I spent 6 years making a cool free game
#59> It would be great just to hear your experiences of the game and how far in it you got.
Post this on the TIGSource forums and ask for feedback. That is where most of the indie game developers congregate.
Re: Show HN: I spent 6 years making a cool free game
#60I think this thread is a bit of a showcase of the best things about HN.
It's a place where someone without existing distribution can get what they've made in front of people.
The members decide whether it's interesting or not so it can avoid getting buried.
The OP gets lots of cynicism free advice and even offers of hosting and domain names.
Everyone can have a bit of a chat about the tech used to build it.
We all can learn things from the comments and advice given.
Well done HN! :)