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Lessons learned in successfully marketing games on PSN/XBLA and pc digital; what worked and what didn't James Brooksby
Good relationships with Microsoft and Sony Working in partnerships with game funding, non work for hire
Office reflects Peter Pan syndrome
Building
direct relationships with community and marketing and will continue to
enhance through social networ portals and club building
Achieves marketing strategy through minimal internal resource and select contractors (low cost)
Burn Zombie Burn! Time to build, 10 months, maximum 9 staff Special deal with Sony, exclusivity in return for guaranteed revenue
Launch window activities Launch party at major industry event, zombie actors and stickers Pr round trip in us Sony eblast Sony blog Sony website competition Facebook advertising Talking to everyone, including smaller sites as you never know Post high score on YouTube, sent out 3d zombie models to top few
Continuing activities Competition in USA to win holiday to Paris and Egypt (extra 4000 sales) Ps home launch 34% increase in sales and virtual items for sale Premium theme Halloween party in ps home with extra virtual items Sony Asia In to Germany (was initially 18 rated and couldn't be sold there) Amazon.com Strategy guide (first, digital) Pc version (boxed and through steam) Expansion pack (bzb in space) - highly recommend DLC if your game can support it More home items Price fluctuation - half price Bundle packs Promote at Halloween Playstation plus
Future activities Japanese launch Mac version In a retail box Toys and more... Next expansion pack (zombie sushi)(in line with Japanese launch, but will be worldwide) iPhone / smartphone version More home items, price changes, bundles Move NGP Follow up;-)
Digital sales not good before thanksgiving, large game releases during that time frame
Sales spikes with each little marketing or added content Huge spike in sales with playstation plus spikes and pits, weekends vs weekdays Don't look at your sales on Wednesday, wait until Sunday Drop right before thanksgiving, back up before Christmas About 50% attach rate on DLC
Launch party cost, total $8000 launch value Great launch press coverage Launch window sales 38,000 Strong industry positive feedback including from platforms
Conclusions, take aways 1st months number approximate 19% of lifetime 1st months approximate 14% of lifetime Many suggest 1st month up to 40% don't panic on weekdays Promote on holidays Play with price, especially on holidays Except thanksgiving Make DLC Reach the world Port, but don't be lazy with polish and attention Virtual goods are great Competitions work Create good relationships with platform holders Think about your release date Be good with stats/ numbers Spend money on PR and marketing Talk to others who are doing it Make a game the team cares about, and you will make a good game Have a great team of enthusiasts Understand the new world and pay attention to it, it changes all the time Talk to everyone Try stuff, experiment Expand your franchise, I can't stop ;-)
Production cost about $700,000 - marketing cost about $90,000
Audience q&a Price points vs dev costs, amount of content, etc
Easier to drop price, very difficult to raise it Think hard about it, don't want to see everything trending downward
Qa - how to choose a PR company Ask gaming mags who they like, ask other devs for recommendation Look at your favorite game company and whom they used
Qa - value of facebook, twitter versus traditional channels
Storefront is biggest, beyond that it's difficult to work out value Depends on your game and product, what do they like and use and target them Balance cost versus common sense
--Tom Ogburn
Pre-Note: because it was brought up in a thread on neogaf.com. Yes, I was attempting to summarize and transcribe this as I was sitting there in the room. I'm not the fastest typist, especially on an iPad's tiny keyboard, and it was kind of difficult keeping up when everyone kept switching back and forth. I captured as much of the info as I could, and when they were talking too fast or over each other I tried to capture what I felt was most pertinent at the time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ XBLIG success stories - how to make the best of Microsoft's self-publishing service
Brandon Sheffield, Ian Stocker, James Silva, Nathan Fouts, Robert Boyd
Sitting left to right Brandon, Nathan, Robert, Ian, James
Ska studios, 3 people now What time do you change from coffee to booze Everyone shows up in basement and normal workday
Ian does it all Wake up shower, coffee shop for 2-5 hours per day Don't push too hard, crunch only at the end Text file in project folder with list of tasks All small, draw 1 sprite, reproduce this one bug Break it down to useful starting points Have a defined scope of what will and won't be in
Nathan Takes breaks, let your mind think and rest
Robert Douglas Adams -love to set deadlines because like e sound of them whooshing bye 2 people Was teacher working on games part time, now going full-time Setting goals daily and weekly
Nathan Play with kids in morning, work 10 - 6 unless crunching 2 in office, work with others remotely and contracts
All full-time now
Brandon - how to get people into xblig store, marketing Winter uprising
Robert Many people don't do any marketing and rely on Microsoft's top list, new releases, etc Games coming out every day Have a websites, gives legitimacy to game and co Have a trailer, give people something to see Did winter uprising because there was a lot of anger in the community, it was hidden in menus Got covered in a lot of big sites that now continue to review xblig
James Don't blame Microsoft, this promo showed the opposite, microsoft moved it up in the dashboard and promoted
Nathan Put out a trailer, help yourself
James No one picked up press release for I made a game
Nathan But it didn't hurt
Brandon Once people started playing, the press release gave people something to refer to
Do you all feel it is worth releasing on xblig as first game vs apple, android
Nathan Absolutely And get in the community and on forums, it helps others and helps you -explains peer review-
James I get emails asking if I get paid in MS points (no, and not with DLC either)
Robert Talk to people, go to different forums, consumers like talking with devs and feel connected We have to rely on word of mouth and being open with your audience
Ian Twitter really helps too XNA forums gives great feedback
Nathan Be good on the forums
Brandon Ratings, there's genre and letter, but really only separated is in ratings Do you like them, how to get more people to submit them
James I like ratings, doesn't sell a lot but it does help some
Nathan Top rated is full, really hard to get into it now Point a friend at top rated
Ian Don't need to be $1 to be in top rated, some higher priced there too Pricing psychology can play into it Will have to be $1 to be top selling until they add a top grossing
Brandon People may feel higher price is better, but like app store they just don't want to pay it Do you feel you undercut yourself on zp2kx
James Yeah, maybe
Robert Now the list is pretty solidified, so james cant even beat himself Would like to see a current top rated Having difficulty getting back into top rated with their games
Brandon Any kind of deck or naming tricks you can use
James I think 0 comes first
Brandon James, any tips for implementing multiplayer
James Just follow the docs, easy compared to pc Live implementation is easy Would have to completely re-implement for pc and not worth it Only big issue, you have to have many creators club accounts for testing Has 4-5 accounts
Brandon
Ian Don't really like nag screens Need to have good content in demo
James Can't make games where you kill Nazis, we grew up on that
Brandon How about selling extra stuff like music alongside game on website
Ian I have soundtrack via pay pal, sold a few Even if you don't sell a lot, builds a brand
Nathan Makes you seem more serious about supporting and growing your game
James A fan got I made a game with zombies in it in rock band, had more downloads than third eye blind
Audience q&a
Patches, sales versus other marketplaces
Robert Patches are pretty easy, but cant do short term sales
Nathan Don't make bugs, but easy to get patches in, try not to introduce more Follows standard peer review process
Audience Does xblig count towards resume, getting into major industry
Nathan Absolutely, whether pc or xbox just get it done, it shows you care about your work and can finish
Audience New types of lists, digg style
Ian Would like to see them, recent top rated, definitely in favor
Audience Average sales of single game at price points
Nathan All over the place and totally depends on your product If you have something they can't get anywhere else, will do well, otherwise it needs to be really well done and different
Audience What does panel think of using xna to leap from xbox to pc
Nathan Taking explosionade, doing much more with pc version to charge more Have to deal with more hardware types, but not difficult
Audience Talking about lists, if you have a large task how do you break it down
Nathan If you dont know how to do it, check forums, someone else has already done it
Ian Break it down to tasks smaller than 1 day
James I'll put it off until one day I wake up and say, I know how to do it
Ian Have different types of tasks to move around through, programming, design, art so you don't get bored
Brandon Don't put off least favorite to the end, then you have to Domitian during crunch and double miserable
Audience Robert, what made you switch from education, consider educational games
Robert Wanted to make games as a kid, not making a lot, saw xna and started messing around It would be cool to make educational games, but not sure how Most
make education first and not good games, need to make game and have
education second because kids are smart and know when they are in school
Brandon What do you wish you had known before starting
Nathan When top downloads are going to crash
Robert Make good tools before starting on game, will save a lot of time Prepare plan before hand
Ian Share your ideas, no one will rip it off, but will share good ideas to help make yours better
--Tom Ogburn
10 lessons from 20 years as an entrepreneur: a post-mortem Don Daglow
Start with money stuff Next strategy How in the practicing of our craft we combine heart head courage and hope
Preparing to manage cash
When starting a team, when recruiting, when trying to get critical mass Cash is king Keep the nut small Be nimble like Guerrillas in the hills, not in fortresses No personal guarantees or second mortgages Always be thinking - we are about to run out of cash, is this a good buy Your life partner is more important than your company
Item 1 if it seems stupid but everyone else is spending that much...it may still be stupid
Thinking through the issues The publishing equation -Publishing equals the sum of: -Financing, development, test, distribution, marketing
Item 2 It's better to have 10% of something than 90% of nothing A partner at 10% is better than a wholesaler at 20%
Item 3 Decide, don't accept Who's in charge? How will things be resolved? Cubes or doors? Exit strategy? What are the victory conditions? Who owns how much? Salary or equity?
item 4 Culture matters 1st 10 will define the first 100, then 1000 "warm bodies" strategy leads to a cold grave - they just help a failing project fail faster
Item 5 If you think you need to change course within a year, change in 6 months If you think you can't change, the truth is: you can't not change Change hurts, radical change hurts more, but is sometimes necessary
Building great games
Item 6 You can build something you'll love and treasure as a player You can build something some one else will love 20
years later on a street in Philadelphia...what can you do every day so
that 20 years from now someone will say to you: you made that game, I
loved it and....
Item 7 Strategies: Show off technology Pursue an audience Don't chase opportunities
item 8 My friend was going to leave e&g to come work on the game but... I couldn't get funding No one will want to hear a pitch from someone like me ---translation--- I'm afraid of failing so I didn't start the game and blamed it on my friend I'm afraid to ask for money I'm afraid I'll be humiliated by publishers so I didn't pitch anything
Item 9 The legend of the dog that chased the car And caught it Be careful of what you're doing when you fully and totally commit
Dog chases car, car stops at stop sign, dog just barks, doesn't know what to do with it Be careful what you want because you might just get it Think about the 1 thing you are committed to? What would your team say?
Item 10 Do what you love
If you can't right now, think about what actions can I take to move me toward doing what I love? Not necessarily doing it every minute of every day, but a single mindedness of what you love and pursuing that
--Tom Ogburn
The identity bubble -a design approach to character and story development Matthias Worch Twitter/@mworch
Writing for games is different than writing for any other media Games are participatory, others are reflective - viewer vs player
Identity approaches Avatars The character is a tool, a puppet, an object for the player to manipulate according to the rules of the game - rules of play
A sort of vehicle from which a world can be seen and otherwise experienced. This character both constrains us....
Identity range Puppet. ------- vehicle
The player willing becomes a schizophrenic and pushes part of their consciousness away to experience the game Character vs player vs person (outside of games) 3 frames that each whisper and want their way
Double consciousness Shared fantasy - Gary Alan Fine
Harvey Smiths identity fragments
Character -writer biggest concern Fictional Literary pop or mythic archetype
Player - game designer biggest concern Solving problems, completing tasks Sense of skill level Primal emotions
Person Sense of skill level Sense of idealized self Self as person with life demands
ludonarrative dissonance
Identity range Ludonarrative parity --- complementary goals ---- mythic archetypes Portal, halo -------- Fallout 3, COD4 ------- uncharted 2
Ludonarrative parity - character and player are aligned in goals, primal motivation, get to the end and kill glados Highly story driven game
Complementary Char wants to find father, player wants to explore world Need to match quests to final game goals Puppet the player controls, but has it's own backstory Scrapping and exploring Ludonarrative harmony May not care about char goals, but still follow it to some degree and are reminded of story goal by game
Games
are essentially myth reinforcing activities... Players tend to choose
the kinds of games that reaffirm their own personal beliefs - bob bates
mythic archetypes Player sees qualities of themselves in the char and try to live it out The journey is more important than the goal Identity absorption Like driving a car, we stay separate, but refer to it as ourselves - oh my gosh, he almost hit me (not my car) Highly scripted, cutscenes
Need
to keep sending I pulses to keep player and character identity
together, frequency changes based on game type and how tightly they are
tied Don't send mixed signals, if you are a robot, shouldn't need to eat
myth Creation ------- recall
The power of myth - Joseph Campbell Save the cat goes to the movies. - Blake Snyder
--Tom Ogburn
Scoping Success Rod Fergusson
How am I defining success? More than just quality More than just commercial it's both, and the team is happy
Iron triangle Scope vs schedule vs resources
Really need a predictable schedule tone a success and to get there Normally change, cut scope
Scoping Goal: Shipping the right product at the right time
Right product is quality Consider team - size, tech, and process Consider player industry expectations
Right time is timeliness Consider window of opportunity Consider marketing
Lack of maturity will cost you time Team, tech, or process Need knowledgeable people, established process to ship on time Scope should reflect design process -Epic is highly iterative, 33% buffer for gears 3 You will find work that needs to be done for quality
Scope should match quality expectations -Epic prefers smaller and polished
Consider player/industry expectations You can't scope in a vacuum What is the state of the art for your type of game, what is the best of the best that you are competing against What would be considered the minimum bar for entry How can you easily exceed expectations
Managing expectations with scope Look beyond version 1 to allow for focus on the core Start with a very tight core that you can build on Versioning allows you to react to -player feedback -industry trends -competitive landscape There comes a point of diminishing returns Franchises are grown Gears 3 > gears 1 + 5 more years of development
Consider window of opportunity When's the best time to be on shelves What is the competitive landscape What else could be taking the players money (entertainment competition) Are there other initiatives you could piggy back on
Consider marketing Or why "it'll ship when it's done" doesn't work anymore Marketing is a global, synchronized initiative Publisher sales regions allocate their budgets and forecasts months in advance Major store buyers are looking 180 days out for what's next It can take 14 weeks to get into a store flyer
------------
Have a fixed ship date mindset The belief that the ship fate is both realistic and unchangeable -date can change but must be justified -date not actually fixed until very confident Provides a clear goal for the team Forces prioritization and creativity Provides a decision making constraint
Establish your pillars Key areas of focus, what is the core of the game May be an aggregate set of features May be their own overall design goal Empowers scoping decisions Usually serves as great talking points for press Candidates for back of box features
Cut early, cut often Due to unknowns, teams tend to underestimate effort Every feature takes polish time away from the other features forget sunk cost, look at opportunity cost Always keep test and support burden in mind Test decisions against your pillars
It's all about the buffer Realistic scope does not equal the collection of known tasks Recognition that the future is uncertain The longer the duration, the greater the uncertainty The more uncertainty and risk, the more buffer Polish time is not buffer time
Estimating Top down scheduling provides constraint Bottom up estimating enables ownership Group estimating creates accountability Always track your actuals Evidence based scheduling provides history Find the right granularity
NiMBLe process New, better, more, less Prioritize things to add, do more of, or do less of
In conclusion It takes more than just quality to be a successful game, it takes a window of opportunity and strong marketing support Scope based on your team, on player/industry expectations and your ideal schedule Realistic and constant scoping, along with buffer, allows you to keep a more predictable schedule A predictable schedule allows you to hit your window of opportunity and receive the full benefit of marketing
Ship the right product at the right time
--Tom Ogburn
Green light! Persuasion skills to put and keep your game in the fast lane Dick Butterfield It's showtime! Butterfield speaks on the power of persuasion - book
What is your nirvana? A metacritic score, that you just got a pitch approved, ... Important to keep to your own particular style
What are the skill sets that make great persuaders
The power bite - The elevator speech, very crisp, eloquent to get next meeting Aspirational story, speak to peoples hearts and imaginations that makes them want to help you Meeting prep, decks, paperwork Navigating q&a, what skills to stay on message
What makes great companies great? Passion, twinkle in the eye - people buy people Victor
not victim, know you will be successful, know you will get the team and
ship the product, think about it first, what will you do to succeed Great detectives, find out their fear and tell them how you can overcome it, pay attention -----Listening skills are important
The vision, how do people perceive you and the technology Be student of your technology and industry Be predictive, be the vision, an insight leader not just a follower Be the person people go to
Reduce the firehouse of data to a short precise presentation Embrace the rule of 3 -avoid laundry list persuasion, selling beyond the close understand that they want fact based show me the money mind and their heart, speak to both -be prepared and understand the context of the meeting, understand where and the people involved Anticipate questions and have the answers -have a structure to communication, like a narrative in a game or book, not necessarily a structure like a series of slides
Every
time you pitch, first 30 seconds you have to capture their imagination
or they will start thinking about other things or the meeting they just
came from Quickly get to promise of presentation, what will they get out of it -you will believe x, you will see y The roadmap, tell them how you will use their time -I will show you how we will, I will show you...
---------Practice it--------- very important Where do you need To go slower, how will will you do your transitions If only short time, practice beginning and end, that's where you win and lose people
Develop your own winning style Be an actor, use your voice and gestures and expressions to own the room and tell a story Turn a question and answer session into a question and message session, bridge your answer into a message Remain authentic and answer the question quickly, but work in your message Know what your message is
power bite Start with conclusion, then 3 pieces of evidence, and what does it mean to them Conclusion, evidence x 3, so what
Aspirational storytelling Dare to paint a picture of the future Don't make them all improvs, build a repertoire of them, write them, practice them
--Tom Ogburn
This is your brain on game development Twitter/@scottcrab
Many books, just a few with good science on psychology of happiness and productivity
Manage your mind for better results, 3 steps Logic just part of picture Manage stress Work for happiness
----logic is just part of the picture We focus too much on logic and prefrontal cortex, very small part of brain and tires Small, logical prefrontal cortex can't multitasking. Multitasking drops iq by 10 points and increases errors, about 15 for men, 5 for women Task switching expensive for computers, people too Not really multitasking, fast task switching Lessens ability to filter extraneous data, separate unimportant from important
Conscious thinking is limited resource, prioritize prioritization, keep it simple, and help with visuals and lists Important-Do it when you are fresh, not necessarily first thing in morning
To get insights from some parts of brains, you have to quiet other parts, perhaps with mindfulness meditation Insights come better when you are peaceful and happy
Summary Conscious thinking is limited - prioritize prioritizing and don't multitask Help your brain with visuals and lists Insight comes when conscious thinking pauses
20 minutes to get into flow, 2 minutes to get out of it
-----manage stress does not mean eliminating, need the right amount of "eustress" to be most effective Low stress, boredom, depression - area of optimal stress challenge - high stress bell curve Fight, flight, freeze response is bad for brain function We are wired to cooperate with each other, empathize We are wired to view the world as "us" and "them" The happier you are, the bigger your circle of "us" Happier people are less socially biased Label and reappraise (don't suppress) negative emotions to manage them -if your opinion isn't heard you get more stressed about it, brain same way Exercise eases stress and improves thinking
Summary Excess stress is bad for brain function Mitigate stress with reappraisal and relaxation Exercise to manage stress & boost your brain
Doodling can help retain more, requires no thinking Anything that can be automated and doesn't require conscious thought can help conscious thought
--work for happiness Happier people are more productive, sociable, cooperative, creative, resilient, successful, and engaged Happier are healthier and live longer Widens the scope of attention Increases behavior repertoires
Largely determined by set point, but also intentional behavior 50 genetic, 40 intentional, 10 circumstance
How 1 Flow toward goals 2 strive to maintain a positive Attitude 3 invest
Set goals that are important to you, measure progress toward those goals Different brains have different strengths, learn and use yours Michael Jordan didn't try to improve in baseball, did his strength at basketball Spend time on strengths, not always focus on improving weaknesses "strengths finder 2.0" "go put your strengths to work" - books Get into flow - pie graph Get into challenge at right level for you and stay focused
Attitude is as important as it is cliche, nurture optimism and positivity Write down positives, will make you happier Best teams have positive to negative comments ratio of > 5:1 Tipping point is about 3:1 moves team from minimize risk to maximize reward Feedback sandwich, positive comment, negative, positive Too much is a bad thing, feels fake, > 20 to 1
Invest in people and relationships - It will boost your network, coping ability, and happiness Happiness is contagious Express gratitude, makes you and them happier Happiness outside work will make you happier at work too Exercise, smile, relax, meditate, focus on present
It takes knowledge, subtlety, and support, and persistance
--Tom Ogburn
Modeling Animation
Modeling with matchmover Workflow Shoot footage Convert to bmp, runs faster in Matchmover Load into matchmover Camera becomes camera in max Create model from 3d points Project footage on model Bake to object and texture
Shoot footage Try to get good coverage, move around Do not pan and tilt, do not use tripod Need to see all angles for modeling and texturing Avoid blur and artifacts, don't move too fast Convert to image sequence, pick best frames, too many frames take a long time and many have duplicate data 3rd max-rendering-ram player- to convert to bmp image sequence
Automatic tracking Good tracking to make camera but points are useless Manual tracking, use auto camera but set points to make model from Create axis and scale, etc, then export to a 3rd max script
Run matchmover tracker In preferences make sure you have z axis set to up CPU is very important to make this run fast Hide tracking points In point tracks add new group Add new track Place point, scroll to another frame and select same point, when it turns green it means it was able to track it Create more track points Yellow means not perfect, move it around or go to another frame and try Pick which one will be origin Pick at least 3 points on different axis so it can model it as 3d Make as many points as you want, more is better model Make
points where architecture changes, different direction, different
texture,etc because these will be used to make your model later Pick 2 points that you know distance and set that, use u it of measure matching system prefs Select all modeling points, except auto, and export
Open model script in max, sometimes causes error due to groups Tip - always Delete groups and groups name sections before opening Select all points Maxscript editor and script change size to scale up to a realistic size Grab a few points on a side-alt q to isolate Start drawing planes and shapes, faces to make the object Choose snap to pivot to snap to selected points instead of grid
Trick add your tools to a pane/ custom ribbon, then set a hotkey to make it appear
After model made for texture use a camera map Find a good view of specific texture in camera view Render to texture, auto unwrap
After texturing Select all and then link to make 1 model Then render to texture on a new channel, unwrapped and baked to move all textures to 1 map Move channel 2 to channel 1 and then remove channel 2 Now it's ready to export to a game engine
Best to use for cubic, planar shapes For
cylindrical shapes, place points at top and bottom, then create a
cylinder since it would be impossible to create enough tracking points
to make a good circle
Can use multiple cameras
and point of views for camera, but for modeling can only use 1 and is
easiest with static object, eg a building
-------------------------------- Substances = new several new types of texture assets in 2012 Contains diffuse, normal, texture, shader, ... Maps in 1 file Easier to use in slate manager rather than classic Can use animated texture, ex sliding door opening, instead of moving model Can use to easily change color, ex leaves on a tree as season changes
--Tom Ogburn
I am making available the Sky Defender (XNA version) source code. Please read the included info.txt file as it spells out the different licenses involved. Basically the source code you can do with as you please as long as you leave the attributions. The content is various licenses depending on the source, which is listed out in the document. The source is an integration of Torque X, the Microsft XNA Game State Manager, Nick Gravelyn's Storage Device Management, and Enchanted Age's high score component. I added in multi-threading to the level loading screens and code to handle trials and the buying process. I think there's a few other things in there, but I can't remember them right now. The Torque X source code is NOT included in this package. It is linked to in the solution file, so you will either need to re-point it to your source copy or reference the compiled dll's instead if you don't have a source license. And now for the link: http://www.StarlitSkyGames.com/files/games/Sky_Defender_Source.zip--Tom Ogburn
I've posted an early alpha video of Motor Psycho (a Road Rash style motorcycle racer/fighter) up on youtube. It is a short video of a small level I'm using just to test the physics, pathfinding, fighting, etc. I'm expecting the game to be done in the first half of 2010 and to ship on XBox Live Indie Games. Click here to go view the video, then let me know what you think in the forums, twitter, or facebook. --Tom Ogburn
Starlit Sky Games, LLC is currently working on an unnamed motorcycle racing-fighting game, similar to Road Rash. View a screenshot in the gallery at http://www.starlitskygames.com/photos/motorcycle/picture203.aspx and help pick a name. Either post your suggestion in the forums or send me a tweet at TOgburn with your suggestion. Tom Ogburn
Sky Defender is now available in the XBox 360 Indie Games channel. You can download it directly to your system from XBox.com by following the link below. http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d80258550246--Tom Ogburn
On April 26, 2009 I will be giving away one 12 month XBox Live Gold code to a randomly chosen person that retweets my StrikeForce-Psi announcement between now and then. The announcement is here: http://twitter.com/TOgburn/status/1575409771and after you do that, go ahead and download the game and try it. Go ahead, I dare you... :) --Tom Ogburn
StrikeForce Psi is now in review on Xbox Live Community Games and should be coming out soon. Of course I will update as soon as it is released. I also want to mention the people I worked with to get the game done. Art Lead project manager - Mindaugas Jokubaitis (Dami Digital) Art - Dami Digital http://dami.lt/Characters - Maxim Lyulyukin http://www.robomaniac.invitinggames.com/store/Audio - Spencer Sternberg http://www.spencersternberg.comLevel Editing - Tom Ogburn Ben Ogburn Dan McCollum http://www.danmccollum.com/Programming - Tom Ogburn More to come when the game goes live. --Tom Ogburn
A little more polish done and I've posted another playtest based on feedback received. SFP currently has 6 levels of what will be 12. Now informs users if they cannot buy the game. Allow purchase from 'Trial' message screens Lists actual button to press to continue on message screens Stopped vibrating controller bug on some message screens Fixed menu selection bug when switching controllers Edited menu background to make font more visible New first level Added animated loading screen between levels --Tom Ogburn
Made a few more updates and uploading a new version to playtest. http://catalog.xna.com/en-US/gamedetails.aspx?catalogEntryId=5a982d22-8ec7-4296-abd7-1188516a34a9&type=1. It's now coming down to adding in the remaining levels and polish. I'm planning for it to be complete and ready to ship very soon. Added Y button to crouch in addition to left stick click crouching jump moves at the same speed as a standing jump Moved selection of starting unlocked level from options screen to start->select unlocked level->actually start game re-added gold bars and scoring to hud, explain gold and scoring in how to play screen. --Tom Ogburn
It's been 3 weeks since my last update and I have been busy. I overhauled a lot of the code and graphics based on feedback from the last SFP playtest on creators club. It is back in playtest. Log in to your XNA Creators CLub account then follow the link to download and play. http://catalog.xna.com/en-US/GameDetails.aspx?catalogEntryId=e2f9b3b2-7d45-4c1d-8681-3596bb181e76&type=1Here's some of the list of updates: Increased size of characters, weapons, and bullets for better clarity on SDTV Added more cover in certain vulnerable spots of several maps Require 'Press A to start' on initial screen to set player controller Add in save game manager Support all video modes and tested them truncate save file before writing to it to prevent read errors Upsell during and after first level and return to menu if it is trial mode Options screen to alter volume of music and sound effects independently Allow selection from several control schemes Edit options screens to allow left/right on left stick or digital pad to alter values replace backgrounds Player crouching code and animations reset ammo count on death replace psk exit graphic with exit sign graphic fix bridge graphics lives carry across levels, ammo and grenades reset reduced a visual bug with player gun when jumping add 'Go Back' B-button text to controls screen song changes based on background world and menu save game/ load unlocked levels only if not a trial fixed bugs in trial/purchase code that allowed an attempt to purchase for unauthorized users and threw an error fixed a bug that only allowed storage selector to work with controller 1 grenades and bullets can both now go around crates but not through girders/platforms stopped players from scrolling outside the safe viewable area replaced all fonts added gunshot sounds replaced grenade explosion sound fixed a visual bug where bullets were coming from below the gun barrel instead of the end of it replaced gun images with clearer graphics music volume reduced during pause game fixed visula bug where enemies and player still animated during pause modified scrolling speeds of different background layers increased hud and font size to account for SDTV resolutions changed player animation to fall when running off a ledge instead of continuing to run replaced foreground tiles for arctic, jungle, and desert levels from the harbor girders reduce enemy reaction time from 1.5 to 0.75 seconds replaced enemy gun from same the same one as the player enemies now only see player if facing the player fixed visual bug where characters changed sizes in different animations allow more detailed animations, code allows animation graphics to be in several rows and columns instead of all in one short row fixed bug, controller doesn't stop vibrating on player death fixed bug, enemy gun shot sounds continue after player death fixed visual bug, gun now appears behind characters when facing left and in front when facing right --Tom Ogburn
I have made a lot of changes since my last post. Video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmdp-sQJnrg&fmt=22. replaced main menu screen graphics player has to plant charges before being allowed to exit mission replaced all the old PSK tiles replaced HUD text with images ("Lives" with player image, "ammo" with clip, etc...) tinted the HUD area moved the gun rotation point from the center of the gun to the players shoulder removed the timer (still limited to 60 minutes before mission failure) controller instructions only display if there is a controller connected (pc) fixed crashing bug when jumping above the top of the level created a map editor- tile map, collisions, and spawn points checkpoints are now scattered throughout levels and are invisible and automatic added more mission status texts and the status HUD re-sizes to fit the text fixed bug where enemies could see player from offscreen added new background music added some new sounds edited some graphics, particularly the player fixed player weapon animation to better align with the player in each player animation --Tom
I'm planning to update the website soon. The biggest thing is I need to add shopping cart functionality for my upcoming releases. Since I'm using an extremely old (2005) version of Community Server and it has worked well, I decided to check on the latest version of it. First, they have a very limited free version now, second they don't list their prices on the website. What I found by searching google made my jaw drop. They are now charging $5,000 to $10,000 or more. There is no way I can pay that kind of money for something, especially if I then have to buy additional modules for the functionality I need (shopping cart). So I'm going to look elsewhere. Probably DotNetNuke with CataLook since it ill be all digital sales and delivery. If any one has any suggestions, drop me an email (Tom at starlit sky games.com) or leave a comment.
Video here-> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAx4Te4yyH8&fmt=22Additions from last alpha: Enemies now shoot back - good luck :) Enemies have a 1.5 second reaction time after they notice you before they shoot
removed wind resistance from grenade for more perfect parabolic flight enemies only chase if they have a direct line of sight (you can hide) replaced background added randomness to enemy shots so they aren't always perfect
switched level 1 and 2 to better showcase background replaced SSG logo code updates to make future additions easier -angles to vectors in a separate class -templatized projectiles -moved gun functions from player class to gun class
deleted a lot of unused code and assets --Tom
Since the last update I sent out to my team on Tuesday, I've made lots of changes and updates. Including the following: Added 'Buy' to pause menu if trial mode (360 only)
'Buy' on main menu if trial mode (360 only)
precision aiming 0-45 degrees (360 and pc with 360 controller only)
slowed autofire (hold button down), fast active fire (button tapping)
fixed floating in player death animation
added empty clip sound
replaced background music
lots of backend code clean up and optimizations
only draw visible items
powerups/collectibles as templates to add others easier
fixed crashing bug when enemies stacked and were shot with 1 bullet
enemies now follow player when visible on screen, otherwise resume patrolling
replaced 2 of 3 enemy graphics, unfortunately they look exactly the
same at small size so I used my elite texturing skills to change 1 to
gray
replaced gem images with a gold bar
changed HUD text color from yellow to red One of the biggest updates is that we now have a youtube channel to showcase development in progress. The most recent video is from the update before this one, but I should be doing a new one in a few days when I get the new background images in place. --Tom
Starlit Sky Games has officially been changed to Starlit Sky Games, LLC as of November 24, 2008. It is registered with the Secretary of State in Texas. It only took 4 business days from the time I filed until they mailed out the certificate, and that wasn't even with their expedited processing.
Island Survival Run is a game I created for the Game 1010 Video Game Programming class at ACC. Screenshots are now in the photo gallery and I will have the game packaged up and ready for download soon. It was made using TorqueX on top of Microsoft's XNA Framework. The art and audio come from the TGB Adventure Kit. Synopsis:
You've been shipwrecked on an island. You must quest to the other
side, surviving 1 day at a time. Your journey is made more difficult
by the roaming natives. Thankfully you have a crossbow and arrows,
unfortunately so do they. Your arrow count is limited, however when
you kill one of the natives you can retrieve your arrows from them.
I just noticed it's been over a year since I've made a front page post. I've made several blog posts (http://www.starlitskygames.com/blogs/), but those don't show up here. I think I'm going to edit the site so all my blog posts show up on the front page. Anyway, recent news is that I'm working on my next company game, as well as working with a group of individuals on another larger game.
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