Ahoy! I was told that some posts about my games were being made to these forums, so I figured I'd check it out. Seeing some of your issues with the game, I'd like to comment:
1: "IainPeregrine's summary of the game make it sound like every MMORPG ever."
You're right about this. The summary (though I didn't write it, a fan of the game did) could be a description of any MMORPG. Changing the description to better fit the game has been on my to-do list, but I was focusing on changes in-game first - I didn't expect people outside of BYOND to see it just yet. Here's the kicker, though: It's not an MMORPG. It's not an RPG at all. It's a casual game where you pop in for 10 minutes, fight wave after wave of monsters, and eventually die. I've just edited the page you were linked to, and it now reads differently, and hopefully better:
"Welcome back to the world of Illuna, a small young planet with a history of strife. In Casual Quest, you and up to four other players must defend yourselves from hoards of monsters, progressing to the next wave only when every one of them is defeated. Combat is action based, and waves go by quickly, so feel free to jump in for a few rounds on your coffee break, and then let someone else take your place when you leave. If you're in for the long haul, you can start at wave 1 and see if you can survive through 140 waves to recover all the royal treasures. Up for a challenge? Start at wave 60 and hope for the best! With 35 classes, addictive and challenging gameplay, and a casual social atmosphere, Casual Quest has something for everyone."
2. "I hate the mix of pixel art and non-pixel art."
I understand that, having not downloaded BYOND or tried the game, the screen-shots are all that you can comment on, but the truth is that this is a non-issue. The entire game uses 8-bit styled graphics, except at the end of some waves when you're allowed to make a choice (as seen in the first screen-shot). I guess another way of saying this is that all the gameplay uses pixel art: you'll never see a hand-drawn boss walking across the screen, or anything like that.
3. "An extra $2 a month for different classes? Really?"
The entire game was designed to be played with just the 16 classes available to everyone, so you can play and have a great time without ever paying me. In other words, I've worked to make a game that's free to play for anyone who wants to. For an extra $5, you can get a lifetime subscription and have access to the other classes. Two days ago I thought I'd add a $2/two-months option for people who wanted to give a gift to their friends at Christmas, but I didn't realize this would make the $5 lifetime option basically invisible. Thanks for pointing this out. I've removed the $2 option for now, until the website I use for the automated subscriptions improves their interface.
4. "No storyline. I'm not sure how immersive you can make the game without a storyline or context, but I bet a lot of people will dislike this fact."
This comment is probably based on how you thought the game was an MMORPG. The game does have a brief (1 paragraph) storyline which can be found on the
CQ Website I've been slowly working on. As a casual game, storyline isn't as important as addictive gameplay.
5. "Whatever BYOND is, I don't want to download it [...]"
Yeah, I get this a lot. BYOND works in the same way as Java. They're both virtual machines that interpret byte-code in order to run a program on a variety of platforms (a game can be hosted from just about any OS, but can currently only be played from a Windows machines; bummer). Unlike Java, BYOND didn't come installed on your computer when you bought it, so I have to convince people to download BYOND in order to try my games (worse bummer). That said, BYOND is safe, quick to download, and even quicker to uninstall, so you can download, try out a game, and uninstall it if you don't like it.
6. "[...] I haven't actually tried this game, so my feedback may not be the most useful, but I guess my first impressions might count for something."
They do count for something, and thanks for taking the time to write. Your comments have already helped me to make the website and other advertising material better, as I had no clue that it looked like an MMORPG to the casual observer. I understand why you wouldn't want to download BYOND, as I went through the same thing when I first discovered it.
If you would like to download BYOND and try my game, I'll give you a lifetime subscription. The prices there are less about me trying to make tons of money from indie games (
like that'd ever happen), and more about me asking for support from members of the BYOND community (I also use subscription numbers from my games to decide what to work on next, so fans basically get to pay me to program the game they like). If people from other communities want to give BYOND a try, I'm more than willing to help out with a few subscriptions to some of my games.
Community
