Does a collection of mini games appeal to customer ??

[yanuart]

Hi, recently i develop quite a few mini games for my site and judging from the responses i told myself hey why not make these games downloadable and sell them while there's still a chance..
I know that my games are considered minigames (lots of them are simple action/arcade with less depth) so maybe I can bundle 4 of them into a compendium..

Before I do this, do you think people will appreciate a.k.a buy mini games ? I know that todays games somehow must have depths in it even those shareware games but back when I was a kid I crave for that silly donkey-kong gamewatch (how simple was that) so I guess maybe I have a chance..
what do you guys think ??

[princec]

I bloody hope so. (http://www.puppygames.net/downloads/hallucinogenesis/hallucinogenesis.jnlp) (launches Super Elvis, so watch out!)

Cas :)

[Dom]

Bah humbug Cas - any excuse for a plug ;)

(Btw: I keep getting black rooms that say 'autogenerated room x.x that are the same as the 1st room, & you need a sound for when he's hit, like the 'ARGH!' noise when you hit a non-destructable man thing in llamatron)

Anyway, back to topic:
they probably would, if you wrap them up with a nice front end. Something like NAMCO arcade classics or something where they get pretty screenshots of the 4, can view hiscores seperate to each game, and then click to play one game. Namco, Atari, etc. sell these compendiums so theres no reason you can't - especially if your site is getting lots of regular players. :)

[P-Q4]

I bloody hope so. (http://www.puppygames.net/downloads/hallucinogenesis/hallucinogenesis.jnlp)I got a nasty security warning when I clicked on your link:

http://webappstogo.com/images/sw.jpg

[cliffski]

I HATE Java WS. i won't let it run on my system. Ive seen it cause such problems at work, that if an app or a game or a website requires it, I just go elsewhere.
that might not be very rational, but I'm sure im not the only person who does that.

[simonh]

princec could you please make it obvious what your link points to? It's a bit annoying having Super Elvis start up when you didn't even want it to.

[Anthony Flack]

Back on topic - I really like games which are made up of minigames. Maybe you could glom them all together into one game that's based around minigames?

[princec]

Hence my Elvis link ;) The idea has been around for around 20 years or so and keeps popping up. The first time I remember seeing this idea fleshed out for real was in Ancipital, on which Super Elvis is based. Later on Minter went on to produce the far more bizzare but compellingly entertaining Batalyx, which instead of having 100 rooms with various variations on shooting, had 8 entirely parallel and completely different sub-games in it which you had to complete within a time limit.

I thought I'd revive the "many little games in one big game" idea and I hope it works out. I rather like the concept of the many little games actually being part of a whole game, rather than simply being a collection of a bunch of other little games that have no relation to one another.

One thing I was hoping to achieve was to simply be an idle distraction rather than an intense experience. Some rooms last a few seconds; others last a minute. You more or less choose what room to play next within very generous limits. The rooms themselves are of course mostly very different from one another which keeps you from getting bored.

I understand that some cultures are particularly fond of large numbers of subtly different puzzles to solve inside a big picture - I was quite hoping Japan might be a good market for SE.

You should be glad you get that nasty warning, because Super Elvis isn't signed. Nor finished. It might wipe your hard drive! Yikes!

Cas :)

[merovingian]

I bloody hope so. (http://www.puppygames.net/downloads/hallucinogenesis/hallucinogenesis.jnlp) (launches Super Elvis, so watch out!)

Cas :)

Hey is there any way to get that sucker to open up under Firefox?

[princec]

Requires Webstart, not Firefox. Normally the link just fires up Webstart.

Cas :)

[Andy]

Answering on topic question: no.

[EpicBoy]

Nintendo/WarioWare disagrees with you.

[Diragor]

Warioware is great. Many times I've thought of doing something like that for the PC.

[RedKnight]

I also had the same Idea.

5 dollar a game.

[Jim Buck]

The latest Leisure Suit Larry is supposed to be "a collection of minigames". I've seen lots of bad comments about the game, but I think it's from people that held the original point-n-click-adventure versions of the game to heart. (Side note: they are soon released an uncensored version of the game .. whatever that will really mean.)

[papillon]

Well, it's not *just* the people who greatly miss good point'n'click. The other main complaints are that the minigames are too repetitive (you apparently have to play the same game many times in different settings) and that in one case playing the game keeps you too distracted to actually see the funny things that are happening because of you playing the game.

So the conclusion I would draw is that minigames collections are okay but you may need LOTS of different games to keep people happy?

[Anthony Flack]

The first time I remember seeing this idea fleshed out for real was in Ancipital, on which Super Elvis is based


Ancipital! That was it! (I was talking to, er... Mike Boeh or perhaps Svero... about Super Elvis and said it reminded me of a Jeff Minter game that started with A... Yes.)

Warioware - yes. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Also check out Bishi Bashi Special. I've often entertained the notion of doing something similar on PC myself.

But if you're feeling really radical, check out Frankie Goes to Hollywood on your friendly neighbourhood c64 emulator. One of the most brilliant, original and bizarre game structures ever designed.

[yanuart]

Hi guys, thank you so much for the input. Have you seen my games on my website ? What do you think of them ? My games are now free to play on my site for a period of time.
I'll shor my questions in these :
1. I'm aiming the business strategy like nickelodeon.com where at first the game is put on the site for free and after a while I'll remove it and sell the compendium version. Do you think it'll work ?

2. If you think that collection of minigames work, judging from the game on my site (go and check'em out), how many games should I put in my compendium ? I was thinking like 4/5 max, do you think it needs more ??

Thanks

[Jim Buck]

When I go to your website, I see a big red screen and nothing else. I'm using IE 6 under WinXP (not with SP2).

[yanuart]

are you sure ?? I just check my site and it loaded completely ?
are you referring to the colorscheme of my site or technical error ??
I also use IE6 along with firefox.. and everything operates correctly..
does anyone experience the same thing ?

[Andy]

Working OK for me under Win2000.

[princec]

And Deus Ex Machina. Wierd.

But there we go: it does seem that these games have been very successful in the past. So I hope they still are :)

Cas :)

[princec]

And for me under XP/Opera7.54

The site's good, and the idea's good, although I have a severe personal aversion towards paying for Flash content. Never have, never will.

Cas :)

[Jim Buck]

Wow, that's odd. I still get only a red screen. No text, images, links, anything. I do see some Javascript if I "view source". I tried posting the .html source in this message with no luck, but it appears that the html/Javascript I receive would really do nothing more than just show a red screen.

[yanuart]

wow, that's double odd. I never had someone complaining bout this. Could you save the html and send it to webmaster@iplayallday.com ??
anyone, this thread somehow is not discussing about my question anymore :D

[papillon]

(I see the site fine and I *don't* have javascript. Maybe it just didn't download completely for you and got cached that way?)

[Jim Buck]

The only thing in the .html is a little css stuff, then a bunch of Javascript functions, and a bunch of white space at the end before a "<!-- End ImageReady Slices -->". The only Javascript code that automatically executes is:

MM_reloadPage(true);

where:

function MM_reloadPage(init) { //reloads the window if Nav4 resized
if (init==true) with (navigator) {if ((appName=="Netscape")&&(parseInt(appVersion)==4)) {
document.MM_pgW=innerWidth; document.MM_pgH=innerHeight; onresize=MM_reloadPage; }}
else if (innerWidth!=document.MM_pgW || innerHeight!=document.MM_pgH) location.reload();
}

Anyway, I'm emailing you the whole thing. But maybe what I posted above will leap out at someone else here too.

[Diragor]

Site works for me in Firefox 1.0 (PR). I enjoyed Busy Burger for a while and I played one round of the rodent/insect smashing game. They're generally not the types of games I would buy, but Busy Burger in particular is very well done.

[Sirrus]

They're generally not the types of games I would buy, but Busy Burger in particular is very well done.

No pun intended? ;)

[andyb]

No pun intended? ;)


or "no bun intended"? ;)

[Sirrus]

This is getting to be too much...

:D

[Dom]

And Deus Ex Machina. Wierd.
Cas :)

Deux Ex Machina was really just a bad album with games on.
rember the: 'I'm a fertalising agent and my brothers are all wiggly!' song?
Still haunts me to this day...