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For the question of sales, there's an interesting article on Adventure Developers that looks at the economics of indie adventure games. Most of the games are somewhat higher end than your average AGS game (Dark Fall, Gilbert Goodmate, Scratches), but the article also mentions Fatman.

The numbers are better than I would have expected, but I wonder how seriously VGA-style graphics limit the market for a game like this.

That's a good question, and one many people ask me.  My reply is always the same.  I might move on to high res or 3D graphics or high-end engines at some point, but I don't know anything about them, nor the time in which to learn about them, so - for now! - I'm sticking with what I know.  You've gotta start somewhere.

Woah. Talk about horrendous timing.  I can't even get into the admin section to sort out what's wrong, although the domain itself seems to be working OK. 

Yet another point in favor of nixing osCommerce. 

I sent an email to Klaus, who does most of the web/store stuff, but it's early in the morning where he is so it might not be resolved for awhile.  In any case, I'm going to look into other stores.

This isn't the first time these questions have been asked.   I don't mind the question, and I've decided to answer in general terms.  I had typed up a wicked long post, but instead decided to make a blog entry out of it:  http://www.davelgil.com.

Cube cart, which is what I use for our webstore, is great because you can add a lot of payment options. The admin section of it is also very convenient. You might want to look into it, in case you haven't already decided on a webstore solution.

Yep, that's exactly what I'm going to use.  Great minds think alike, apparently.

If you throw out paypal, I won't be able to purchase your game. That would suck.

No worries.  I mean that the "paypal only" store will go out the window.  The store I have in mind will accept paypal payments as well as credit cards.

And Strazer: Yes.

Re: paypal.  This is going out the window, soon.  It's best for all concerned if I have a nice, simple shop that everyone can use with any credit card.  I wasn't able to afford a commercial shop before, but I think I can swing it now. 

Re: The savegame bug. Thanks Erwin!  That happens on some computers.  I'm not sure why it happens on some computers and not others, but it's due to an installer glitch which is fixed now.  If you don't want to redownload the game, just right-click on the game icon, select "properties", and where it says "Start" type in your game's directory.  That'll fix it. 

Re: snail-mailing me a check or money.  You can definitely do this.  If you want to send me foreign (non-US) currency, I'll have to charge you more for the hassle of exchanging it myself.   If you exchange it on your end first, it would be much easier for all concerned.  PM me for my address, if you want to go this route.

re: demo.  Yes, this is coming. I know how useful a demo can be and one will be available by the mid-late next week.

Any other questions/concerns/issues, feel free to voice em.

-Dave

Yep that's true. You don't need to sign up to use PayPal anymore. You just click through it like any other checkout

Actually, you do need paypal to purchase items at the store, but I'm looking into other means.  Look for another better-integrated shop in the near future.

Sweet!  Thanks for the post, Nostradamus.  It's nice to see the game has gotten some worldwide recognition.  Except...

Stone's character is differnet from the classic Rabbi character: he's grumpy, swears and does not wear black clothes and a yarmulka.

Hm. "Grumpy"?  I'll give you.  "Swears"? Eh, maybe a few yiddish words here and there.    "Does not wear black clothes and a yarmulka"? Er... perhaps they didn't look close enough?

Anyway, I can see where Rabbi Btzari is coming from.  Stone is hardly a "nice" guy by any means, although that was kind of the point.   Still, sometimes negative publicity is good publicity, so I ain't complainin'!

I'd love to see a scan, if you can snag one.

-Dave

Oh, there will be a boxed version? Sweet. Will it cost extra? If so, how much? Any details on shipping (overseas) yet?

It will definitely be extra, although there will be a few different options.

"Blackwell Basic" will just be a burnt CD with a label written in sharpie marker and shipped out.  Perfect for those who don't care about frills but can't download the game for some reason.

"Blackwell Better" will be a pressed CD with label and jewel case.

"Blackwell Bonanza" will include a box, the soundtrack, and a print of the BL poster.

I'll sort out these prices after the New Year, as my brain is too frazzled to deal with thinking about this yet.

Demo is coming.  I need a break.

As for why this game is $10 more than Shivah, there are a few reasons.

- The graphics, music, and all-round quality is at a much higher level than Shivah.
- The game is at least 3x longer than Shivah
- Shivah was originally made for free, so I couldn't justify charging much money for it

Also, Shivah was more of an experiment for me than an actual business venture.  I thought of it as practice for the real thing, although I certainly didn't foresee how much Shivah would take off! 

The Blackwell Legacy is the first case in a miniseries of games that stars a medium named Rosangela Blackwell and her spirit guide Joey Mallone. Their mission, it seems, is to assist tormented spirits and investigate supernatural goings on. They don't understand why they are thrown together, but they do the best they can.

The duo's first case will involve a series of suicides at a local university. Something unnatural has forced these students to kill themselves, and nobody knows why. Rosangela, who is just coming to terms with her new status as a medium, finds herself cast as the unwilling detective in this gruesome mystery.

Demo: FREE

Price: $14.99

Download demo HERE.

TRAILER ON YOUTUBE.

For more information, check out our new website at http://www.wadjeteyegames.com

Screenshots:


Explore haunted locales, in the heart of New York City


Old photographs and letters give clues to the Blackwell family's past


The first adventure game to include a begging Boston Terrier.  Revolutionary!


Just a normal day in the life of a medium


A visit to the family shrink provides little answers

The team:

Writer/coder - Dave Gilbert
Background art - Tom Scary (Dr. Scary) and Chris Femo (Joker)
Sprite art - Ian Schlaepfer (Big Brother)
Concept artist: Matt Gardner
Additional art: Eyal Jammer
Music - Peter Gresser

Enjoy!

Neato!  Thanks, Nostodamus!  ALthough one question - do you mean there's going to be a full story thus coming Sunday, or you translated an article that appeared last sunday?

A shame I don't remember a single word of my two university semesters of hebrew or I could read it myself.

Hear hear.  This would would very useful in cases where you talk to an NPC whom you have exhausted all possible conversation topics with.  Even simpler would be to bring this down to one line of code.  Something like:

if (dFred.number_of_topics <= 1)
  Display ("You have nothing else to say to him.")

I was all set to use the "flipped" parameter but then discovered it wasn't writable, yeah.   I also thought about the dynamicsprite option, but how can one apply that to talking portraits?

WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Congrats to the winners, and to the runners ups.

http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/forum/index.php?board=5.0

In my current game, I am using character portraits that have a variety of facial expressions and blinking animations. I had wanted to flip them so they match the direction that the character sprite is facing, but I find myself unable to do that. 

I can create extra views that contain the flipped sprites, but since each character has about 3-6 expressions and 3-6 blinking animations, that would nearly double the number of views in the game.  Is there any way around this?

In lieu of the recent release delay, here are some spankin' new screenshots:


An update of one of the backgrounds above


The first adventure game to include a begging Boston Terrier.  Revolutionary!


Just a normal day in the life of a medium


A visit to the family shrink provides little answers

I've been living under my little Blackwell rock and haven't shown proper appreciation for this thread.  Thanks for the kudos, everybody.

From my blog:

So… ugh.

After two weeks of late nights, little sleep, insane schedules, too much coffee, lots of stress, and bug report after bug report after bug report, I finally had to face up to the inevitable. There is no way this game will be ready for release in three days.

I've whittled down the bugs to a bareable amount, and the game is very much playable. However, with three days left to go there is not much room left for testing, so I've decided to delay the release by one week.

I just posted the announcement on the Wadjet Eye site, and so I figured I'd take the opportunity to whine about it on my blog here. I know that I don't like to get angsty on this site, but since this is news that effects everybody I figured I am slightly justified.

One week isn't alot, true, but I still feel like I lost a personal battle. I have never missed a deadline, and it kills me that I've missed the most important one. Recently, my name has popped up on Reuters, and CNN.com, and all sorts of high-traffic places that have sent people to my site by the truckload. I felt like the world was watching me and the pressure was incredible. I couldn't miss my deadline, and yet… if I have to make a choice between making my game good or making it on time, the choice is obvious.

I just hope I didn't disappoint anybody. Rest assured, the extra week will make all the difference.

If I wasn't so tired trying to get Blackwell done on time, i'd jump for joy!

The main thanks goes to Manifesto, who offered to distribute the game on their site and have laid the PR smackdown on it.  They are going to do an interview webcam thing with me on Monday, so I'll let you know what the deal is with that.