[gameprogrammer] Re: RES: Re: Decision Points

Right on! Personally I got into games because I like to play games so
working on a game that is a) one you like, b) one you can finish seems
like a really smart idea :-). I'd love to see how it ends up!

H

 

________________________________

From: gameprogrammer-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:gameprogrammer-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Edilson
Vasconcelos de Melo Junior
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2007 8:35 PM
To: gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gameprogrammer] RES: Re: Decision Points

 

I know racing games are not the best sellers for PC. I just choose this
gender because the 3D modeling would be easier, the AI system is not
that complex and I love racing games really!!! I don't wanna sell
millions - actually I do but I know it won't happen :-). I will be
satisfied if this game gets successful and I get really good feedback
from my customers - no matter how many copies I sell.

Thanks a lot for your answer!

Dirso

 

________________________________

De: gameprogrammer-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:gameprogrammer-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] Em nome de Hermann K.
Peterscheck
Enviada em: sexta-feira, 18 de maio de 2007 11:45
Para: gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Assunto: [gameprogrammer] Re: Decision Points

 

All of these are, of course, just my opinions :-).

 

I like racing games, so I'm interested, but keep in mind that car racing
+ PC = not lots of sales... consoles have large successful racing games,
PC's don't. That doesn't mean you can't make money making them, it just
means your total market share is smaller :-).

 

Rush to functionality sounds like a really great idea. I honestly have
no idea how anyone can know what is fun about a game idea until they
played it. The Diablo 2 post mortem on Gamasutra is really great reading
in this regard. 

 

With regard to releasing demos I think it's a good idea to show it to
people in a controlled fashion to get feedback. Once you go "public"
your game will be judged as complete no matter how many disclaimers you
put up. I.e. don't put up an unpolished demo that is public.

 

I'm not sure how far along you are but 40 cars, 50 tracks and a huge
island sounds like a lot of content... like more than Need for Speed,
like more than GTA, of course that is speculation on my part. My
personal opinion is that features and content do not save us. The games
I like best are the ones that I think were "too short." That is, so damn
fun I won them and wanted more. If you make a really fun intuitive
multiplayer racing game, I'll pay $20 for it :-), if it has 5 track, 10
tracks, 50 tracks or whatever. I grant that there is some minimum amount
of content and features but I don't know what that number is. The last
PC Racing game I bought was Revolt back in 1997 or something. In fact,
that game is still really fun. I think it had like 8 tracks and 12 cars
or something... they were "RC" cars though and raced around in this cool
colorful neon world that looked really big. It was super great fun and
spread through our office like wildfire. If you make a game as fun as
that, then I'll pay 20$ just to race around 5 tracks in 8 cars or so -
numbers pulled directly from ass.

 

In any case sounds cool! Xmas is a good time as well.

 

Hermann

 

________________________________

From: gameprogrammer-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:gameprogrammer-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Edilson
Vasconcelos de Melo Junior
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2007 6:18 AM
To: gameprogrammer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [gameprogrammer] Decision Points

 

Hi, Guys!

I'm making everything in the development of my first game by the book -
literally.
I wrote a complete full with details Design Document and it took me
almost 6 weeks of planinng before even start to programming and it is
actually worthing. I never thought that spending so much time just
writing down documentation would worth anything, but in the end of the
last year, when I first started the game development by just sitting on
my chair and filling pages and pages with code - like I always did - I
felt totally lost.
Now I'm back to the game!!!
I have several good ideas for the game - who doesnt? - and now I'm
planning the releases of the game.
I'm writing this post to ask you about a few advices for a newbie that
is really enjoying the experience and is spending every cent from my day
job work to make my dream come true.

1) About my game:
It's a really fast sport car race game

2) Releases
I first thought about a demo version for July 1st, a pre-release for Sep
1st and the Full version for December.
The demo would be the only free part of the game and it should be enough
for the people to know what they will have buying the paid versions.
The pre-release would be a try to get funding for the full version due
to the money I'm spending in the artwork and music.
The full version would be free for the customer that bought the
pre-release and it should be out for Xmas.

3) Now the decisions I have to make:
a) I'm thinking about make the demo and pre-release as one and prob for
september 1st
b) Make a demo as soon as I can and publish it on game development
forums to get some feedback about the features - I'll prob won't release
it to the public

4) Feature and prices
a) I was thinking about 40 different cars and about 50 racing tracks,
including a big island (about 400 square miles) as a bonus championship
with maybe 15 racing tracks distributed in the terrain.
b) The game is organized in championships and free races
The races will have up to 28 cars (or depending on the player's
computer), and the online mode can run on LAN and internet - anyone can
start a server. But we will have an official server as well.
c) Up to 4 players can play together in the same PC.
d) You can start a championship with your friends, save the progress and
schedule the other races to make it fun.
$) I was thinking about charge 19.95USD for the pre-release with 12 cars
and 16 tracks, 3 months free for online playing the official server -
when the full version gets released and free upgrade to the full
version. The player could try before buy it... he could player 1 hour of
racing.
$$) 29.95USD for all the features when the full version is released and
one month try out online mode.
Do I have enough features for that?

 

I have been developing this game for over 6 months and when I'll release
the full version I'll prob be able to release a mod editor as well -
since I have car and level (tracks) editor for myself to put the content
in the game. If I can't release this mod editor for the full version,
I'll do an expansion pack for it in 3-6 months including the editor
after the full version gets released.

If I wasn't clear enough, please ask.

Thank you very much,
Dirso.

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