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Hi all!  I've produced a few cartoon shorts as a way to promote the new Blackwell game.  It's been in the works for awhile, but the first episode is up!

Blackwell Cartoon #1: "On the Town"

Joey encourages Rosa to get out more, with interesting results.

An isometric RPG made in AGS?  That alone is worth checking out.  The Star Wars stuff is just a bonus.  Dutifully downloading...

I had a lot of fun with this lil game.  One of the first Wintermute games to really show off the 2.5D capabilities of the engine.

I'm sure it has been posted somewhere before but I went to see Dave Gilbert in NY last year at the Pecha Kucha game night and he gave a presentation on Reality on the Norm. It was a fun presentation that I think would be helpful to all who plan on making a RotN game as it is almost like a complete overview of the RotN universe and how it got started.

A Brief History of Reality on the Norm - By Dave Gilbert (YouTube Link - 6:45)

Hah.  I was so stupid unprepared for that speech, but still it was cool having you there Magintz.

I've been hemming and hawwing long enough.  I am still not sure what my situation will be with my fiancee moving in (visa is about a month or two away from clearing), and things will be very busy around that time.  Rather than draw it out I will have to give it a definite say "no".  Have fun in FL!

-Dave

I've been giving Twitter a whirl lately. I still don't really "get" it, but I understand that lots of other people do.   If I didn't run an online company I probably wouldn't bother, but it seems to be a nice way to keep in touch with fans.  I have yet to use it seriously.  I only post an update every few days or so.  There are some folks who post several times an hour!

http://www.twitter.com/WadjetEyeGames is me. 

Lil update.  The game is now at beta  and seems to be on track for a end o' June release.

-Dave

While we're around that subject of actually selling, is it worth it to say put the game up for free but make it a donation option (paypal ie) or pay as much as you like kinda thing?

Short answer, no.  Long answer, hell no.    If you are serious about selling your game commercially, you'll never get anywhere if you make yourself a charity case who only gets paid by your customers if they feel like it.  I sort of went through this myself.  I had a game out for free, and then released a "deluxe" edition for five bucks which had improved graphics, voice acting, music, etc.  The result?  The number of downloads of the free version sky rocketed but nobody bought the deluxe version.  I had to ask myself a question, did I want more downloads or more sales?  I wanted more sales, so I removed the free version.   

This also sent out the message that I had enough confidence in the game to charge for it, even if it was only $5.  (side note: never sell a game for only $5!!) 

I very much doubt even 400 of the community bought [Dave's] games to be honest. Active members of AGS? Maybe 500 at a rough guesstimate. I would estimate maybe 150 members bought his games. The rest of the sales were through various game portals and reviews directing people to his site.

150?  Try maybe 50.    Truth is, if you are selling an AGS game the last place you should market to is the AGS site.  As I said, this site is for hobbyists who are used to making and playing free games.  So it was hardly a shock when they didn't want to pay money for mine.  No biggie, though.  We're still cool, AGS.

Obviously, if someone is just making excuses for no longer wanting to be involved it's a problem (and something you can usually spot quickly).  Once you find a few people that have proven to be reliable it's a good idea to stick with them or ask for referrals because it's really difficult to find good, reliable team members over the internet.

Lemme just say that ProgZ is the most consistently reliable artist I've ever worked with.  Full stop.  Unfortunately, he's a rarity.

I've done about 5 commercial games so far (4 in AGS), and it's very hard to find reliable people over the internet.  When I first started, I burned through about a dozen background artists before I found folks that were reliable.  Even though I was paying them, there was often this vibe of "Oh, it's just an AGS game.  It's not like it's anything important," which wasn't acceptable at all.  Now that I've released a few more games, I've got a bit more clout, but when you're starting you are bound to encounter a lot of flake-outs.  

With a few exceptions, I do most of my hiring outside of the AGS community.  Not that there aren't talented people here (far from it), but AGSers are mostly hobbyists who do this for fun.  

edit:

Is there a guide somewhere on how to go about creating, marketing and selling your commercial game?

I've very interested in how this all works.

There are TONS, but there is no magic formula.  You are going to make mistakes on your first go-round, no question.   If you have any specific questions, your best bet is to contact other indie developers and ask them questions.  I know that I bugged Amanda Finch (www.amaranthia.com) and Jeff Vogel (http://www.spidweb.com/) ad infinitum when I started out.  We're always happy to pay it forward.

I just watched the episodes.  In short...

ep 1: Brilliant. I laughed many times.  The back-and-forth dialog between lister and rimmer at the start was every bit as good as the RD of old.    Only downside?  No Holly. 

ep 2: As soon as it began and I saw where it was going, I groaned and it just went downhill from there.  I only laughed once (when Rimmer pushes Katerina into the street). The fourth wall jokes were the worst form of cop out, and weren't even clever ones at that.

ep 3: Not much better, although the ending did redeem itself.  A bit overdramatic, but I found it a tad moving nonetheless.

I thought it was clever that they pulled a "Larry 4" on the show - skipping a few seasons in order to get out of the hole they wrote themselves into at the end of season 8.  I do wonder how they got hologram Rimmer back, though.

Anyway, not bad.  Not great.  It was nice to see the characters again, even if they aren't what they were.

I took some time and made a video trailer for the game.

WATCH IT HERE.

Game should be done by June.

This is what I always tell people who ask me this question.  Don't worry about what makes a game commercial.  Just make the game!  You'll make mistakes, but so what?  That's how you learn.  Just remember to keep things simple and try not to get mega ambitious on your first project. 

There's no criteria or formula for what makes a commercial game.   Heck, by most standards my first commercial adventure game, the Shivah, should have stayed freeware.  The game was pretty short and the graphics were very simple.  I only spent a few months working on it, but that enabled me to test the waters without a huge investment.  I made lots of mistakes when I sold Shivah commercially, but I was able to bounce back pretty easily since I hadn't invested a lot of time and money into it.  Plus I learned a whole bunch from the process.  I still make mistakes, but the process gets streamlined each time.

Oh man. Yeah.  I've been trying to sort out what's up with davelgil.com.  You can access individual files but the blog itself won't work.

Wow.  Blast from the past.   I saw this thread and was looking for the MP3 when Leon kindly posted it. 

great!  look for a pm from me.

It can sometimes work, depending on the game.  If your game progresses on a timeline (i.e., day one, day two, etc) and takes place in the same area, then it's logical to assume that people will have moved around.  Also, you'll have to - at the very least - provide a logical reason for the object to have mysteriously appeared.  And you'll need a logical reason for the player to back there. 

His poor flaming ears!

In other words, happy birthday eggie!

I was emailed what appears to be a flattering review of Emerald City Confidential (8/10 stars), but it's all in Russian!  If anyone is willing and able to translate it for me, I'd really appreciate it.

Neat!  That's awesome that you're working with Wyatt and the FlashPotatoes crew.  They are a class act.  Very professional and you can tell they love their work.  I can't wait to work with them again, myself!

-Dave

   Thanks, Vince!