Originally posted by daivuk
I really don't think voting is the best way to promote your game. What you need is the fans to write about the game in various forums, to post it in freeware game site like megagames, etc.
Thinking of it, I'm going to introduce it to my fan base on babo violent 2 forums right now.
After stumbling into this game purely by mistake and reading up on it, it's a pitty that no one knows that this game exists considering how much work has obviously gone into it. Freeware game sites are a good start, but all the major gaming review sites don't have a clue about this game and seem to hold much more weight in spreading awareness.
Gamespot.com, Ign.com, and all the rest (major gaming sites) should be notified all at once if you can manage it. Not only with screenshots and the description but a video as well (only feature I found sorely missing on the site). Announcing something new to the game or an event wouldn't hurt either just to attract people with the release to all these different sites, an annoucement of some sort would also give you an excuse to get on all the major gaming news sites (digg.com being the most popular I visit regularly).
Freeware sites already get a bad rap because of all the garbage that usually clutters their sites and so only the hardcore visit their sites usually and I fear because of this you won't get much help with your current method.
"Freeware", "Browser", and "tic/turn based" for better or for worse are bad words in the casual market and so awareness is crucial for the games success.
I'd love to see this game get the attention it so richly deserves but unless your willing to do something desperate like what Evony did with its advirtising campaign, I believe this is your next best bet.
"Freeware", "Browser", and "tic/turn based" for better or for worse are bad words in the casual market and so awareness is crucial for the games success.
I can't but quote all this.. also I'd like to point out that in my own view, at the moment CS is a bit double-face: there are some very advanced features like governors and admirals, and I don't know any other game with them, and this can be difficult for newbies (I think their interface should be made a little easier, I mean it's not a problem for me I find them great already), but then under other aspects is rather simple. In the sense it doesn't have many features other games have (not MMO that I know), and from some answer I got from people in the forums I posted about CS, the most exigent players told it was too simple.
Here there are lots of people that have great ideas on how to improve the game and make it more complex and interesting in the long term. I have many ideas too, on things I'd like to see in the game. CS has incredible potentialities but will they be explored and put into reality?
I don't think one should be afraid to increase the complexity of the game, one of the great things about how CS is structured, is the possibility to customize nearly everything, so additional advanced features could be optional in galaxy creation; who wants a simple game, or an easy-to-play galaxy could still have it. As long as "experimental" additions are selectable as custom options, there would never be the problem of messing up the gameplay of the game.
quote:
Originally posted by Nongolf
quote:
"Freeware", "Browser", and "tic/turn based" for better or for worse are bad words in the casual market and so awareness is crucial for the games success.
Without starting a discussion: I disagree.
Really Nongolf.. I tried to go and see some games on those websites where also CS is listed, I couldn't find one that made any sense.. True also that for me also WoW is crap.
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This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Quetzalcoatl: 23.07.2009 22:22.
Registration Date: 26.12.2004
Posts: 8,274
Location: Vienna, Austria
I think we have all identified that the entry for some less experienced players needs to be made easier, since a first glimpse at the game (especially the governors) might be too intimidating. That part needs to be addressed, and I think I got a pretty good understanding of how we can improve that situation.
Only after that has been done it does make sense to A) advertise at larger gaming news sites, and B) improve the game on the other end, namely adding more advanced features.
The other problem with A) is that these larger gaming sites don't take a (one man) Indie developer very seriously, and often ignore requests to cover the game (I have made some experiences in that direction
)
But anyway, first things first, and that is alleviate the entry into the game.
Originally posted by atrox
maybe there could be some predefined govenors and admirals?
maybe that could help to make an easy entry. it would have helped me, two weeks ago
I was thinking the same thing, but couldn't figure out what any default examples would be. Either way, I'm sure we'll continually think of better ways to ease new players into the game as we move on.
Registration Date: 11.07.2009
Posts: 4
Location: East NC
I first discovered CS on a forum for another game, decided to check it out and fell in love with it.
As for promoting the game there are a bunch of things that have to be kept mind. CS is a turn based strategy game, a genre which, although its a niche market, attracts seriously hardcore fans. They see a game that has an hour turn length and wrongly label it a "casual" game. These are players who are used to immense complexities in their games and lots of time to get their turn played (days at the minimum.) Another big issue that these types of players would have with CS is that they're used to being able to customize and scale a game, down to a one on one if desired. While CS's premium feature set does allow for some customization the subscription based model (which I do applaud Erwin for using) does not lend itself to quick one-off games between fewer players because of the CS credit cost to set up a game and this is a huge issue. I hesitate to mention another game specifically but its one that I have personal experience with, (Erwin, if you're uncomfortable with this please edit it out, I won't be offended
) look at the Space Empires series from Aaron Hall (another one man show, or at least he used to be) as an example of what I'm talking about.
Now before someone jumps me for this, I'm not knocking CS. Let me reiterate what I said in my first sentence, I have fallen in love with this game. I just wanted to point out the reality of the situation.
Registration Date: 12.07.2009
Posts: 17
Location: Austria
quote:
Originally posted by RaskVann
quote:
Originally posted by atrox
maybe there could be some predefined govenors and admirals?
maybe that could help to make an easy entry. it would have helped me, two weeks ago
I was thinking the same thing, but couldn't figure out what any default examples would be. Either way, I'm sure we'll continually think of better ways to ease new players into the game as we move on.
it would surely be enough to have two "sampl" governors and two "sample" admirals:
admiral 1:
sends the ship(s) on infinite scouting
admiral 2:
assigns the ships for defence (or so)
governor 1:
helps to build up some infrastructure on a newly found planet
governor 2:
maximizes the population
i know that all these functions could be bundled into one governor/admiral, but i think that such easy examples (and i know they could and shall be improved) would give a good starting point for improvements.
then i think that the sandbox galaxies should have slightly more turns (~1500) or slower ones, just for getting the chance to try everything out.
)
