next »

[PompiPompi]

I wish to get some sort of post on my game at TIGSource. Recommendation on other places to get reviews are also welcome.
My game is "Labyrinthica: The Quest Of Lima". I will give a full copy to the person who make that post\review.
http://www.pompipompi.net/

Any volunteers? :D

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

if only it were that easy

[PompiPompi]

Do you mind to elaborate?

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

elaboration: tigsource editors don't post games simply by the request of the game's developer. there are hundreds of indie games released every day, and not all of them will be covered on the frontpage due to lack of space and lack of time. so you really can't just submit your game for review and get it posted

in some ways, indie game review sites have to be even more selective than AAA game industry review sites, because editors are unpaid volunteers, and because there are so very very many indie games released every day in comparison to the number of mainstream games

[PompiPompi]

Oh, and how do you make one of the reviewers just try your game?

[Dataflashsabot]

[Removed]

[PompiPompi]

Sure, give me your email and I will send you download instructions. :D

Edit: Oh, you are 16. And I am not sure what are your intentions. I don't mind giving free copies of my game. But in your case I wouldn't know how far you would abuse me trusting you.

[moi]

[uncensored, unkind, immediate-opinion rant]
Looking at your screenshots, your game looks shit. Overlapping GUI elements, the same enemy plastered a million times, bad text readability against the background, and you're charging £7.67 for this puddle of vomit?

Maybe I would love your game if I downloaded the demo, but the screenshots don't make me want to do that.

Anyways, I reviewed your game on my site:

http://latestgamingreviews.webs.com/

Can I have a free copy now?

I wouldn't call it shit, it seems quite a bit of work went in there. But it looks like everything was done in total isolation (without external feedback) and everything is a bit strange. The title is strange, the narration and intro are strange and judging by the video the gameplay seems to be like hell to play.
Is it indie? Definitely!

[Dataflashsabot]

Sure, give me your email and I will send you download instructions. :D

Edit: Oh, you are 16. And I am not sure what are your intentions. I don't mind giving free copies of my game. But in your case I wouldn't know how far you would abuse me trusting you.

I'm confused. What do you think my intentions could possibly be?

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Oh, and how do you make one of the reviewers just try your game?

you can ask one of the editors to try it out, but they may not have the time or inclination. so you can't really "make" anyone even try it. they'll try it if they feel like it, basically.

and i can't speak for the other editors, but the way it works with me is like this:

a) i play a game if it's recommended to me by others (others who are not the game's developer), especially ortoslon, but also clysm and random irc people

b) if i like it after playing, i sometimes think 'maybe i should review this game for the frontpage'

c) if i have the spare time, i review it, if not (which is more common), it just goes on my large 'i probably should review this game for the frontpage, and may do so in the future' list

derek of course posts a lot more than i do, probably less than 5% of the posts on the frontpage are mine, i'm really sort of a minor editor, so what i say doesn't apply to the other editors

[PompiPompi]

@Dataflashsabot
Well your sarcasm and the fact that you are trying to prove a point make me a bit worried.
But I will give you 1 free copy. What is the worst that could happen?

[PompiPompi]

moi, thanks.
I was trying to make the game a bit like a classic SMS era game. With the very simple and vague story. And trying to use as few buttons as possible.
I am not sure how much techincally my game is a similar to an SMS game, but I think I had that in the back of my mind when I developed the game.

Paul Eres, I am not sure where to find a list of the editors. I will try to do a simple search in the forums though.

[moi]

I'll give the demo a try when I have the time (but I'm not a frontpage editor sorry)

[mirosurabu]

The comments on TIGSource are getting weirder and weirder with each day.

Anyways, you can mail your game to Michael Rose. In fact, you can just make a sexy trailer and then mail it to him. Or timw. They are editors of www.indiegames.com/blog. You can find their contact e-mails if you follow the link.

[bvanevery]

[uncensored, unkind, immediate-opinion rant]
Looking at your screenshots, your game looks shit. Overlapping GUI elements, the same enemy plastered a million times, bad text readability against the background, and you're charging £7.67 for this puddle of vomit?

I judged games in the IGF for 6 years.  I disagree with your harsh characterization of the website art.  The introductory title and cutscene art is well done and shows originality.  Your screenshots however do look bad, because they're small, composed of repetitive elements, and still framed.  They'd improve if they were larger, or if they were animated as in the video.  On a 17" 1440x900 widescreen they simply don't carry, they're only 3"x2" or so.  I'm sure you didn't design your game art to hold up at this size.

[Zaphos]

You can click the screenshots to get a bigger version ... they still look kind of bad though, mostly because they look so heavily tiled.  ( Even though you're not doing pixel art, I think this advice applies -- http://www.gas13.ru/v3/tutorials/sywtbapa_obliterating_grid.php ...)

Anyway, back to the subject of getting press, this article might help:
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/MichaelRose/20091212/3798/The_Idiots_Guide_to_Marketing_Your_Indie_Game.php

[bvanevery]

I have my doubts about whether "breaking the grid" is necessary, or something that game artists should fixate on.  I would concentrate on "making it look good," with grid breaking as one possible technique in the toolbox.  I think color theory is probably a better tool to apply to the screenshots I have seen.  The animated, background, and static foreground elements may all be ok individually, but they do not necessarily go well together.

Another thing that would improve your presentation of screenshots, is don't put 2 screenshots together that have an ugly combined color scheme.  Just do 1 screenshot, keep them separate, use a slideshow interface.  Also, don't shove 2 screenshots and a lot of website clutter into 1 page.  Give it room to breathe.  The person who did the title and cutscene art obviously understands these artistic principles.  Why haven't these principles been applied to the website itself?

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Paul Eres, I am not sure where to find a list of the editors. I will try to do a simple search in the forums though.

there's no list of editors, to my knowledge

but editors who have more than about about 10 posts on the frontpage are: derek yu, bmcc, inane, me, terry, arelativelyhotgirl, ithamore, xander, alehkhs, fuzz, flaming pear, auntie pixelante, albert lai, timw, shabadage (although some of them haven't posted in years)

the lion's share is derek though -- he's written over 1000 of the 1800 posts on the frontpage

[Dataflashsabot]

Yes, I was a bit rude and immature. It doesn't look so bad on reflection. He really did give me a free copy, which I'll check out when my internet stops being slow.

[moi]

Just tested the game and realized it's actually a clone of dragon crystal for the SMS.
good point for you: I liked Dragon crystal, bad point: I liked dragon crystal.

This game is like dragon crystal but with an incredibly choppy animation and scrolling, I don't know what you're doing wrong but there's nothing on the screen that justifies this choppyness.
The graphics are rather bland (very simple 3D) and the most annoying thing for me was that every menu transition was taking wayyy too long, for example when I click to play a new game, why does everything become irresponsive for several seconds without any feedback.
If you fix all this you could get a fairly good game (because Dragon crystal is a good game) but you need to make the game simpler and faster.