ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2798
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

This is a special Dragonflight edition of the news, where I will speak directly to people who were at the show and permanently alienate everyone else...

So I went to the Dragonflight game convention and set up a table there to promote my bundle of joy, DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold. There's a problem with being an indie computer game developer, as opposed to that not-too-distant cousin, the hobbyist developer. The problem is this burden of justifying your time. If you were just working on games for fun, you wouldn't bother with it. The hobbyist says, "I made a Tetris clone over the weekend. It's got crummy graphics, unoriginal gameplay, only works on my machine, and nobody will be impressed by it, but hey, I had fun making it, and that's what counts!" An indie guy does the same thing, and feels as guilty as if he'd spent the weekend sprawled drunk on a hotelroom bed watching exercise equipment infomercials. It's not enough to just make games, you have to make games that people will buy. You get serious about this, because in theory, some bright day after you've got the moneypipe part of it figured out, you will once again be able to frolic in the creative wonderland that the hobbyist partially enjoys and just spend all your time making cool games. That's the dream!

The lesson indies get as soon as they arrive is: pay attention to numbers. How many people are coming to your site? Of those, what percentage download your demo? Of those, how many people buy the game? How many people that buy your game will buy something else? These aren't numbers you store away in case you need them later. You will need them--there's no question of it. Decisions about spending time and money should be based on them, if you ever hope to find your way to that garden of game authoring delight.

I don't even want to think about the numbers for Dragonflight. I hate to say it, but numerically speaking, it was a poor investment of time. For about 30 hours of work and $100 of money, I got 4 sales, 20 contacts, 25 demo CDs handed out. Well, that's not terrible, but indie guilt creeps in around the edges. What if I stayed home that weekend, and worked on the remaining tasks for the DROD: King Dugan's Dungeon release? Then we put a new product out and get an excuse to send out press releases, which bring press and gamesite coverage, more traffic, more downloads, more sales.

So you see the painful way my mind works these days? Let me tell you that I didn't come here to whine at you, though. There are other ways to look at the show. It is sad to put "had fun" in a bullet point list of benefits, but there it is, "I had fun". I played a nice game of Settlers of Cataan, talked to some fans from the forum (silver, Leus, John, David), and met some other cool people. I also stored away nice little observations and insights that may help me with the business side of DROD later, but I won't bore everyone with them. Suffice it to say that certain thoughts would have never occured to me if I hadn't been at Dragonflight.

If you feel like reliving the glory days of DF'05, (or perhaps you didn't go and wanted to know what it was like), then check out the pics!

Dragonflight photos

The Drawing

There's about twenty people that I've made skim over my boring pre-middle-aged angst to get to this next part. Who won the show drawing? Who gets a free DROD: Journey to Rooted Hold CD shipped to them?

Well, I dutifully shuffled up the little strips of papers with e-mail addresses on them and chose one at random. I'd like to say something traditional like "Congratulations to Joseph P. Jojoba! You are the weiner!" but the person I e-mailed never got back to me. So right now, I'll draw another name....

>>cheap-sounding drum roll emitted from a Casio SK1<<<

The potential winner has an e-mail address that matches this pattern:

B*****@S*********.COM

For privacy reasons, I can't be blurting out people's e-mail addresses, but if your's could be produced by replacing the asterisks above with other letters, then that's you I'm talking about. The winner should contact me at erikh@caravelgames.com to claim the prize. If nobody replies back by next month, I'll have another drawing.

Actors Wanted

We've got a contest that just barely started where you record parts for DROD movies. It's not too late to get in, and I encourage new people to try it. We actually have a different kind of contest every month. Yeah, you can win prizes, but I don't want to act like all you care about is winning prizes. Our contests are fun! You will see!

The Golden Pie Awards Contest info

Topic Picks for September

The CaravelNet forum is a raging crockpot of activity. You think that's just a metaphor, but... wait, that is just a metaphor. My point is that newcomers should be intimidated by the quantity of information and it's stewy thickness. What is needed is an over-the-pot guide to the whole thing, spoonfeeding you the yummier chunks. Stupid metaphors, they're a creative crutch, really.

Even More Blather about Dragonflight
Obviously, no person was more emotionally affected by this event than me, which is why I write so much about it.
http://www.drod.net/forum/viewtopic.php?TopicID=2474
http://www.drod.net/forum/viewtopic.php?TopicID=7510

Beethro's Bad Dream, Dodecahedral Hold, The Puzzlebox, Nanfro Budkin's First Dungeon, Easy or Hard
These are all the new holds (level collections) that have been released since the last newsletter. Jeebus! Noah's hold has 120 rooms in it!
http://www.drod.net/forum/viewboard.php?BoardID=11

New Floors
Stuwy made some new floor graphics for DROD. Modders rejoice!
http://www.drod.net/forum/viewtopic.php?TopicID=7520

DROD Enemies Crossword
Jeff Ray put together a nice little crossword puzzle where words are enemies found within DROD.
http://www.drod.net/forum/viewtopic.php?TopicID=7410

Word Disseverment
A forumite (Dreamisle) has proposed that we make progressively smaller words from long words. Or something like that. It's a forum game--check it out!
http://www.drod.net/forum/viewtopic.php?TopicID=7592&page=0#75392

Board and RPG Games for DROD Players
what conventional games (like the kind you play at a table instead of a computer) do DROD players like? I have a not-so-hidden agenda of discovering marketing opportunities. Doh! I just got spam-filtered 50 times for saying "marketing opportunities" in this message... twice.
http://www.drod.net/forum/viewtopic.php?TopicID=7565

-Erik

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

Jeff_Ray...
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 962
Registered: 05-16-2005
IP: Logged

I'm happy that something of mine as shown in a news! I think i will make more things in the future!

____________________________
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:


My Holds:
-Completed:

-Work in Progress:

Blondbeard
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1486
Registered: 03-31-2005
IP: Logged

Ahh! You almost makes me feel guilty, Erik. I´ve put houers upon houers into playing your game. And this for a rediculously low sum of money. Something like two visits at a cinema. I almost feel that I would like to contribute in some kind of way. It would be really sad if you couldn´t work on a sequel to JTRH due to economic reasons. If that is the case I am quite sure that I am not the only one that would be willing to donate a small sum of money (like ten dollars) to help up the economical situation. It would definitly bee worth it. I´ve enjoyed the game so very much. Some kind of delayed payment from happy customers

Would this be a good idea, and could you in that case find an easy way for us players (who wants to) to donate money?

You know... when I bought the game silly me thought that maybe I would only contribute to makeing someone unnesecerelly rich. Apperently that was not the case.

Stefan
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2119
Registered: 05-25-2004
IP: Logged

ErikH2000 wrote:
The hobbyist says, "I made a Tetris clone over the weekend. It's got crummy graphics, unoriginal gameplay, only works on my machine, and nobody will be impressed by it, but hey, I had fun making it, and that's what counts!"

Heh, that sounds a bit like me. I made a tetris clone with Microsoft QBasic (that thing that came with DOS) about ten years ago on my 386. It had crummy graphics, highly unoriginal gameplay, I never tested it on an another machine, and I doubt anyone will be impressed by it. However, I had really fun making it and I was very proud of the result (after all, I was only about 12 years old).

____________________________
0.099³

---

[Last edited by Stefan at 09-09-2005 09:25 PM]

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2798
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Blondbeard wrote:
Ahh! You almost makes me feel guilty, Erik. I´ve put houers upon houers into playing your game. And this for a rediculously low sum of money. Something like two visits at a cinema. I almost feel that I would like to contribute in some kind of way. It would be really sad if you couldn´t work on a sequel to JTRH due to economic reasons. If that is the case I am quite sure that I am not the only one that would be willing to donate a small sum of money (like ten dollars) to help up the economical situation. It would definitly bee worth it. I´ve enjoyed the game so very much. Some kind of delayed payment from happy customers

Awww, what's the matter with me that I gotta bring everybody down? You have to understand that I get on better with my melancholy than most people. So if I sound really depressed, I'm only slightly depressed, and if I sound slightly depressed, I'm actually happy. I chose to live in a city where it's cloudy 226 days of the year, which should tell you a little bit about my dark little soul.

DROD is a struggle. I think it would be in bad taste to take donations, but if you want to help:

* Tell your friends that might like the game about DROD.
* Mention the game on other forums you frequent (only if appropriate).
* Make new holds for DROD.
* Be involved on the forum to make it an interesting place.

And I don't ever want to make anyone feel guilty about some computer game. (Although somehow it happens fairly frequently.) After all, it's just something for you to entertain yourself with.

-Erik

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

trick
Level: Legendary Smitemaster
Rank Points: 2580
Registered: 04-12-2003
IP: Logged

Stefan wrote:

ErikH2000 wrote:
The hobbyist says, "I made a Tetris clone over the weekend. It's got crummy graphics, unoriginal gameplay, only works on my machine, and nobody will be impressed by it, but hey, I had fun making it, and that's what counts!"

Heh, that sounds a bit like me. I made a tetris clone with Microsoft QBasic (that thing that came with DOS) about ten years ago on my 386. It had crummy graphics, highly unoriginal gameplay, I never tested it on an another machine, and I doubt anyone will be impressed by it. However, I had really fun making it and I was very proud of the result (after all, I was only about 12 years old).

I think there's some unwritten rule that every single beginning programmer has to make a crappy tetris clone. Mine was called X-Tris, ran on the C64, and featured a sound track I had ripped out of various intros and demos. Of course, the C64 scene being what it is, the game instantly got "cracked" and +n trained by at least two different groups, and spread across the globe on 5,25" disks

- Gerry

---

[Last edited by trick at 09-10-2005 01:52 AM]

Sim
Level: Delver

Rank Points: 90
Registered: 04-04-2004
IP: Logged

It's a shame the convention wasn't that successful, I'm sorry I couldn't be there either. I think the game is largely unnoticed considering it's quality, and I'd like to try and help it become more popular as best I can. I'd suggest people adding DROD to their site's Links page as another way to help, since that's how I stumble upon a lot of other things.

Chris
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 144
Registered: 08-12-2005
IP: Logged

That reminds me.

Another way to promote the site is to use http://www.stumbleupon.com/ and give the main DROD pages positive reviews. This then guides other stumbleupon users with similar tastes to you to the site.

DiMono
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1181
Registered: 09-13-2003
IP: Logged

I miss so much here when other parts of my life take over...

____________________________
Deploy the... I think it's a yellow button... it's usually flashing... it makes the engines go... WHOOSH!

Mattcrampy
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2388
Registered: 05-29-2003
IP: Logged

You mustn't have heard, DiMono. Erik's pregnant as well.

____________________________
What do you call an elephant at the North Pole?

DiMono
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1181
Registered: 09-13-2003
IP: Logged

WHY DON'T PEOPLE TELL ME THESE THINGS!?!?!?

____________________________
Deploy the... I think it's a yellow button... it's usually flashing... it makes the engines go... WHOOSH!

Banjooie
Level: Smitemaster

Rank Points: 1645
Registered: 12-12-2004
IP: Logged

BUT WHO'S THE FATHER?!

HopelessAmateur
Level: Master Delver
Rank Points: 177
Registered: 11-05-2004
IP: Logged

ErikH2000 wrote: My point is that newcomers should be intimidated by the quantity of information and it's stewy thickness.

Are you sure you don't mean, "newcomers should not be intimidated?"

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2798
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

No, I meant that they should be intimidated, and that the newsletter topic picks would save them.

-Erik

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