Well, I said that because I understood the debate was about whether the developers get their fair share. That made me think it is important for you to know what is the share of the specific developer you are buying from.
Hmm, but I think I am getting your point. You want to have a minimal amount of knowledge about the service before you support it. You don't know what kind of deals steam make, but it's unlikely it varies that much.
With the royal bundle, you don't have ANY information about the deal.

To be honest, I am sure the developers earn more than if they would have sold their game on their website or the traditional way. So I don't think the developers would be unhappy with it.
Well it all boils down to if you believe into indie portals should be completely transparent and open or not.
Probably the best thing would be that something like indievana would be very popular. I would think.

Why would you have an issue with this bundle and not with steam? for instance? Steam also take their share. I believe you can't tell the deal developers have with steam either. As far as I can tell.
So what's the difference all of a sudden?

this part isn't true. we pretty much know that steam takes 30%, and that that's standard for most developers. i wouldn't buy from steam if i knew it was 70% like some portals take, but 30% isn't so bad

Are you sure that is the deal for everyone? Or just for the more successful ones? How many developers reported that was the deal?
I just got the feeling that you sign some sort of NDA with steam regarding the deal, read it once somewhere, though I am not sure.

Did any of you actually try to email\ask the Desura guys or whoever runs this what are the developers' share?
I get the feeling that if you ask the Desura guys they might answer you.
And as people mentioned, you can always buy straight from the developer(assuming they also sell their game via their website).
I just don't see this bundle as any different than selling your game on a portal such as steam and etc.
Why would you have an issue with this bundle and not with steam? for instance? Steam also take their share. I believe you can't tell the deal developers have with steam either. As far as I can tell.
So what's the difference all of a sudden?

Yea, I know Android emulator is slow, that is because it emulates it to the level of assembly instructions.
While the iPhone "emulator" just have an API compiled for the local machine. That is why I think you do need an Apple device to properly test your application.
A simple example is that something that works on the Apple "emulator" might crash on a real device. But I don't have experience with it, so I don't know.
The Android emulator is not useless, it's useful to test basic functionality. Of course it's not so good to test performance and "real time" gameplay. But not completely useless.

Well given that the iPhone "emulator" from Apple isn't really an emulator(or so I was told), which means it doesn't emulate CPU instructions like the Android emulator. I say you eventually do need an Apple device to test your application.
Although, I would think this is true to almost any target platform, you usually need a real device of that platform.
Also, some time ago I thought Apple didn't allow to dev application for it's hardware without owning an Apple computer. Or something like that.

I didn't know there are many options coding for Android without using Java.
Even if you code in C++ you will need to go through Java.
Coding in Java for Android is not such a bad idea, given the circumstances. I would think.

I think what people already said before. You can decide on scope before you start working on the game. Smaller scope is better if you don't seem to be able to finish game.
Also, in order to define the scope you need a design document of the game.
You need to think up front all the basic gameplay you need to make the game "gameplay complete".
If you start work on a game and you are still not sure how the final game will play, or can't make sense of how the gameplay will work out in the final version(have loose ends), then you probably can't estimate the scope of the game.

You don't need to think of every small detail of the game upfront, but you need to think of the core gameplay and know it's gameplay compelte before you start working on it.

Maybe one of the issue is that you are trying to be very creative and try to create a completely new gameplay, or new mechanics. Instead of looking at older games and doing something similar with your own twist. Which would be easier to figure out than a completely new gameplay.

Bottom line, small scope game + knowing how the game will play and be gameplay complete upfront.

Just my thoughts.

I have a devlog about my game Fatal Wars 2.
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=21626.0
or my IndieDB page with news updates and etc:
http://www.indiedb.com/games/fatal-wars-2

I think the game itself is tons of fun, it's an Archon clone. Although I have not been very motivated lately because I am not sure if I will be able to continue to work on this specific game.
But my question is, how to make a more interesting devlog? Or how to make more interesting updates\blogging in general?
Or a deeper question, how to make people interested in your game? As I said, I think the game is really fun, I enjoy playing it against my friend online. And it's hard for a developer to enjoy playing his own game.

Maybe I need to put more artwork on the posts? Such as pixel art and etc? Maybe not put so many long gameplay videos not a lot of people are going to watch? Maybe my writting is bland and boring?

What do you think?

For windows, MS Security Essentials is the best. It's also free.
Also, there are some really nasty viruses that no anti virus software can detect. So you always need to be careful what links/apps you click and run.
Common sense is still vital for good security.

I didn't make "Features progress" lately. I have been workig on the Android version.
As I said before, the Android version is basically using the same code(the same files even) for the game logic but with different framework modules(Graphics, Input, etc).
So it's nice to see theory and design work in practice, and the result is the youtube video I am linking.
There are no animations yet, and a lot of things missing, but it is already looking like a game.
I am running it on an Android emulator, btw, so that is why it's so slow(Don't have an Android device currently).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJuJaiArhK8

Edit: Yea, and the reason I didn't do much "Feature" coding in the PC version is because I am waiting for an important email that will determine the future of the game. It is kind of bumming me out. :/

Ok, that explains it. Thanks.

I find Terraria to be a lot more fun than Minecraft. And yes, if you stay close to the surface and fear to die and explore, you won't advance in the game much.
You need to delve deep and find good resources, to get better things and etc.
Terraria's focus is less on building magnificent buildings and more on exploration, minning and action\battles.
One of the differences between Minecraft and Terraria, is that Terraria dwarfs Minecraft in respect to content. My guess is that you didn't see much of the game because you were afraid to explore deeper. I was like that as well at first, until I started playing with a friend.

It's a good tool, though the platform(iPad) is much less than optimal.
I don't see any benefit for iPad as a deving platform(not target) over a desktop except for mobility. Bottom line, the user don't care how you developed your game.
My assumption is that developers want deving to be easier and more efficient.

Support for touch screen in an IDE make sense and can be beneficial. But I really don't see many good reasons to code on an iPad other than mobility. Also coding without a "real" keyboard sound like a bad idea as well.
I guess my question is, why would I want to code on an iPad if I have an option to code on a desktop with a bigger screen, and with a kebyoard and a mouse?
Does this IDE also work on other Apple products?
It's kind of like playing street fighter or an FPS on a smart phone, it's far from the optimal platform for those specific games.

I found myself watching the video a few times already...

Some indies don't make it in both downtime and time of prosperity(Like me )

Today I fixed the "Attack after death" bug. I also hopefully fixed the chat. I also made the big leap in implementing the summon spell, which I delayed a bit as being "redious". But it wasn't really difficult.
In the original Archon you can summon elementals: Fire, Earth, Air, Water.
I wanted something a bit different, but not too different.
So I thought of the following "elements": Sun, Moon, Commet, Earth.
I already drawen the sun, it's not very hard to draw, but it still looks good.
I hope to finish the summon spell and the imprision spell, and play test the changes tomorrow.
Of course I will upload a video, hopefully the battle will be of interest.
I will also need to see how to balance the pieces, because the ghost seemed a bi unbalanced.

A lot of great looking games. Can't even remember them all because there are so many.
Do you think the percentage of 3D games is much smaller than previous competitions? Or was it always like that?

Thanks cactus, not a lot of people like the art work. I think.

Another playtest video, I have played online against my friend. There is a serious bug that allows players to attack after death. I should fix that.
Overall it was fun playing against my friend(I won), eventhough there was this bug and my friend didn't know he can use spells(the chat didn't work too well).
The whole gameplay is recorded in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmZB66mUUrE

"Windows programming" is very vague, I am not sure even you know what you mean by that.