pls
03-08-2006, 07:13 AM
Hi folks. I'm into alpha testing of this baby for Mac OS X. So if you have a Mac computer you can help. License offered to all those that actually decide to give me some sort of feedback (please create a user in the game forums so that I can keep track of the e-mails that earned the registered version, if you want it - leave your feedback here off course).
First of all a bit of an intro:
The game needs to be a bit polished for release. The basic is there already, but there quite a bit of detail that I want to add (mostly graphics and animations, a Su Doku teacher, tournament support, and the list goes on). I want 12 monthly releases during the first year, so features are scheduled for those special events.
The sales talk goes like this:
--- Start of sales talk: avoid if tired of the same old song and dance ----
The Su Doku Live advantage...
There are many computer implementations of the Su Doku game but we are releasing the definitive one!
- Live multiplayer games, to be played in your local network or over the Internet, in cooperative and competitive modes! Feel the additional pressure of solving puzzles against live opponents. It’s a whole new way of playing the game and it really works well!
- Single player modes give you unlimited Su Doku puzzles, a pen and a pencil to insert your numbers along with notes for possible values in each grid position.
- Four levels of difficulty, a puzzle generator and the ability to add new puzzles to the system will satisfy the most demanding player!
- Error detection with sound and animation will help you thru the hardest of challenges. A full Su Doku solver and a hint system are available in single player games.
- Load and save your Su Doku at any time. Your entries and notes will be safely stored allowing you to resume your games on a later date.
----------------- end of sales talk: sorry for the old BS -------------------
The screenshot links:
Screenshot: on-line competitive game (http://www.deadpixelgames.com/Graph/sdk_bigscreen1.jpg)
Screen shot: on-line cooperative game (http://www.deadpixelgames.com/Graph/sdk_bigscreen2.jpg)
The Mac OS X demo (Windows in April)
http://greedy.mrnet.pt/sudoku/distro/SuDokuLive.dmg (Always the latest version in URL)
The system requirements
Mac OS X computer with hardware OpenGL (this means most desktop G3 and no portables G3 based). All G4/G5 Apple Macintosh computers (including portables).
Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
The kind of feedback I am interested in...
I am new to this... not to coding games (my first game was released in 1991 for the amiga http://www.thelegacy.de/Museum/7539/) but to the concept of finishing and selling them (or make an attempt at it). I already found a publisher I am comfortable with and we should sign our non-exclusive contract in the next few weeks (he is in this forum BTW).
So any opinions on what I doing wrong or right are welcome. My expectations are "zilch", none, have no idea if the game will sell a single copy or a zillion. I suspect most shareware does not sell. Period. But let me try this thing and see how it goes. My lack of expectations should not be confused with not planning to make an effort to make the game succeed, which I surely will.
My second game will follow in June or so. So before I even have time to think about how the first was a success or a failure I want my second one out. I already convinced myself that the lifecycle for indie games is rather big, and that the first few months will probably have no sales at all, so I'll be busy instead of feeling down and/or anxious about results.
This indie coding sure is a lot of work but it has also been fun. My wife is not so happy about the last couple of months but I already promise myself that I'll spend the first few licenses in flowers for her, maybe she can forgive me for being absent for so long.
Bugs you already know about
The game takes way to much CPU space. I know how to fix it, so it will be a lot lighter before release.
Everything else reported in the game forums (so far) has been fixed...
Thanks in advance to all those that reply! :)
Paulo Laureano
First of all a bit of an intro:
The game needs to be a bit polished for release. The basic is there already, but there quite a bit of detail that I want to add (mostly graphics and animations, a Su Doku teacher, tournament support, and the list goes on). I want 12 monthly releases during the first year, so features are scheduled for those special events.
The sales talk goes like this:
--- Start of sales talk: avoid if tired of the same old song and dance ----
The Su Doku Live advantage...
There are many computer implementations of the Su Doku game but we are releasing the definitive one!
- Live multiplayer games, to be played in your local network or over the Internet, in cooperative and competitive modes! Feel the additional pressure of solving puzzles against live opponents. It’s a whole new way of playing the game and it really works well!
- Single player modes give you unlimited Su Doku puzzles, a pen and a pencil to insert your numbers along with notes for possible values in each grid position.
- Four levels of difficulty, a puzzle generator and the ability to add new puzzles to the system will satisfy the most demanding player!
- Error detection with sound and animation will help you thru the hardest of challenges. A full Su Doku solver and a hint system are available in single player games.
- Load and save your Su Doku at any time. Your entries and notes will be safely stored allowing you to resume your games on a later date.
----------------- end of sales talk: sorry for the old BS -------------------
The screenshot links:
Screenshot: on-line competitive game (http://www.deadpixelgames.com/Graph/sdk_bigscreen1.jpg)
Screen shot: on-line cooperative game (http://www.deadpixelgames.com/Graph/sdk_bigscreen2.jpg)
The Mac OS X demo (Windows in April)
http://greedy.mrnet.pt/sudoku/distro/SuDokuLive.dmg (Always the latest version in URL)
The system requirements
Mac OS X computer with hardware OpenGL (this means most desktop G3 and no portables G3 based). All G4/G5 Apple Macintosh computers (including portables).
Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
The kind of feedback I am interested in...
I am new to this... not to coding games (my first game was released in 1991 for the amiga http://www.thelegacy.de/Museum/7539/) but to the concept of finishing and selling them (or make an attempt at it). I already found a publisher I am comfortable with and we should sign our non-exclusive contract in the next few weeks (he is in this forum BTW).
So any opinions on what I doing wrong or right are welcome. My expectations are "zilch", none, have no idea if the game will sell a single copy or a zillion. I suspect most shareware does not sell. Period. But let me try this thing and see how it goes. My lack of expectations should not be confused with not planning to make an effort to make the game succeed, which I surely will.
My second game will follow in June or so. So before I even have time to think about how the first was a success or a failure I want my second one out. I already convinced myself that the lifecycle for indie games is rather big, and that the first few months will probably have no sales at all, so I'll be busy instead of feeling down and/or anxious about results.
This indie coding sure is a lot of work but it has also been fun. My wife is not so happy about the last couple of months but I already promise myself that I'll spend the first few licenses in flowers for her, maybe she can forgive me for being absent for so long.
Bugs you already know about
The game takes way to much CPU space. I know how to fix it, so it will be a lot lighter before release.
Everything else reported in the game forums (so far) has been fixed...
Thanks in advance to all those that reply! :)
Paulo Laureano