Caravel's top news item this month is that we have DROD featured on
Steam Greenlight!
For those who don't know what Greenlight is, it's the new process for getting indie games noticed by Valve to be distributed on Steam. Players have been asking for DROD to be on Steam for a long time now, and we'd love to oblige. This is our chance. For that to happen, we need your help today!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93811035
Go to this page and click the big "
Yes"
where it asks if you'd like to get "
DROD: Gunthro and the Epic Blunder"
on Steam. That's it! You'll need to log in to your Steam user account in order to cast your vote.
Right now, DROD has just over 20% of the votes needed to get it into the
Top 100 candidate games submitted to Greenlight. We need to reach the Top 100 in order for DROD to get the visibility it needs in order to be considered for distribution. Of course, I want DROD to achieve more than merely being in the Top 100. Let's make it their
highest voted indie puzzle game.
Getting DROD on Steam will be awesome in so many ways:
1. Once DROD is accepted, then we'll provide a free Steam key to register the game to your account for everyone who has already bought the game.
2. We plan on releasing all of the previous DROD titles and Smitemaster's Selection expansions as DLC (downloadable content). We expect to offer some incredibly sweet bundle deals, and providing keys for previous purchases applies here too.
3. This will help us get the word out about DROD in a most major way, bringing in a horde of new avid players into our community. We'll end up with a lot of great, new usermade content from those future DROD fans -- those who haven't played the game simply because they haven't heard of it yet.
4. This will give Caravel the opportunity to add extra features like Steam achievements to the DROD experience. This can be added alongside existing CaravelNet functionality, and we'll likely evolve the CaravelNet model according to need.
5. Having greater exposure, I'm confident we'll be able to ramp up the production values going into "
DROD: The Second Sky"
by several notches. This means making the next DROD game, that we already expect to be great, absolutely fabulous!
Greenlight is a program where Steam is encouraging getting the community word out about your favorite indie games, because Valve wants to distribute those indie gems that players are most vocal and passionate about. If this seems like a popularity contest, it is! That's the way this system works.
So, please vote, and then go spread the word to all your friends to come support DROD together with you! And while you're there, post a quick comment on the page expressing your love and support for DROD!
If you need more incentive, we'll provide either a free 3-month CaravelNet membership or a free Smitemaster's Selection credit to everyone who upvotes the game and posts something good or original/unique about DROD in the comments! The same goes for friends and family. After you do this, just e-mail us or PM me (mrimer) on the Caravel Forum, saying you upvoted and commented on DROD on Greenlight, specifying your Steam username so we can verify this, and also your Caravel username and which of these you'd like to receive on your account. If you don't want this bonus, that's fine -- you can alternately pass it along to a friend who might enjoy it. Just tell us how you'd like to receive it. This is retroactive for everyone who has already commented and would like to receive something. (In case we get flooded with requests, please be patient and give us at least a few days to respond to your request.)
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We also have
DROD RPG featured on Greenlight. After you vote for DROD classic, go vote for "
Tendry's Tale"
while you're at it!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93899534
How many more exclamation points do we need in this newsletter in order to get our message out? Go vote now!!!
Indie Game Stand
For those who have heard about the "
Humble Indie Bundles"
, you'll be excited to hear that the folks behind
Indie Game Magazine are setting up an Indie Game Stand. You'll be able to stop by and pick up your favorite indie games, DRM-free, for cheap. DROD:GatEB will be featured in their launch line-up, going live in just a week on September 26th. When you order indie games here, the developers receive most of the revenue, and also a portion goes to support charities such as Child's Play. Like with the humble bundles, there are going to be super promotions for each game, where players can pay what they want to order the game. For those paying over the average amount, you'll be able to receive extra bonus content. When DROD shows up, we'll of course be providing the excellent "
Flood Warning"
expansion by TFMurphy as bonus content, and to further sweeten the deal, we'll also include Volumes 1 and 2 of "
Deadly Music of Death"
-- the complete soundtrack to King Dugan's Dungeon and Journey to Rooted Hold -- as another bonus. So, keep your eyes peeled for this unprecedented DROD promotion. Also, everyone who registers a user account on Indie Game Stand before the launch date gets a free copy of "
Chester"
, a cool looking 2D platformer. So what are you waiting for?
http://indiegamestand.com/
Preorder DROD: Gunthro and the Epic Blunder on limited edition CD
We're now close to making our limited-edition print run of DROD:GatEB on CD. If you're interested in ordering this but haven't yet, you still have time to secure yourself a copy. Along with your CD order, which you'll receive when it's printed, you'll get a license to download the game right away, and you'll also receive the excellent "
Flood Warning"
expansion, all in one.
https://secure.bmtmicro.com/servlets/Orders.ShoppingCart?CID=2&PRODUCTID=74770026
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Happy DRODing!
- Mike
____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.
[Last edited by mrimer at 09-19-2012 05:54 AM]
