Dr Mal: Practice of Horror
Community Forums/Showcase/Dr Mal: Practice of Horror
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| Hello. Just a quick note that my new game has been released today to BigFishGames GameClub members (non members can get it from tomorrow). PC version Mac version Screenshots:     Last edited 2012 |
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| Just watched the video, looks smashing!!! :) Well done me auld fraggle! ;) Dabz |
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| Oh, by the way. Mentioned previously that I'd post some "concept" stuff. I call this masterpiece "What I Asked For, What I Got": What I Asked For (I can actually draw a lot better than this - this 30-second scrawl just needed to get the layout across!):  What I got:  What it now looks like:  |
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| I like the pictures, and just from the screenshots it looks quite interesting (and a little macabre - but I like that) - is it a card game? I'm not usually one to play card games....but this could tempt me...perhaps... |
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| I like it, played it on BFG for a while I'm not really into card games but it was fun :P Looks the part too :) |
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| Great job Dave! Love the twist on the old Solitaire game :) |
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| this looks fantastic!! |
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| Congrats, Dave. Hope it does really well for you :) |
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| Thx! Don't think it's "macabre", really. Might give that impression if that's what you associate with doctors and stuff, though. But the colours are bright, the patients are silly, as is the doctor - bit of a cross between Nick Riviera and Dr Emmett Brown, and it's all put across in a completely silly and harmless way. I think it's tricky doing medical stuff as you don't want to gross people out and you just don't want to be going near the real nasty diseases of this world - definitely need to find where the line is drawn and stay just the right side of it. I've got a bit of real stuff in there like Nomophobia (addiction to using mobile phones) but the majority are just silly made-up stuff i.e. Deep Vein Trombonist, Boogie Fever, Fumdiddlyosis and so on. Plus all the characters have silly names that relate to their ailment, example; one character suffers from Explosive Acne Syndrome - he's called Stan Wellbeck (stand well back), guy with Golfer's Elbow is called Sandy Trapp etc. |
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| Well done man! :) |
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| hi GfK - oh...I kind of got the impression from the chainsaw and the axe and bloodied saw that it was kind of a humorous yet macabre take on mad horror surgery..going by the name as well...but I guess that wouldn't go down well with the Big Fish market....fair enough...my imagination kind of ran wild with those screenshots.. |
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| lol very nice. Solitaire and match 3 games programming sometimes gets a bad press here. But the humour, creativity and great graphics must have made the project satisfying to work on. All the best with it. [Edit] Bought it. Last edited 2012 |
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| Thanks Steve. I can afford a packet of Asda own-brand wafer-thin processed turkey-quiff slices for my Christmas dinner now. :) This year, I EAT LIKE A KING! [edit] Just realised that sounded sarcastic - I really didn't mean it that way, I'm just arsing about! I appreciate every single sale I get. Last edited 2012 |
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| Haha, no probs...not sure if Asda do their own, but another couple of sales and you could pop to Tesco and buy some Tesco lager too! :) [Edit] Oh I do get your humour, I know you were mucking about lol...actually I shop at Asda, might see if they DO actually sell their own alcohol - and buy twice as much for the Asda price! Last edited 2012 |
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| This year, I EAT LIKE A KING! I hope you mean next year, and not the 13 days left in this year. Anyhoo I bought your game for my sister she like solitaire games :P |
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| Thanks. Hope the intro doesn't scare the crap out of her. :) |
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| lol the intro was cool - reminded me of the adventure games of the past like Day of the Tenticle or something - as did the cartoon graphics...artist did well from your scrawl haha. |
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| #1 card game on PC today, #3 on Mac. |
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| Congrats GfK! Well-deserved rankings. |
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| Get in there! |
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| It looks great Gfk. Very well done indeed :) |
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| Yeah, no surprise it's number 1 card game, the artwork and music is a few notches above your previous games for a start. Shouldn't it be on the BB Front page? And what we joked about earlier, it seems Asda do make their own lager - a poxy 2% proof though haha. |
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| Gfk hasnt done the "looks" - he is the man behind the scenes and father of the logic... so better say "the gameplay is nice" :D. Instead of sales rankings I am way more interested in kind of financing details - so things like how the artist was paid (per background, per sprite sheet...) how this all progressed until the release. Maybe an "estimation" of how much money to plan for graphics ("per background" or animation - and for changes you want the artist to do). Also "amount of work" in days/weeks is a nice thing to know. Nethertheless: good luck with your sales and may the work pay out. bye Ron |
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| 2%?! Their lemonade is stronger than that! Front page.... Yes. Yes it should. Will submit it sometime if i think about it. |
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| Gfk hasnt done the "looks" - he is the man behind the scenes and father of the logic... so better say "the gameplay is nice" :D. I already did with my first post lol. End of the day a solitaire game is a solitaire game - but Dave added his unique twist on it...like I already said in my first post :) 2%?! Their lemonade is stronger than that! lmao yeah I had to look several times...and several more. A lot cheaper no doubt (I didn't even bother looking as I was eye-balling the 2% proof). But you need 50 cans to get a little tipsy. Yeah front page with the eye catching artwork could be a good move. Last edited 2012 |
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| So what was the original intro Dave? You said you changed it to be more PG. |
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| In the original, Dr Mal was carrying a hatchet and a scalpel. I replaced the hatchet with a sink plunger (which i drew all by myself, Derron), and a chomping beaver (chosen at random each run). Also rounded the pointy end of the scalpel to make it look more spoonlike. So really, just made the final scene of the intro less menacing! |
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| Not like this then? ;) http://youtu.be/QiAonyJIV_A |
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| Well done Dave - another one out the door! Hope it goes well for you mate! |
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| Something a bit worrying is that the current no.1 card game is Strike Solitaire, and no.2 is Fairway, and only Strike Solitaire is in the top 100 at position 88. Could this mean the solitaire glory days are over? |
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| It's not really surprising though at this time of year, with the usual glut of Christmas games resurfacing. The sheer number of collector's editions doesn't help, either - currently 32 in the top 100 alone, and of course it means that with collectors and standard editions, the same game ends up in the top 100 twice. |
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| Yeah good point about all the CE versions clogging it up. |
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| Purchased and downloading. Let us know how you get on :D |
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| which i drew all by myself, Derron sorry :-). bye Ron |
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| Just played it and completed 1 5th of the trinkets. I really like the theme and the conditions are fun. My only comment so far would be that the whack-a-mole gets a little hard to whack and just becomes a clickfest. Are all of your animated aspects done in code or some other way? |
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| Haha great art work...look pretty cool! |
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| >>>Are all of your animated aspects done in code or some other way? Yeah it's all code. The intro/outro (which nobody's probably seen yet) use a scene class i wrote, which lets you programatically add images, coord pairs, oscillators (for object motion etc), vectors, audio triggers and things. So although it's all hard-coded, i can easily get in there and change bits. Oh, and if anybody's bought it, please do a review on BFG! It was predicted average score of 3.8, and its close to that at 3.6 right now. Be nice to get it nearer to 4. :) |
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| Could this mean the solitaire glory days are over? Nope, I dont think so. LoS got up to number 9 in the Top 100 for PC and number 8 in the Top 100 for Mac. Also Emerland Solitaire did very well too (in the top 10 of the top 100). |
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| Oh, and if anybody's bought it, please do a review on BFG I already did, gave it 5 stars a few days ago :P |
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| lol the characters look like the simpsons. |
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| Congratz, GfK! Wish I had your clarity of mind when it comes to getting things done. It's almost like an unstoppable force. A quick question: What made you think of the theme for the game; it's awesome. :) |
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| I started doing my own artwork on a medical theme, all totally serious stuff. But after I'd done the cardset, i decided to set a budget and see about sourcing it out, as i just don't have enough artistic talent. I sent a sketch (similar to the crap above) and the artists version came back as a pair of horrible hairy legs with gnarled toes and cracked nails etc - loved the style, and decided to set the whole game around a mild comedy-horror theme. Most of the diseases are silly, but with names based or real ailments, i.e. Deep Vein Trombonist, Yellow Diva Fever, Percussion Concussion etc, and most patients have a name loosely related to their ailment for example the guy suffering from Cheesy Feet is called Wesley Dale (wensleydale). The guy with Boogie Fever is called Dan Saul-Knight (dance all night). All good, harmless fun. :) |
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| Great looking Game GfK - congratulations, love the artwork. Downloading now - The intro screen to the game is very atmospheric. Last edited 2012 |
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| Well for me the graphics were top notch - so glad you found a good artist for future projects. The theme didn't bother me in the slightest, but if your main audience is middle aged women (apparently lol) then I can see why the bloodied saw on the wall and such could be off putting. One thing I didn't like was how easy the game was. I know I wasn't alone on that. It seems casual gamers (and I'm one at times) don't like to lose. Personally I don't mind losing as it keeps it challenging and interesting. Hopefully you'll be able to take your next game to a few more gold coins, or plastic pounds if we get the aussie plastic coated notes...apparently we are. [Edit] And to be honest, the price I paid for this cool little game was peanuts. Hope a few more guys here pick up a copy. It demonstrates a real polish, sense of humour and something different. Something to stick in your own projects. Last edited 2012 |
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| Very well made game! Great quality Gfk! |
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| I havent had the time to play it yet, though, come tomorrow night after work, I'll be installing it with 8 cans of Fosters by my side and give it a ruddy good bash!!! :) But, until then, it does look indeed gorgeous mind!!! Dabz |
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| I havent had the time to play it yet, though That's funny, because it has you in QA credits :P |
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| Play it all (I should of said, lol)... There was a few things missing when i had a look at it, it wasn't totally complete! ;) Dabz Last edited 2012 |
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| Had a few requests for links to the intro sequence for promo stuff, so I just put it up on YouTube: |
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| How is the game going GFK? Have you had a good number of downloads/customers? |
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| Plodding along, not a huge hit. The medical theme hasn't really resonated with people (despite the fact that it's all 'tongue-in-cheek') with one person even calling the artwork "disgusting". Tad harsh, I thought! The launch date being so close to Christmas hasn't helped any, either. I could really have done with an October/Halloween launch but I lost so much time early on doing my own artwork that I completely missed the boat there, and couldn't afford to just sit on the game for the next ten months waiting for Halloween to arrive again. I'll be pushing for a marketing revival next October, though! :) |
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| I'm not in to this kind of game but I just want to compliment you on the graphic style, I think this looks fantastic. |
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| That's bad to hear. I hope it picks up next ..errr, this year! Did you cover the costs of development at least? I thought the theme was good, disgusting is a little exaggerated! |
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| Yeah development costs (the money I spent) has already come back. It will be a little while longer before my actual development time is paid for as we're talking about almost a year of work. But i'm not out of pocket with it. :) |
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| Yeah development costs (the money I spent) has already come back. Well that's a bit of a relief I'm sure. And based on lessons learnt - time of release and so on, not too bad - and a good looking game produced! Plus the opportunity to market it again at a later date. |
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| Yea, let's just say I have a lot of options remaining open. Initial launch is always just the beginning. |
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| Perhaps you could address some issues and re-launch. Like the bloodied floor scene as you see each new patient, personally doesn't bother me, but I could see some of the casual gaming scene being put off a bit - and up the difficulty, maybe an option in-menu. But personally, I'm always impressed to see the guys here getting a commercial product out the door. Anybody here can write something, but to get a company to publish your completed work and people dig in their pockets and pay for it is something else. |
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| Gfk, maybe you could just have a "less gore" option. Have some different screens/graphics that appear if someone wants it to be more pleasant. Not that it bothers me any. Last edited 2013 |
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| I love the theme personally, but I could see someone like my Mom that plays casual games might be slightly put off. I actually think the less gore option would be a good idea and have it turned on by default and it probably wouldn't require much extra work. |
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| Well done that man, excellent-looking stuff...! |
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| I'm working on an update right now which removes most of the gory stuff, and also makes the earlier levels a little more difficult (and much more difficult on the Tricky difficulty setting). The thing with the gore is, I'm actually colorblind and I thought that the gory stuff was fairly subtle - it really didn't look very gruesome to me. My wife has had a crash course in Photoshop this morning and got to work with selective colouring to reduce the amount of blood. There are still some marks there but it doesn't look like blood any more. I've also removed the blood from the axe and saw, and tweaked the images on a couple of the cards. Missed the boat right now for release-time sales but me and Dr Mal are in it for the long game. :) Before (Mal is mid-blink - I didn't make him Japanese):  After:  |
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| The edits look nice. The original artist probably did them in a program with layers so if you have the source files you could probably just delete a layer. But I do think what you did, it really works well. |
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| ... |
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| That's better - especially the saw. If you use the lasso tool with say a 5 pixel feather selection - then just drag the color balance slider from red to cyan you could remove even more blood. Link |
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| Can't see that pic, but I don't want it *totally* clean - there still needs to be, shall we say, a hint of residue. The idea for the surgery came from the movie Batman (the first one, 1987?), where The Joker gets his plastic surgery at some dodgy-looking surgeon in a back-street basement. So having it clean (even as clean as it now is) kinda spoils that feel, for me. |
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| Grr, fighting with dropbox here - it was showing, now it's not. Yeah I could see where you got the inspiration lol, so fair enough just toning it down a little. |
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| Update for PC version is available now! |
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| ...and here's the updated Mac version! |
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| @GfK (Dave): This is absolutely the best card game I have ever played! Within minutes of sitting down and playing the 60 minute version on BFG, I was hooked. Awesome release. :D |
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| Thanks. Wait til you see the next one! ;) |
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| Another card game or something else? |
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| Another card game or something else? Another card game, but designed by somebody else. Which is nice because other than the typical nocturnal flashes of inspiration, I don't have to come up with the raw ideas. Also, it will be my 18th PC game, and quite likely my last for a while at least, as I want to broaden my horizons a bit. Taking a well-earned holiday in two weeks time and no doubt I'll be pondering the future during my down-time. Apart from two weeks around Scotland last year I haven't had a 'proper' holiday in almost eight years (and that was to Egypt where I got a truly biblical bout of, shall we say, "intestinal distress"), so it'll be nice to get away for a while. |
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| Less work, and a (proper) holiday to follow. All good. You'll be back...afterall Arnie is apparently making Terminator 5 lol...That's quite an achievement 18 games. The Stock Aitken and Waterman of the PC games industry haha. |
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| I have found that if there is any way you can do it, a vacation is essential regularly to recharge. I think a lot people don't realize how important it is. Lately I have been taking one week with the kids, one week with my Mom and brothers(kid free to really relax) and then my wife and I try to take several 3 day weekend trips during the year. |
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| I really like the GFX. NICE work man! PSY |
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| Fairway got remade as far as I can tell. I downloaded it on my iPad and it's nothing like the BMax version. I think they replaced it. |
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| Fairway Solitaire was coded by Jake (GA) and then the sequel was made, called Fairway, BFG then removed Fairway Solitaire for some reason. |
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| BFG then removed Fairway Solitaire for some reason. lol, yeah - business, and he had left their employment. |
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| and he had left their employment. Jake wasnt employed by them at the time he wrote Fairway Solitaire as an independent contractor for them. But yeah, they removed it due to business reasons... |
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| But the game being removed equals no royalties for Jake, which sucks IMO. |
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| But the game being removed equals no royalties for Jake, which sucks IMO. What makes you so sure he was getting royalties in the first place? |
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| Why does every thread about my games end up talking about Fairway bleedin' Solitaire? :/ [edit] No offence, Grey Alien. |
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| I wonder how much Chroma was paid to hijack this thread to promote Fairway Solitaire (offense intended)? |
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| haha, should be interesting if the Blitz meet-up ever happens lmao :D [ground rules] Beer and no talking about card games lol ;) |
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| Now i know gaming is dead. Blitz meet up count me in. |
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| Now i know gaming is dead. is that a threat? Blitz meet up count me in. |
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| @GFK: Now your wife has had a crash course in Photoshop will she be doing the artwork for your next project? |
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| Nah, still have to pay people for that. ;) |
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| is that a threat? The one talking about "beer" and "uk" in the same context did that already. :p. But hey... your beer tastes better than American or French one... be proud. (I have grown up with our German beer and some bohemian pivo.) PS: I did not want to go that offtopic after Steve's post about "ground rules" but now I am not the only one doing it. PPS: Any news you (GfK) want to share with us: concerning how sales are going, experience concerning sales vs. sales price. Short: noteable anecdotes ;D. bye Ron |
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| http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=100091 Back on thread PPS: Any news you (GfK) want to share with us: concerning how sales are going, experience concerning sales vs. sales price. Short: noteable anecdotes ;D. That would be interesting, yes. |
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| PPS: Any news you (GfK) want to share with us: concerning how sales are going, experience concerning sales vs. sales price. Short: noteable anecdotes ;D. I should probably do a postmortem on it really, I learned a hell of a lot from it. I can't give any specific details on dollars and cents, though.The first version featured bloodstains on the level select screen (doctors surgery), and that really grossed people out. I released an update which got rid of a lot of it, and also increased the difficulty on early levels as a number of people thought it was too easy. Even so, medically themed games are a bit of a risk. I put in lots of humor to offset that, but it didn't really resonate as much as I would have liked and many people just went "medical game? Eww!! Run away!". For those who bother to look, it has illnesses like Deep Vein Trombonist, Boogie Fever, Old Crone's Disease etc, and each of the characters has a name that loosely corresponds to their illness; i.e. the guy who has Boogie Fever is called Dan Saul-Knight. Sales? It's doing OK, plodding along. Figures so far are completely eclipsed by Crime Solitaire sales, but it's making money and will continue to do so for a while yet. One interesting point, is that it has a very high conversion rate - higher than any game I've done so far, meaning a lot of people who actually DO download and try it, end up buying it. The sticking point is the number of actual downloads, which I attribute to the game's theme. |
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| PPS: Any news you (GfK) want to share with us: concerning how sales are going, experience concerning sales vs. sales price. Short: noteable anecdotes ;D. I should probably do a postmortem on it really, I learned a hell of a lot from it. I can't give any specific details on dollars and cents, though.The first version featured bloodstains on the level select screen (doctors surgery), and that really grossed people out. I released an update which got rid of a lot of it, and also increased the difficulty on early levels as a number of people thought it was too easy. Even so, medically themed games are a bit of a risk. I put in lots of humor to offset that, but it didn't really resonate as much as I would have liked and many people just went "medical game? Eww!! Run away!". For those who bother to look, it has illnesses like Deep Vein Trombonist, Boogie Fever, Old Crone's Disease etc, and each of the characters has a name that loosely corresponds to their illness; i.e. the guy who has Boogie Fever is called Dan Saul-Knight. Sales? It's doing OK, plodding along. Figures so far are completely eclipsed by Crime Solitaire sales, but it's making money and will continue to do so for a while yet. One interesting point, is that it has a very high conversion rate - higher than any game I've done so far, meaning a lot of people who actually DO download and try it, end up buying it. The sticking point is the number of actual downloads, which I attribute to the game's theme. |
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| This looks fantastic! |
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| Thanks for some insights. So for the financial facts I was also interested in "not-a-number" things like months-it-took to pay the development costs (if it already does) or if you would better describe the income as a "payback" of monthly income you did not get during the development period (hope I translated that understandable :D). Younger ones would ask the same using: "Can you get rich from that game" hehe. Also of interest: what about bug reports/feature requests (also concerning having a 3rd party in the boat - the gameportals). bye Ron |
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| So for the financial facts I was also interested in "not-a-number" things like months-it-took to pay the development costs (if it already does) or if you would better describe the income as a "payback" of monthly income you did not get during the development period (hope I translated that understandable :D). The development costs (and beyond) were easily covered in the first month. You're right that I've been effectively working on the game 'for free' for six months, but Crime Solitaire is still selling so I had money coming in from that, so it's not like I was sitting around a candle for heat at night and eating bread and cold beans out of a can. Younger ones would ask the same using: "Can you get rich from that game" hehe. I'm not doing it to get rich. If I get rich, I have to pay the taxman 40% of everything I earn (above a set threshold). Why would I want to do that? This is precisely why I set up Desktop Gaming Ltd. They (as an entity) get all the money, they pay my salary, they pay 20% corporation tax on what's left, and I can regulate my salary so I don't end up being worse off.It's no secret that I'm in it for the money - if I wasn't making money I wouldn't be doing it, because "for the love of it" isn't enough any more and hasn't been for a long time. I'd like to buy a nice big house outright one day - just so I never have to pay rent or a mortgage again, and get a house that's "right" so I never have to move again. That's not being greedy or capitalist - just making my long-term existence a little easier. Also of interest: what about bug reports/feature requests (also concerning having a 3rd party in the boat - the gameportals). The really wasn't anything to report. The game engine is kind of a 2nd gen Crime Solitaire so it was fairly solid to start with. The only major issue I've had was when I added in some ResizePixmap stuff to handle splash screens that were smaller than 1024x768 - this fell flat on it's arse on systems with ATI mobile chipsets but that problem didn't surface until Gamehouse examined it (all my hardware is Intel or Nvidia, and it was fine on that). |
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| Again... thanks for some insights. @splash screens: i remember that there was a time with multiple assets given for different resolution "steps" (all below 800x600 get X, all above get Y - so you can still have certain things on it in "recognizeable" size). @getting rich: I did not mean to ask you that, it was just a short phrase in the case you did not get the sense of the longer sentence. But building up an LTD is not that hard than building up the equivalent in Germany (the GmbH - to found it you have to guarantee the company to pay up to 25.000euros in the case of costs, 12.500 of that you really have to pay to the company, founding is connected to bureaucracy and costs likely more than 1.000euros just for the papers)... As this is really expensive many freelancers or "small self-employed" ones like me are having much more risk in case of penalties, unwanted costs (eg. sued for copyright infringement - although you did not know about the problem before the lawyers letter :p). But this will get offtopic now... Thanks again. bye Ron |
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| Dr Mal just released on Gamehouse for PC and Mac! http://www.gamehouse.com/download-games/dr-mal-practice-of-horror |
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| Nice news :) Are there any game sites left that just let you download the games without having to install their 'marketing toy' installers? Sorry if that sounds grumpy but I have my reasons. /NegativeSpin:OFF |
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| Congrats Dave :) |
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| @Gfk: I know this is a bit pedantic but... I've got a bit of real stuff in there like Nomophobia (addiction to using mobile phones) ... Nomophobia would be a fear of using mobile phones. Anything ending in phobia is a fear, ending in mania is an addiction or love of. E.G. Nymphomania, addiction to sex. Arachnophobia, a fear of spiders. Kleptomania, addiction to stealing stuff. Aquaphobia, fear of water (also associated with Rabies). You can change the suffix to change the meaning, like Nymphophobia, a fear of sex! Arachnomania, a love of spiders. And so on :) |
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| @Gfk: I know this is a bit pedantic but... Nomophobia would be a fear of using mobile phone. It is pedantic, a little condescending, and also wrong. Nomophobia is fear of being *without* a mobile phone. |
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| congratz on the 100th post on unwell mel. I did not know not having a mobile has made it into the phobias. Jeez, there is no justice, I still have cassette tapes knocking about. |
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| @Gfk: Was not meant to be condescending, just informational. Sorry if I appear condescending, not intentional :) Ok, I did not look up Nomophobia to see what it actually was but have now. The term Nomophobia, an abbreviation for "no-mobile-phone phobia", was coined by the UK Post Office after a study into various causes of anxiety. It is not an official term. Given that, it's actually a fear of being out of mobile phone contact. Not just being without your phone but also having no signal or dead battery, etc. This is not the same as an addiction to a mobile phone but the media has incorrectly adopted it to mean that. |
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| Like this type of game or not, it's been the best version I've tried. |
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| Like this type of game or not, it's been the best version I've tried. Indeed. I love the humor aspect and the graphics are fantastic. |
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| Hello For the non-English speaking solitaire lovers among you (and I know there's thousands of you), Dr Mal has just been released over at Zylom in French, Spanish, Italian, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch and Swedish. http://www.zylom.com |
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| Congrats on the new exposure. |
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