The real question is, what's a fool proof way from telling something like this from a troll?

I'm afraid the answer is that you can't .. similar to Poe's law, but applied to wacky avant garde artists. :/

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Poe%27s_Law

Look up this supposed (and supposedly renowned) artist's name, and his site.

A spectacular drive-by-trolling that's very, very dry (it has to be, or the powder would stick).

I wonder if he could get sued though.

[major]

I think it's actually pretty understandable that some people (especially devs) take a game less seriously because it wasn't coded from scratch -- I'm on the other side of the fence here personally (RM user), but it makes sense for people in the know to take a sense of enjoyment and appreciation from how something was crafted. It's like an architect enjoying the underlining structure of works from other architects; perfectly legit.

Although, it does kind of reminds me of the case with Cyanide & Happiness on DeviantArt, where many artists were ticked that "stick figures" were getting more views than the more artistically difficult things they were working on. In the end, I think there are just a lot more ways that something can be enjoyable than one (and more aspects of work with games than just coding); as long as everyone can accept that while not having it deny them of their own personal priorities, it's all good.

On that note, I'm pretty supportive of Core Xii's honest no-BS posts. Even with the technical reasons aside, it's okay to be a "snob" or whatnot as long as it's not closeted; it's a human feature and we all tend to do it with one thing or another. It's not like we can change how we feel about it that's already embedded, so to hide it and put on a fake smile would be even worse.


Anyways, on the technical side of things though, one major issue is the lack of support and portability to Mac & Linux (and since the engine's not open-source, you can't do much about it). Given the multi-platform direction we're headed, this will only become more of an issue as time goes on. Also, if you ever get the game on Steam or the like, there're tons of hair-pullers with integration since, again, there's no access to the source code of the engine.

Let's all just get along for Frodo.

I think a vital thing is to force yourself into the mindset of someone who knows nothing about your game (and is flooded with delicious options everywhere they look) before thinking of ways to promote/present it. It's pretty easy to subconsciously assume that people already know what it's about, and that can really distort the way you try to get their attention.

Promotional material should probably be made as an individual entity as well, as opposed to something that's just to demonstrate the game (which is important as well, of course). I suppose it's mainly a matter of flow; you spent a lot of time to get the flow right for the game, but that never gets translated if you just pop in a bunch of scattered footage from it.

Instead, treat something like a trailer as its own narrative -- make it have a distinctive beginning and a satisfying ending, and whatnot, etc. etc., and what have you.

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Merry Christmas and pop 'em eggnog, folks.  

Lady & the Tramp 2 soundtrack.

I casually came into this thread whistling to post a crappy game idea, then ended up slowly backing all the way out.

Yeah, even though the styles are totally different, I think you've really improved with the newest ones from the first couple you posted here. A really nice build-up and sustained atmosphere, nice job.

wreath-0-2.ogg in particular gives off a cool Minecraft + Elder Scrolls hybrid vibe to me, hahah.

Finally finishing The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! A few decades too late, but gotta earn my sci-fi rites of passage achievement.

Especially digging the foliage pixels in that, and how the grass tiles seem natural and non-repetitive.

[Game launch "trailer":]

Thank you Evan. Glad you enjoyed it. And yep Skom, it's out now! The first post is now updated.



Game launch "trailer":


Game launch poster: http://www.freebirdgames.com/images/To_the_Moon-launch-poster-med.png

Wheesh, I can finally collapse in a heap soon.

Here's a somewhat related case: http://www.destructoid.com/square-enix-shuts-down-chrono-fan-game-crimson-echoes-131702.phtml
Though that's supposedly ROM modification.

I think high-concept has a lot to do with the success of Portal and Braid as well. There are tons of games that are fun and interesting to play, but if you can hook the player on some point of interest with just 10 seconds of non-playable concept pitch, then it makes a whole world of difference since getting people to step through the door is often the hardest part.

Walkin' & dustin' at the same time.

On the work ethics side, breaking the tasks down into light day-to-day chunks works wonders.

But I think a major reason is that many people here are creativity-driven, or idea-driven. So once a certain idea is solidified and is ready to be fully expanded on, the happy-juice from that is all sucked out. So it's then tempting to start another idea for some endorphin-snortin'.

Something that might help with it could be to "plan" some constructive voids in the ideas, so that as you work through them, you're essentially still able to come up with significant portions of the project on-the-go to fulfill that need. It's tricky to find a balance between that and a messy free-style project, though.

Xerus/Kyle Pulver being epic in front of rainbow noodlyness:

rainbow noodles > halo

It's like his genius exploded.

I've been watching the live stream, and now the front-view of phuban's face is ingrained in my head.

Loving the atmosphere there, especially the sound/music.

Ah okay, good.

Hm, I'm not seeing the edit entry description and etc. button in the email I was sent.