Sunday, July 10, 2011
Scheduled Multiplayer Events
I have scheduled a weekly Live multiplayer Astro Cluster event to help players find Live Astro Cluster matches. The current scheduled time is Sundays 8pm EDT (Eastern Daylight Saving Time). To keep up to date with Match information, players can also follow me on twitter (@Skoddle) or Astro Cluster on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Astro-Cluster/112316672190086
Monday, May 30, 2011
On the Marketplace
Well, Astro Cluster has now been on the marketplace for a couple of days and the results are a little poor. It has remained the newest release now for almost 2 days during a long US weekend but still seems to be getting very little attention and downloads.
The Good:
- It is on the marketplace
- Seemed to get a few downloads initially
- Had a good rating early on (was around 5th Top Rated game at one point, with 16 rates)
- One very positive review
The Bad:
- Few downloads overall
- Rating is unstable (due to too few rates) and has now jumped way down
- One very negative video review
The reviews are at odds a little. An online reviewer seemed to be very happy with the game and listed it as a must play. A video review however, only playing the trial, seemed to find the trial boring and said it was one to avoid.
The comments from the video review of it being boring are probably fair enough for some players and is due to the level progression and balancing. I intentionally made the early levels very easy for new players to learn the mechanics and game modes, but it gets steadily harder as you progress. Seems like a decent gamer might find these early levels too boring in the trial and never give the later levels a go. It also appears the video reviewer didn't consider or mention the Live Multiplayer functionality, basing his opinion solely on the initial levels in the trial. I should consider the points in the video review carefully for an update for both the marketplace and my DBP entry.
The last few days have been a great experience to learn from and I can only hope enthusiasm for my game increases over the coming weeks.
The Good:
- It is on the marketplace
- Seemed to get a few downloads initially
- Had a good rating early on (was around 5th Top Rated game at one point, with 16 rates)
- One very positive review
The Bad:
- Few downloads overall
- Rating is unstable (due to too few rates) and has now jumped way down
- One very negative video review
The reviews are at odds a little. An online reviewer seemed to be very happy with the game and listed it as a must play. A video review however, only playing the trial, seemed to find the trial boring and said it was one to avoid.
The comments from the video review of it being boring are probably fair enough for some players and is due to the level progression and balancing. I intentionally made the early levels very easy for new players to learn the mechanics and game modes, but it gets steadily harder as you progress. Seems like a decent gamer might find these early levels too boring in the trial and never give the later levels a go. It also appears the video reviewer didn't consider or mention the Live Multiplayer functionality, basing his opinion solely on the initial levels in the trial. I should consider the points in the video review carefully for an update for both the marketplace and my DBP entry.
The last few days have been a great experience to learn from and I can only hope enthusiasm for my game increases over the coming weeks.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Approved for Publishing
Hooray! My very first XBLIG has now passed review and is approved for publishing, but the job is not over yet. I am really proud of the quality of Astro Cluster and want as many people experiencing it as possible and hopefully it can gain a strong multiplayer following.
To help achieve this, I can't just rely on the standard XB dashboard lists, they are not really stable enough. A dash freeze at the wrong time (i.e. just before and during a release) can potentially kill a great game. Living in Australia, I can't even check the dashboard lists myself so I have to rely on the help and goodwill of others to tell me if everything is sweet.
This means I have to try and do some marketing myself. I have no experience with this and am only new to social media so the going is currently slow and tough. I don't really know what I am doing, but I now have a developer twitter account, product facebook page, game trailer on youtube, visible entry in DBP and have tried contacting a few indie reviewers to help provide exposure to Astro Cluster.
It is only early days and I should have started this process a long time ago so there is no buzz at all regarding my game yet, but I am hoping this might change. Once I publish I will have to send free game codes out to as many good indie reviewers as I can and hope they find the time to give another twin-stick shooter a go. Hopefully there is not a dashboard freeze and with a bit of luck, the quality of Astro Cluster will speak for itself.
To help achieve this, I can't just rely on the standard XB dashboard lists, they are not really stable enough. A dash freeze at the wrong time (i.e. just before and during a release) can potentially kill a great game. Living in Australia, I can't even check the dashboard lists myself so I have to rely on the help and goodwill of others to tell me if everything is sweet.
This means I have to try and do some marketing myself. I have no experience with this and am only new to social media so the going is currently slow and tough. I don't really know what I am doing, but I now have a developer twitter account, product facebook page, game trailer on youtube, visible entry in DBP and have tried contacting a few indie reviewers to help provide exposure to Astro Cluster.
It is only early days and I should have started this process a long time ago so there is no buzz at all regarding my game yet, but I am hoping this might change. Once I publish I will have to send free game codes out to as many good indie reviewers as I can and hope they find the time to give another twin-stick shooter a go. Hopefully there is not a dashboard freeze and with a bit of luck, the quality of Astro Cluster will speak for itself.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Just submitted my first Indie game, Astro Cluster, for review in XBLIG marketplace. Also entered the build into Dream Build Play.
I first started Astro Cluster around June 2010 as a part-time hobby after having a break from my previous job of 5 years. My main goal was to have a go at doing everything so I could gain an understanding and some skills in areas I had little experience.
Well almost a year has passed and I think I have achieved this goal. I now understand a little better how difficult art, audio and testing can be and have also gained some basic skills in rendering, networking and optimisation. While I believe I did an adequate job for this project, in the future I think I will definitely work with skilled artists and sound engineers. I found these two aspects took up way too much time for me for the simple assets I required.
Now that the game is possibly complete (unless it fails review and until I create an update) I really hope people take the time to download the trial and play it. I think the quality is fairly consistent and the level of polish is very high. Despite the game being quite simple, the gameplay is solid and multiplayer is extremely robust. With a bit of luck, people may like the game enough to justify the price, although this project was never about making money, just having a go.
I first started Astro Cluster around June 2010 as a part-time hobby after having a break from my previous job of 5 years. My main goal was to have a go at doing everything so I could gain an understanding and some skills in areas I had little experience.
Well almost a year has passed and I think I have achieved this goal. I now understand a little better how difficult art, audio and testing can be and have also gained some basic skills in rendering, networking and optimisation. While I believe I did an adequate job for this project, in the future I think I will definitely work with skilled artists and sound engineers. I found these two aspects took up way too much time for me for the simple assets I required.
Now that the game is possibly complete (unless it fails review and until I create an update) I really hope people take the time to download the trial and play it. I think the quality is fairly consistent and the level of polish is very high. Despite the game being quite simple, the gameplay is solid and multiplayer is extremely robust. With a bit of luck, people may like the game enough to justify the price, although this project was never about making money, just having a go.
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