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dirsow
05-12-2007, 08:58 AM
Hi, Guys!

I'm making everything in the development of my first game by the book - literally.
I wrote a complete full with details Design Document and it took me almost 6 weeks of planinng before even start to programming and it is actually worthing. I never thought that spending so much time just writing down documentation would worth anything, but in the end of the last year, when I first started the game development by just sitting on my chair and filling pages and pages with code - like I always did - I felt totally lost.
Now I'm back to the game!!!
I have several good ideas for the game - who doesnt? - and now I'm planning the releases of the game.
I'm writing this post to ask you about a few advices for a newbie that is really enjoying the experience and is spending every cent from my day job work to make my dream come true.

1) About my game:
It's a really fast sport car race game

2) Releases
I first thought about a demo version for July 1st, a pre-release for Sep 1st and the Full version for December.
The demo would be the only free part of the game and it should be enough for the people to know what they will have buying the paid versions.
The pre-release would be a try to raise funding for the full version due to the money I'm spending in the artwork and music.
The full version would be free for the customer that bought the pre-release and it should be out for Xmas.

3) Now the decisions I have to make:
a) I'm thinking about make the demo and pre-release as one and prob for september 1st
b) Make a demo as soon as I can and publish it on indie forums to get some feedback about the features

4) Feature and prices
a) I was thinking about 40 different cars and about 50 racing tracks, including a big island (about 400 square miles) as a bonus championship with maybe 15 racing tracks distributed in the terrain.
b) The game is organized in championships and free races
The races will have up to 28 cars, and the the online mode can run on LAN and internet - anyone can start a server. But we will have a official server as well.
c) Up to 4 players can play together in the same PC.
d) You can start a championship with your friends, save the progress and schedule the other races to make it fun.
$) I was thinking about charge 19.95USD for the pre-release with 12 cars and 16 tracks, 3 months free for online playing the official server - when the full version gets released and free upgrade to the full version. The player could try before buy it... he could player 1 hour of racing.
$$) 29.95USD for all the features when the full version is realeased and one month try out out online mode.
Do I have enough features for that?

If I wasn't clear enough, please ask.

Thank you very much,
Dirso.

JoKa
05-12-2007, 12:56 PM
2) Releases
I first thought about a demo version for July 1st, a pre-release for Sep 1st and the Full version for December.

ah, ok...which year? ;)


b) Make a demo as soon as I can and publish it on indie forums to get some feedback about the features

This would be a sensible step before releasing an official demo to the public.

ChrisP
05-12-2007, 05:43 PM
I first thought about a demo version for July 1st, a pre-release for Sep 1st and the Full version for December.

Are you just picking dates out of the air, or have you actually sat down and comprehensively worked out every single feature you'll need and how long it's going to take you? Because if you haven't started yet (and assuming you're talking about this year), that sounds pretty optimistic to me. I don't think I personally could finish a decent networked 3D racing game within a month and a half. Even if it is just an unpolished demo.

There are tools for rapid game development of course. If you haven't already developed them yourself, you'll need solid middleware solutions for physics, networking (RakNet perhaps?), and a 3D engine. The physics especially won't get done within a month unless you're an expert at implementing 3D car physics engines. Personally I'd also try to find an engine with solid scripting support.

Maybe you already know all the above and have accounted for it already, in which case feel free to ignore me. :)

You said you were going to try and get funding - who from? Any particular plans?

dirsow
05-12-2007, 05:58 PM
I'm using Ogre3d as 3d engine, PhysX for the physics simulation, OpenAL for sound, LUA for scripting. I've already developed the AI system and I still have some artwork and music done contracted from free lancers. I have an schedule and of course it already took twice I thought first.
I'm not sending you an email on day one, I'm working on this game for 6 months - not too much time, i know - but I think I'm ready to start put things together in the next 6 weeks to release them.

Thanks,
Dirso

barrygamer
05-13-2007, 02:34 AM
I'm sure you know of this, but http://LiveForSpeed.net took a similar approach, i.e. releasing a 'stage 1' product to help fund stage 2 and 3. They are still going strong it seems, and the game is very nice, although it has taken them many years. People who bought S1 got better deals on S2 etc. IIRC, there was a free demo, limited to 1 track and 2 car types. Man, I played that thing so much, it was great.

I know this is not quite your question since you've already designed your game, but if I were making a PC racing game I would think hard as to the unique selling points that would make it stand out. Personally I'd love an online PC racing game with the pack-racing elements of Toca3, but with the crazy 'takedown' crash elements of Burnout :)

good luck, will keep an eye out for news.

ChrisP
05-13-2007, 04:47 AM
I'm using Ogre3d as 3d engine, PhysX for the physics simulation, OpenAL for sound, LUA for scripting. I've already developed the AI system and I still have some artwork and music done contracted from free lancers. I have an schedule and of course it already took twice I thought first.
I'm not sending you an email on day one, I'm working on this game for 6 months - not too much time, i know - but I think I'm ready to start put things together in the next 6 weeks to release them.

Thanks,
Dirso

Ah, okay then. Sounds like you've got everything well under control; I didn't realise you'd already started. Sorry if I sounded condescending.

In that case your plan looks fine to me. I think $30 is quite reasonable for that amount of content. Not that I'm an expert by any means; I haven't released my first game yet either...

Good luck!

Desktop Gaming
05-13-2007, 04:52 AM
How much of this have you done already?

Because if you haven't started writing the code or done any artwork yet, I'd say the chances of being able to release a demo in only eight weeks, are remote to zero.

dirsow
05-13-2007, 05:57 AM
Hi guys,

I already have 4 cars and 4 racing tracks under development. My 3d guy is amazingly fast and his work is trully good.
I came here to ask you guys because I have a small delay in the presentation screen and it made me think if it really worths to release a demo for the public or just limit the use of the pre-release version.
For the programming stuff I'm right now putting everything together, all the modules I've been working so far and I'll make the server software in september.

Thanks,
Dirso.

jefferytitan
05-19-2007, 09:48 PM
Is it a track racing game or racing on regular roads? Because I quite liked NFS Underground's approach, where the tracks are just different paths through the same large city. Good re-use of artwork and less time needed to design tracks. Of course even if you take this approach you could have more than one city, or maybe they can unlock a private road that gives them new variations.

dirsow
05-20-2007, 05:06 AM
For the demo we'll have 4 totally different racing tracks. In the full version there is already one big island involved with 10 or 15 racing tracks.
I'm uploading my website with screen shots and I hope to have a promo video or something soon.

Dirso.
http://www.e-challengegames.com