Summerbatch - sale has ended

Started by , Sat 11/08/2012 13:57:30

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How would you rate Volume 1?

I'm a happy whore! (excellent)
22 (55%)
It actually floats quite well
12 (30%)
Somewhere in the middle (of a parallel universe)
4 (10%)
Should be back in jail
1 (2.5%)
Smelly poop/piss (poor)
1 (2.5%)

Total Members Voted: 40

Voting closed: Sun 09/12/2012 11:23:15

m0ds

#20
Yep, they are (nod) With a bit of investigation they could easily find out the background of the company, the limitations behind the first Summerbatch, etc. The people who are interested in the games and not the installer are buying it though, so it's a moot point until we can afford a better system behind its distribution (which we can't yet). If people are talking about it, negatively, positively - for a first product that's a major breakthrough. People could be saying nothing at all!

The banter is quite fun, the comments will be absorbed - my bottom line for now to those folks would be to lump it, as many already have - if you want the games, and this is about the games, this is how you'll get them this time round. You be a poor person and start a business! :P If the methods behind it annoy folks then all I can do is say sorry for now. We have a game titled with urine, a whore who is happy and my next game features tits. People are going to be put off with absolutely anything Screen 7 do, but that creates healthy speculation and curiosity.

This time round it's the payment system, and the costs involved getting them up to scratch currently beyond our reach - next time it could be negative issues over the content, and I'm sure the time after that someone will be offended by a credit sequence font... You just can't please everyone, but I am seeing proof that we are pleasing all the right people for now. Naturally, I'm not going to go round saying that all over ;)

Dave Gilbert

Bought this the other day. I seem to be the first person to have bought the bundle, according to the email I got ("You're the 1 person to buy Summerbatch! We hope you enjoy the collection of games in Volume 1."). Congrats on getting this finished and out! Can't wait to dig in.

Andail

Dave, go back some 4-5 posts and read :)

Mods, really inspiring to see so many copies sold already! Let's hope it keeps this pace for a while.

m0ds

Thanks Dave! You were actually the 8th person, and you remain in the top contributors list (see here). I'd used the wrong bit of code for that "you're the 1" person. I've started playing Gemini Rue that I got with 'bundle in a box', very enjoyable!

Thanks Andail, plenty more sold today! Definitely impressed with its popularity despite the delivery shortcomings and currently minimal press coverage.

JSH

Excellent work guys, bought the batch yesterday, played through PISS and Nancy so far and got started on Patchwork.

I have to agree with Fitz about PISS, marvelous writing, intriguing world and unique characters. So much imagination has been poured into this game! I finished it yesterday but I'll definitely have a second go after I've finished the other games in the batch. Then I will try to really exhaust all of the dialogues and make different choices. I got some serious Planescape Torment vibes from PISS, has it by any chance been of some inspiration to the game Ben? :)

Nancy was really fun too, felt like a genuine flash to the past wacky adventure. :) I laughed out loud more than once. Nice going Technocrat, cool seeing you do something different from your usual sci-fi repertoir and excelling at it!

ThreeOhFour

Quote from: Krusbert on Mon 13/08/2012 21:44:37
I got some serious Planescape Torment vibes from PISS, has it by any chance been of some inspiration to the game Ben? :)

My entire goal with the game was to make an adventure game based homage to Torment. Glad this came through! Thanks for playing and for the feedback.  :smiley:

Ilyich

#26
Yay for the release of the Summerbatch! I'm very happy to have my first game in such a great company, and it's nice to see people finally getting to enjoy all the stuff we've been working on!

I've been lucky enough to play all of these games already and I've thoroughly enjoyed all of them, so I'd like to give my thanks to the developers from the position of a player. Thank you, guys, you did a great job!

I've especially enjoyed:
Nancy the Happy Whore, which plays exactly like a good old adventure of yore, but with more sensible (yet still delightfully wacky) puzzles and more sreamlined gameplay. I really liked the humour and the general fun and carefree feel, and it's great that it's a really sweet and warm game, despite the seemingly racy subject matter.

And, of course, PISS. It is by far the most ambitious of Ben's games to date, both thematically and in terms of size, it feels a lot like Planescape, it's beautiful, sad, funny, intriguing, inventive and has a lot of heart. And altough it's bigger than your usual 304 game, I still wanted it to go for a while longer, which I think is a sign of a really good game. :)

Eric, thank you! Glad you liked it!

Spoiler
I think there is a hint as to in which order you should use harmony and rainstick in the Book of Summonings, and I doubt that Lin would've been able to operate a modern smartphone. :) I do agree that a few extra interactions could've helped clear some things up, though.

The rain is indeed a hand-drawn 5- or 6-frame animation, done with some help of custom scattering brushes. It's probably my favourite thing in the game as well. ;D I can make you a gif or psd of it if you'd like. :)
[close]

Peder 🚀

Quote from: Ilyich on Mon 13/08/2012 23:17:56
The rain is indeed a hand-drawn 5- or 6-frame animation, done with some help of custom scattering brushes. It's probably my favourite thing in the game as well. ;D I can make you a gif or psd of it if you'd like. :)[/spoiler]

I want it too! XD.
I loved Patchwork btw, music was nice, GFX was REALLY nice, game play was nice! All around, the game was nice! :P

SarahLiz

So far I'm really enjoying the games (woo! Unexpected scene in PISS...lol!) and my only complaint is about myself...because my computer is retarded I had to buy it 3 times.  But you know what?  I don't care & stand by what I said before--just happy to support you guys that work so hard to entertain us.  :)


Sarah

Eric

Ilyich -- a PSD would be fantastic!

Peder 🚀

Quote from: SarahLiz on Tue 14/08/2012 02:01:33
because my computer is retarded I had to buy it 3 times.

What? You actually ended up paying for it three times? :O. What kind of problem do you have with your computer that would cause you to do that? :-/.

SarahLiz

#31
Quote from: Peder Johnsen+ on Tue 14/08/2012 02:51:47
Quote from: SarahLiz on Tue 14/08/2012 02:01:33
because my computer is retarded I had to buy it 3 times.

What? You actually ended up paying for it three times? :O. What kind of problem do you have with your computer that would cause you to do that? :-/.


It just wouldn't stop "loading" the pay now screen through my Paypal account, if that makes any sense.  I'd click to pay and it never updated, even though it went through my account, unbeknownst to me.  I'm not the most computer-savvy however.   :-\  Honestly, it's fine though because when it finally quit screwing up I ended up paying about how much I intended.  All good.  (My computer however, may be thrown through the window soon.)

Sorry to get off-topic.  I just finished PISS tonight (beautiful and thought-provoking of course) and currently playing Nancy, so far it's an entertaining game!  Love the fun graphics.


Sarah


DBoyWheeler

Hey, Technocrat, do you have a YouTube Trailer for Nancy? ;)

Stupot

Ha, my email also said I was the first person to buy it, but I knew it wasn't true because a couple of people on FB had already said they'd bought it. I mustve been in the first several though, I reckon :-)

So far, I've only got around to playing a bit of Barely Floating, before my laptop overheated, but it's looking lovely so far :-)

Peder 🚀

#34
Quote from: Eric on Mon 13/08/2012 08:07:15
I wish there was a loop of that which I could watch.

Now there is, accompanied by the soundtrack! XD
[embed=425,349]<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/m2m7n1NgsxA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/embed]

Eric

So beautiful. Thanks, Ilyich and Peder!

m0ds

#36
Emails don't lie. Coding errors never happen. You MUST'VE been the first person to buy it. All of you!  :=

Quote
Number of copies sold: 443
Highest contribution: £40 (Olli)
Total: £1111.21 ($1743.48)

More stats at: http://www.screen7.co.uk/games/summerbatch/#!/pageStats

Great stats considering we didn't include a game by Mog dot net! Thank you for the support, we just added another £50 to the charity pot.

Ah, that rain anim wasn't in the beta I tested, but it is a pivotal part of the tale, I really need to play again and experience it!  (laugh)

m0ds

#37
As we reached £100 in the charity donation, here's a free copy for one lucky pissy whorey person to celebrate! Just enter discount code gh58hgjr8476 in the Cart, update and checkout for a free copy. When it's gone it's gone! Thanks for supporting teh batch :)

Claimed! Possibly by Babar. Are you sure that's the right email address you entered Babar? :P

Fitz

Finished Patchwork yesterday :) I really liked it -- for the same reason I like Ben's games: a gallery of funny, fairytale-like characters. The talking croc was my favorite, I think. He looked bad-ass with those glasses on! ;) All the characters were likeable in their own way.

The interactions between Lin and Daniel were fun, too. It was interesting to see how differently each of them perceived the world. It might've been even more interesting if Lin saw things from Daniel's world differently, too -- so much that they'd look differently to her than to him. But there was no real use for that, so it's not an issue.

The idea of parallel realities itself and the way they mixed was carried out very nicely, too -- with the roadside ad being my favorite. Oh and thumbs up for Cacodemon :D

Great, funny game with absolutely beautiful graphics :) Felt a lot like The Whispered World.

Technocrat

Quote from: DBoyWheeler on Tue 14/08/2012 14:46:54
Hey, Technocrat, do you have a YouTube Trailer for Nancy? ;)

I'm afraid I don't. I'm not enough of a multimedia expert to cobble one up! Maybe I should contract someone for that?

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