Revenge of the Titans

[princec]

No idea what Markus' contribution distribution was but any way you look at it it's a really nice gesture

So it looks like we will finally realise the dream of being able to work full-time on a game, which is fantastic. We're doing a multiplayer game next, but not a very normal one, and I'll be posting details up as soon as we've agreed what we're going to do. I expect we'll have an alpha ready by next Christmas seeing as we've got a whole year to ourselves to do it (well, assuming sales of HIB#2 continue on at the cracking rate they're at). I did think of multiplayer RoTT ideas but the game is architected in such a crappy way that would be stunningly hard to achieve, and besides, what would the other player actually be doing?

The Ultrabundle is selling a few copies on the back of it all which is also nice, though it's just pocket money really as it's so cheap.

Cas

[kappa]

what would the other player actually be doing?

Ideas for multiplayer:
1) Each players base on either side of the map, endless hoard of enemies attack, last man standing wins
2) You could even have a cooperate player matches, e.g. 2v2 where each player has a base on a corner of the map, enemies spawn in the middle and players on the same team can shares funds with each other. Again, last player(s) standing win.
3) Players buy enemies to send at the other base while at the same time defending their own.
4) DOTA style maps, where you control portals, the more you control the more enemies attack the other side.

[princec]

Meh, we have far more awesome ideas than that for the new game

Cas

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[kappa]

Meh, we have far more awesome ideas than that for the new game

Cas

ah, was referring them for ROTT multiplayer but anyway cool to hear the new game will be even better

[princec]

Well, IMHO of course No doubt everybody will be heavily influencing it throughout its development...

Cas

[cylab]

4) DOTA style maps, where you control portals, the more you control the more enemies attack the other side.

I actually like the idea. But you would have to add RTS style moving units to conquer and defend the portals against the other players. Would be like adding a parallel gameplay.

Edit: or maybe not, simply add a way to guide the gydrahs to strategically important points.
Edit2: and make this work on android

[Eli Delventhal]

Congratulations, Cas! Really awesome. I hope to be joining the ranks of self-supported indie devs sometime in the nearish future. Gotta start getting a hell of a lot better at completing games first, though...

CAS - I THINK FOR MULTIPLAYER YOU SHOULD HAVE PEOPLE ABLE TO DROP ATOMIC BOMBS ON THEIR ENEMIES AND HAVE GHOSTS THAT CAN TURN INVISIBLE AND ALIENS INSIDE ARMOR CALLED DRAGOONS

[appel]

Pretty cool, nearly 100 thousand bundles sold, $700 K dollars. If it's all according to the default split, about 68% of that goes to the game devs, or roughly $470K. Five games, you do the math.

Not bad for a few days.

Looks like we know what notch will be doing over his xmas holiday, playing freshly bought indie games nice one.

[princec]

So far, the Humble Indie Bundle has paid for 7 months of development. RotT was in development for 3 years, so it ain't much of a success yet.

Also, it's rather sad that if it weren't for the bundle, Revenge only made $20,000 otherwise. You do the maths... 3 years development, 3 developers. It's taken an unprecedented internet phenomenon just to pay for a fifth of the development. This sucks really. It's also sorta depressing to read on cesspits like TIGsource that people are actually complaining about the picture of the starving indie developer as being untrue if you donate less than a buck. Really, utterly, completely missing the point. Sometimes I just hate people.

Cas

[appel]

So far, the Humble Indie Bundle has paid for 7 months of development. RotT was in development for 3 years, so it ain't much of a success yet.

Also, it's rather sad that if it weren't for the bundle, Revenge only made $20,000 otherwise. You do the maths... 3 years development, 3 developers. It's taken an unprecedented internet phenomenon just to pay for a fifth of the development. This sucks really. It's also sorta depressing to read on cesspits like TIGsource that people are actually complaining about the picture of the starving indie developer as being untrue if you donate less than a buck. Really, utterly, completely missing the point. Sometimes I just hate people.

Cas

Yes, if you put it up like that, it's not yet something you can survive on. Hopefully the sales won't flatline when all this is over.

It's too easy to dwell on the hypothetical. The game is a success in my head, maybe not in cash terms, yet, but in other aspects.

But perhaps this requires thinking about the marketing/sales model you're using to sell your games. A stand-alone singleplayer is an outdated product concept? It seems multiplayer-community-oriented games are much more popular, and sell a lot more. (This is something I'm thinking about every day for my game I'm working on). Well, at least that seems to be what you're going to do next anyway.

Ok, I think I'm way off topic now I really like Eli's idea about a nuke-bomb-dropping game...hmm....

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[princec]

Yeah in many ways, it's a success, but increasingly the only yardstick is financially. It sounds really breadhead sell-out un-hippy un-cool anti-indie but the bottom line is that people show you how good your game is by laying money on the line for it. And an indie dev company survives on money, not compliments. No money - no more games.

Cas

[Abuse]

How do revenue streams for content hosted on Steam work?

From the perspective of a cheapskate like myself, Steam seems to be a fantastic way of achieving impulse purchases that you would otherwise never get.
In my case they've sold me 64 budget/indy titles that I otherwise would have never bought!

[princec]

Steam's a crafty sales generator. We'll be on Steam soon with Revenge, and I hope to maybe scrape $1,000 a month from it over the course of the year.

Cas

[kappa]

no plans to appear on live, psn or wiiware? any of the Ultrabundle games would work pretty nicely on consoles.

[princec]

Ultratron 360 been out for ages on XBLIG. Titan Attacks 360 is already done just not released. Paul Cunningham did the ports to XNA. He's just started on Droid Assault which will feature 4 player Gauntlet style co-op.

If we do well with HIB2 I might contract out someone to port Revenge to iOS. It won't be easy.

Cas

[Eli Delventhal]

If we do well with HIB2 I might contract out someone to port Revenge to iOS. It won't be easy.

*Raises hand*

That is, if I satisfy my dreams of quitting my job and trying to fend for myself. Which very well could happen. Anyway, look me if you decide to do this, I've got good experience porting Java to iPhone, and I basically breathe Objective-C at this point (it means I get sick a lot).

[Nate]

I finally got around to buying and playing RotT. Very nicely polished! Impressive. A little feedback:

I found the first boss too difficult. I can stop the swarm that comes from every side and do about 75% damage to the boss, but I can't kill it. Reducing the level difficulty after losing is not an option IMO!

I would like tooltips for the options I cannot buy. Without this, I can't formulate a plan for what upgrades to buy, I have to buy blindly.

[erikd]

Having this on PSN would be great and I hear it's quite a good market, but it's not easy to get there.
Some ideas to help make Sony interested:
* Make it great with a dualshock (or similar).
* Lay out a plan of what the control scheme would be like with the PS Move controller.

In any case, RooT should not become a 'Mini' but should be a full PSN game.
It might seem like a long shot, but I really feel Puppygames has got a lot to show for (awards, quality & polish), and I seriously think RooT would really suit PSN!

[princec]

PSN have already contacted us about our games. Unfortunately... they all need porting to C++ to work. Hmm.

Cas

[kappa]

PSN have already contacted us about our games. Unfortunately... they all need porting to C++ to work. Hmm.

Cas

Maybe you could try compile the jre on ps3? at least the core bits, might be easier then porting the whole game (including for future games).

[princec]

You jest surely!

Cas

[Nmb910]

I bought this out of the Indie bundle, and it won't go past the lading screen. D:

[princec]

However did you get this far You need new graphics drivers!

Cas

[erikd]

Unfortunately... they all need porting to C++ to work. Hmm.

So what's stopping you?

[princec]

Being incredibly busy I'm doing about 50 support emails a day at the moment as well as fixing buglets, tweaking, releasing, blog managing, and generally being flat out all the time. Then I need to get everything ready for Steam, then I need to start designing the New Game, and so on...

Cas

[appel]

Being incredibly busy I'm doing about 50 support emails a day at the moment as well as fixing buglets, tweaking, releasing, blog managing, and generally being flat out all the time. Then I need to get everything ready for Steam, then I need to start designing the New Game, and so on...

Cas

Oh wow, you actually need to support the stuff you're selling. That's an eye opener  

Somehow I thought it was like this:
1. Release a great game
2. Money flows in
3. Early retirement somewhere sunny

[kappa]

Oh wow, you actually need to support the stuff you're selling. That's an eye opener  

Blizzard aren't top dogs for no apparent reason

[princec]

In the first 24 hours of release I had ~300 support requests come in :/

Cas

[delt0r]

Out of curiosity, what is the most common "support" problem you have?

[ChouChou]

I have to say this game looks totally awesome, love the art too!