The First Trial

[backwoodsindie]

First of all I would like to thank everyone who commented.  Your comments, combined with those from other forums that are not linked to the target audience, have enabled me to win a number of disagreements with my business partner about the way that things ought to be done.  In particular, only releasing a game to the audience it is intended to appeal to.  As it happens, I agree with the majority here on every point mentioned in the comments, but as I am not a sole proprietor I can't just do whatever I like.  However; thanks to you and others, I can redo this project the right way, and then re-release it to the proper target audience.

Unfortunately, the game in its current incarnation, sold rather well in the target audience (PA wiccans age 10-15) and so my partner has vetoed removing the game from the business site altogether.   Sigh.  Then again, a year or so from now, it will make the proper game look even better.

Once again, Thank You All!

Steven J. Weed

[Gilbert]

You definitely need an image host. Having to download the screenshots to view them is not a very good idea. Any free services like photobucket or imgshack will do.

Anyway, congrats for finishing your game.

[cosmicr]

just some advice - if you want to sell more copies of your game, make it more enticing to us. EG more screenshots on the homepage, and make them easier to view (ie use a different image host). Take a look at the homepage of other AGS commercial games to get an idea.

I lost interest after the first screenshot.

[backwoodsindie]

Thanks for the tip.  As you can see, I've now moved my screenshots to photobucket.

[Leon]

Reminds me of Theatrx' work. I'll check out the demo.

[Travis Anthony]

No characters?  No GUI?  And not much of a story.  FIX.

[m0ds]

Reminds me of Theatrx' work. I'll check out the demo.

Brilliant!

At a glance the game above does seem quite linear, but I wouldn't know for sure. I do think it still "sounds" intriguing. I don't know what Wicca is really, so on that basis I'm interested. Who are your testers though? Can we hear their general feedback of the product to get an idea of what it's like to play? I don't like games that reek of desolation, but that's not to say games like these don't sell - I'm sure there's one or two similar out there even made with AGS.

More info would be nice. It seems you're paying for your shopping cart setup so you obviously need to make something off this, but a little more information wouldn't go a-miss. I don't quite get the current info either, it's like you've just told me in detail about the exploration I'm going to undertake - I now know what rooms there are and even how to get to them and what colour vases I'll be passing on the way! I know how many books there are, even how many toilets on each floor. But as an adventurer, I'd like to find this out myself...

I always find commercial developers here make one mistake, and that's to post a commercial game listing with link to buy it but never any quotes from testers or players who've had a go to tempt the rest of us in. A lot of people here get duped into being the test market, and IMHO - that's unfair. Testers should have been used and if they don't like what they're playing, the developer should make alterations. So if you don't have any testers or quotes, this is definitely something you could consider quickly now or for the future. Unfortunately, unless it gets amazing reviews, I'll probably never play it - the whole desolate thing I'm afraid - but $10 seems fair. Good luck!

[Matti]

I gotta say that I expect more of a 10$ commercial game than some collages wherein copy-pasted objects (including ugly artefacts) are used in a completely wrong perspective...

Sorry, I don't wanna sound harsh, but I seriously doubt that you can make any money with this.

[Vince Twelve]

I played the demo for 3 minutes and then it crashed. Clearly a bit more bug testing was needed

Why did you make this in a huge resolution when the graphics don't require it?  Photos with out-of-perspective pasted in objects, some MSPaint line and floodfill backgrounds, all your objects, cursors, and guis seem to be designed for 320x200 and are tiny and hard to click on.  No offense meant, it's cool that you made and finished a game.  A lot of people can't do that. 

And you're certainly entitled to charge for your hard work (assuming those pictures are your hard work), but I would suggest trying a couple free games before jumping straight to commercial.  This would A) make more people know your games and be itching to buy a game you produce, and B) more players would play your early offerings which would help you get a lot of feedback on things you could improve resulting in better games.

That's just my two cents.  But hey, what do I know, I've never released a commercial game and you have!

And for all I know, there's a huge wiccan adventure gamer niche ready to throw tons of money at you!

Also, you should probably change the title of this thread to the title of the game.

[Igor Hardy]

I can't shake the feeling that this game announcement is some kind of provocation. Maybe I should look into this wiccan theology for clues.

[Gord10]

I don't want to sound harsh, but you really should have put more effort/time on the graphics or at least hired someone that would. We are not "This game's graphics rocks, so that's an awesam game, lol" guys, but do you really expect the players to pay for a game with backgrounds consisting of irrelevant layers? It takes hours, days to complete a background of an adventure game, no matter commercial or freeware.

And a "free demo"? 

There are better ways to gain money.

[Snake]

What is this game's name?

[Matti]

@Snake:

The First Trial 3.0

---

I can't shake the feeling that this game announcement is some kind of provocation.

Yeah, me too. He doesn't even check his own freshly started thread which is especially odd since it's a commercial game..

[Dataflashsabot]

I haven't played it (I can't really, I'm on dialup) but judging by those screenshots, in incorrect perspective and obviously mashed together from several photos, this doesn't seem like a commercial-level game to me. To be honest, the graphics almost seem like mock-ups. I too am not a 'this has gr34t gr@ffix it's awesmoe' person, but a commercial adventure game should have original, hand-made (or 3D, I suppose) backgrounds in my opinion.

[backseatmod]
Also, the rules say you must make the title the name of the game.
[/backseatmod]

This is probably too harsh- you've made a finished commercial adventure game and I haven't, so I guess I can't talk. Best of luck with the game

[Frodo]

Okay, I downloaded the demo, and I have to agree with Vince 12 comments.   

Sorry to be harsh, but seriously, did you get any beta testers for this?   

It's a mish-mash of cut & paste photos stuck onto backgrounds that just don't fit.  'Look', and 'Pick Up' icons are hard to use (especially in the Inventory Screen). 

Then I got key from the Queen's Throne, and tried to unlock door to right of the staircase - http://s1015.photobucket.com/albums/af280/backwoodsindie/?action=view&current=trialscreenshot4.jpg - but it crashed.   

Error message says:
Error: prepare_script: error -18 (no such function in script) trying to run 'hHotspot3_UseInv' (Room 2)

[Grim]

The website looks a bit dodgy too. I can't really crtiticise having released a commercial game myself.... but if it's a joke then I think you're sticking a knife in the back of all indie developers by creating a bad image for the public and making a mockery of the whole thing...

[Tinytim]

I really do not understand this game! I even opened the temple door with the Red King.
Plus when I used the Pentagram key on the Pentagram door the game crashed!!!