games galore!

[CodeJunkie]

Matt you probably had the same problem as me - I'd set the price to sell the game but didn't actually highlight it, so I was giving away 100+ games for free!  By the time I realised I was really in the brown stuff.

m0ds - really fun game to play around with, a few things that cropped up:

- During 2nd game production I received a message (on bottom bar) that crashed the game:

---
in Global script (line 2081)

Error: Cannot display message with extended characters in SCI font

(Accented characters, for example the special French and German e/a/u/i letters cannot be used by default.  You need to import a TTF font to do so).

---

- I found myself spending most of my time bashing the tea+coffee button and the empty was button.  Perhaps this should be replished faster or bulk buy options or something.

- You can't tell if your game has stopped being developed until you go have a look.  A popup hint at the bottom saying to get more coffee would be very nice

- I had just under 4k when I selected and bought a soundtrack for my first game in production.  I instantly got a buzz and a "you've failed your objective" + quit without really being sure why.  Buying music on other attempts seemed to work fine

- What is that slider on the far right?

Loving the game though, and I'll carry on and try and beat the demo.

[m0ds]

Thanks man! Thanks for the comments too! No magic code-words yet though :p

The error you mention is strange but I'll definitely look into it! I added the majority of the "emails" in tonight and wasn't able to check they all worked...so my apologies! EDIT: I think I've found it, just re-download and it should be working fine.

I found myself spending most of my time bashing the tea+coffee button and the empty was button.  Perhaps this should be replished faster or bulk buy options or something.

Understandable But that's part of the early objective! Honestly, once you find the right kind of method to go about getting a couple of games under your belt, the demo objective can be completed with only 3 or 4 replenishments. I understand it's a clickfest and people hate these, but I've found it harder to do more graphic things....but you're right, perhaps just offering more for the money would make it easier/better

You can't tell if your game has stopped being developed until you go have a look.  A popup hint at the bottom saying to get more coffee would be very nice

Quoted & noted!

I had just under 4k when I selected and bought a soundtrack for my first game in production.  I instantly got a buzz and a "you've failed your objective" + quit without really being sure why.  Buying music on other attempts seemed to work fine

Hehehe, yesh, you silly .^^ I have not added the prices. Basically you bought a VERY expensive soundtrack, didn't you!!! Here are the costs of the four working soundtracks in the demo;
- MIDI $50
- ARCADE $150
- HOLLYWOOD $5000
- ARTISTS $10000
so spend wisely!

What is that slider on the far right?

DOES need an explanation you're right. It's your Appeal Bar. Basically, that's how popular your company is with the world. So the better you do, the more things become available to you. As your appeal grows, more people will want to work for you! More things in the full-game will open up to you, and basically, when you reach the highest appeal available, you're the don

Many thanks again for your comments and suggestions!!

One last thing. I have to keep this game simple for the fact I can't code complex stuff like this so well! That's why the majority of the gameplay/guis are low graphics! BUT, if anyone wants to contribute graphics that they think will compliment the theme I'm running in the game, I'd be more than greatful to use them

[Kweepa]

Wow, very nice!
As expected, it sounds great - frantic music and effects. I can tell the money draining away sound will be frustrating!
I look forward to being able to give it some decent play time.

[TheJBurger]

m0ds, I love it. I really think you have a winner on your hands.

Critique:

- The clickfest for the recycle bin was alright, because that was kind of optional. But the clickfest for the coffee was just tedious, in my opinion. I was developing a bunch of games, and I constantly ran out of coffee over and over, and it didn't help that the coffee was being drained at almost the same rate I was clicking.
- Once you fire people, you can never hire them again. This might be semi-realistic for what you were going for, but you might want to be able to hire them back.
- I found it odd that you had to highlight certain aspects of the game, and it got me confused several times.
- What was with the tiny button that gave you 1000 copies of all your games? It didn't cost me any money either.
- I think it would be better if some games got less popular over time. If they already do, I didn't notice it. I just kept advertising my oldest games and it kept selling just as much as the newer games.
- I think selling your ideas should generate a little more profit than just a couple hundred bucks.
- The advertising button is basically a magic button that makes you much more money. I always clicked it over and over. Perhaps there should be a bigger drawback or a chance factor involved to how much publicity you get.
- Buying music, publishing your website, including stuff in your game boxes, all didn't seem to work for me. If they do work, I don't know what I did wrong.

Bugs? --
- At a certain point in the game I could "re-introduce" my company by clicking on the games/inc/software/company buttons. I was like, "woah, free publicity, alright!" But then I realized that I was just draining my money. Is this a bug?


But I love the game. Just the feeling I got from releasing my "idea-games" and putting their titles on the games I was selling was an awesome feeling. Good work!

[ManicMatt]

Oh yeah, I too found the constant clicking for coffee and trash a pain.

Perhaps if when a staff member is fired they will be unavailable for a set amount of time?

my mind boggles at how you programmed some of this stuff though, woah! Many integers and values no doubt!

[Akatosh]

Okay, due to WhatPulse, I managed 7,668 clicks until I failed the objective. The game is fun, but quite a clickfest. Coffee -> Advertise Game A -> Advertise Game B -> Coffee -> Advertise... also, it'd be nice if you could lower your own wage again. I accidently set it to quite the maximum...

[DoorKnobHandle]

Nice, failed on first try, but will try more later.

I'M CHEAP!!!

[Ali]

I enjoyed the demo a lot! The music sounded oddly familiar...

I ran out of money because I hired beta testers before I had a game idea. Damn Rusalka Clarke, she bankrupted me! I had fun though. Here are a couple of things that seemed odd to me:

The scroll-up and scroll-down buttons are hard to distinguish and click on.

I felt that the scroll boxes should loop round after you get to the top/bottom.

The coffee-clicking was fun at first, but did become tiresome. If the full game allowed you to hire an office manager to do it for you that would offer the best of both worlds.

Alasdair Beckett's name was misspelled. Also what was that no-account drifter doing in the game in the first place?


Aside from those points, it was very amusing, good luck with the full game.

[Dan_N]

Sorry, m0ds, for nagging .

But anyway, this is a lot of fun, although the coffee clickfest was a bit tedious... Perhaps you could add a label to tell you how much coffee you have, and have some buttons like "buy 10 litres of coffee", "buy 25 litres of coffee", "buy 50 litres..." and so on. A discount offer would be nice...

Also, how does selling copies of your games generate actual profit? I mean, I released a game, it was selling like hotcakes, but I still failed the objective .

Also, it would be nice if the finances GUI would have income/expenditures so that I'd actually know where my money's going to.

And, m0ds, why don't you add newbies? I mean, it'd be nice if at least one slot down at the bottom of the employee list, there would appear a highly cheap, but with random and low stats writer, coder, etc.

And does the "Buy Soundtrack" button actually do anything?

Overall, this is a VERY fun game, too bad I've got no way to pay for the full version . I'm still playing it, and I've yet to not fail the objective. Good work, m0ds!

[m0ds]

Many thanks again for all the comments! I'm actually pretty pleased no-one has completed it yet...that just goes to show its not as easy as it seems Anyway, here's a breakdown of all your questions...

TheJOrionBurger:

The clickfest for the recycle bin was alright, because that was kind of optional. But the clickfest for the coffee was just tedious, in my opinion. I was developing a bunch of games, and I constantly ran out of coffee over and over, and it didn't help that the coffee was being drained at almost the same rate I was clicking.

I understand this is still a problem for you peeps! I will try and make it a bit easier in the full-game. But seriously, as I've mentioned previously, I have made sure that once you learn a good way to start making games/money etc, you really do only need to replenish these 4 or 5 times. If you fill it right up each time, then you'll be okay. Basically, when I first made the game up until about a week ago, this feature wasn't in there. So, because I've been playing the game since its conception, I know how to use the coffee thing properly. It's hard to judge what a first-timer might think. But, I've taken note. I like the other suggestions, maybe get coupons or bulk buys etc. So we'll see!!

Once you fire people, you can never hire them again. This might be semi-realistic for what you were going for, but you might want to be able to hire them back.

In the full game, some will come crying back when your company is ultra-appealing.

I found it odd that you had to highlight certain aspects of the game, and it got me confused several times.

Dunno any other way to do it, sorry It's an AGS thing I think. I'd rather you didn't have to highlight it but could just use whichever option appears currently in the scroll-boxes, but AGS doesn't seem to work like that. So sorry. You need to remember the full game/official demo will include a proper manual explaining all these issues;
- What all the GUI's are and do, including the appeal bar
- Little things you need to do like highlighting text boxes etc etc

What was with the tiny button that gave you 1000 copies of all your games?  It didn't cost me any money either.

?! Didn't realise I'd made one, but perhaps I did :p That'll have been for testing purposes. Which GUI is that in??

I think it would be better if some games got less popular over time. If they already do, I didn't notice it. I just kept advertising my oldest games and it kept selling just as much as the newer games.

Good point. I'll look into it, but for the full-game rather than the demo. In theory, you're likely to either win or be bankrupt within 5 years, and you can't "lose" your games in the demo, so there's not really much point in this for the demos sake.

I think selling your ideas should generate a little more profit than just a couple hundred bucks.

Ahh yes, another "demo" thing. In my original post you may remember I mentioned various other game types that will become available as you hire the right staff and your appeal grows, like 3D racing games or online multiplayers. Those kind of games WILL have higher production costs and selling rates!

The advertising button is basically a magic button that makes you much more money. I always clicked it over and over. Perhaps there should be a bigger drawback or a chance factor involved to how much publicity you get.

Tricky one that one. I'll see

Buying music, publishing your website, including stuff in your game boxes, all didn't seem to work for me. If they do work, I don't know what I did wrong.

Yep! Released to shut Dan_N up so I didn't bother finishing these sections off The soundtrack one does work, but it's not really needed in the demo, as its mostly an appeal thing. Four of the soundtracks can be bought (see my above post), and as with ALL the scroll boxes, you have to highlight the one you want.

At a certain point in the game I could "re-introduce" my company by clicking on the games/inc/software/company buttons. I was like, "woah, free publicity, alright!" But then I realized that I was just draining my money. Is this a bug?

Not entirely sure! I don't think it IS a bug. I made sure that after a certain while, you could re-decide if you wanted to be an INC, ENTERTAINMENT, GAMES etc group. All this SHOULD affect is your appeal. So if it's taking cash, that IS a bug I'll take a look!

Thanks for your kind words though dude!!!

Matt:

my mind boggles at how you programmed some of this stuff though, woah! Many integers and values no doubt!

LOL yeah that's all it is. The easiest type of programming for me

Jan:

Yes! AND FAT! LOL :p

Akatosh:

You are able to lower it, just re-highlight the lower one (100 or whatever it is).

Ali:

The scroll-up and scroll-down buttons are hard to distinguish and click on.

Agreed! Sadly though I need all the space in the GUI's and the bigger I make the scrollboxes, well the crapper it all looks I know its frustrating, but you can't really make any mistakes with the scrollboxes...

I felt that the scroll boxes should loop round after you get to the top/bottom.

So how does one do that?

Alasdair Beckett's name was misspelled. Also what was that no-account drifter doing in the game in the first place?

Haha I will correct this. You're a decent animator, that's why!

Dan_N:

Also, how does selling copies of your games generate actual profit? I mean, I released a game, it was selling like hotcakes, but I still failed the objective .

Did you check the objective? It says release 3 games to bring the company back into profit...so basically, release 3 games and you will make profit! You're never gonna win on just one game..!

Also, it would be nice if the finances GUI would have income/expenditures so that I'd actually know where my money's going to.

It almost did have, but when I came to coding it, I realised it was far too complex for me to code, so it probably won't happen, sorry It's all about the little profit guage, thats the only thing you're really meant to worry about!

And, m0ds, why don't you add newbies?

You really want me to answer? :p Nah. All the slots are taken now, so no more room for n00bs.


Many thanks agaaaain! Yaya Still no-one with code-words, lol

[CodeJunkie]

I finished the demo: "Not-bad"!

A few more bits (from the new download):

- I think the early design artwork was available to sell more than once.  I'd already sold it but it popped up again, I don't know if that's for the project in development or something.  When I looked at the game info page for the new game the artwork was available to sell, but I might've missed the popup for that one.

-Tim Schafer became available, but his salary is missing.

-The popup saying Tim Schafer is available came again and again and again (although I did never employ him).  Once is probably enough.

-I'll admit that I was a bit of a beast once the 3rd game was ready to market and fired off my whole team.  Even then the waste basket continued to fill, does this fill regardless of how many employees you have?

-Unless it's only for the demo, you should be able to produce more than 3 ideas, since they don't really take up any resources to 'store'.

-Even when I've released games, I still get messages saying "z0mg where r ur games???"

-Make more user comments, they're hilarious.

I've noticed though that the writers take the early phase, art and animators in second phase, coders in third and testers in fourth.  This is a bit of a problem since you can only work on one game at a time so most of your staff are redundant.  Perhaps you could give them holiday or set them to work on something else?  When you want to upgrade staff, I'd suggest being able to either make staff redundant or fire them.  If they are fired they can't return, but while redundant staff can return you have to pay them to leave.

One idea is maybe to set unneeded staff to 'practise mode'.  They are paid less but learn how to produce better material, and maybe coders can research new engine technologies?

For the GUI it would be nice if you could switch between the menus just by clicking on the icons on the left - they're already nicely aligned to be like that.  For the games on the right perhaps tabbing between each one instead of opening/closing windows?

Sorry if I sound too critical, I do like the game really

[m0ds]

Hehehe thanks! Everything you've suggested is too complicated for me to code though, sorry!

does this fill regardless of how many employees you have?

Yep, at the moment it's continuous.

Tim Schafer became available, but his salary is missing.

Yep, he's not available in the demo, so, some information better left for the full-game methinks

I think the early design artwork was available to sell more than once. 

That's likely! I had problems with it in the earlier stages of making the game and haven't really gone back to it yet. There's another problem too, the game that actually gets developed may be a different "type" to what you originally chose to make. Also, the "type" of game is not displayed for game 2 or 3. But, as I've said, this is a very rough demo beta

The popup saying Tim Schafer is available came again and again and again

Odd, I'll check it out!

Anyway well done completing it SimB!!! NOT BAD isn't so bad! But it's not so good, either! Still, I bet you're just happy it's over

One other thing! SteveMcCrea - yep, it is an annoying sound and once you have a game or two on the go it becomes very intense! If you click the "SCREEN 7" logo you can visit the OPTIONS page and there you will see the only available option at the moment is to toggle the cash sound on and off

[TheJBurger]

I'm actually pretty pleased no-one has completed it yet...that just goes to show its not as easy as it seems  Anyway, here's a breakdown of all your questions...

Actually... I beat it when I first posted, but I forgot to mention it. Once you crank out 3 games and advertise the life out of them, it's pretty easy.

What was with the tiny button that gave you 1000 copies of all your games?  It didn't cost me any money either.

?! Didn't realise I'd made one, but perhaps I did :p That'll have been for testing purposes. Which GUI is that in??

When you click on each game, there is a tiny white letter in that GUI that gives you 1000 copies of that game for no charge.

Buying music, publishing your website, including stuff in your game boxes, all didn't seem to work for me. If they do work, I don't know what I did wrong.

Yep! Released to shut Dan_N up so I didn't bother finishing these sections off The soundtrack one does work, but it's not really needed in the demo, as its mostly an appeal thing. Four of the soundtracks can be bought (see my above post), and as with ALL the scroll boxes, you have to highlight the one you want.

Ah, I forgot to highlight it.

Many thanks agaaaain! Yaya Still no-one with code-words, lol

Spoiler

Fair play?!?!

[close]

Some other things I forgot to mention:
- It would be nice if you could have more than 3 ideas. After that, it seems like your writers are pointless, and you should fire them.
- Once you have 3 games, I guess you should just fire your whole staff, since they can't make anything else. I didn't do it, but it makes sense to.
- What's the point of giving yourself a salary? :O
- It might be a good idea to have 2 different bulletin boards. One for comments, and one for gameplay notifiers.

[m0ds]

Ahh, the button! That's a slider I forgot to make it invisible! You cheat! Hehehe... thanks again for the feedback and suggestions!

The first objective will be the same in the full game I'm sure, once you start releasing more titles advertising will ease off and so will some of the other annoying things, giving you time to play the mini-games and so forth

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Bah, you use my name in a game and then take the demo down before I can even play it?  I should have beta tester access to this thing! 

[Steel Drummer]

I find it weird how you use everyone else's real names except ProgZmax.

Forum-namist!

[m0ds]

I can't remember his real name. I thought it was Neil. But it's not.

[Steel Drummer]

I think it's Shane Stevens.

[Dan_N]

M0ds, excuse my daftness, but I still don't get how am I supposed to make a profit. I mean, I'm supposed to release three games, and have $ 20,000. I released three games, they're all succesfull, I have no staff, and yet, the only way I'm making money is by emptying my rubbish bins... At least, to my guessing... And between advertising, and buying more copies, I'm still losing money...

And also, what do you mean the income/expenses bit is too hard to code? I'd settle just for three labels: income, expenses, and overall profit. You don't even need variables, just labels. Well, actually, six labels, 'cos I'd like to have last month's profits too... I'm not asking for breakdowns into writers' wages, artists' wages, office maintenance, rent, publishing, advertising, and such (although that would be fantastic, I've always been a fan of seeing exactly where my money goes to). But anyhow, if you think it's too hard, maybe I could help you.

But still, this game is fun.

Also, Tim Schafer appeared to me ^_^.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Call me Dinosaur Neil.  Please.