I sometimes catch myself wondering what could I have done to improve Ninjay sales. Personally I felt I did everything I could with what resources I had. Though sales have not been good and my main thing was just to get it out there and at the same time help someone else, and that's not going to change. Sales from Ninjay will always go towards the Burn Center.
This studio has mainly been staying afloat through the help of acquiring clients that want apps developed for themselves or their small business. So we want to get back to our passion and that's making games.
We've tried Indiegogo and Kickstarter and I abruptly cancelled the Kickstarter project since someone recommended just publishing an Alpha build of Proxy Monsters to raise support that way. Those two sites are wonderful and they help a lot of people achieve their dreams. I also felt that due to my limited social circle I was left at a disadvantage since I don't have a big pool of friends nor a family, aside from my brother and daughters. There was also an explosion of projects listed on those sites that pertained to game development and that hurt getting noticed as well.
So here we are again, finally, a post! Like I mentioned earlier, I've managed, along with a new member to the studio, Jonathan to work these past few weeks on Proxy Monsters, though it isn't perfect, in less then two weeks it was a challenge and fun at the same time making it. I'm very fortunate to have met Jonathan who has a lot of talent and passion for his artwork. He has been a tremendous help in getting to where we are at now with Proxy Monsters.
So here is the gist of it. We are publishing Proxy Monsters in Alpha Phase to get support and help through those means. This will not just help us determine how much time we can put towards pushing updates out but at the same time, we want your feedback, while it's early in development. Being indie isn't easy and we need help, so the more support we get, the faster we can push updates out. Updates will come when we can otherwise get to them. Like I said on Google+ and Facebook earlier;
"Please note that, and I can't stress this enough that the game is being released in Alpha form. We are pushing it out like this because we
want to see how much support we will get, the more we do receive, the more time we can devote to it, to push updates out faster. Updates will come when we can otherwise get to them. We feel strongly about this concept and feel it's going to be a big hit, but not without help. Being a small indie game development studio we just don't have the funds to work on things like this full time as much as we would like to anyways. We love making games!".
Currently in the state it's in, it looks great, some of my artwork is still in the game and I want that to change so I can mainly focus on the programming side of things.
On another note, I've decided to step down as the studios CEO and will be announcing a new CEO soon. I have one last meeting to attend tomorrow and then I can make the announcement on who it will be. I feel that this will free me up from having to deal with the business end of things so I can get back to doing the things I enjoy and that's making games and programming.
Below I will post my announcements from Google+ and Facebook in its entirety just in case you don't follow me on any of those services. I'll also be posting in this post the development road map that outlines the plan we have on how development will progress.
I want to thank you all, and especially those that didn't give up on us. I'm not giving up and never will.
From Google+ and Facebook:
"Well the countdown begins to the release of, Proxy Monsters. There are a few more bugs in it that I wanted to get ironed out but I will in the next few days get it fixed and patched live. I will be putting it up live at 11:59 PM in the tradition of our studio!
Please note that, and I can't stress this enough that the game is being released in Alpha form. We are pushing it out like this because we
want to see how much support we will get, the more we do receive, the more time we can devote to it, to push updates out faster. Updates will come when we can otherwise get to them. We feel strongly about this concept and feel it's going to be a big hit, but not without help. Being a small indie game development studio we just don't have the funds to work on things like this full time as much as we would like to anyways. We love making games!
Here in the next few minutes I will be publishing the development road map to Proxy Monsters, it's hard when you got so much going on. Thankfully I'm not alone this time around and Jonathan has been a tremendous help, it would have been a lot harder without him."
Here in the next few minutes I will be publishing the development road map to Proxy Monsters, it's hard when you got so much going on. Thankfully I'm not alone this time around and Jonathan has been a tremendous help, it would have been a lot harder without him."
App / Game Name: Proxy Monsters
Document Type: Development Road Map (Referred: DR
Document)
Document Author: Richard Forbes
Date / Time Created: September 24, 2012 @ 10:42 AM by RF
Date / Time
Modified: October 14, 2012 @
9:38 PM by RF, October 15,
2012 @ 2:25 PM by RF, October
24, 2012 @ 8:49 PM by RF.
Document Version: 1.010
Comments:
Proxy Monsters will be released
in an Alpha Phase on the Google Play Store. Version naming practices
that will be used are:
A will be appended to the versionName to denote the game is in Alpha.
B to denote that the game is
in Beta, and R will denote
that the game is in
Release Candidate Phase.
Purpose:
While the game is in Alpha, the
developers will encourage, welcome
and receive community
feedback, community feedback can
be received through the
following methods:
- Developer Email (Prefered method for one on one, eighteendaystudios@gmail.com)
- IRC – Freenode Chat (irc.freenode.net #18DayStudios, #Ninjay, #ProxyMonsters)
- Phone (Key Contributors Only)
- Google+ Hangouts (Key Contributors Only)
IMPORTANT: It
is with this feedback that the game will undergo major re-visioning without making any changes and
or straying from
the concept document.
Proxy Monsters Development Road Map
versionName: 0.100A
versionCode: 1
Comments:
Initial
framework finished, 2D monsters, menus, interface and storyline,
still not colored in, initial launch will only contain land based
monsters, no music or sound
effects, and have
implemented the location
based services.
VersionName: 0.200A
versionCode:
N/A
Comments: 20
total land based monsters
in 2D. Interface will be undergoing a re-design to
make the appearance more consistent. Correct
and fine tune the location based services. Correct issues with the
battle system, fixed stats to be displayed on all screens.
versionName: 0.300A
versionCode:
N/A
Comments: 30
total land based monsters.
Remaining
interface that has not been
redone should be worked on and finished by this stage in development.
Google Map API's implemented
to streamline game play and monster hunting! Add NPC trainers and NPC
merchants to allow the player to progress the story.
versionName: 0.400A
versionCode:
N/A
Comments: 10
total air
based monsters. Monsters
are still in 2D. Begin
retooling framework to allow for display of 3D models.
versionName: 0.500A
versionCode:
N/A
Comments:
Import Camera API's as well as
adding color, sound and
music.
versionName: 0.600B
versionCode:
N/A
Comments:
0.600B will signify that the
game is entering a beta stage and this document will be updated to
include more details at to how Beta will progress.
versionName: 0.700B
versionCode:
N/A
Comments:
versionName: 0.800B
versionCode:
N/A
Comments:
versionName: 0.900B
versionCode:
N/A
Comments:
versionName: 1.00B
versionCode:
N/A
Comments:
versionName: 1.10R
versionCode:
N/A
Comments:
