ANN: 1 Good Game

[Savant]

So I had this idea for a web site...

1 Good Game

Feedback or opinions welcome!

[WaveRider]

Personally, I've always been turned off by unnecessary pofanity.

[bodgey]

I agree with WaveRider, it seems out of place.
I wouldn't mind it if the whole website was in that style but at the moment it just stands out. Replacing it with hell yeah, or changing the rest of the text to make swearing more natural might help.

Bojan

[steve bisson]

haha i though it was funny F*** yeah !

its a good idea but i think the communist like logo was a bit weird
seemed like it did not belong there ( not on a far-fetched political-economical way... it just struck me as not belonging there , especially since it doest seem related to the game's design )

But overall great idea and well executed

what mailing list script are you using ? im trying to install one of those on my web page myself... ? i wish i could find some newbie friendly information on that subject.

[Jim Buck]

I think it's a reference (for whatever reason) to the movie "Team America: World Police".

[Brien Shrimp]

A good idea, but why "no archives"? I dont seen the point of not allowing your readers to check out previous "good games".

Also I think the font used in the short discription is distractingly ugly. Everything else is fine.

[gpetersz]

Everything is fine for me, and I really welcomed the little "f*ck them all" style!

Only the "no-archives" seems pointless.

[Tertsi]

Seems like a nice idea. I'm very curious to see how it'll do.

[joe]

Very nice idea. I like the site altough I agree with the others that an archive would be nice.

Ey, no puzzle games? So you won't promote Dr.Germ? :-)

[Savant]

Ey, no puzzle games? So you won't promote Dr.Germ? :-)

No.

I wouldn't compromise the site like that. The site has a specific focus and it needs to stay on course, no matter what.

[joe]

Wow...very inspiring.

Who of us could imagine creating a "game-portal-like" site without promoting our own games.

[BinaryMoon]

I think archives should be added as well - I kind of get why you're ditching them, but they are really handy. If I want to search for a game I remember that you mentioned a couple of months ago I won't be able to go through your site - I also dislike it when content just disappears form the web.

Oh well - I'm sure you'll ignore me and do what you want anyway - it looks nice and will certainly be an interesting experiment - it's different, that's for sure.

Are you going to make a game you can review on there?

[Savant]

My current feeling is that an archive is like every other site. Within a year, it'll have a back catalogue of games and it'll eerily resemble every other game site in existence. I'm sticking with the lack of an archive for now. If someone is keeping up with the site (or simply subscribes to the RSS feed), there's no reason they should ever miss a game.

[techbear]

Off topic just a LITTLE bit; Alien Outbreak 2 certainly is an excellent top scrolling shooter. My game, GunRaven, should be comparable, but I'm selling only about 5 copies a month now.

I'm not getting into a childish "mine is better" game here; I'm honestly interested in your opinions about the differences between the two products and how it relates to sales. What am I doing wrong?

http://www.1goodgame.com/download.php
http://www.aggressivegames.com/games/GunRaven.html

[Savant]

It's not childish at all - "Why isn't my game selling?" is the primary question on most indie developers minds.

But I'm no authority on that. I know what games I find fun but that doesn't always mean those are the ones that sell. I can only go by my personal gut feel on things and Alien Outbreak 2 is one of those games that hits me right. So I featured it.

I'll check out your game soon. I'm always up for checking out new games that don't involve matching, swapping or sliding.

[ninjasamurai]

If someone is keeping up with the site (or simply subscribes to the RSS feed), there's no reason they should ever miss a game.

What if someone doesn't even know what a RSS feed is or doesn't want one or doesn't discover your site until next year? I really think you wouldn't miss anything for adding an archive, there is a reason why every other site has it. You already did something different with focusing on a specific niche, now you could be remembered as "the hardcore site with no archive"?

[illume]

Hey,

great idea. Don't put in an archive on that site. Just make a new domain when you add more.

eg.

2good-games.com
3good-games.com
... etc

[Savant]

Techbear

I had a look at Gun Raven. I can see a few reasons it might not be appealing to people. To list a few:

1) The control is spongy. The mouse movement isn't crisp and it feels like the ship is lagging behind my movements. Alien Outbreak 2 is very precise.

2) The game isn't visceral. It's fairly cool when the aliens explode but shooting them is completely unsatisfying. AO2 has good sound effects when enemies get shot and it even displays a health bar above them so you know how far you have to go.

3) There's little to no feedback of my ship getting hit. I see the big life bar at the top of the screen but I need something to show up on my ship because that's where I'll be looking when I get hit. It's not very clear is all.

Anyway, that's what I gathered from an initial play. Hope that's useful!

[Savant]

What if someone doesn't even know what a RSS feed is or doesn't want one or doesn't discover your site until next year?

See, I don't think that's useful. Why would you want to know what was worth buying last year? The games being released NOW would be way more interesting and more deserving of your money since those new developers would be the ones driving the current industry.

I really think you wouldn't miss anything for adding an archive, there is a reason why every other site has it.

At the same time, what is gained? The featured game will always be on the site for at least a week, if not longer. I think that's long enough for someone who cared to stop by and see what's new.

[ninjasamurai]

The games being released NOW would be way more interesting and more deserving of your money since those new developers would be the ones driving the current industry.

Exactly, games, that's the point, you are only reporting one so without an archive you are not giving a complete picture of the current industry.

I love the idea other than that, I see you learned a lot from your past mistakes.

[TimS]

For some reason I wasn't expecting to see Reflexive's installer splash... I mean, it's as nice as any, but .. ?

[Savant]

I'm not a portal. I affiliate with Reflexive so therefore I link to their download. In this case, anyway...

[TimS]

I'm not a portal. I affiliate with Reflexive so therefore I link to their download. In this case, anyway...

I see -- not saying anything was wrong with it really... just was unexpected. So long as it isn't Zango.

[Escapee]

Nice idea , but still think that the previous gamesavant is more appealing to visiting gamers than 1goodgame.. Anyway, this is only my humble opinion.

[Savant]

It's a change in focus. I'm not trying to appeal to everyone anymore.

[Hamumu]

See, I don't think that's useful. Why would you want to know what was worth buying last year? The games being released NOW would be way more interesting and more deserving of your money since those new developers would be the ones driving the current industry.

That's ridiculous! Games don't stop being good after a year! Not arguing about the archive issue here, but simply this statement. I want to know what was worth buying last year because surprise surprise, it's still worth buying this year! A game's release date has nothing to do with it deserving your money - the BEST games deserve my money. And those don't fade away over time (maybe in 5 or 10 years they're totally overshadowed by the newer thing, but a year!? They're not fashion wear). As for relating it to driving the current industry, the entire focus of your site is to avoid what's driving the industry (match-3), so I'm not sure how that relates in any way. Even retail, which likes to pretend games more than a month old don't exist, offers a way for people to get games that are a year old, or 5 years. Almost every retail game I buy is at least a year old. Indie games last far longer than that.

Now to the archive issue, here's another in the countless pile of jabs on that: Duh! Put one in!

That's just my opinion on archives and the lasting nature of entertainment. It is of course your site to do with as you please, but I couldn't resist replying to the comment above.

[svero]

That's ridiculous! Games don't stop being good after a year!

Hmmm... when was humumu's last completely new release anyway? Anyone? Just... a ... little.. suspicious...

[Jesse Aldridge]

Cool site! I've bookmarked it.

One thing -- I may be ignorant, but the only way I know how to use RSS feeds is through Firefox's Live-Bookmarks feature. Your site doesn't have that. I guess you're using a different RSS format? I guess I'd need to download an RSS reader to use your feed? Eh, too much trouble.

Not entirely sure about the lack of archive thing. On one hand it seems like it could make things interesting... force people to come back later if they want more, give more attention to the featured game. Plus the one game at a time thing could make for a nice little gimmick. Still, if there was an archive I would definitley use it, thinking, "well this game is cool, so these others must be cool too."

I am curious about how you're making money off of this. Does Reflexive somehow know if someone registering a game downloaded from you?

We will never ask you to match colors, swap barnyard animals, or move rows of gems. Fuck that shit.

haha, barnyad animals...

[Leper]

Personally I think "1 game a day" is too slow. - I prefer to visit a website more than once per day. If you had "game of the hour" it would be fun to walk tot he computer and go "whats the game of the hour atm?"

Game of the day is just too long and I'll end up not bothering going back to that site because it doesnt update fast enough.

Of course, this is just my opinion. But I think a game of the hour is by far way better.. Just pick 24 games and put them in the database and have the php go through the 24 games every day. That would be way cooler..

Then change it every month. That way a game gets good exposure and if I'm bored and want to check a site and feel like I'm doing something random I can go to your site. Otherwise I'll probably forget to visit it because I know its not going to change until the next day.. I'm not a "day by day" person anyways.

[Savant]

Jesse

My RSS feed sort of sucks - I guess it's actually ATOM XML WTFBBQ or something. I'll work out something better or just switch to using a mailing list. Probably better for something like this anyway since the updates are coming every day like a blog.

As for Reflexive - they stamp the installer with my affiliate ID when you download it. When you buy it, I get credit for the sale.

Still, if there was an archive I would definitley use it, thinking, "well this game is cool, so these others must be cool too."

I'm wanting to turn the second part of that statement into: ", so I'll keep coming back here to get more."

Leper

It's not a "game a day". It's a "game every few weeks". I don't want people stopping by who want to download 5 games a day and play through the 1 hour demos. I want people who are looking for games that are on the fringes of the portal centric world and will, if they like the ones I choose, buy them.

I'm not interested in the ADD portal crowd.