POLL: Kickstarter project - Hero: The Realm

[danielj]

You've possibly fallen slightly foul of this being the first time anything like this has been suggested on here. Even the 32bit side of stardot is very 8bit minded in comparison to the other riscos specific sites. By that I mean that most things are cooked up in bedrooms and pushed out after they've been developed as a labour of love.

The last kickstarter type thing that popped up on here (a book about the history of acorn) completely failed to deliver.

People are really happy to buy the finished products though! I just think people are struggling with things like drm and crowd funding development of something as you'll find most people on this board do it for the love and not the money.

And then of course you've got people trying to express themselves through the crude medium of text on a message board with varying degrees of elegance. Don't take it personally, do be encouraged, do be open to think about different models of getting something back from your endeavours.

d.

[flibble]

My advice for gauging the size of the current risc os games market would be to contact Antony Bartram of AMCOG games, he's released 8 commercial titles over the last couple of years.

http://www.amcog-games.co.uk/

From previous discussions with him I would expect 100 sales of a single title would be considered excellent.

Incidentally, I voted 'Not interested' in the poll, even though I am in the target demographic. Purely personally I don't do kickstarter, or purchase any game that a) isn't finished b) doesn't have a demo or a third party review.

[crj]

I see the poll currently has just more "non-interested" than commited replies. Why would this be? Please comment.

[...]

I'm a bit sad because this thread has been picked apart by the negative commentary

Sorry, but you did ask!

[Square Mezzmer]

Yes.

I did also get positive replies about how to adapt the product and Kickstarter!

[jms2]

Hello Square Mezzmer and welcome to the forum!

I've been reading this thread with interest. Like others, I do feel a bit sorry for you over some of the negative feedback that you've had; but I can empathise with those posters as well. My own initial reaction on reading your first post was one of scepticism,but you've won me round.

You've possibly fallen slightly foul of this being the first time anything like this has been suggested on here.

That's exactly what I was thinking. A new game for Risc OS (especially, as originally suggested, the RiscPC only) is a very unusual thing in itself (actually I thought there hadn't been any for years - I had not heard of AMCOG games). Combine that with ideas like Kickstarter and DRM, which are pretty much unheard of within this community, and you were likely to make most people wary.

Anyway based on the re-worded poll, I've voted positively - but just to be clear, KickStarter is very much a "NonStarter" for me. I think I'd only ever be interested in KickStarter if it were for a project which (a) I really, really wanted and (b) I thought was commercially viable. Much as I'd like to see a new Risc OS game, I don't reckon that any game for that platform would fulfil either requirement.

One other thing I've been wondering about... would developing a 32 bit game be much more difficult than an 8 bit game? Obviously it's easier to exploit the power of the machine to create the same game, but expectations tend to be much higher for a more powerful machine, which I assume is the reason why the BBC has quite a few new games whereas the Arc doesn't.

[amcog]

Hi Tim,

Good luck with your game. I've put my name down as willing to buy a copy.

Are you registered on the ROOL site?
https://www.riscosopen.org/content/

I've been writing and selling games for the last 3 years on 32 bit RISC OS systems. I cover my costs and make a profit (which is increasing) each year. I've sold on the order of hundreds of games in total. Its very hard to tell exactly how big RISC OS actually is, although it has certainly grown since the Raspberry Pi was released - which is when I joined.

I will be watching with interest.

Best Regards,
Tony Bartram
http://www.amcog-games.co.uk

[myelin]

This forum is generally a super friendly place, but can get a little negative when someone joins and starts marketing a project straight away. More of a small town than big city atmosphere, perhaps

Good luck with the project! I don't have any Acorn ARM hardware (any more... used to have an A4000 when I was younger) but will be watching this with interest.

[KarateEd]

Well, I've changed my mind and checked the first option just because I think it's a great idea to have a new game at any time it's possible, especially for the older machines as they are the 'true' computers, the rest, pretenders to the throne. The old beasts need to stay viable so people will actually know what a computer really is..... something that's lacking in today's world really.

Ed......

[helpful]

Firstly, I would also agree with several others here in saying that KickStarter probably won't work for this. Posting a development blog on here is more likely to get people involved.

Some other suggestions to drum up more interest:

Put something in the Announcements section on the ROOL forum - https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/

Contact Mark Stephens on The Icon Bar and offer to do an interview about your plans - http://www.iconbar.com/

Send details to Vince Hudd at RISCOSitory - http://www.riscository.com/submissions/

Drag n Drop magazine has run games writing columns so might like an article - http://www.dragdrop.co.uk/

When the game is finished, put it on PlingStore - http://www.plingstore.org.uk/

Plus, consider going along to a user group meeting (*cough* ROUGOL ) and chatting to people there - http://www.riscository.com/calendar/#rogroups

Good luck!

Bryan.

[crj]

it's a great idea to have a new game at any time it's possible

Mmm.

The poll offered no options between "I'm willing to commit money in advance to a project by an unknown author" and "I'm not interested". Had there been "If you publish a good game, I'll pay money for it" or "more games are always good, especially if they turn out to be fun and playable" options in between them, those might have got a lot of ticks.

[Square Mezzmer]

Firstly, I would also agree with several others here in saying that KickStarter probably won't work for this. Posting a development blog on here is more likely to get people involved.

Some other suggestions to drum up more interest:

Put something in the Announcements section on the ROOL forum - https://www.riscosopen.org/forum/

Registered and will do!

Contact Mark Stephens on The Icon Bar and offer to do an interview about your plans - http://www.iconbar.com/

Great idea indeed! I'd love to.

Send details to Vince Hudd at RISCOSitory - http://www.riscository.com/submissions/
Drag n Drop magazine has run games writing columns so might like an article - http://www.dragdrop.co.uk/

When the game is finished, put it on PlingStore - http://www.plingstore.org.uk/

More good suggestions and very "helpful". I should really text edit and print out these pointers!

Plus, consider going along to a user group meeting (*cough* ROUGOL ) and chatting to people there - http://www.riscository.com/calendar/#rogroups

I'm planning to go to Wakefield with said Software/Graphics Developer. ROUGOL sounds good for March 19th.

Thanks a lot Bryan, very kind (helpful) advices.

[helpful]

ROUGOL sounds good for March 19th.

Well I don't have a speaker organised for that meeting, so if you wanted to get up and talk about your plans/ideas you would be very welcome!

I realise that would be very much in at the deep end, but we are friendly and (mostly) harmless

Bryan.

[Square Mezzmer]

Yes, I'd very much like that. I'm no stranger to presentations. I might add you as a friend and message you from here Bryan.

[helpful]

That's great news!

You can email me on the ROUGOL contact address - http://rougol.jellybaby.net/contacts/index.html

Thanks,
Bryan.

[arananet]

looks great!

[Square Mezzmer]

Here's the prototype in a little video running on Windows 10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-pfQKeDzkM

Sorry about the slow frame rate, it does cause some little graphical issues!

[helpful]

Square Mezzmer (aka Tim!) and Tony from AMCOG Games will be coming along to this Monday's ROUGOL meeting to talk all about games development.

http://www.rougol.jellybaby.net/meetings/index.html

It would be great to see any other StarDot members who can make it along to provide advice and encouragement

Bryan.

[Square Mezzmer]

Here's a better quality video I recorded of gameplay - running at 60fps.

Hero: The Realm WINDOWS 10 Gameplay

I hope to evoke a lot more action and effects in this simple but playable platformer.