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[moonAK]

I am currently trying to launch the closed beta for my browser game at neoconflict.com

In the game you control individual units against other players on a huge map. You can check out the screenshots and ask me any questions.

So far I only have a few registered users and I'm afraid I wont be able to launch it.I can't advertise it because it doesn't look very good (I'm a programmer and did all the graphics myself).

I have made posts on several gaming forums but so far i got just a few registered ppl and no feedback.

[Montoli]

Howdy!  And welcome to TigSource!

A few things:

• people generally prefer if you introduce yourself first in the introduction thread, as sort of a "hello, I'm here!  Hello community!"  Dumping self-promotional links into forums without an introduction is often seen as sort of like spamming - posting just for the traffic, and not because you are trying to engage the community.  Reactions will vary, but in general, making an introduction early can head off a lot of drama!
• this particular forum is mostly dedicated to dev logs.  If you are planning on maintaining a constant stream of updates about the state of your game, then this is the right place!  (Although I would recommend changing your thread name to the name of your game in that case.)  If you are more looking for feedback on your game, there is a feedback forum that tends to lead to excellent constructive criticism.
• Another good place to try might be the announcement forum, which is a great place for messages like "hey I made a game, check it out" or "Hey, this game I'm working on, we're looking for beta testers!"
• can you tell us more about what the game is about, or post screenshots directly in the thread for the lazy [read: all] readers to know what they are getting into?

Anyway, re: your game in particular, from the screenshots, you're right, it does look a little rough on the visuals.  Still, if the game is fun enough, people can still be enticed to play it.  (It's not like Dwarf fortress wins any beauty pageants...)


Best of luck with your game, and welcome to the forums!

[moonAK]

Thank you for your reply and I apologize if I didn't post in the right section.

Howdy!  And welcome to TigSource!

• can you tell us more about what the game is about, or post screenshots directly in the thread for the lazy [read: all] readers to know what they are getting into?

The basic idea of the game is that you create units from your base and move them on the map capturing resources and fighting other players over them. It's turned based and you can do a lot of stuff: you have research, each unit has abilities, you can make buildings in your base, make pacts and join a alliance.

Right now I don't know what to do.It's been a week since I first posted on a few forums then in the weekend I added the screenshots thinking that would bring in some new registrations. Sadly it's looking bad nobody registered in the last few days and I don't know if I should just launch it to the few players i got or wait some more.

[tim-bo-jay]

Hey, I took a look at your games screen shots, visually it's a bit of a turn off, I know it's in early design but people won't take that into account when joining, till visually people are drawn in you may find not many people will join. Also a game like this normally requires advertising to grow as it kinda requires a community for the game to come into it's own, but in that it hits a catch 22 in the fact no one will join if it hasn't got a community and it wont gain a community unless people join.

It may be worth looking into including some social network integration too, allow people to post victories on twitter or connect their facebook profile to their game profile and so on as social networks are what caused games like Farmville to become what they are today.

Just a little feed back, take it or leave it :-) you should post some screen shots for it on this thread though.

[moonAK]

Hey it's been a long time since I posted here and I improved a lot with my game but i can't build a player base for it. I posted on a few forums and on reddit.com and got over 100 people to try my demo but i got no feedback at all and only a few registered players.

If anybody wants to play the demo and tell me what they think about it that would be great.

neoconflict.com

Here are some screeshots:

[linley]

I tried clicking on the "play instantly without registering" button but it didn't work (even after I remembered to turn off noscript); the Firefox tab just keeps trying to load but gets nowhere. So just on a quick observation of your front page, here are a few suggestions that might make people more likely to try the game:

- Yes, the art needs work, but a few simple things would make a lot of difference. I'd start by smoothing out the edges of the geography. Don't remove the grid arrangement, just soften the right angles and introduce some variation to the straight lines and identical tiles.

- Put some more introductory detail on the front page of your site as it's not immediately obvious what a massive multiplayer turn-based game is. Is everyone playing in the same world? Are the turns simultaneous or sequential? What's the goal? Is it large-scale like Civ, or smaller-scale like MAX? Modern-day or SF?

- Also put links there to any documentation you have. If there's a manual, perfect.

Anyway, good luck!

[moonAK]

I tried clicking on the "play instantly without registering" button but it didn't work (even after I remembered to turn off noscript); the Firefox tab just keeps trying to load but gets nowhere. So just on a quick observation of your front page, here are a few suggestions that might make people more likely to try the game:

- Yes, the art needs work, but a few simple things would make a lot of difference. I'd start by smoothing out the edges of the geography. Don't remove the grid arrangement, just soften the right angles and introduce some variation to the straight lines and identical tiles.

- Put some more introductory detail on the front page of your site as it's not immediately obvious what a massive multiplayer turn-based game is. Is everyone playing in the same world? Are the turns simultaneous or sequential? What's the goal? Is it large-scale like Civ, or smaller-scale like MAX? Modern-day or SF?

- Also put links there to any documentation you have. If there's a manual, perfect.

Anyway, good luck!

Thanks for the reply, sorry there was a problem with creating new players but I restarted the server.

I didn't want to put a lot of text with game mechanics on the front page just some basic stuff. There is a manual page but it's not complete. You can find it in game.

Play the demo and let me know what you think, thanks.

[moonAK]

If anybody wants to play a bit and maybe comment on the concept / mechanics now is the time because the game will close in a few days due to lack of players.

[Mega]

I didnt like the fact that internet explorer wasnt supported. why?

I could never understand browser games, and I think , to me atleast, they are synonymous with adware and spyware.

This isnt my thing though I love the RTS or TBS genres.
I can tell you you wont get much players, well.. I wouldnt play it unless as a favor to you.
If you get the game concept to be good it might be a fun pastime. Otherwise you might need to make the sprites more pronounced

good luck

edit: There should be a way to play it without registering at your site.

[AndrewFM]

I didnt like the fact that internet explorer wasnt supported. why?

When it comes to browser games, sometimes it's not feasible to add support for all browsers. That's because not all browsers support the same features. For example, IE is incapable of rendering Canvas, websockets are only supported by a few browsers, etc.

I don't know what's going on technically behind this game, but it may be likely that it uses some features that IE simply can't handle.

I could never understand browser games, and I think , to me atleast, they are synonymous with adware and spyware.

...what?