Announcement: Be excellent to each other.


Caravel Forum : Caravel Boards : The Illumination : I've Got Bad News and Good News. (Our News for May.)
New Topic New Poll Post Reply
Poster Message
ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 2794
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged
icon I've Got Bad News and Good News. (+5)  
The thought of letting a month go by without an Illumination is really sad.

No, that isn't going to happen--not on my watch! Let me give you the quick rundown of what's going on. I'm going to follow the Good News, Bad News format because it adds a lot of drama.

Bad News - Mike Rimer Gets a Day Job

Mike started a new job, and this cuts waaaay down on the amount of time he can spend on DROD development tasks. We're trying to get a patch out with various important bug fixes. We don't want to start promoting DROD: The City Beneath until we've got this patch in place, because it may make a bad impression on new players and press contacts. Also, we have to hold up on CD printing, because we don't want major bugs burned onto discs.

Good News - The City Beneath Much More Popular than Predicted

I decided a while back not to give specific sales figures, but still, I can hint a little bit. Last year we made a conservative projection on how much money we'd make from sales of The City Beneath over its lifetime. Let's say my prediction was 10,000 greckles.

In the last few months we've made no effort to promote TCB. In fact, I have turned down people who wanted to review TCB, sell TCB from their site, or sell TCB through retail outlets. Mike and I didn't think it was ready. And as many of you know, we obfuscated the location of the demo in April so that only the most determined people would find the game. This was all part of the "community release" strategy, or as the more cynical would put it--"public beta test" strategy. We are still getting ready for the general release.

Yet despite us being completely unfocused on selling copies of The City Beneath, in just two months, we made about 7,500 greckles. I think we will probably surpass the 10,000 greckle goal this summer instead of in 2009 like I thought before. So grecklewise, we are doing great--way better than expected.

Ah, but more important than the greckles is that people are loving TCB. We knew if we built it, they would come. But we didn't know if they'd actually like it. Now that the dust has settled, I think we really put out a solid game that is fun to play.

Bad News - Reach of my Voice Greatly Diminished

Bulk e-mail is still not working. That means this Illumination wasn't mailed out to 3000 people that voluntarily signed up to receive the Illumination. That means that people aren't getting notifications when posts are made on the forum. I'm working with Jamie Jones to set up a mail server for bulk mailing. We are doing this very carefully so that there is no way our critical CaravelNet services, website, and eCommerce can be shut down as a result of some hamfisted proclamation that our teeming masses of outbound e-mail messages are spam.

Can I take a moment to scream something at every system administrator working for a hosting provider in the entire world?

"Just because we are sending lots of e-mail messages doesn't mean we are spamming!"

Good News - The Return of Cramp

Matthew Cramp, former webmaster, but ever-present force of Crampitude, has joined the Caravel team wearing two hats--support technician and marketing assistant.

A number of people may have noticed how poor I am at answering support requests in a timely manner. It got so bad that I started directing nearly all of the support requests to Mike. That was good for a while, but then he got his day job and things were bad again. We decided we needed some help, so Matt's going to be answering a lot of the requests that come in. It will help a lot and free Mike and I to work on getting the next game out.

Also, Matt is going to be doing everything he can to get our games publicity and recognition. He'll be contacting magazines and websites to pitch them on DROD. I wanted Danforth Strout to do this, but he's currently busy handling the TCB exit screen.

Bad News - No Topic Picks Again

I'm running out of time again. This always takes me about an hour to do, so I end up skipping it when I'm short on time.

Good News - Topic Picks in the Future

I'm going to find another person to help me with them. I really like topic picks and they serve the purpose of enticing players onto the forum. And they should be enticed. Our forum is awesome!

Bad News - I Gotta Go to the Bathroom

Another reason for cutting this Illumination short.

Good News - Meeting With Publisher to Discuss Next Game

I have been talking to a publisher who is interested in funding development of our next game if we do a few things to give them a distribution advantage. To be honest, Mike and I are capable of funding our own games and we don't need to hook up with a publisher, but there is a possible deal here that will make our next game get done much faster and have some extra bells and whistles. I'm meeting with the publisher next week. I'll let you know what happens!

Bad News - I Really Gotta Go to the Bathroom

Okay, I'm leaving now.

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

[Last edited by mrimer at 05-31-2007 03:26 AM]
05-30-2007 at 11:40 PM
View Profile Send Email to User Show all user's posts This architect's holds Quote Reply
coppro
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1308
Registered: 11-24-2005
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (-5)  
First reply!!!!

Also, the first "first reply" post on this forum that I know of.
05-30-2007 at 11:44 PM
View Profile Show all user's posts Quote Reply
Jeff_Ray...
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 962
Registered: 05-16-2005
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (+1)  
Not much on topic, but since you're talking about the next game, if it's got a level editor, I will have to try it out. And if it's a nice puzzle game.

____________________________
I make Let's Plays too!
Click here to find out my LPs' progress, and find out what I plan to tackle next!

Currently playing:
Click here to view the secret text


My Holds:
-Completed:
Click here to view the secret text

-Work in Progress:
Click here to view the secret text

05-30-2007 at 11:46 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts High Scores This architect's holds Quote Reply
NiroZ
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1302
Registered: 02-12-2006
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (0)  
ErikH2000 wrote:
Good News - The Return of Cramp

Matthew Cramp, former webmaster, but ever-present force of Crampitude, has joined the Caravel team wearing two hats--support technician and marketing assistant.

A number of people may have noticed how poor I am at answering support requests in a timely manner. It got so bad that I started directing nearly all of the support requests to Mike. That was good for a while, but then he got his day job and things were bad again. We decided we needed some help, so Matt's going to be answering a lot of the requests that come in. It will help a lot and free Mike and I to work on getting the next game out.

Also, Matt is going to be doing everything he can to get our games publicity and recognition. He'll be contacting magazines and websites to pitch them on DROD. I wanted Danforth Strout to do this, but he's currently busy handling the TCB exit screen.
-Erik
Congratulations Cramp! How did they force you back into the basement? Or you on a part time shift now?Thank god you left mine. It was getting rather messy with all the empty cans lying around. And don't get me started to the stolen bandwidth. I know why you have two routers!

[Last edited by NiroZ at 05-31-2007 05:35 AM]
05-30-2007 at 11:51 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts This architect's holds Quote Reply
coppro
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1308
Registered: 11-24-2005
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (0)  
It took 8 minutes for that to be modded down.

I'm ashamed...
05-30-2007 at 11:52 PM
View Profile Show all user's posts Quote Reply
Ezlo
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 1214
Registered: 01-08-2006
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (0)  
I see a Caravel Position in Tim's future. ;)
05-30-2007 at 11:54 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts This architect's holds Quote Reply
ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 2794
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (0)  
Jeff_Ray... wrote:
Not much on topic, but since you're talking about the next game, if it's got a level editor, I will have to try it out. And if it's a nice puzzle game.
Heh heh. I think it's cool that your first consideration is whether or not it has a level editor. You got the Architect's blood, eh?

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)
05-30-2007 at 11:58 PM
View Profile Send Email to User Show all user's posts This architect's holds Quote Reply
larrymurk
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 1908
Registered: 12-09-2004
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (0)  
Yeah, I'm looking forward to hearing more about "the next game."

It couldn't compare with a classic like DROD, could it?
05-31-2007 at 12:16 AM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts High Scores This architect's holds Quote Reply
Tim
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 1979
Registered: 08-07-2004
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (+5)  
Tim's Top Picks for April + May

As Erik says, writing a Top Picks does take about an hour, and that's for someone that's not using English in every day life, unlike most forumites. Let's just see if this really takes that long. :)


If you only visit the forum for the Illumination, then you might want to know the following:


DROD:The City Beneath for Windows, OSX and Linux
Since 3.0.2 has some issues, Caravel is recommending to wait on trying the 3.0.2 rev2 patch.(original post here )
The recommended version is therefore 3.0.0 for TCB.
If you have bought TCB and have CaravelNet, you can download it as usual on the download page.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/downloads.php


Hold converter
Since version 3.0.2 seems to change the hold format, importing holds made in 3.0.2 will cause problems, like characters' scripting being destroyed. Stefan has made a program to convert holds made in version 3.0.2 into 3.0.0 holds. Windows and OSX versions can be found in the thread (OSX version a bit further down)
Note that it is written in java, so it should probably work on Linux as well.
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=15931


Fegundo Flips, Adam's Tower, Goonhard da Ginky's Cellar, Zonhin's Tutorial 3.0,
Doctor E. Will's Mega Complex, Tar Gate Stronghold, war13, The Prison, Psycho Therapy, The Land of Pits, Descending Into The Catacombs, Tardustrial Park, The Cave of Eyes, The Snow Land, The Searing Wastes, Meckmeck's World 2

These are all the holds (level collections) that have been released since the previous list. 16 new holds!
This time there are 5 holds made for TCB, but there are also 2 JtRH holds which scores over 9!
You can find the holds in http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewboard.php?BoardID=11 or http://forum.caravelgames.com/holds.php


May Contest: Elemental Showcase
NiroZ is holding the official May Contest, which asks you to design a hold with 4-9 puzzle rooms to show off one TCB element. This contest will close Local Time:06-02-2007 at 05:00 PM, so see this as a reminder.
More information at: http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=15632


Reactions to TCB
Yes, I know Erik has asked TCB not to being reviewed, it doesn't stop people writing about it.
Things I currently love about TCB, Things I currently don't love about TCB, Personalized feedback on TCB
For the Press Clippings, go to the Press Clippings Board
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewboard.php?BoardID=124


TCB Mods
We've got our first mods!
Transparent Tar + Secret Revealing Mod
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=6596&page=1#179545
Clock Mods
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=15170&page=0#176720
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=15170&page=0#176720
Instructions here: http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=15170&page=0#180862


New Look for Beethro
Some fellow forumites has started to give a new look to Beethro and Halph.
Since these are all images, I think you should judge them yourself :)
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=15963
http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewtopic.php?TopicID=15953


That's all for now. And it took me more than an hour. Since it's way past bedtime, I'll stop for now.

-- Tim :)


____________________________
The best way to lose customers is to let little kids running loose on a forum with too many mod points.

[Last edited by Tim at 05-31-2007 11:53 AM : May Contest instead of April :)]
05-31-2007 at 01:26 AM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Show all user's posts This architect's holds Quote Reply
AlefBet
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 979
Registered: 07-16-2003
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (0)  
coppro wrote:
First reply!!!!

Also, the first "first reply" post on this forum that I know of.
coppro wrote:
It took 8 minutes for that to be modded down.

I'm ashamed...
I actually chuckled when I read the FR message. But I guess it must of necessity be modded down, to keep with the SlashDot tradition. I guess, coppro, you can just try not to take it personally.

____________________________
I was charged with conspiracy to commit jay-walking, and accessory to changing lanes without signaling after the fact :blush.

++Adam H. Peterson
05-31-2007 at 03:45 AM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Visit Homepage Show all user's posts Quote Reply
coppro
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1308
Registered: 11-24-2005
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (+1)  
I'm ashamed that it took it 8 minutes, not that I got modded -5.
05-31-2007 at 04:20 AM
View Profile Show all user's posts Quote Reply
Mattcrampy
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 2388
Registered: 05-29-2003
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (+1)  
NiroZ wrote:
I know why you have two routers!

I have two routers because they're installed in cows and I'm living in an economic metaphor these days.

(:huh)

____________________________
What do you call an elephant at the North Pole?
Click here to view the secret text

05-31-2007 at 04:50 AM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts Quote Reply
NiroZ
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1302
Registered: 02-12-2006
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (0)  
Mattcrampy wrote:
NiroZ wrote:
I know why you have two routers!

I have two routers because they're installed in cows and I'm living in an economic metaphor these days.

(:huh)
Ha! That's what they all say. ;)
05-31-2007 at 05:38 AM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts This architect's holds Quote Reply
larrymurk
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 1908
Registered: 12-09-2004
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (0)  
Nice job Tim, you da man!
05-31-2007 at 01:32 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts High Scores This architect's holds Quote Reply
gamer_extreme_101
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 1939
Registered: 03-07-2004
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (0)  
You should probably add vylycyn's Volcano and Sanctum 2 styles as well to the mods section.

____________________________
--That guy with a million different aliases since he doesn't like this name anymore.
05-31-2007 at 02:58 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Visit Homepage Show all user's posts This architect's holds Quote Reply
Stefan
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 2119
Registered: 05-25-2004
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (0)  
Tim wrote:
Hold converter
Since version 3.0.2 seems to change the hold format, importing holds made in 3.0.2 will cause problems, like characters' scripting being destroyed. Stefan has made a program to convert holds made in version 3.0.2 into 3.0.0 holds. Windows and OSX versions can be found in the thread (OSX version a bit further down)
Note that it is written in java, so it should probably work on Linux as well.
To avoid unnecessary confusion: Note that the Windows "version" is just a launcher to start the platform-independent Java program. The same goes for the OS X bundle, and the shell script for Linux/BSD/...

The .jar (the actual program) can be run with any OS that has Java installed, and since it should run fine with gcj (the GNU version of Java), I think that's just about any platform out there. I just included the launchers for ease of use (and to test how to release a Java program).

____________________________
0.099³
05-31-2007 at 04:19 PM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Show all user's posts This architect's holds Quote Reply
coppro
Level: Smitemaster
Rank Points: 1308
Registered: 11-24-2005
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (0)  
05-31-2007 at 08:18 PM
View Profile Show all user's posts Quote Reply
techant
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 854
Registered: 06-08-2004
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (+1)  
Whew...I am so glad you made it Erik and Tim great job. What a team we have here in the DROD :group community. I applaud you all. :hooray


As for those admins that say they are stopping spam when they are just blocking all our wanted and needed mail ...:throw


ADDed Later
"Fegundo Flips"- This hold Rocks thanks for the recomendations again Tim. Reminds me of the contest this month. :D In less than 2 days you can try some holds focused on entrants featured element. Check it out in Contests. http://forum.caravelgames.com/viewboard.php?BoardID=83

____________________________
DROD RPG Released!! You must try it out it is Great!!
Click here to view the secret text


[Last edited by techant at 06-01-2007 08:36 AM]
06-01-2007 at 07:22 AM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Send Email to User Show all user's posts Quote Reply
Sillyman
Level: Smiter
Avatar
Rank Points: 339
Registered: 09-08-2006
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (0)  
Well, Gmail doesn't block CaravelNet as far as I can tell. If it did, I think the clicks of "Not spam" would get their automated system's attention.

____________________________
Who, me?
FNORD
06-06-2007 at 02:36 AM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Show all user's posts Quote Reply
Tim
Level: Smitemaster
Avatar
Rank Points: 1979
Registered: 08-07-2004
IP: Logged
icon Re: I've Got Bad News and Good News. (+1)  
I almost forgot to reply on the original post:

Congratulations to Mr. Imer for having a day job!

May he find a fine balance between all the tasks that's ahead. ;)

____________________________
The best way to lose customers is to let little kids running loose on a forum with too many mod points.
06-12-2007 at 12:47 AM
View Profile Send Private Message to User Show all user's posts This architect's holds Quote Reply
New Topic New Poll Post Reply
Caravel Forum : Caravel Boards : The Illumination : I've Got Bad News and Good News. (Our News for May.)
Surf To:


Forum Rules:
Can I post a new topic? No
Can I reply? No
Can I read? Yes
HTML Enabled? No
UBBC Enabled? Yes
Words Filter Enable? No

Contact Us | CaravelGames.com

Powered by: tForum tForumHacks Edition b0.98.8
Originally created by Toan Huynh (Copyright © 2000)
Enhanced by the tForumHacks team and the Caravel team.