next »

[Igor Hardy]

Hey, if anyone would consider voting for Snakes in this year's IndieDB's comp, we will be most grateful:

http://www.indiedb.com/games/snakes-of-avalon




Also, GameZebo seemed to really like the game a short while ago. Have a read, if you're not yet convinced to try it.

[wilbefast]

Hey, if anyone would consider voting for Snakes in this year's IndieDB's comp, we will be most grateful:

http://www.indiedb.com/games/snakes-of-avalon

Hell yeah :-)

[Igor Hardy]

Thanks for the vote. In the end Snakes didn't get into the Top 100, but I'd like to think at least it was close.

[wilbefast]

I think you deserved at least a top 100 - quite surprised actually 

Didn't get it either  Course, my game isn't nearly as awesome as Snakes. Yet

[Igor Hardy]

Thanks. I thought we had a fairly good chance to get into the Top100, but I guess things like the fact I started an account on IndieDB only very recently and I'm not known for any other game (yet!) worked against it.

On the other hand Alex van der Wijst, who created Snakes with me, has made some great and highly regarded point & click adventure games in the past, like The Winter Rose, Charlie Foxtrot and The Galaxy of Tomorrow, or Besieged. But he doesn't invest time in publicity and spreading the games around the net, so I fear his work isn't that well remembered anymore.

[wilbefast]

That's the trouble isn't it? The internet is a big place, and if you're not at least a little bit of a -excuse the French- media whore, you'll slip through the cracks. Well, it seems that way sometimes. You look at Wolfire games: they may have some clever programmers and artists, but the reason they're so successful is that one of the team does PR full time and isn't afraid to make a fool of himself in front of the camera. No offence to John, quite the opposite in fact, but you see what I'm getting at.

It's difficult when you're working alone to find the time to sell yourself. You really need to at least be on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube (this big 3) and then you should participate in a few indie websites (tigsource, indieDB). And finally, you need to find time to spam online publications. There's a tipping point somewhere I'm sure, but when you're nobody it's a bit of an uphill battle.

Or perhaps it's better, to just make your games as good as you can and forget about publicity... but if that worked, would big companies be putting billions of dollars into marketing when they could be making better productions? The free market model assumes that the consumer has perfect knowledge, but nobody does.

Sorry about the rant I do think Snakes is worth a lot more interest than it's been getting though.

[Igor Hardy]

I think that's a good rant about indie game PR realities. Quality and originality doesn't necessarily make your game widely visible and desirable - it's not like the players are short on things to spend their free time on.

However, small-team independent development still seems like a totally fair deal to me. You retain full freedom and ownership, and don't need to view the games as "products" (if you don't want to). Sometimes a game can even catch on and spread naturally (largely due to a lucky designer/audience chemistry).

I guess there aren't that many people that are playing and discussing Snakes, but I'm still satisfied with its reception. It got a decent number of reviews - all very positive, including a 4-star one at Gamezebo. It also ended up on the newest PC Gamer covermount - surely a sign it's a well-liked game.

[wilbefast]

If it makes you feel any better, only one of my games has every been reviewed anywhere, and that was by a friend 

Still, I haven't made anything on a par with snake. Yet 

[Igor Hardy]

Happy holidays, everyone! Here's a little something we've created for people who want an additional memento to remind them of our game:



Includes such contemporary hits as Blood Blood Blood, Evil Fishes, Life Flashes by Before The Alcoholics Eye and The Salty Aftertaste of Revenge. As well as the most controversial song of them all - Girls Are Bitches by Ashley Johnston

Most of the music was created by Thomas Regin known for his soundtracks to Dave Gilbert's Blackwell games and Emerald City Confidential. Overall, almost 30 minutes of suspense, jazz and other kinds of horror.

Grab it before the fish melts!

[Igor Hardy]

Here are 3 interviews we did about Snakes of Avalon. Each one is very different.

The interviews feature both of us - that is myself and Alex van der Wijst (The Winter Rose, Charlie Foxtrot and The Galaxy of Tomorrow). And Thomas Regin - the composer - shows up for a second too.

on Captain D's Blog
on Cultural Zest

and on The Adventure Game Studio Blog

That last one is the latest one (posted 2 days ago).

[Sir Raptor]

Actually, now that I think about it, I could really use an explanation of what happened.

Still, great game.

[Igor Hardy]

Actually, now that I think about it, I could really use an explanation of what happened.

We intentionally left some of the events to interpretation. I think the most important stuff is told directly enough, but it's difficult to perfectly balance.

To give an example, I would enjoy a story like Neil Gaiman's Coraline even more if we were never entirely told what the world of the "other mother" is really made of, what hides beneath it, and what the "other mother's" motivation is. The solution of the mystery was far less gratifying than its introduction.

[AxelTheAs]

Looks like nice ^^ How do you do the cutscenes animations (manage in-game or made with an animator software) ?

[Igor Hardy]

All animations in the game (besides the background ones) were created in Flash and than imported into the game's engine (Adventure Game Studio). They are the work of Alex not me - I just messed around with his work from time to time - e.g. the strange visions in the intro.

[awbskeur]

main problem -> light puzzle ; why? -> "moose head = green"?? whaaa???

[Igor Hardy]

main problem -> light puzzle ; why? -> "moose head = green"?? whaaa???

I'm not 100% sure what is your question, but if you mean the symbol on the map then I'll just say that locating the starting point of your route on the map is always crucial if you want to find 'The X' at the end of it.

[Igor Hardy]

Snakes got picked by IndieGames.com as one of:

- Top 10 Freeware Adventure Games of 2010

- 20 Free Indie Games You May Have Missed in 2010

Anyone really missed Snakes?

[Igor Hardy]

Hey,

Snakes appeared on TIGSource's main page!!! And they're not alone...

I really recommend everyone to get cracking on those AGS Awards nominees. They're all very interesting and fun. And there is less than 2 weeks until March the 4th!

[Igor Hardy]

Snakes of Avalon sadly didn't win anything in the

despite the 9 nominations it got, but we received a lovely surprise in winning in the Best MAGS game of 2010 vote 2 days ago!

For the uninitiated, MAGS stands for the "Monthly AGS" competition that Snakes was originally made for. Our game competed against all the other MAGS titles from the past year competitions and beat down such popular titles as Eternally Us or HARD SPACE:

http://www.mags-competition.info/index.php?page=games&only=2010&pagetitle=Best+MAGS+Game+2010

In celebration of this great event, we're giving free drinks at the Avalon bar to every player that plays Snakes of Avalon.