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[Sunburned Games]

Reddit has various unique subreddits, each with its own culture. I suggest you read them daily for a few weeks to start getting an idea of how to share content there.

Thanks, Lucas! Did you just give me homework? I will stay on the Ibuprofen from my ongoing root canal treatment for a few more weeks then. Joking aside, I will add this to my morning task list immediately.

I hope Painter's Guild is going strong on Steam. I haven't had time to test drive it properly yet.

Best wishes as always!
Joachim

[droxon]

You artwork looks beautiful! amazing 

[Sunburned Games]

You artwork looks beautiful! amazing  

Thanks! I have only started on the the coffee. But I think once it gets colder here the occasional Irish Coffee would be acceptable - after 10:00 am.

I really like the way you combined your two games into one. I like the new style - especially the drawings and animations - but somehow the concept you posted for 'the early merged look' pulls me in more. The 'all grey' might be a bit too minimalistic to play it for a long time, but if you have a great story which can be completed in a few hours it will work well. But what do I know, I didn't buy Limbo.   To cite our tech director: 'Gameplay is key now.'

Good luck!
Joachim  

[Sunburned Games]

May you live in interesting times! Yeah, thanks for that.

Or 'An End of September Update'

We are only six weeks or so away from launching our Kickstarter campaign (mark the 17th of November in your calendars, pretty please). And guess what - we still have to produce most of the content for the page.

So let's start with the positives:

• Our demo is progressing OK. We haven't been showing it to anyone yet, but we will let people have a sneaky glance at it while we are at IndieCade.
• Our junior game designer is a rock star in the making, and ploughs through stuff like Tom Hardy through grunts in Mad Max.
• Our composer did what composers do and composed the music for the trailer and the demo. We are getting two themes, a main one and a combat one. The recording happens next week in a studio in Barcelona. I was told that it is one of the top ones in town, and we were able to stretch the budget to three - I repeat 3  - live musicians. I would love to be there, but there isn't any time left in my schedule. We will get pictures ...
  
• We have booked some advertising for the Kickstarter launch, and I am dabbling in Facebook advertising to build a bigger community before the Kickstarter and to get more feedback from folks early on. This stuff is part of indie game dev, too.
• A publisher is interested.

And the not so positives:

• Time. Time is not our friend.
• We had to change our main in-game font, and find an alternative due to (ridiculous) licensing costs. With consequences like self-destructing prefabs etc.
• Finding voice actors for the trailer is harder than anticipated. We have a UK actress ready, but we are also looking for a male voice. I might scratch the guy and give the whole thing to Jill (the actress).
• We are using Playfab and Photon. As 'The Great Whale Road' will be premium title I might live to regret the decision to use Playfab. But if it works, it will give us the opportunity to (among other things) enable 'backer only' content etc. very easily.
• I pushed for TFS source control, which was a mistake. Just don't, if you use Visual Studio Online use Git instead. It's not worth the overhead it creates for a small to medium gamedev team.
• Steam Greenlight will have to be done at the same as the KS, but at least we can reuse most of the content.
• A publisher is interested.

If you are planning to launch your own Kickstarter around the second half of November give us a shout, maybe we can work on some cross-promotion. If you are at IndieCade, it would be nice to have a chat. We are also planning to organize an Austrian dinner. Places will be limited, friends and press first.

All the best,
Joachim @ Sunburned Games

 

[oldblood]

Congrats on the publisher interest. Glad to hear the demo is progressing well. Will you be opening it up after Indiecade?

Very curious how the November Kickstarter will do. Historically, these late year Kickstarters have more struggles (holidays can mean lower personal spending) and depending on your location and amount raised, there can be tax implications with money collected and not spent in the same calendar year (e.g. things that are eventually expenses are seen as income as they werent spent). Not trying to be doom & gloom, more general observations...

I've found running Greenlight and Kickstarter doesn't hurt at all. Dont expect a lot of translation from Greenlight to Kickstarter (I believe generally most people browsing Greenlight are either bored or not looking to spend money) but you never know what will catch someones eye so its good exposure either way. It also conversely helps the GL (maybe even more so) as passionate backers will flock to your GL for votes which helps your visibility and getting those important early votes while you're still on Greenlights front page.

Either way, I will be eagerly awaiting your KS & GL! Best of luck with the prep...

[Sunburned Games]

Congrats on the publisher interest. Glad to hear the demo is progressing well. Will you be opening it up after Indiecade?

Very curious how the November Kickstarter will do. Historically, these late year Kickstarters have more struggles (holidays can mean lower personal spending) and depending on your location and amount raised, there can be tax implications with money collected and not spent in the same calendar year (e.g. things that are eventually expenses are seen as income as they werent spent). Not trying to be doom & gloom, more general observations...

I've found running Greenlight and Kickstarter doesn't hurt at all. Dont expect a lot of translation from Greenlight to Kickstarter (I believe generally most people browsing Greenlight are either bored or not looking to spend money) but you never know what will catch someones eye so its good exposure either way. It also conversely helps the GL (maybe even more so) as passionate backers will flock to your GL for votes which helps your visibility and getting those important early votes while you're still on Greenlights front page.

Either way, I will be eagerly awaiting your KS & GL! Best of luck with the prep...

Yes, the November date is more risky. I was thinking about waiting until February or March, but I think we will stand out, and mobilize sufficient numbers of backers in November/December as well. I am not expecting any cross-promotion from Steam to KS, maybe a little the other way round as you said. It's a lot easier to click on a Yes button than doing a credit card payment.

Being a studio with all the expenses that entails - salaries, social security, rent, insurance, license fees etc. - turning a sudden profit on the Kickstarter alone would be highly unlikely - but we wouldn't complain. If I was worried about taxes too much then I would not do this in Spain, but Luxembourg. Somebody has to pay taxes.

Not sure if the demo will be ready for public consumption before the KS, let's see.

Cheers,
Joachim


 

[oldblood]

Yeah don't get me wrong, not insinuating I think you wont do well. You've got a interesting game and talented developers behind it so I think you will do well. I was mostly just notating some observations about potential challenges. Sounds like you've done your research though! As you said, there may be some benefits from launching in what will likely be a quieter and less competitive time-frame...

[Sunburned Games]

Yeah don't get me wrong, not insinuating I think you wont do well. You've got a interesting game and talented developers behind it so I think you will do well. I was mostly just notating some observations about potential challenges. Sounds like you've done your research though! As you said, there may be some benefits from launching in what will likely be a quieter and less competitive time-frame...

Some people say that only the thing I am really good at is research. I might be also good at hiring the right folks. I don't think competition per se is bad on KS. It pulls in more backers and creates opportunities for cross-promotion. I need to stop talking business, otherwise why did I "escape" from my previous career?

[Sunburned Games]

We have posted the latest development update on our site. Next time I'll deal with the TIGForum formatting again, promised!

Today it's just a link: http://www.the-great-whale-road.com/blog/2015/10/6/october-update

Joachim @ Sunburned Games

[Sunburned Games]

Kickstarter Date Confirmed

We have recorded the first two tracks for The Great Whale Road demo and Kickstarter trailer. Actually we like the theme that much that we are thinking about making it the main theme of the game. Víctor Riera, our composer, and the team did a great job in the studio in Barcelona.

You can listen to it on:

. I hope you like it as much as we do.

If you are at IndieCade this week let us know. We will be mingling, playing and meeting as many folks as possible from Thursday-Saturday. Being based in Spain is nice from a work-life balance perspective and the weather doesn't hurt, but getting visibility and networking is a lot more difficult from here than it would be for example from London or the US.

Our Kickstarter start date is also confirmed as the 17th of November. We ran into an award winning short film director by accident, and we have him on board for all our trailer needs.

Let's hope we don't feel like this guy afterwards.

We will ramp up communications over the next month, and 'a non-pixel art 2D hand-drawn game' might be a nice change for your magazine, youtube channel or review site!

Best.
Joachim @ Sunburned Games

[Sunburned Games]

IndieCade - Kickstarter Preparations - Development Update

I will write down my thoughts about IndieCade on the flight back across the pond. The summary for me is that is an interesting festival, surely worth visiting if you have the time/money, but that it could be a lot better. Maybe that is former the marketeer and fintech startup dude in me. But I don't deny that it is fun, a bit like an impromptu camping trip. It is also useful from a networking perspective, as is as any other conference where you can meet fellow devs, publishers, writers etc.

For us it was important because it gave us a milestone a few weeks in advance of our Kickstarter date. Nothing like a deadline to focus everyone, and prioritize the actual priorities. The demo improved hugely in just two weeks.

Main Menu:

Deck Managment:

We will post some GIFs of the combat screen next week.

On Tuesday we'll start with the trailer production. Or actually three of them. And we will submit the Kickstarter skeleton for review as well. Just 3 weeks left - I will press the button on November the 17th.

Best.
Joachim @ Sunburned Games

[Greipur]

I can't tell you how glad I am when I see a viking inspired game that doesn't contain horns! If one is to appropriate someone else's culture you should be mindful of what you reproduce (at least if you keep it near it's source), I'm glad you took the time to do your research. 

[Sunburned Games]

I can't tell you how glad I am when I see a viking inspired game that doesn't contain horns! If one is to appropriate someone else's culture you should be mindful of what you reproduce (at least if you keep it near it's source), I'm glad you took the time to do your research. 

Just arrived back from Indiecade and I am blaming any typos on jetlag. I hope that you will like the game as well, and not only the fact that we didn't include horned helmets.

I guess most 'horned viking' games are casual, platform or arcade ones. So they are less about an authentic viking/norse/medieval setting than their common popular cultural representation. Our vikings are actually not even vikings yet, but representatives of proto-viking and other early medieval cultures.

Cheers,
Joachim @ Sunburned Games

[Greipur]

I hope that you will like the game as well, and not only the fact that we didn't include horned helmets.

Haha, having fair representation in itself is a sight for sore eyes. But I take the hint, your project seems interesting on all fronts. What inspired the name?

I guess most 'horned viking' games are casual, platform or arcade ones. So they are less about an authentic viking/norse/medieval setting than their common popular cultural representation.

Oh, I wouldn't mind if people just used pop culture imagery. But I've seen countless projects explicitly using Norse Mythology and Scandinavian Culture and just slapping on the same stereotypes and being straight faced about showing an authentic representation. It's sad to see. But I shall not bore you with my white Norse people problems.

Our vikings are actually not even vikings yet, but representatives of proto-viking and other early medieval cultures.

Yeah, that's true. Reminds me of the Vendel period among other things. I guess I was so glad to see ancient Scandinavians shown in a little more nuanced light (regardless if they're Vikings).

[Sunburned Games]

It was the working title, and we didn't come up with a better one. At one point someone suggested 'Action Saxons', which sounded too much like an Aryan Nations motor cycle gang for my taste.

The whole idea for the setting and the name was caused by me overindulging on historical fiction. There is an excellent series by Robert Low, and the first book is called the 'Whale Road'. I am curios to see if people will like and buy The Great Whale Road in Scandinavia, for now most interest is from the US, Australia, Canada and the UK.

I still have to check-out Crest once it is a bit quieter. I am not a big player of god games, but as you got a huge helping of critics' and curators' love I will certainly give it a go.

Best.
Joachim @ Sunburned Games

[Greipur]

It was the working title, and we didn't come up with a better one. At one point someone suggested 'Action Saxons', which sounded too much like an Aryan Nations motor cycle gang for my taste.

It's an interesting name. My first association with it was that you played mainly as a whale hunter. Perhaps I'm too literal, but I would recommend to be aware of that possible interpretation.

The whole idea for the setting and the name was caused by me overindulging on historical fiction.

There is no such thing when it comes to history.

There is an excellent series by Robert Low, and the first book is called the 'Whale Road'.

Ah, I see. Reading about it I must say that Low sounds sympathetic (on his website) with these lines:

"[...]most folk, even Scandinavians, know only that Vikings wore horned helmets. Which they never did. I can’t hope to redress the balance and would not presume to claim that my books reveal the real Vikings. But I hope they go some way to showing that there is more to the Norsemen of the Dark Ages than has so far been uncovered in fiction"

But now I'm beating an undead horse, I will let it rest, hehe.

I am curios to see if people will like and buy The Great Whale Road in Scandinavia, for now most interest is from the US, Australia, Canada and the UK.

I don't think that it will affect your sales in Early Access or when it's launched on Steam much. These are our sales so far on EA, only divided into brief "regions" depending on percent. Sales: 43% North America, 39% Western Europe (UK stands for most of it, Germany and Sweden comes after, and then France and Netherlands, all in all Sweden stands for 3% or something) and then countries like Australia, Russia,  around 4 % each, the rest scattered around the world. So yeah, not even for a Scandinavian developer can you really count on your own region. Sure, we're a rich bunch, but very few. I also think that most people won't really care if it's a fair representation, I think I'm an outlier there.

I still have to check-out Crest once it is a bit quieter. I am not a big player of god games, but as you got a huge helping of critics' and curators' love I will certainly give it a go.

Feel free! We will stick around on Early Access for awhile so there's still time to see it in its development.

[Sunburned Games]

Combat Animations

I have recorded some GIFs from the latest development build to show some of the animations we have added. There are the different attacks, hits, misses and side effects.


There will be a hero death animation as well, but we don't have the angel/Valkyrie yet.

Hamingja!
Joachim @ Sunburned Games

[Sunburned Games]

Last 2 weeks before our Kickstarter: 17th of November

How do you picture a studio with just over ten (official) working days left before a Kickstarter? It's quieter than I would have thought. So far we only had a few minor meltdowns and panic attacks, but we aren't there yet.

I finally followed all the rules and got a post on the news homepage of IndieDB: http://www.indiedb.com/games/the-great-whale-road/news/kickstarter-on-the-horizon-17th-november. On IndieDB if you add one video that might count as much as six images on IndieDB. They must think their 'readers' can't read. The post is still a bit text heavy, I think there are 4 or 5 paragraphs!

We are working on the trailer(s), the Kickstarter page, music and sound integration as well as polishing the combat. This will be the part we are breaking out and will be showcasing as a demo during the Kickstarter campaign (and Greenlight, I tend to forget about that).
 

The above is the new combat environment. Lovingly hand animated in 2D with seagulls, moving ships, fishes, mist, rain and animated water. Really hope that players will like that as much as we do.

Best.
Joachim @ Sunburned Games

[Sunburned Games]

I am taking a short break from adding content to our Kickstarter page, so I can add some content here.

Our combat screen underwent another iteration, mainly polish:

For the full size images: http://www.the-great-whale-road.com/press/

Best.
Joachim

[Greipur]

Nice Twitter stunt about helmets, I approve.


I must say when I look at these new images that it looks weird that their bodies are cut in half as if their legs are in some kind of limbo (or stuck in the floor). If this is a style you will continue with I would advise that you take the route that Battle Brothers took, i.e. emulate a chess aesthetic. Looking great otherwise.