DevMaster.net's Image Of The Day: Commando Xenidis

[WILL]

<center>files/news/2006_03_02_commandoxendis.jpg</center>
Well it looks like Eric 'FirleFanz' Behme's (Member of Magic Storm) Commando Xenidis has made it onto the DevMaster.net Image Of The Day.

Commando Xenidis, a shareware game that has been in production for a little over a year now, was released in Feburary and sells for €15 EUR ($18.88 USD, £10.82 GBP, ¥2,193 JAP or $21.51 CAD)


You can see the Image Of The Day screenshot of Commando Xenidis at DevMaster.net (http://www.devmaster.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5355)!

[Firlefanz]

Thanks Will. :D

I am currently working on an Update to Version 1.1
and still looking for some feedback, so if anybody has an idea what to improve please let me know.

Thanks,
Firle

[Huehnerschaender]

The problem is that the competition holds me busy and i don't have time to play other games. Even my World of Warcraft Account hasn't seen me for weeks, although i am guild leader *lol*

I promise I will take a closer look at it when I find time. But first of all:

Gratulations for completing a project that is aware to become popular.

In this short time, can you say anything about resonance (sold copys)? Of course you need not to tell any amounts, but maybe if it starts to get rentable to put over a year of work into a shareware game.

[Firlefanz]

I think we should have started perhaps using 3D, the video of the 3D space shooter of the competition looks great.

The year we needed is also because we all have a work and a familiy, if we had more free time, we would have finished much earlier.

We got some feedback of people who liked it and some who didn't but mostly good feedback. The problem is everyone who plays it says it is getting more interesting from Planet to Planet, but in the beginning it is some say a bit boring or even frustrating :?

Today most people judge a game in 5 minutes, that makes it very hard because it is a complex shooter and has some RPG like features.

Right now we sold one copy. :cry:
I thought it would be more. Next game will be complete in 3D.

I am thinking about what to put in the 1.1 update.

Thanks,
Firle

Firle

[WILL]

Even my World of Warcraft Account hasn't seen me for weeks, although i am guild leader *lol*
Now there is advertizing, "PGD - More adictive than World Of Warcraft!" :D

[jdarling]

Hey when the como started my boy was 3, I came up from my coding den last night and he was asking me for the car keys so he could go pickup his girlfriend. Guess I should pay more attention to life.

Actually, real life has taken its toll on my entry. I made stage 3 deadline and am ready for stage 4, as long as you don't want any real animation in the game :). I'll have that fixed for stage 4 though :).

[Huehnerschaender]

Hey when the como started my boy was 3, I came up from my coding den last night and he was asking me for the car keys so he could go pickup his girlfriend. Guess I should pay more attention to life.

*ROFL*!!!!oneoneoneeleven



Now there is advertizing, "PGD - More adictive than World Of Warcraft!"

another *ROFL*


@Firle
I think your game is really worth a buy, and its very sad that only one copy was sold til now.
Did you already achieved something concerning the publication on game magazine CD's? I geuss thats the best advertisement, because you reach "gamers" with the magazines, and no one else.

But what you mentioned is exactly the point why I never got the idea to make a game and get some money out of it. People buy games from the shelves, they need a big company label on a box they hold in their hands, even if the game is not very intuitive, cool, well done etc. They buy it, because they are standing in the store, take a look at the box and screenshots and thats it. If they like it, they buy it.
Selling shareware is different. The people are able to play a game for some level or hours. And then they buy it when they really really like it or if it gets the feeling: "I MUST see more of it".
There are too few people who know what hard work it is to make a game.

Please provide further information if the situation changes. I am very interested in the success story of the game.

Greetings,
Dirk

[WILL]

You know... I think if you want to know how to succeed in something, you have to look at past successes in the area that you want to succeed in.

ie. Want to make a shareware hit? Look at the story of how Doom --arguable the most successful shareware in history, became such a big hit.

[Huehnerschaender]

WILL, surely there is truth in your words, but you have to compare the market from when Doom came out and now.

Doom was one of the very first FPS-Games that were stunning and frightening. Nowadays the market is full of such games, which are all nearly the same.

You have to find a niche where you go in. Something that makes fun, but is hard to find on the market. And thats really hard, because meanwhile almost every theme, idea, gameplay etc is used in games. I think it is very hard to make a game with a WOW! effect today, because the players already have seen everything and waits for more...

Greetings,
Dirk

[Firlefanz]

@Huehnerschaender: Thansk for some nice words after all :D

We always sold for 10 Euro and it was not my idea to have a higher price, we right now discuss on lowering it. The CD/DVD stuff always takes a while, I hope to have it on a magazine next month, we'll see.

Right now I am working on a 1.1 patch.

Next project will be in 3D and we try to create something that wasn't there before a few hundred times, maybe this is also a problem for CX but I thought everybody likes space shooters. 8)

Thanks,
Firle

[Traveler]

I think there's definitely a market for shareware. Have a look at the Independent Games Festival entries. Many of those were really cool and have even sold. Some even became big hits like Alien Hominid and Gish.
Granted, at first a glance, these are not your everyday games but when you give them a good look, you'll find that they're are reallly not so special. Alien Hominid, in its basic form a simple horizontal shooter. And Gish, a mere platform game. Sure, they're briliantly adapted to give gamers new gameplay but in essence they're still remakes of old games.

Trick is, like Dirk said, to find an idea that has never been done or thats only been done a few times. Create a game that has been done a thousand times and you'll find that people are going to be less interested. (no offence intended firlefanz)

[Firlefanz]

That's what I already realized myself now. :wink:

[WILL]

Firle, I think your trouble area may lay in lack of advertizing. Most games don't get enough of it. It can be a troublesomething to manage, but it can do worlds for your game should you be able to afford or have the capability to get your game(s) noticed in a big, flashy and colourful means.

Fortunately adertizing can be approached as creatively as game development it's self. You just have to think outside the box and think big. Then you'll probably get only 10% return on your efforts, but thats usually the going rate with everything, no? ;)

I think if you want to sell more games you'll need to advertize both Magic Storm (a rather quiet and mainly unheard of entity to be honest) and your Xenidis series... Make posters, T-Shirts, banners, a website for the game or Xenidis series it's self. This will help create a fan base for the Xenidis brand and setup for a flow of ideas that may culminate into deticated followers of the storyline. :lol: write a book or short story as a follow-up...

Basically kick some butts and get noticed. If you want people to come to your party, you have to send the invitations.

[AthenaOfDelphi]

The lack of advertising could be handled quite easily... to a point.

We have an banner system setup for serving banners to our Outer Reaches sites... providing the banners are hosted on your servers, I would have no problem making a banner rotation for PGD. Then peeps who want to put banners in the rotation and who want to serve the ads on their site... let me know.

I mentioned this as one possible approach in the game marketting discussion thread... and to be honest, its a pretty simple, low cost approach to increasing the exposure of your products. All it would take is a bit of cooperation between PGD members. We could all benefit :-)

So, Firle, if this is of interest, mail me (athena at outer hyphen reaches dot com).

Edit:- I can't do anything today... busy with stage 3, but tomorrow would be no problem.

[Firlefanz]

@Athena: Sounds very interesting, perhaps you should really explain it in the Marketing thread. :D

Firle

[AthenaOfDelphi]

Done :-D

New thread about banner ads (http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3069)