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[Pemanent]

Game is done and published!!!
Play it here!! (if you have a wp7)
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/d4af5110-18bc-45a6-9577-0097e78de101

Development Video 1



Development video 2



Development video 3


Well... here we go again.
Hello all!

What is this game?
A 2d side scrolling, reflex, skill based platformer. Just like smb only with a small twist.
You play a ninja fish. The only problem is that since your a fish, you can't be out of water too long. There will be buttons and multiple pools of water that you must jump in and out of to progress.
It will be initially released for WP7 but it might get ported to Android aswell.


Why is this game happening?

You might remember me from the Dragon Mines devlog. This is my most recent project.
I fear I am falling into the whole, never finish a game trap. First let me explain.
I was very inspired by a quote I found here. "Sometimes you have to make games to make games."  (something like that). Meaning that sometimes you must make a game that is a total cliche ripoff to keep yourself sustained while you make a more interesting, unique, and original game. That is the way I interpreted it  . That got me thinking "Why am I making Dragon Mines?". I don't particularly enjoy working on it. It has mostly been a grind. I also don't think it will sell too well. I might be wrong, but usually roguelikes don't sell the best (There are some outliers though). So why am I working on it? Also it feels a long way off until I finish Dragon Mines. I am deep in development but I still feel there is a lot to do. Why am I grinding on a game that I don't think will sell too well? Especially when I don't see a near end

So I thought... Why don't I start a small project, a manageable project. I should get some help with the coding, so I can focus on art. I should also start a game that has a better chance of selling. A game I can market. A game with a wider audience. This is what came to mind that fit those prerequisites.

Questions

Is this rational thought? Is my thinking even correct? What is your experience with marketing games? What is your experience on deciding what to make? Is it dumb to quit a project you're deep into just so you can start another smaller more manageable project? These are the questions that haunt me at night. Lend me your wisdom tigsource.


Marketing - This is my tentative plan for marketing.
Make a website for the game.
Keep a devlog for the game on the site.
Create many dev videos for the game.
Keep a devlog here.
Reddit.
Mailing WP7 new sites.
Twitter.

Other suggestions?

What do I want?
One question I must answer myself is what is the goal of this game? What do I want out of this game?
1. To finish a game.
2. To make money from a game. I don't really care how much money. I just want to see my game on the market place.


That about sums up my feelings! Sorry for the super long post! Please let me know what you think!

[Pemanent]

Started working on a website I'm worried this font is too hard to read.
Devon, my partner in crime, is working on level stuff, with tiles... and stuff.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Think it would help with the readability if you thickened the lines in between the letters. At the moment it's not the clearest.

Also interested to follow this devlog and see how you approach the making and marketing of this game 

[Dakota.s]

Neat concept, i am looking forward to what you are going to do with this game. Plus the title is awesome!

[Pemanent]

@Franklins Ghost
Good feedback! I spaced them out a bit more.  I like it a ton better this way. I might still increase it more but we shall see.

@Dakota
Thanks! I think its pretty funny myself.

Just a preview image. Haven't changed too much. Made everything lighter and increased the contrast a bit.


Also its on a webserver now so you can check it out in your browser if you like. I'm going to get a domain soon. Its super image heavy so I'm not sure about the loading times. Let me know if its long.
here - http://traviscthall.dyndns.org/ryan/CodingCatStudiosSite/
link moved. new link coming sooooon.

[Pemanent]

woooo! Got a site up! Pretty cool!
Check it out. Let me know if it has any problems for you!
http://codingcatstudios.com/
site may or may not be down... server admins :|

[Pemanent]

ok!! Finally!! Website is up and running like it should! If you wanted to check it out before but the server was down then check it out now!

[Pemanent]

Finally did a quick update video. The quality is not the greatest but it will do for now. The next video will be better. Not much to really say about it right now since its so early on but if you have any thoughts let me know!



I will now start updating this thread (not threat!) MUCH more often.

[imaginationac]

So orange.

You should not update threats. Threats are bad.

Looks cool. The closest thing I've come to Windows Phone dev was trying out a XNA demo when I had a Zune. I'm very impressed.

[Pemanent]

Thanks man! Yeah the white balance on my webcam was super messed up.
bahahaha! That is probably my best typo yet.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Game is looking good so far, like the mechanics of having to go in and out of water. Nice little twist on the platformer gameplay, think it can lead to some interesting situations.

[Pemanent]

@F Ghost
Thanks! I am excited to play around with it. I have lots of ideas in my head.

Did a lot yesterday.
- 'finished' collision creation in level loading. so now I should be able to do anything I want in my levels without worrying about how it will create the collision boxes.
- Made good progress on wall jumping and added wall jumping off walls to the left.
- Played around with the ui. The buttons will obviously be changed. I want to have the bar take up the whole bottom portion of the screen. I think this will increase the intensity of trying to get to the next pool before your air runs out. Very much a work in progress.

[surt]

Surely you'll need deeper pools than that so you can build up enough speed to launch yourself between them?

[Pemanent]

@Surt
Its not really as much about speed as it is platforming skill. You achieve max velocity relatively fast.

[Pemanent]

Made some good progress.
- Fixed some bugs in player movement and jumping.
Player movement is at a good place. It still needs work but its a good start right now.
- Added world scrolling so now the world scrolls left and right. I still need to work on this but the basic stuff is there.

That is about it!

[kamac]

Nicely done site I must say!

Althrough, Windows Phone 7 is, meh. Do you happen to write it in XNA/C#?

[Pemanent]

@Kamac
Thanks! Whats wrong with wp7? I love the os. Right now the only problem is that not very many people use it. I think its much better than ios or android. I am using xna actually so a port is not out of the question, just the fact that I hate porting code.

Some more work this weekend.
- Worked more on world scrolling. So it automatically creates bounds and won't move the camera outside of the bound to make sure the player will never see empty space.
- Worked on the UI.
A jump button.


A pressed jump button


I also moved the air bar down under the controls and made it a ton bigger. Its even more ominous now.


I still need to make it look better but I definitely like the location and size.
The UI feels decent. It doesn't seem to fit the tileset very well. I'll need to still play around with it a bit to get a more cohesive look.

Progress is pretty good I think.

[kamac]

Thanks! Whats wrong with wp7? I love the os.

My father had WP7, ( I liked it too ) but after some time it started to terribly lag. Opening messages was taking loads of time (counted in minutes). Maybe his phone was just weird.

I think its much better than ios or android.

A true fan you are 

Progress seems nice, but a background would do. It's dark at the moment.

[Pemanent]

Thanks! Whats wrong with wp7? I love the os.

My father had WP7, ( I liked it too ) but after some time it started to terribly lag. Opening messages was taking loads of time (counted in minutes). Maybe his phone was just weird.

Dang! I've had mine for about 6 months and so far it runs the same now as when I got it. Hopefully that doesn't happen to me! I should say that so far my experience with it is great, but my opinion would definitely change if something like that happens!

I've actually never owned an android or ios phone, so I guess I shouldn't talk crap since I don't really know what I might be missing.

Yes parallaxing is definitely on my to do list.

[kamac]

I don't really know what I might be missing.

Android Market/iTunes 

What will the game be sold through?