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[GreatFox]

Hei GreatFox, thank you so much!
I've processed your order a few minutes ago (before I even read your post) - you should have something in your mailbox

Paid, played, loved!

I must say I don't know this game, although somebody else made a joke based on the names (BOH <-> BOFH).

BOFH is relatively unknown game. It feels like that I am only one who knows about it.
What made me thinking about it were name (BOH <-> BOFH) as you pointed out, old-school pixelated graphics and the fact that it was first released as a Amiga homebrew and later ported to MS Windows. Pretty funny coincidence, if you ask from me.

[saimo]

Paid, played, loved!

I'm delighted by the "loved" part - hearing that people is enjoying what I did with so much love is just a wonderful feeling!

What made me thinking about it were name (BOH <-> BOFH) as you pointed out, old-school pixelated graphics and the fact that it was first released as a Amiga homebrew and later ported to MS Windows. Pretty funny coincidence, if you ask from me.

Indeed. Some day I'll have to check it out

[Hayden Scott-Baron]

I'll try out the mac demo!

I find it interesting that you distribute an ISO. Do you find this causes any difficulties for your users, or is your game the sort that only appeals to those that are very comfortable messing with Nero and Toast?

It's also fascinating that you have a boxed edition of your game at a quite affordable price, with lovely printed manual. Would you mind sharing some of your process of putting this on disc? Is your house filled with thousands of units of BOH now?

edot: I also notice your manual is in English. Is that okay?

[saimo]

I'll try out the mac demo!

Enjoy!

I find it interesting that you distribute an ISO. Do you find this causes any difficulties for your users, or is your game the sort that only appeals to those that are very comfortable messing with Nero and Toast?

This was born as a physical product* that contains the versions for all platforms. Who buys it, gets the game for all platforms (including future ports for desktop OSes like Linux or AROS). That's why there is an ISO and not single packages**.
Besides, nowadays everybody should be able to burn a CD or - even better - to mount an ISO image as a virtual disc (BTW, on MacOS X one just needs to double-click the file to mount it). Nobody complained so far.

*Reasons explained in the FAQ page of the website.
**Actually the physical CD contains only the AmigaOS and Windows versions, as at the time of production the MacOS port had not been started yet. The MacOS installer is included in the update1 package freely available for download on the webite. Moreover, the ISO image - which all customers have access to - contains the most up-to-date versions for all platforms and includes all the expansions (missions, themes and translations) released so far.

It's also fascinating that you have a boxed edition of your game at a quite affordable price, with lovely printed manual. Would you mind sharing some of your process of putting this on disc?

What do you exactly would like to know?

Is your house filled with thousands of units of BOH now?

Quite a lot, indeed - but I wouldn't mind if people helped me make room

edot: I also notice your manual is in English. Is that okay?

Entirely in English. The updated PDF version can be downloaded from the website and is also included in the demo packages.

[Hayden Scott-Baron]

I got stuck on the item tutorial level, it said I didn't need two of the items and wouldn't let me pick them up. I should try again.

The reason I asked about your manual being in English is that you are based in Italy, so I wondered whether you had any Italian customers wishing for an Italian language manual.

In terms of your boxed edition, is Editol a separate company or is that still you?  Is there anything you would have done differently if you did it again?  I must admit, as a mac owner, I felt slightly disappointed to hear that the disc version was Windows and Amiga only. Does your boxed edition include room for an extra burned CD?

I think your pricing is very reasonable, I hope you do well.
Have you had many sales of the disc edition in comparison to the Iso-only edition?

[saimo]

I got stuck on the item tutorial level, it said I didn't need two of the items and wouldn't let me pick them up. I should try again.

You didn't get stuck because of the items not picked up, but only because you didn't pay attention to... naaah, I won't spoil the fun unless you ask me to
BTW: if you were told that you didn't need any item, is only because you first picked up better ones - which means that you didn't pick up the items in the order they are presented.
TIP (for everybody): even if the very easy missions try to introduce the game as gently as possible, there are a lot of details that are not so evident... the best thing to fully enjoy the game right from the start is having a good look at the manual

The reason I asked about your manual being in English is that you are based in Italy, so I wondered whether you had any Italian customers wishing for an Italian language manual.

Oh, sure. People also asked for an Italian version of the website. But I'm doing everything on my own (including shipping the packages), so that doesn't leave much time & energy for maintaining double versions of everything. Not to mention that two different versions of the manual would have made the costs sky-rocket.

In terms of your boxed edition, is Editol a separate company or is that still you?

No, it's a separate company. I'm just a private individual.

Is there anything you would have done differently if you did it again?

Nope.

I must admit, as a mac owner, I felt slightly disappointed to hear that the disc version was Windows and Amiga only.

I can understand that and I'm just sorry as well. I'm also sorry that future versions won't be on the pressed CD-ROM. This is another reason why I made an updated ISO image.
Unfortunately, I don't own a Mac, so I could not know beforehand how long it would take to make the port. Not to mention that testing would have delayed things even more. At some point, one has to draw the line and call the product finished.
The sad irony was that after the CDs were ready, due to the Italian messy laws, there has been a delay of 2 (!) months since sales could finally begin. In those 2 months I decided to develop the game further and port it to Mac - in fact, update1 was released only a few weeks after sales began. A real pity

Does your boxed edition include room for an extra burned CD?

Yes, but, as you can imagine, the CD on the top can't stay firmly in place. It would be better to keep it inside the booklet.

I think your pricing is very reasonable, I hope you do well.

Thanks. I wanted the price to be honest and low, because I knew that postal expenses (and taxes, for countries in the VAT area) would affect a lot the end-user price.

Have you had many sales of the disc edition in comparison to the Iso-only edition?

Digital distribution has been going on for just 1 week, so it's a bit early to say.

[Hayden Scott-Baron]

Thanks for the info, it's very interesting to hear about all of this.

I'll give the game another try and pay better attention this time.

[GreatFox]

Oh hi, I already translated this to finnish because I have too much free time.
But somehow I managed to accidentally delete it and FreeUndelete couldnt find it. Oh well, maybe I do it again.

BUT, my main question this time is, how do I create levels? I tried to open original levels with Notepad++ but there was just some unreadable symbols and other thingies.

Also, castle-theme rocks.

[saimo]

Thanks for the info, it's very interesting to hear about all of this.

You're welcome

I'll give the game another try and pay better attention this time.

BTW, on second thought, I realized that the items you could not pick up could be shield recharges: that happens when the shield is already 100% full.

[saimo]

 

Oh hi, I already translated this to finnish because I have too much free time.

That's nice, kiitos! (Kaksi vuotta Oulussa - but I've picked up only little Finnish, so there's not much more than than I can say )
Just a question: did you follow the indications given in the developer's manual?
If you want to share it with the world, I'd be happy to put it on the DOWNLOADS page of the website. All credit will go to you, of course (as you have seen, the author is indicated inside the translation file itself as well).

But somehow I managed to accidentally delete it and FreeUndelete couldnt find it. Oh well, maybe I do it again.

Ouch

BUT, my main question this time is, how do I create levels? I tried to open original levels with Notepad++ but there was just some unreadable symbols and other thingies.

The provided levels are encrypted to avoid cheating
If you want a base to start from, you could copy & paste the mission descriptor used as an example in the developer's manual.

Also, castle-theme rocks.

Glad you like it

[GreatFox]

That's nice, kiitos! (Kaksi vuotta Oulussa - but I've picked up only little Finnish, so there's not much more than than I can say )

That's fine because finnish is retardedly difficult language.

Just a question: did you follow the indications given in the developer's manual?

Looks like I accidentally did. I didnt even notice the whole "phrasebooks" section!

If you want to share it with the world, I'd be happy to put it on the DOWNLOADS page of the website. All credit will go to you, of course (as you have seen, the author is indicated inside the translation file itself as well).

That's fine by me. Since I have too much free time, I retranslated it already. I think its a bit better this time, even tho' evil master sounds a bit goofy in finnish.
http://willhostforfood.com/?Action=download&fileid=76091

If you want a base to start from, you could copy & paste the mission descriptor used as an example in the developer's manual.

Expect copypasting from PDF is forbidden. But it looks easy enough without pre-made base.

[saimo]

If you want to share it with the world, I'd be happy to put it on the DOWNLOADS page of the website. All credit will go to you, of course (as you have seen, the author is indicated inside the translation file itself as well).

That's fine by me. Since I have too much free time, I retranslated it already. I think its a bit better this time, even tho' evil master sounds a bit goofy in finnish.
http://willhostforfood.com/?Action=download&fileid=76091

Ah, great! I'll have a look at it in a short while and then I'll put it online.
One more question: is it OK with you if I include it in future releases (demos, ISOs, CDs)? In that case, you'll be credited also in the user's manual. Feel free to say "no".

Expect copypasting from PDF is forbidden.

What? It shouldn't be so. It isn't here, at least.

But it looks easy enough without pre-made base.

Yes, it's very easy.
Besides, I had forgotten to mention that somebody else started making an online editor for those who, unlike me, don't fancy fiddling with text files: http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=47962. Please note that, since the author is too busy at the moment, the meta-information isn't fully compatible; the maps themselves are, though.

[GreatFox]

Ah, great! I'll have a look at it in a short while and then I'll put it online.
One more question: is it OK with you if I include it in future releases (demos, ISOs, CDs)? In that case, you'll be credited also in the user's manual. Feel free to say "no".

I feel free to say "yes."

Expect copypasting from PDF is forbidden.

What? It shouldn't be so. It isn't here, at least.

I pretty much found out when I posted my previous message that only those examples can be copied. My bad!

Besides, I had forgotten to mention that somebody else started making an online editor for those who, unlike me, don't fancy fiddling with text files: http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=47962. Please note that, since the author is too busy at the moment, the meta-information isn't fully compatible; the maps themselves are, though.

Well, there is mention in the bottom of Developer's Manual, at 'Useful links' section.

EDIT: Updated phrasebook, overlooked one single word in licences: http://willhostforfood.com/?Action=download&fileid=76101
Everything should be fine now.

[saimo]

One more question: is it OK with you if I include it in future releases (demos, ISOs, CDs)? In that case, you'll be credited also in the user's manual. Feel free to say "no".

I feel free to say "yes."

Wonderful, thank you!

I pretty much found out when I posted my previous message that only those examples can be copied. My bad!

Oh, no problem.

Well, there is mention in the bottom of Developer's Manual, at 'Useful links' section.

Ah, right.

EDIT: Updated phrasebook, overlooked one single word in licences: http://willhostforfood.com/?Action=download&fileid=76101
Everything should be fine now.

I'm busy with a couple of things now, but later I'll have a look at it and I will let you know (and I will also give you the package tracking number - the package has already been posted).

[Zhal]

BOFH is relatively unknown game. It feels like that I am only one who knows about it.
What made me thinking about it were name (BOH <-> BOFH) as you pointed out, old-school pixelated graphics and the fact that it was first released as a Amiga homebrew and later ported to MS Windows. Pretty funny coincidence, if you ask from me.

Heh, I hadn't heard of BOFH previously, but when I tried BOH, a friend said that it reminded him of BOFH. Then I had try BOFH too. So now there're at least 3 of us. 

[Eclipse]

this game is a drug, i have almost no time to play during this period so i got a lot of awesome games on hold (hl2: ep 2, neverwinter nights 2, Bioshock) but when i have 10 mins of spare time i always give BOH a run

I've tried BOFH but it gived me the finger under Vista 64bit, a very bad Blue screen of Death and then my pc rebooted...

[saimo]

this game is a drug, i have almost no time to play during this period so i got a lot of awesome games on hold (hl2: ep 2, neverwinter nights 2, Bioshock) but when i have 10 mins of spare time i always give BOH a run

Now, that's a satisfaction

[Eclipse]

I've started to do a Quake 1 theme :D

On the left original Quake textures, on the right my theme tiles for BOH




This is an in-game shot (edit: added a door!)


I've started over the Castle theme so the 90% of the graphics is still the castle one.
It has already the quake mood, and with the player replaced with the quake grunt will look even better :D

[Eclipse]

the evil master summon icon is now the quake button, it flashes red when activated


crates!


these are the ones on quake

[saimo]

Hey Eclipse, it's just great that you're already working on a theme of your own! Thanks a lot!

I have a few advices for you. I'll start from the tiles reference you posted (which has an odd >2x zoom):



You can see my tiles under yours at 1x and 2x.

1. The button tiles have been just resized with interpolation (I've done this to show that BOH fully supports 24-bit graphics).

2. The wall tile has been resized and then got the dark lines painted over - but this one definitely needs more work.

3. The plate tile has been resized and then got the borders drawn manually - the inner texture could be improved by hand or maybe by resizing a smaller part of the source texture.

4. The floor tile was obtained by resizing only a small part of the source texture and then by drawing the lower and right sides of each "brick" (your tile is missing a couple of those sides, so that tiling doesn't work well).

More in general, I suggest you up the brightness of the walls and lower those of the floor, as that visually helps understanding the depth. The luminosity of objects like crates should be somewhere in between. Moreover, try also adding some different hues, to favour readability (f.ex., the crates in the example are too similar to the other tiles both in hue and luminosity - this happens in Quake already, but there the 3D helps distinguishing).
Finally, try to make passages look quite different from walls (except for the remote-controlled ones, that is ).

Keep up the good work!