This was covered on the web a few weeks ago but I thought it was worth pointing out for those who may have missed it...
Textfyre is an interactive fiction developer who plans on putting text adventures back in the gaming public eye. Gamasutra ran an interview with founder, David Cornelson last month in which he outlines Textfyre's plans. He plans to initially sell the new titles online, with a view to eventually selling them as boxed packages in Borders and Barnes and Noble. Not a bad idea.
I can see his logic in thinking there may be a market for text adventures, given the popularity of Young Reader fiction book titles. I used to love text adventures as a kid and found it really easy to lose myself in their worlds. I wonder if this still applies to kids today? Well, I hope he does well with his venture - I tip my hat to him for trying something different in today's market.
If you'd like to read more, Grand Text Auto has some other information here.
www.passfieldgames.com
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Big Brain Academy Board Game
I thought this was rather interesting... the Nintendo DS game, Big Brain Academy, has been made into a board game by University Games. It even keeps the gimmick of weighing your brain from the DS game - you earn chips for answering questions and weigh them at the end of the game on the "weigh-o-meter" to see who has the biggest brain.
Speaking of video games making the leap to board/card games, the new Halo ActionClix is out now. So when you've finished the fight on the 360 you can get further doses of Halo action sitting around a table with some buddies, a bowl of snacks and some Halo soft drink.
Of course Big Brain Academy and Halo aren't the only video games to be made into board games - there are plenty of others including Sid Meier's Civilization, Tomb Raider and my favorite - Doom: The Board Game.
I wonder if anyone is up for turning Brainiversity into a board game?
www.passfieldgames.com
Speaking of video games making the leap to board/card games, the new Halo ActionClix is out now. So when you've finished the fight on the 360 you can get further doses of Halo action sitting around a table with some buddies, a bowl of snacks and some Halo soft drink.
Of course Big Brain Academy and Halo aren't the only video games to be made into board games - there are plenty of others including Sid Meier's Civilization, Tomb Raider and my favorite - Doom: The Board Game.
I wonder if anyone is up for turning Brainiversity into a board game?
www.passfieldgames.com
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
fl0wer
fl0wer is the next game from thatgamecompany, the developers behind the entrancing fl0w. I'm not quite sure what the game is all about but you can check out the trailer here.
If it's anything like fl0w it will no doubt be a very beautiful, hypnotic experience. It's good to see some interesting stuff in development on the major consoles. The download services that Xbox Live and PSN offer really opens the door for creative projects with smaller budgets.
thatgamecompany aren't the only ones producing some interesting results. Echochrome is another game that is pushing boundaries. It's best described as an M.C. Escher puzzle game that you really have to see to appreciate - check out this youtube clip of the game.
If it's anything like fl0w it will no doubt be a very beautiful, hypnotic experience. It's good to see some interesting stuff in development on the major consoles. The download services that Xbox Live and PSN offer really opens the door for creative projects with smaller budgets.
thatgamecompany aren't the only ones producing some interesting results. Echochrome is another game that is pushing boundaries. It's best described as an M.C. Escher puzzle game that you really have to see to appreciate - check out this youtube clip of the game.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Weekend DS Action
I picked up two DS games this week - Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time and Elite Beat Agents.
They're both older games that I somehow managed to miss first time around. But I wanted to play them before the new Zelda hits the DS - a game that I am really looking forward to. No doubt my DS time will be totally consumed by it when it launches in around 3 weeks time!
In other news, the whole family is off to Australia Zoo this weekend - Ella is excited about seeing the crocodiles and elephants. Should be a fun day!
They're both older games that I somehow managed to miss first time around. But I wanted to play them before the new Zelda hits the DS - a game that I am really looking forward to. No doubt my DS time will be totally consumed by it when it launches in around 3 weeks time!
In other news, the whole family is off to Australia Zoo this weekend - Ella is excited about seeing the crocodiles and elephants. Should be a fun day!
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Making Games On A Budget - Part 4
This is the fourth and final part of the Making Games On A Budget article that I wrote for PC Powerplay, an Australian gaming magazine. I hope you got something out of them!
Selling Your Game
So, you made a game. You’ve tested it. People like it. Now what?
It’s time to sell it to the world!
There are a number of services that will provide digital rights management (DRM) solutions and handle payment transactions for you. Most have no initial set up costs but will charge you a fee for every unit you sell. Trymedia, RegNow and Plimus are just a few options.
You can also elect to sell your game via affiliates. These range from big portals to fan web sites and every game you sell you will have to split the profit with the DRM provider and the affiliate - but the upside is you get immense exposure.
I chose Trymedia’s ActiveMARK technology for Word Shake and Brainiversity due to its simplicity. Once you sign up it’s a simple process to start selling online. You upload your exe file to their site for DRM wrapping, create an installer, test it, set your pricing, then upload the installer for verification. Within minutes they will send you a link that you can start selling your game from.
Marketing
Okay, so if you've read parts 1,2 and 3 then you should have the tools to make a game, test it and start selling online. Except it doesn’t end there. Having your game online doesn’t guarantee that people will know it exists or that they will buy it. To let people know about your game you’ll need to market it.
Marketing games is a whole other topic, but there are some resources that you can look up online that will help point you in the right direction. Resources such as GameRelease.net and Video Game Marketing, a site run by Joseph Liebermanm author of the Game Marketing book. Even if you don’t use their services you may be able to get some useful marketing tips from their sites.
So, what are you waiting for? Go and make a game!
Brainiversity Statistics
Genre: Brain Training
Number of Mini-Games: 16
Beta Testers: 100+
Development Time: 6 months
SDK: PopCap Framework
Distributed By: Oberon Media
Links
Here are the links again in one convenient location!
Indie Game Forums/News
Indie Gamer Forums – http://forums.indiegamer.com/
Development Environment
Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition - http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/
Game Engines/3D Engines
PopCap Framework - http://developer.popcap.com/
Play Ground SDK - https://developer.playfirst.com/overview
Irrlicht engine - http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/
Ogre3D - http://www.ogre3d.org/
Blitz3D (USD $100) / Blitz Max (USD $80) - http://blitzbasic.com/
Torque Engine (USD $150) - http://www.garagegames.com/
DarkBASIC (USD $39.99) - http://www.thegamecreators.com/
Protean IDE - http://proteanide.fadedrealm.com/
Graphics Tools
ArtRage 2 (FREE / USD $19.95) - http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html
Pro Motion (USD $29.95) - http://www.cosmigo.com/promotion/
GIF Movie Gear (USD $29.95 ) - http://www.gamani.com/
Sound Tools
Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Music Resource
Game Audio Australia – http://www.gameaudioaustralia.com/
Other Resources
ActiveMARK DRM technology - http://www.trymedia.com/
RegNow DRM technology - https://www.regnow.com/
Plimus - http://www.plimus.com/
Survey Monkey - http://www.surveymonkey.com/
Game Release Press Release Service - http://www.gamerelease.net/
Video Game Marketing - http://www.vgsmart.com/
Brainiversity game - http://www.brainiversity.com/
Word Shake game - http://www.casualgamesarcade.com/word_shake.htm
www.passfieldgames.com
Selling Your Game
So, you made a game. You’ve tested it. People like it. Now what?
It’s time to sell it to the world!
There are a number of services that will provide digital rights management (DRM) solutions and handle payment transactions for you. Most have no initial set up costs but will charge you a fee for every unit you sell. Trymedia, RegNow and Plimus are just a few options.
You can also elect to sell your game via affiliates. These range from big portals to fan web sites and every game you sell you will have to split the profit with the DRM provider and the affiliate - but the upside is you get immense exposure.
I chose Trymedia’s ActiveMARK technology for Word Shake and Brainiversity due to its simplicity. Once you sign up it’s a simple process to start selling online. You upload your exe file to their site for DRM wrapping, create an installer, test it, set your pricing, then upload the installer for verification. Within minutes they will send you a link that you can start selling your game from.
Marketing
Okay, so if you've read parts 1,2 and 3 then you should have the tools to make a game, test it and start selling online. Except it doesn’t end there. Having your game online doesn’t guarantee that people will know it exists or that they will buy it. To let people know about your game you’ll need to market it.
Marketing games is a whole other topic, but there are some resources that you can look up online that will help point you in the right direction. Resources such as GameRelease.net and Video Game Marketing, a site run by Joseph Liebermanm author of the Game Marketing book. Even if you don’t use their services you may be able to get some useful marketing tips from their sites.
So, what are you waiting for? Go and make a game!
Brainiversity Statistics
Genre: Brain Training
Number of Mini-Games: 16
Beta Testers: 100+
Development Time: 6 months
SDK: PopCap Framework
Distributed By: Oberon Media
Links
Here are the links again in one convenient location!
Indie Game Forums/News
Indie Gamer Forums – http://forums.indiegamer.com/
Development Environment
Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition - http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/
Game Engines/3D Engines
PopCap Framework - http://developer.popcap.com/
Play Ground SDK - https://developer.playfirst.com/overview
Irrlicht engine - http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/
Ogre3D - http://www.ogre3d.org/
Blitz3D (USD $100) / Blitz Max (USD $80) - http://blitzbasic.com/
Torque Engine (USD $150) - http://www.garagegames.com/
DarkBASIC (USD $39.99) - http://www.thegamecreators.com/
Protean IDE - http://proteanide.fadedrealm.com/
Graphics Tools
ArtRage 2 (FREE / USD $19.95) - http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html
Pro Motion (USD $29.95) - http://www.cosmigo.com/promotion/
GIF Movie Gear (USD $29.95 ) - http://www.gamani.com/
Sound Tools
Audacity - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Music Resource
Game Audio Australia – http://www.gameaudioaustralia.com/
Other Resources
ActiveMARK DRM technology - http://www.trymedia.com/
RegNow DRM technology - https://www.regnow.com/
Plimus - http://www.plimus.com/
Survey Monkey - http://www.surveymonkey.com/
Game Release Press Release Service - http://www.gamerelease.net/
Video Game Marketing - http://www.vgsmart.com/
Brainiversity game - http://www.brainiversity.com/
Word Shake game - http://www.casualgamesarcade.com/word_shake.htm
www.passfieldgames.com
Copyright (c) 2007 John Passfield
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