[really]

I really like your work and will probably contact you a bit later when my next project is further along

I really like this game so far.  My biggest criticism would be that the start is a bit too text-heavy.  In particular, the mole is long-winded enough for a mental comparison to Resetti of Animal Crossing to pop up in my head.

Donkey Kong Country 2&3, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Bros., Mario Paint, Super Mario 64, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (N64), Metroid Prime, Mario Party, Crash Bandicoot 2, Kirby Superstar and probably a lot more I can't think of right now.

I'm actually replaying Metroid Prime right now!

If the decimal bug has something to do with reading from a file, you can just the line as a string, replace all commas with decimals, then convert it to real.

I ran into the same problem with some of my projects.

Just wanted to pop in here and say thanks for releasing this.  I've learned a lot from it and it will help me out with future flash projects

oh, she was always that way towards his games too if i remember -- i kind of wish the top-tier indie developers would respect each other more. konjak hated glum buster and said it was horrible, jon blow thought terry's don't look back was horrible, almost everyone hates tale-of-tales, etc. etc. etc.

That means everyone should be each other's best friends, just because they make games

Sounds good to me.

Deal!

I agree with Auntie when she said (in the comments of her blog):

"passage is neat for what it is - an attempt to lend the videogame death the emotional weight that we associate with the reality of death in our lives - but his more recent work has left me unimpressed with his abilities as a designer, and i find his ideas pretty tiresome. i agree that designers are underusing the medium, but his motivations stem from a quest for cultural validation that i think is ultimately damaging to games - why do we need film critics to tell us that our work has value?"

Though I still have no issue with him becoming an advertiser.  It does seem like an inconsistent move for him (seems to go against his values), but people go against their values all the time.  He's not Jesus.  Maybe he just took a good long look at his life and decided to change.  Maybe his "rich family" finally kicked him off the gravy train.  Or maybe he's a hypocrite.  Regardless, who cares?

Maybe some people just bought into him too much, and now they feel hurt when it turns out he isn't the perfect artist/messiah of prophecy.

I'm finishing up my CompSci degree (from University of Alberta) in 3 semesters (have to take one extra because I only took 3 courses last semester to relax a bit) and I've enjoyed it.  

Taught me all the skills I'll probably ever need for the technical side of game dev.  More importantly I feel like I could now teach myself anything further I need to learn for game dev.

And as a bonus it'll be a good safety net if the whole indie thing doesn't pan out.

I read your post and I don't hate you.  I feel a bit sorry for you, but I know you'll figure it out eventually so pity is pointless. 

Reminds me of being 14.  Everyone goes through this stage.

Whew, I'm glad they aren't necessary!  That shaves a lot off the cost then.  Although the splash screen would bother me a lot, it's not worth the $2400 USD to get rid of it

My mom is huge into alternative medicine, but when she was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, she knew this was real medicine territory and went and got a stem cell transplant.  The cancer is now in remission.

My main reason for distrusting alternative medicine:  If it really worked better than the mainstream version, the drug companies would be harvesting it by the truckload and packaging it as "Advil Natural" for example.  Especially since "natural" is so trendy right now (at least in Canada).

[drastically]

I'm a bit confused about the prices you've given for Unity (or rather, the reason why Unity Pro/iPhone Advanced are required).  On the Unity shop page (https://store.unity3d.com/shop/) they list the indie license as $199.00 USD and the iPhone Basic license as $399.00 (upgradable from the indie license).

I assumed this is because iPhone Advanced would be required, but looking at the license comparison page (http://unity3d.com/unity/licenses), it seems like all the Advanced version has over the basic is "Improved Build Size Stripping".  Is this an essential feature?  Or is it something that Unity Pro has over Unity Indie that is essential? (In which case couldn't you get Untiy Pro + Unity iPhone Basic and save $1100.00 USD?)

The overhead could be drastically reduced if Unity Indie/iPhone Basic were usable.  Then I might actually be able to do this.

Here's a game idea: Derek Yu (in real life) is given a GPS tracker which constantly broadcasts his location to a server somewhere, where no one can access it.  To play, you submit co-ordinates to the site and it tells you how far you are from Derek Yu at that moment.  Closest wins (honor system for only submitting your actual co-ords).

Low scores are wiped every month, and once you win a month you can't play anymore.

Could have another award for furthest from Derek Yu, for another challenge.

Great use of the engine!  Thanks for including a link back to me

Mechanically, I especially liked the room that forced me not to jump - made me look at the layout of the room from a new perspective.  The snow part was also clever and had me stumped for a while.

The truck section in particular reminded me of Messhof's stuff (probably due to the view rotation).

I was about to suggest adding audio, but I realized I accidentally had my PC muted for my playthrough heh.

Yes, it kinda of sucks for us in that 'indie' will be associated with more crappy games.

But Microsoft isn't doing anything wrong or underhanded.  They're labeling the games exactly what they are.  Indie.  They were indie before Microsoft labeled them indie, so they were dragging us down then too.

So complaining about it seems like the equivalent of complaining about new indie devs (not on the XBox) having to make shitty games first as they learn the ropes.  Those shitty games will tarnish the good name of 'indie'!  Down with new indie developers!

All this means is that indie devs will have to market their games based on something other than "it's indie!" which it seems to me like they already are? Any indie game worth marketing will have more bullet points to talk about than just its indie-ness.

It would be awesome if Derek actively hid from him by flying elsewhere, but always leaving obvious clues as to where he went.

I also get this message

[do]

That probably relates to this quote:

If your goal is conversion .. it would be very unwise to target any audience other than children, would it not?

I'd assume your "conversion rate" would be much higher among children than adults, just like is the case with other Christian media and events ("Jesus camps" target exclusively children as far as I know).

The problem with this argument is that it assumes that the best way to convert someone is to brainwash them, since surely few people of sound mind would ever choose to become a Christian in later life? It also assumes that raw numbers is my metric for success. But Jesus taught in the parable of the sower that the success rates for the spread of the word will be pretty low (lots of the sower's seeds fall on rocky ground or the birds snatch it away or it just fails to grow) but that's ok! My job is just to be faithful in my task of explaining the Bible in an understandable and engaging way, perhaps clearing out obstacles that prevent people listening where appropriate, but never to try and "force" that person to believe what they read. That's between them and God, and I trust God to take care of himself in that fight.

I tried my best not to imply that converting children is tantamount to brainwashing (which I do believe (baptizing children before they can even comprehend abstract concepts gets me especially riled up) but that's irrelevant). 

No matter how moral or immoral it is, you're going to convert more people if your game targets children.  That's just the way it is and I know it isn't a contest, but if you can reach more people with your art, why not?  Children tend to be more open to this kind of thing, usually because they don't yet know who they really are, and are looking for a way to define themselves.

From my point of view, stepping in at that time in a child's life is underhanded/brainwashing/etc.  But from a Christian's point of view, why not?  If Christianity really is the one and only right way to live, then you're doing those children a favor by swooping in and showing them how they can define themselves as Christian.

So from a pure "I want to convert lots of people" point of view, you'd have to be crazy not to target children is I guess my point.  I can understand how you wouldn't be concerned with how many people you convert, as long as the game helps someone (the same way I'm not concerned if my games get a million downloads, as long as a few people enjoy it), but given the choice between converting one person and converting 100, it isn't a sin to pick the 100 (if I had a choice between my game reaching 100 people vs. 1, I'd pick 100, especially if those peoples' immortal souls depended on it).

And I still think that your end goal is conversion.  You explain it in a very passive way, but you genuinely believe that if you introduce people to God, God will finish the work.  So you are trying to convert people by introducing them to God.  If you didn't believe that God will finish the job, you'd be taking that extra step.

For Trojan Horsing biblical teachings into pop culture, look at Twilight.

WHAT!?

Really?

On the subject of target audience:

If your goal is conversion (and let's face it, "Letting people get to know the Christian God better" is just a nice way of saying "conversion"), it would be very unwise to target any audience other than children, would it not?

I'd assume your "conversion rate" would be much higher among children than adults, just like is the case with other Christian media and events ("Jesus camps" target exclusively children as far as I know).

Unless your goal is more to rationalize or defend Christianity, then you'd want to shoot for adults I suppose.

(For context on my advice: As far as personal beliefs go, you can probably safely lump me in with Derek as Jesus-loving but anti-religious)