games galore!

[m0ds]

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...

Perhaps you need to post in the hints and tips forum :p

[CodeJunkie]

I think that's the problem many of us have been having, if you don't highlight the price you are selling them for you are automatically giving them away.

[Andail]

Was the demo available or not, Mods? I was very curious to test it...

[m0ds]

Check your PM

[Rd27]

I played the demo and completed it also.

I have to say that the idea is great and the game itself is quite entertaining. Maybe it was little too simple when the games had been created, it was just advertising/selling  after that (atleast for me ) but I guess it's like that in real life too. I also understand that some of the features aren't even available in this demo, so that's also one reason why it was little bit too simple.

I think like someones have also said, that the continous coffee clicking is a bit frustrating.
And the advertisebutton is too powerful!

Suggestions:
- It would be nice if the employees have moralelevel which would affect how much
they work. And then there could be someways to try increase it .
- It would be nice to see, where the money actually goes. It would nice to have some income/outcome page.

But overally I liked it verymuch, good work.

By the way, can I be in the full version atleast ?

[Andail]

It's a very cute concept which has a nostalgic Amiga feel to it. I'm not entirely sure AGS is the best enginge to create such a game, but it's a question of what you're comfortable working with.
You get an A for originality!

[Radiant]

Hey, where did that demo go?

[m0ds]

AGS may not be the ideal choice for the game but the fact it entraps you in a DOS like environment is a key to me being able to keep the game fairly linear yet feel not so linear at the same time There's a looot of complex stuff I'd prefer to be able to do, loads of iso stuff to - a proper tycoon game but that is beyond me. I know I can make a fairly simple game without much art, and this is basically it!

Thanks for the comments too! The coffee issue will be sorted :p Adding extra gooeys and stuff may be possible too. My code is getting messy I'm going to work on some scenarios, see how they affect the gameplay and stuff and then add more stuff if it suits!

Rd27, sure, you can be an email message in the game

And Radiant, the demo will be back during next week. Hopefully as a completed demo

[m0ds]

The demo went here!

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?category=5&action=detail&id=980

I'm going to leave it at that, cos I'm going to concentrate on getting it all finished. There's a lot to do and I'm going to include as many suggestions as possible... well, as many as I think I can possibly script

But you can play the demo as it aer now. There are several bugs in this edition which I just couldn't iron out. If anyone else suffers further problems please do let me know

The following things may occur:
* Video; the intro video has always worked until the new year. now I get a VideoStream error, do you?
* Firing Lorn later on in the demo causes an odd problem, he becomes employable again. although the "become employable" thing is being considered...it hasn't been scripted yet, and I can't find out why this happens... oh well!
* Selecting certain criteria for the advert costs will cause it to crash because it cannot divide so much by so much. But I only got a C in Maths so I'm still figuring this one out :p
* Damn, don't think I quite finished up on the title graphic selection thingy (see below)

I think that's the problem many of us have been having, if you don't highlight the price you are selling them for you are automatically giving them away.

Missed that one too, damn, will look into that! hehehe :O free games??? what are they?!!!?

There are a couple of new things too but everything is pretty much as it was in the earlier release of this demo.

* Coffee less intense (decaf, anyone?)
* Phone calls
* Game title graphics (much lamer than it sounds)
* Nothing else, so is it worth it?

Anyway enjoy sorry it all dissapeared for a while.

Half the fun is figuring it all out for yourself, but just in case your actually a multi-millionaire horse rider or someone who's actually just "checking out those point & click things" then heres a manual. The manual is in itself a "demo" version. I'll start with the most important aspect. THIS IS NOT A POINT & CLICK ADVENTURE!! :p its a tycooooon game! well someone said it was on the wiki, so RETHPECT!

================================================================
***************
*GAMES GALORE!*
***************

CONTENTS
=======
1. Introduction
2. Playing Games Galore!
... The main screen
3. Recruitment
... Hiring & firing people
4. Design
5. Development
6. Testing NOT IN THE DEMO
7. PR & Publishing
8. Games on sale
9. Finances
10. Code words

1. INTRODUCTION
-----------------------
Welcome to Games Galore, the games development centre. It's your task to start a successful new games development company, using the right employees to build your reputation and most importantly, your income!

2. PLAYING GAMES GALORE
----------------------------------
Playing the game takes place through a set of menus which open at your command! From these you can make sure every aspect of your companies development is taken care of.

The Main Screen
You can click any of the words or corresponding pictures within the main section of the window to open the relevant options, which will appear in a new window. You can click on the "Screen 7" logo to bring up a list of game options including saving, loading and quitting.

On the main screen you will also see your profit bar situated at the bottom left, which will increase or decrease depending on your income and expenditure. Various hints and reminders will be displayed to the right.

In order to achieve good "code words" you will also need to observe the days & months cycling above your profit bar. The quicker & better you succeed the more likely you are to achieve a high code word. In future editions good code words will unlock mini-games!

Your reputation bar is located on the right and this indicates how respected you are by the gaming community, your fans and other businesses. It's hard to get a bad reputation, though it can happen and WILL happen in future editions but for the demo all you need worry about is making it GROW. Better reputation will earn you new employees, who will all bring faster production times plus some hidden skills up their sleeves, including better game designs & revolutionary features!


3. RECRUITMENT
---------------------
You won't be able to make and sell a great game without a great team behind you! So it's time to employ some of the finest minds. However, you might find you need to make way for someone better - or save a few dollars!

Hiring & firing people
The main recruitment screen displays everyone in your team - their faces will be "available" to click. Those not yet employed cannot be clicked. This is your FIRING screen. Clicking on someones face on this screen, will fire them instantly. You will NOT be able to re-hire them (in the demo).

The menu buttons allow you to hire new team members in different areas of expertise. You'll need a writer, an artist, animator, coder AND beta-tester before you can fully produce your first game. Simply find their full name and description and click on their face to hire them.


4. DESIGN
-------------
Once you've employed some writers you will be able to select the right game designs for your company. Should you wish to make some short term money you can sell these designs. Providing your design team (the writers) have plenty of coffee, they will work to produce new and innovative games!

Your writers will think up initial ideas and once approved by you they will turn it into a fully workable game design. You will need further employees to make the game a reality!

! a sound effect will alert you of the "design available" & "game design complete" stages

5. DEVELOPMENT
----------------------
Once a game design is complete its type will appear in a box at the top left of the screen. A "Make my Game" allows you to select it. You must click the games type to activate it for creation!

Prodiving you have the right team members, your game will begin creation, and you will be able to monitor its progress through a percentage (%) reading in RED further down the screen.

You can also select a soundtrack for your game, which can earn you a good reputation instantly (in the demo), but can be VERY costly!

! a sound effect will alert you of the "game production complete" stage


6. TESTING ... isn't in the demo


7. PR & PUBLISHING
-------------------------
Once your game is complete it will be ready to hit the shop floors. Here you must clearly highlight which game you wish to sell & for how much, before hitting the "Sell" button! You can buy more copies at any time - it's wise to keep stocked up.

Other areas of this menu may be available but aren't working in the demo, sorry!!!


8. GAMES ON SALE
-----------------------
Once a game is on sale it will appear on the main screen with the name and title graphic of your choice. By clicking the title graphic you will enter the games own menu, where you can sell and buy resources to increase the games popularity, plus place adverts to get your game noticed.

In this demo, only a few of these features are working. See what happens


9. FINANCES
----------------
This is your personal menu that enables you to control the operation of the company, from finances through to simple office duties like buying coffee and setting up where adverts for your game will appear & what kind of campaigns to run. You can also keep an eye on what awards you have recieved or may be possible to achieve!

You can also check the current objective here.


10. CODE WORDS
----------------------
Once you have completed the DEMO objective you will be given a special code word. In future editions you will gain code words after each successful completion of an objective. Not only will they unlock further games & features, they will also denounce just how good a games tycoon you aers!!1

There are several code words you can achieve in the demo. For fun I'm waiting to see what people have got, no-one has achieved the top rank as far as I'm aware!

So have fun, and go make some games!

There are lots of other features & I may expand this but Im too tired. MEH

[Monsieur OUXX]

Haha, this "little" game looks cool. I've worked on a "management" game myself (Cycling Manager 4) and I know how incredibly difficult it can be to create even a very simple AI for the management part - I wonder how you did this? I'm going to try your game, I'm eager!

[m0ds]

Hehe, thanks - can't say there's much AI going on there but have fun!!!