Real E$tate Empire demo

[lennard]

This is the 2nd playable version of Real E$tate Empire (was HouseFlip!) that I have released to this forum and, if nothing major is found wrong between now and early next week, it will be the first version that I make publically available and send out press releases for. Since last summer I have mostly been focussed on playability and adding more feedback to the user so they understand what is going with the game. Before completion Matthew and I will be adding graphics and special effects to emphasize the changing of seasons and an internet high score feature, along with polishing and responding to what players have to say.

Screenshots:

http://rustyaxe.com/images/hf/sold.jpg
http://rustyaxe.com/images/hf/hires_early_concept.jpg
http://rustyaxe.com/images/hf/hires_fixit.jpg
http://rustyaxe.com/images/hf/hires_offer_made.jpg

The demo is here:

http://rustyaxe.com/hf_demo.php

As always, everybodies feedback will be much appreciated.

[adamw]

Well - this games has a great look to it. It certainly intrigued me enough to download and take a look. No easy feat in itself! So the polish is there in presentation.

The initial choose your role screen has a tiny problem for me: the 'not available in demo' didn't work quite right. There's a delay between the lock message, it's like a mouse tool tip over the arrow and it feels disconnected from your actual choosing. I suggest a semi-transparent overlay or some other dim-out option so it's clear the option you're looking at isn't available.

The game starts and I'm suddenly very disconnected. Houses are clearly being sold, but I have no idea why. I of course quickly click on some houses having no idea why still, but it seems like the right thing to do.

I click a around on the house screen. Buy it. Start clicking on the fix it up buttons - having no idea which is good or bad. I try to buy another house but can't afford it. Hmm. Clearly I'm flying through the game too fast.

Then it hits me: no in game tutorial or demo? How will I know what to do? How do I win? I see the help button that presents a "this launches a browser warning" which makes me take pause. But I launch it and get the on-line manual. It's all text - and lots of it. I click around a bit, but....

At that point, you lost me. I've forgotten what I liked about this game.

This has all the look of a casual game. It has a great theme (matching up to some recent crazes in television programming too). I think even my wife would be attracted to the look and theme. But without an in game tutorial, I think you're going to lose alot of potential sales.

[Jamie W]

I'd have to agree with a lot of what Adam just said. Visually (i.e. from static screen shots) it looks yummy, and I want to play it. It's certainly got an initial appeal to it, and I think a lot of potential too, but I think there's a few issued you need to address with it.

Some things I remember (before uninstalling it) are:

1. Can't seem to switch between windowed / full-screen.
2. When I closed the app on my PC, the music continued to play (for like minutes, until I stopped the process in task manager).
3. The options button, is way too small and hard to find.
4. Generally, for a beginner, everything just seems to happen so fast, and with 5. no explanation of what's going on.

That said, I really do think this game can do well though, it looks appealing, and it looks to have appealing strategic game-play too. Good luck.