Valet Hustle is on the App Store!

[Eli Delventhal]

Are you wondering what I've been working on for this past... forever (at least it seems like it!)? Trying to figure out why I haven't made a new Java project recently and have been mostly absent from competitions?

Even if you weren't wondering, have a look at:

Valet Hustle
Get it at the App Store

New for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I programmed everything except for most of the main menu and the sound system. And I did it all from scratch in Objective-C. All 3D model loading, OpenGL workings, etc. etc. was me, and a few things were with the help of the JGO community (noticed any of my weird out of place questions?). So thank you all for the help you gave me and just for being around to keep me sane.

And now I'd thank you to buy it and give it a 5-star review. Yeah! Help a fellow JGO-er!

Screenshots:






Website (still in progress, note all the dolor opsum sit ament...)
http://www.valethustle.com/

Once again, app store link:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/valet-hustle/id352179893?mt=8

From the app description:

Imagine a cross between Tetris and Diner Dash, multiplied by one thousand in terms of awesomeness and you have Valet Hustle.

You play the role of Ren or Akira, who run their own valet business. Help build their business and make the move from Tokyo to New York. You have to park cars, pickup customers and solve puzzles against a backdrop of increasingly impatient and wealthy customers.

[Gudradain]

Look very nice. Good job. Too bad I don't have an IPhone 

I like the fact that you review your own game like if you were a random customer . I guess it's marketing.

[Eli Delventhal]

Look very nice. Good job. Too bad I don't have an IPhone 

I like the fact that you review your own game like if you were a random customer . I guess it's marketing.

Hahaha yeah, pretty much. Even if you don't have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can still buy it on iTunes and then review it. It's 99c.

Games published by our own members! Go get 'em!

[Ranger]

Looks awesome!  ...let me know when you port it to Android 

[CommanderKeith]

Nice work! Looks like you put a lot more into it since I saw it a few weeks ago. The mini map is a good idea.

I'll get my flatmate to buy it on his iphone and put in a good review

So what about the disposition of the ladies running the business?

[Eli Delventhal]

Nice work! Looks like you put a lot more into it since I saw it a few weeks ago. The mini map is a good idea.

I'll get my flatmate to buy it on his iphone and put in a good review

So what about the disposition of the ladies running the business?

Haha, well actually you can now choose characters, either a lady or a man, each with unusual dispositions in their own way.

[Eli Delventhal]

We have the website all done for the game:

http://www.valethustle.com/

You can check out a little teaser video here (it's also embedded on the front page of the site):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huvep3HnYhQ&feature=player_embedded

[h3ckboy]

hehe, I just noticed that all of the reviews on the site are by relatives(or just connected to) of the developers

[Eli Delventhal]

hehe, I just noticed that all of the reviews on the site are by relatives(or just connected to) of the developers

Yeah, basically until we get some real ones in. Hahaha.

I did notice a couple reviews / responses today:

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/iPhone-s-Valet-Hustle-Aims-To-Promote-Homosexual-Marriage-23031.html
http://www.queerty.com/the-new-iphone-game-that-has-everything-and-nothing-to-do-with-gay-teens-20100223/

[h3ckboy]

ahh, so that is what you meant by "unusual disposition"??

Games published by our own members! Go get 'em!

[Eli Delventhal]

ahh, so that is what you meant by "unusual disposition"??

Yes.

[Markus_Persson]

This looks very good! I don't own an iPhone, though.

And good job standing up for gay marriage! I get a nagging feeling it's "just" a marketing trick, but as marketing tricks go, this is a far less evil one than most. =)

I'd buy it in a heartbeat if I had an iphone.

[Eli Delventhal]

This looks very good! I don't own an iPhone, though.

And good job standing up for gay marriage! I get a nagging feeling it's "just" a marketing trick, but as marketing tricks go, this is a far less evil one than most. =)

I'd buy it in a heartbeat if I had an iphone.

Actually the main game designer is a big anti-Prop-8 nut, and we all voted against it here in the office (in case you don't know, Prop 8 is the ridiculous BS that was recently passed in California, reversing the decision of the supreme court to make gay marriage legal).

[Orangy Tang]

Looks good.

Also, Kotaku has picked up on it: http://kotaku.com/5479701/valet-hustle-the-game-thats-about-being-gay-but-its-not

[Eli Delventhal]

Looks good.

Also, Kotaku has picked up on it: http://kotaku.com/5479701/valet-hustle-the-game-thats-about-being-gay-but-its-not

Yeah, I just found that today, I was pretty excited. There has actually been a really big amount of news on it, but what's really annoying me is that all of these people are saying "OMG A GAME WITH GAYS (gameplay looks pretty fun)." Not a single one is playing it. Get over the fact that the story is a little different and maybe enjoy the gameplay? Damn.

Anyway, I'm still excited. Apparently 1up and IGN requested review codes. Rawk!

[h3ckboy]

"OMG A GAME WITH GAYS (gameplay looks pretty fun)."

what did you expect, if you make a political statement, ppl are gunna focus on that....

[Eli Delventhal]

what did you expect, if you make a political statement, ppl are gunna focus on that....

I did expect that reaction to some extent, I just wish people would play the game! After all, I worked on gameplay, not the story or the graphics. I want people to see my handiwork!

[Eli Delventhal]

It's also on 1up:

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3178189

Unfortunately, I am now out of a job. The game hasn't been selling nearly enough to even pay daily expenses, so our investors suddenly went stir-crazy and closed us down a couple months before we were even out of money. It's really weird to me, because there are plenty of other ways we could have tried to promote this.

Oh well, I've already got a job offer and some other interviews so I'm not worried, but it's still pretty sad. I was at this company from the ground up for a year and a half, I'm listed as the co-founder, and now poof. So goes venture startups, I guess.

[h3ckboy]

Oh well, I've already got a job offer and some other interviews so I'm not worried, but it's still pretty sad. I was at this company from the ground up for a year and a half, I'm listed as the co-founder, and now poof. So goes venture startups, I guess.

how do you fire a founder?? or did you guys sell your souls to investers?

[Eli Delventhal]

how do you fire a founder?? or did you guys sell your souls to investers?

It's a pretty complicated situation, but even though I was a founder I don't have any ownership if the company. The two owners (a co-founder and an investor), through a lot of complicatedness that I won't go into, decided to fold the company over. But in the end it all comes down to the fact that the company was out of money and even when there were hundreds of Google results (stories or reposted stories) about Valet Hustle, it sold at max 92 copies in one day. Daily fees at the company were at least $1000 / day, so you can see why it was pretty quickly decided to cut and run. I still think we had other opportunities to have a hit (especially because we have pretty much only gotten good reviews), but oh well.

I'm off to more likely to succeed and higher paying opportunities.

[Riven]

I'm off to more likely to succeed and higher paying opportunities.

Well, first, sorry to hear that, but yes, the gaming market is tough. People expect things to be free. So what will happen to the game itself?

Futher, if you really want a higher paying job, learn databases and J2EE. It's mundane, but it the pay is insane. Expect to work with idiots.
The fantastic, creative, financially viable projects that actually require programmer braincells and are not doomed to fail, are few and far between.

[CommanderKeith]

Great job getting 2 published titles under your belt in that short time, that will be a big help on your resume/CV. I wish I had that experience, and I'm sure I'm not the only one here.

The fantastic, creative, financially viable projects that actually require programmer braincells and are not doomed to fail, are few and far between.

Sounds tempting when you put it like that! 

[noblemaster]

I am sorry to hear that! Although, as I programmer I wouldn't worry too much about finding a new job. You definitely seem to know what you are doing 

I generally think the iPhone market is overhyped. It's been saturated for a long time now. Unless you are lucky, it's hard to make much money with it. I have the exact same app on Android and iPhone, but my sales are way better on the Android platform...

[Eli Delventhal]

Yeah, I'm not particularly worried. And I do know that there are a lot of other much better paying fields for a software engineer to get into, but I've already decided that I want to stay in game development. It's fun and it's a rush at the same time. These two games on my CV are definitely helping me already! Before I had them I probably got responses from 1/25 jobs I applied for (and jobs offered at 1/100) but now I already have one offer and several interviews. I'm 5/5 on responses. It's an amazing difference. Naturally knowing people in the industry to forward your resume along is a big help also, but it's a combination, I think, as I'm also getting good responses from strangers.

I'm both surprised and not surprised to hear that you're getting better sales on Android. I think it all depends on marketing. A game with little marketing on the Android will do far better than one on iPhone, but a game with good marketing on the iPhone will do much, much, better than its Android counterpart. In the end I think it's all a gamble, really.

[Eli Delventhal]

I thought I would mention:

I am now working at a better company for a bigger paycheck. Hooray! Today is my third day.

The company is ngmoco:) they made a lot of the big hits on the iPhone. I'm working on the game "Godfinger" that is in beta in Canada right now, soon to be released elsewhere. I'll be the "Live Engineer" on it after release, which means adding new features and keeping it running smoothly, basically.