Great Big Develop Conference

[Applewood]

Anyone attending Develop in Brighton?

Our newest game, Great Big War Game, has been picked for one of the Indie Showcases, so I'll be there in person to meet and greet. It'd be great to put some faces to the names if you're passing through.

(And if you've ever wanted to know what "that miserable git" looked like, nows the time.)

[lennard]

Still never been, utter waste of money. The need to spend thousands of pounds and travel thousands of mile just to meet someone face to face is way beyond me. Don't have much use for rushed out demos either.

In fact the only thing Develop does for me is fuck up a fortnight of normal business because you can't reach anyone - they're too busy preparing to be reached somewhere else.

Humbug I say. Humbug.

[Applewood]

Hehe, It's different when you have a booth to present from.

No babes though.

[lennard]

Yeah, and a lot easier when it's in your back yard - I just couldn't resist.

Have a good time.

[HarryBalls]

Applewood,

When are you planning to release the new game and which platforms will you release on at once?

[Applewood]

Thanks lennard.

The game is coming out in a few weeks on both iOS and Android. Possibly PB/BB10 too. A Mac appstore version will follow and later in the year we're going PC retail with a publisher. Develop will be the first time anyone but the testers get to see it moving, so it's a pretty anxious/exciting time.

[Desktop Gaming]

Hehe, It's different when you have a booth to present from.

No babes though.

Yeah, I'm not going all that way just to see Applewood flashing his moobs about!

[HarryBalls]

How does the game differ from the Great Little War Game? It looks like you are featuring some of the same characters like the General who likes to pose in his tidy whities:

http://harryballs.com/great-little-w...tegy-download/

[Applewood]

You should know, we modelled that character just for you

It's a sequel, so all the old units are there plus a handful of new ones. A lot of those old characters are now better, like the ones that do splash damage.

I just copied the below out of our release notes, although theres plenty missing from that. We'll be getting together some more coherent marketing stuff through next week.

• * Asynchronous multiplayer added. Play your games on any supported platform vs someone else on any supported platform, at your own pace. Switch between them at will
  
• * 50 Mission campaign, all on bigger maps with much more going on
  
• * Destructible buildings
  
• * Fog of War added
  
• * Splash damage for grenadiers, artillery and cruisers
  
• * Massively better AI for campaign and skirmish games
  
• * Battle Points to buff troops permanently
  
• * Full in-game help pages
  
• * Medic unit added
  
• * Attack Chopper added
  
• * Cruiser Tank added
  
• * Scout unit added
  
• * Technician unit added - can now build defensive turrets anywhere on battlefield
  
• * Sentry Gun added - fires at every enemy in range at start of upkeep
  
• * Pounder Gun added - fixed gun emplacement. Takes very heavy damage, shoots ground
• * Air Turret added - fixed gun emplacement. Takes very heavy damage, shoots air
  
• * Landmines added - technician places several around him
• * Fleet Oiler unit added - resupplies other ships
  
• * Blood splatters added on a settings toggle
  
• * Added "Shuffle" and "Vroom" etc. for hidden units moving
  
• * Added "Rocky" environment
  
• * Radar structure added
  
• * "Undo" now undoes everything (apart from stepping on mines)
  
• * Eight save slots
  
• * "Candy" cropping up in the story/cartoons
  
• * Promotions now give increased defence as well as previous stuff (attack increase/heal/resupply)
  
• * Damage rebalanced for less instakills
  
• * Unit prices tweaked
  
• * Independent volume control for unit speech
  
• * Campaign win finale
  
• * Fully 3D cartoons
  
• * Achievements show percentage completion where relevant. (Implemented via Raz0r RZPlayer stuff to be ported to iOS)
  
• * More achievements
  
• * Wider range of challenges/mission types
  
• * Troop cadences
  
• * New music (and more of it)
  
• * Better sound effects
  
• * Friends and Foes lists
  
• * Front end rework
  
• * Better "more games" system with textual announcements that can carry hotlinks
  
• * Much better tutorial levels
  
• * "Hail Mary" bonuses for multiplayer
  
• * Cash bonus for capturing neutral derricks

[HarryBalls]

Nice. Do yo have any screenshots and game play videos highlight these new elements to share here?

[Applewood]

That's what we're gathering together this week. There's a video imminent which I'll post when I've seen it.

[AndyBumpkin]

I'll be going this year! All booked up to go. I'll definitely stop by to take a look

Also would be good to meet you after keeping having played GLWG and reading your posts here ^_^

(We're just going for the last indie day though...)

[Applewood]

Nice one, will look forward to it. There'll be some free stuff to pick up.

[AndyBumpkin]

Yay, Free Stuff! That's the best kind of stuff!

Have you been before btw? Anything to look out for/be wary of?

[Applewood]

Never been before myself.

(Am facing this with some trepidation now that I have to present something of my own, also not something I've done before.)

[darkwudu]

I'll be heading down this year. I'll make sure to pop by to check out Great Big War Game and say hi.

[Applewood]

Nice one, looking forward to seeing you.

As promised:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChyI-UWqy8Y

[lennard]

34 views...

Paul, the game looks smoking hot. Congratulations, I expect you'll sell a bundle and you & your team deserve it. As you may remember the first one wasn't my cup of tea (I know, 2.5 million players beg to differ) but looking at that video has compelled me to try the sequel. Really looks great, not at all surprised you landed a publishing deal although I am curious if it will net you more $ than landing on Steam will.

[Applewood]

Nice one, thanks Lennard.

Regarding the Steam thing it's sadly kinda moot. You can only have so many emails not replied to before giving up, even someone this stubborn. However, the retail publisher has also taken the digitial rights with an eye on doing this very thing. As long as they keep my name out of it they might even succeed!

[lennard]

They might succeed anyway. While I understand your frustration, it's my understanding that Steam will sometimes pick up previously denied indie. efforts due to popularity.

[Applewood]

Heh, that'd about be my luck now I've promised the rights away (for a royalty of course).

No complaints though, I've always extolled the virtues of publishers when it comes to PC sales, so I at least get to stick to my own principles.