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[MooseMouse]

I used to wear a cowboy hat and boots to work.  I'm a software engineer, so this was an office job, 4th floor of a nice building at the time.  It was a statement towards the style of development, sort of a mix of mocking and embracing "Cowboy Coding".

"Cowboy Dan" is one of my favorite Modest Mouse songs

Thanks for your feedback!

[caribou]

I just played with a friend of mine and it was really fun !

The car behaviour is a bit hard/weird to master but that might be different with other cars.

I haven't figured out how to start a race at first, i should have read your message but i guess that's enough for people to close the tab sometimes.

I don't like the idea of being able to change the angle & steering settings, it doesn't seem to fit with the simplicity of the rest of your game, it's kinda frustrating to think about tweaking it...

I really like the look of your cars

Also : Are the races hosted by one of the player or do you have a dedicated server ? If so, are you running it headless ? (wasn't that a unity pro feature ?)

[MooseMouse]

Thanks, caribou! I am still tweaking the controls/behavior.. can you pinpoint what is weird about them?

The tutorial is still on my "To Do" list. It will eventually replace that huge paragraph that nobody reads.

The multiplayer races are hosted by a dedicated server. And yes, they are running headless which is a Unity Pro feature

[MooseMouse]

I am in my final push to release an alpha funding version of my game for the holiday season. I've got the website up and finished a video trailer:





Smash Da Gas website

Content is still a little light. Currently I only have:

• 4 cars
• 3 tracks
• 2 freestyle parks
• 2 paint jobs per car
• 2 performance upgrades per car
• no trophies (achievements)

But all game functionality (mulitplayer, ai, car sim, etc.) is there, and at the quality I intend as final.

I have been working on this game for 1.5 years. At this point, I need to see if it has any business potential. So I am planning to do a Kickstarter/IndieGoGo/Desura Alpha funding/etc. type thing to see if I can generate some funding to continue development. The game is intended to be free to play, but I am planning to offer $1,000,000 virtual game dollars for $4.99 (or so) as an alpha funding reward. Alpha funders will also get a badge next to their player names, and probably some other stuff.

So.. if you were me would you put it out there for alpha funding, or is there more work to be done?

[eyeliner]

Desura seems appropriate.

[Intravenous]

I just gave it a try and by far the biggest piece of advice I can make is get rid of the stunt track as the players introduction to the game.

The controls are weird enough as it is without having to try and work out a line to drive through that maze.

The first thing the player should play is nearly a straight line. Then give them some gentle corners to get used to the controls. Then start tightening the corners.

I wanted to like it but ended up closing it after 3-4 minutes in frustration.

Remember to ease your audience into your game with a slow easy learning curve and they will still be playing an hour later and will be able to have fun on the stunt track because they have got a feel for the game.

I'd also not start them at the car config screen thing. Start them as fast as you possibly can on the simplest road you can and then feed them into the game at a pace any monkey can handle.

Just my two cents.

The look of the game is great, the concept is great. But don't lose your audience to frustration or they won't be back to try a second time.

[MooseMouse]

Thanks, guys. Based on this advice and similar advice I've gotten elsewhere, I've decided to make an easy flat track that goes around the stunt park. I will start new players out on that and skip the home screen. I will post here when it is done.. hopefully within a few days.