Indie Devver Needs Your Help pt.2

[DJGeki]

Hello again everyone! Many thanks for your Diggs on our previous article. This one is a little more insightful (and probably of more interest to those of you who purchase the "Special Edition" of the games you buy), and is a much more interesting read.

Cryptic Allusion (myself included, of course) was just recently interviewed by SegaNerds.com, and I'm proud to give you guys the Digg link (http://www.digg.com/gaming_news/SegaNerds_com_Interviews_Feet_of_Fury_Donk_Indie_D reamcast_Devver) to the story. It's the same deal as before: we need to generate Diggs to get Donk a little more notoriety, so I thank you all in advance for those Diggs.

We need your help!

Feel free to comment on the story here or on our forums (or even on the Digg site).

-Roddy

[TheRedEye]

I think it's cute how your post count matches the number of Diggs you got.

[DJGeki]

I think it's cute how your post count matches the number of Diggs you got.
:(
That's not cute. I'm trying to drive some interest for the game, not downplay it.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

I think that when you have some specific information about the Dreamcast version and especially some actual screenshots or video of it running on a Dreamcast, you'll have more luck building hype. Box shots would be a good sign, too. As it is, everything you've relesed about the game is quite abstract so there's not much to look forward to really.

I have been a big fan of the GOAT Store releases and I'll be buying any that come out this summer and helping to spread the word about upcoming ones (once there's some word to spread), but I must admit that I'm a little worried about delays. You guys as well as the GOAT Store have now both announced that you will be giving up on these commercial Dreamcast homebrew releases by the end of this year and given the history of delays with the previous releases, I'm not confident that any of the announced games will actually come out before you guys all decide to give up. If there was some screenshots or something to show that the game is progressing towards an inevitable release, I'd probably be more hopeful.

I must also admit that Donk! doesn't look like all that super great of a platformer. It looks pretty much like any of a hundred me-too Sonic clones that were released in the early-to-mid-90s, most of which were kind of shitty, though a handful were in fact totally excellent, even surpassing Sonic itself. Hopefully Donk! is one of the latter or if it wasn't originally, you guys will be making gameplay changes to improve it.


...word is bondage...

[DJGeki]

Wow. Points taken. I didn't know we had made anyone that annoyed (other than ourselves) at the fact that we haven't released another title. I would like to apologize for that, and let you know that we are seriously working towards getting Donk out the door.

Now, as for the "most of those old me-too platformers were crap" idea, I think you're mostly right. However, even though Donk was a "me-too" (you can only do platforming in 2D so many ways), I am of the opinion that it's a solid game. Nothing super amazing, but definitely worth playing. Hell, you're a samurai duck! How could it not be worth playing?

Besides that, we're redoing the graphics, sound effects and adding some extras to make it worth your while to purchase. But, like you said, you need something a little more substantial. Hopefully we can give that to you guys in the next week or so. Our interns start working full time for us this week, and we will have new screenshots, and possibly some other artwork for everyone to check out as soon as possible.

Hopefully, this quells some fears you've got, but if not please give us a little time. We're not going to back down on this one, and it's not going to 'slip' into the nether.

[c2000]

You got a level editor running? Let me do a level! I'm a 2D game designer at heart :love:

[DJGeki]

You got a level editor running? Let me do a level! I'm a 2D game designer at heart :love:
It's not really that easy. Let's say the code we received from the original devver wasn't in the most "developer-friendly" format. I.e., the code is damn near impossible to just look at and understand. So, when we get the whole thing up and running, we might be able to make something like a level editor for it. Until then, we've got to go with what Dan can reassemble from the original (with new graphics taking the place of the old, of course!)

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Wow. Points taken. I didn't know we had made anyone that annoyed (other than ourselves) at the fact that we haven't released another title.
Well, I wouldn't say I'm annoyed. Just a little disappointed and not as optimistic as I would have been a couple years ago. Mostly because of the GOAT Games compilation which has been on the verge of release for like years now. Triptonite is a disappointment, too, but but it has never seemed so close to a full release, so the fact that it probably won't make it out isn't as much of a disappointment.

Believe me, I know what homebrewers go through, so I don't hold anything against you or any of the other developers. Nor do I have any problem with the GOAT Store, they've done enough great things already and with very little to show for it in the end. Really there's nothing to blame anyone for anyway, it's just the way things go.

Hopefully GOAT Games, Donk! and Rush Rush Rally Racing and maybe even one or two of the other announced projects will indeed all come out this summer before the GOAT Store gets out of the Dreamcast game. That would be great. Phenomenal, in fact. But I'm just not getting my hopes up all that high is all.


...word is bondage...

[c2000]

before the GOAT Store gets out of the Dreamcast game.

Eh? What's going on?

[DJGeki]

Eh? What's going on?
Good question. I'm not aware of any plans for the GOAT Store and GOAT Games Publishing to get out of the Dreamcast arena. In fact, that'd be extremely surprising. The owner of the store/publishing co. is a HUGE DC fan, and I don't see him dropping it anytime soon.

As far as Tryptonite goes: like I said, I really want it to happen, it's just not on our roadmap for the near future.

As for GOAT Games: that project has been a 'bundle of joy' all wrapped up in a pretty little package. Lots of stuff has been delayed or has just gone wrong at the wrong time to make things fall apart, only to be picked up again. I just recently did a couple of tunes for the disc, so I know it's still being worked on. You'll see it. I know you will. I just don't know when, and I'm sorry I can't answer that more specifically. It's a GOAT Games project, not something I have control over (btw, I know you probably didn't think I had control over that project, but I'm just making it clear for everyone else).

We've had new artwork submitted this week, Dan is in Austin (where I live) and we're going to sit down on Thursday to have a meeting with our interns, hash this stuff out, and get done with Donk. You might not be excited about it, but you should be :) It's DC homebrew! Even if it sucks, it's still pretty good. ^_^