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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperPlaytestingMAGI - Magical Strategy Game
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sega
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« Reply #40 on: July 01, 2007, 06:56:49 PM »

Man, some nice drawn/pixeled art would be so much better.  But maybe that's just me Smiley
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« Reply #41 on: July 03, 2007, 03:07:10 PM »

Quote from: sega
Man, some nice drawn/pixeled art would be so much better.  But maybe that's just me

I must honestly admit that I'm not really into this "casual game must be fluffy and crisp, or it's not casual enough/indie game has to have classic pixel arts, or it's not indie enough" philosophy. I think that 'flat' pixel art wouldn't fit the hi-color particle effects. Imho it would create a dissonance that would look worse than the current not-really-perfect graphics.

bigbossSNK:

Glad to hear that you like the new style. Good to know that I'm going into the right direction.

I agree that the character arts could be better and bigger, but I don't want to hire an artist atm and my own skills are just too limited in that matter. Perhaps somewhere later I will get around to change it. I'm constantly expanding the game and I don't see a reason to not improve the graphics at some point.
But just not now, especially that the game converts pretty well (slightly lower than 2%) and my players don't seem to focus on the graphics too much. They are mainly strategy/rpg fans that are used to static and minimalistic settings and enjoy the involved tactics  and original theme. From my forums I guess that they are more interested in additional features and strategic possibilities, than the 'package'.

Anyway - thanks again for feedback. I consider this forum a place full of creative folks, so I really value your comments.

And here are some nice screenies from the new version:

Screenshots: (click to enlarge)
 
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Tom Grochowiak
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« Reply #42 on: July 03, 2007, 05:33:18 PM »

I must honestly admit that I'm not really into this "casual game must be fluffy and crisp, or it's not casual enough/indie game has to have classic pixel arts, or it's not indie enough" philosophy. I think that 'flat' pixel art wouldn't fit the hi-color particle effects. Imho it would create a dissonance that would look worse than the current not-really-perfect graphics.

Oh oh, well said  :D
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subsystems   subsystems   subsystems
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« Reply #43 on: July 15, 2007, 06:54:47 PM »

Something odd happened to the graphics when I was about to start a new duel.  Looks like the blend mode was changed to 'subtract' to me.

I want to mention how awesome I think it is that the goal of this game is to be a wizard and BATTLE DEATH.  I definitely think you have been improving the project through these updates as well.
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TeeGee
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« Reply #44 on: July 16, 2007, 03:16:48 AM »

Woah... a nice one Wink.

Definetely something is going wrong there, but I believe it's on your PC's side. Not only the blended stuff is fucked up, but also the normal sprites that are drawn on the UI (the channels display, the stats). For me it looks like if there was no memory left on your graphics card (which is... very unlikely) or like if your drivers had some issue.
Could you please tell me, what video card do you have there? Also, did this happened only once or is it a consistent problem? Honestly, I don't think that there is anything I could do to help this, but the problem is interesting in the terms of minimal system requirements. I'm also just curious, I've never seen something like this before Wink.

And thanks for the warm words on the game. Glad that you like the idea behind MAGI.
As for the updates - I'm happy that the improvements are noticable. I was pretty new to all that indie business when I started developing MAGI and I knew that I'm *bound* to make mistakes. I thought: "Alright, there's now way for me to avoid making silly things, so let's not get depressed about that and just correct them as they come". I also love the idea of ever-expanding games. One of the things I love about DotA and similiar stuff, is keeping a track of the updates. Testing new characters/abilities and suggesting, liking or critiquing latest balance changes is like half of the fun for me Wink.
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Tom Grochowiak
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« Reply #45 on: July 16, 2007, 10:21:38 AM »

I've got an ATI Radeon 9800 XT.  In hindsight it may have been another application doing something because there was a brief hiccup before the effect.  I have only run into it once.
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« Reply #46 on: July 16, 2007, 11:28:10 AM »

Your graphics card is definetely not the reason of the problem Wink. I think it was just a one-time fuck-up that could be caused by many, many different things and probably was unrelated to the game itself.
Tell me if this would happen again anyway. It really looks interesting Wink.
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Tom Grochowiak
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« Reply #47 on: July 16, 2007, 01:25:36 PM »

It really looks interesting Wink.

Then you can just call it a feature.
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« Reply #48 on: August 09, 2007, 04:52:12 AM »

Hi guys!
I'm kind of new to this forum (it's my first post, actually), but I just want to hint about a competition started in the MAGI community - it gives you a chance to get a copy of MAGI for free if you help gain more publicity for MAGI. The details are here:
http://getmagi.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2209#2209

Do you think about it? Do you think it'll actually work? I guess it's one of the best ways to get your product to a broader range of people when your dealing in software. It's not called "viral marketing"  for nothing Wink
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handCraftedRadio
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« Reply #49 on: August 09, 2007, 05:57:34 AM »

Well, it kind of sounds like you are hiring an army of spammers to post your game everywhere which will probably give it a bad name.
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« Reply #50 on: August 09, 2007, 07:45:54 AM »

What HCR said!  Actually, it already hurts the game's credibility that something like that would even be deemed necessary.

Also, that's not really "viral."  Because you generally don't have to reward viruses for going out and spreading themselves. Tongue
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« Reply #51 on: August 09, 2007, 08:41:50 AM »

Hmm... I remember that Rinku did a similiar thing with his Immortal Defence (giving a discount instead of a full game though) and I thought it's an interesting idea. I just had to try that Wink. The general idea is that people often frequent sites that devs has no real access to and which audiences could be possibly interested in indie games. Many websites also accept user reviews and I guess that's not a bad thing to encourage people to write 'em.

Appreciate your comments though. I'll run the action for few days and will see how it develops. If in the end it will seem that all I get is more spam over the net, then well... it's certainly not worth it. I'm a starter after all and making experiments (and possibly mistakes) is the way to learn for me Wink.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2007, 08:52:16 AM by TeeGee » Logged

Tom Grochowiak
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« Reply #52 on: August 09, 2007, 08:54:05 AM »

Like the others mentionned, spamming is never a good way of doing things and will ruin the game...

If you want to make a competition, center it around the game and not it's publicity.

For example, Tee-Gee could make a "Competiton" version of the game that could be freely distributed. The version could only have three choice of characters and stats presets as well as a max level. The rules of the contest would be: who can do the best character with these conditions. Then, Tee-Gee would organize a duel between the players. There are alot of details misisng in my idea right now, but the idea is there, Tee-gee is the one who'll know if it's possible to do so or not.

Anyway, the point of doing this is that you can freely advertise over forums and indie game websites by telling them there's a competition going on. Curious will want to try out the game simply to see what's the deal and with this game. The competiton version wouldn't have as much nag screens and the tutorial would be optional. Prizes could be 3rd: free game, 2nd: Free game + 10$ and 1st: Free game +25$

...

Ok, I must admit I'm rambling more than anything with this post...

Perhaps you could make a competition about who can make the best fan site or fan art or promotional poster/flyer... Or the bets idea for a game competition Smiley

Later!
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« Reply #53 on: August 09, 2007, 09:28:44 AM »

Hmm... interesting idea you've got there Guert, but it's not exactly the same in results. In your example we should advertise the whole thing manually, while the general idea is to get to the places that we normally can't get ourselves (for example - indie websites in other languages, people's clan forums... etc). We want to give some "I'm a game marketer now" fun to the people, while getting some extra publicity.

I also don't want people to spam, I want them to write reviews on the sites that accept them, to tell their friends in some online clan about MAGI, or to try to get the game on some foreign indie blogs they know. I remember that people posted about ID in some nice places when Rinku was running his thing. If all I will get will be spam (which is not my intention as spam does nothing good for anybody), then I will learn to never do a same thing in the future. I hope you guys won't shout: "spammer, spammer!" everytime you'll see me then Wink.

EDIT: I've edited Wulczer's announcement on our forums to make it perfectly clear that we're not after spammers.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2007, 09:34:28 AM by TeeGee » Logged

Tom Grochowiak
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« Reply #54 on: August 09, 2007, 09:33:13 AM »

Spammer! Spamm... Er... Hum... Of course we won't... We're not that kind of people! :D

Seriously, it's a good idea to start promoting the game involving the players. I hope this'll work out for you!

Later!
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handCraftedRadio
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« Reply #55 on: August 09, 2007, 09:48:59 AM »

Hey guys, I just found a really awesome game! Its called MAGI(Magical Strategy Game).  Its a pretty cool game and I think you should definetly buy a copy(well maybe a couple of copies so you can give them out as gifts or play on two computers at once).

So how many points is this post worth, like eight? Grin
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« Reply #56 on: August 09, 2007, 10:00:24 AM »

Sorry, no points - you've broke the rules #1 and #2 Wink. We're sending our... erm... agent to teach you (with a pointy stick) about the importancy of reading rules. Thanks for participating, hope you had your fun Wink.

Thanks Guert. Glad to hear that at least you liked the idea Wink.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2007, 10:02:10 AM by TeeGee » Logged

Tom Grochowiak
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« Reply #57 on: August 09, 2007, 10:23:26 AM »

Guert's idea is awesome about the tournament.  I wish somebody would make a game and set up a tournament.  I think this would attract a ton of players.  If the players know that practicing at the game can get them something (recognition, a prize) they will want to play and they will get their friends to play too. I think a tournament could really start a community for a game too. I dunno if you would be able to do a tournament but if you could i think you should and i would love to see an indie game that set up some kind of competition... Im still waiting for the too many ninjas tournament. Smiley
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« Reply #58 on: August 28, 2007, 11:08:41 PM »

Hmm... yeah guys, you were right. The contest only created more spam over the net and I had to close it Sad. I see three major reasons for that:

- Giving the game for free wasn't a wise move. Giving a huge discount would be better. People who are after free stuff are only interested in quick gain "I'll spam some websites and get a game... smart! Hang on I'll be back in miuntes" Wink. Discount ensures that a person would be interested in the game in the first place... and not many kids have credit cards, right? Wink.

- The game is too closely related to the GameMaker community... which doesn't consist of brightest people on the world. And some of them are just children. It's hard to expect responsibility from them.

- People are just stupid and will spoil any idea of a silly idealist like me Wink.

Meh... However, you ideas for tournaments seems to be nice. I might do something like this in the feature. Maybe with my next game though.


And to have something positive to write... MAGI was recently reviewed in PC Zone magazine and it got a nice rating :D. Here's a scan that one nice person made for me:

Scan

I know it's not *that* a big deal and there were many others reviews of MAGI... and some of them more important marketing-wise. But still, holding a print review in my hands is a very nice feeling. When I was a kid, I thought that those mystical "game developers" words should be wrote in capitals, as they are only next to gods Wink. And now, the part of me that remains that kid, is happy to see my game featured in a magazine. Especially that those are my first steps in the indie business...
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Tom Grochowiak
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« Reply #59 on: August 30, 2007, 05:55:33 AM »

Oh man it would be cool to get a review in a decent PC Mag...

Did you send them a copy, or did they "pick" it up?
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