So... "What now?" you might ask?
Well, here's my plan:
1) Continue polishing MM to get it ready for the "real world" outside of BYOND
I'm at a standstill currently, because I haven't gotten any recent feedback (plus, I'm just a little burnt out on MM). The bug reports have stopped, and there have been no comments on the current interface layout and the other elements of the last release. (which may be a good or bad thing!)
This post is, in some small part, trolling for such feedback. What do any of you think this game needs to be ready for its "debut" outside of BYOND?
2) I need a good gameplay trailer made for the game. I've been checking out various recommended screen recording software (freeware or limited-trial only! I'm not willing/able to put money into this just yet...) but nothing so far seems to be quite right. (I've got a list of candidates to go through still, though)
3) Once the above pieces of the puzzle are in place, I'll be ready to do a little "marketing". So far, the plan for that is to more-or-less follow in NEStalgia's footsteps in sending out e-mails and/or making forum posts to a laundry list of various gaming and gamer culture sites (I think I'll try to hit up some gaming webcomics, like Penny Arcade and Ctrl+Alt+Del, etc.) I've got no aspirations of getting onto Steam (but who knows?)
4) Going forward, Murder Mansion updates will come every once in a while, and will mostly focus on adding more content (both free, and subscriber-only; a decent mix of both with each update)
I have a list of other maps planned (and a couple of them partially completed, even!), and even a few extra game modes (or alternates for the existing modes), so I'll spread the addition of these new things out over a few more periodic updates.
ID:1369234
 Sep 4 2013, 8:36 am
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There's actually a mixture of screenshots in there now. I added a LOT of shots from the new version (map only; no full-interface shots), but I left the old ones floating around in the mix.
The best way to tell which is which is by looking at the color/style of the item switch arrows. Anything that has red arrows (as opposed to an ugly brownish color, or red with a yellow border) are new shots. | |
This game lacks 'self train' to be succesfull.
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Rod5 wrote:
This game lacks 'self train' to be succesfull. This is an excellent point. I need to throw in a p-bag, along with a "Train" and "Rest" and "Meditate" verb system. :) | |
Yut Put wrote:
I feel as if you're trying to fix up something that's already dead by addressing every issue other than the fact that the most basic aspects of the game are fundamentally awkward. How so? This is an incredibly loaded statement to make without any examples. The only aspect of the game that I could see might put people off is the camera movement, and I've stubbornly refused to "fix" that, sure, but what else is so "fundamentally awkward" about the game? I'm not trying to be defensive, I genuinely would like to know... | |
The goal is not to get it onto Steam, though (as I've mentioned a few times). It's not merely that I don't feel like taking it that far, but that I know that it's not really a good candidate for that sort of thing. It is definitely a niche game.
I merely have a desire to expand that niche. I disagree that it doesn't have the potential to reach a wide audience (well, at least wider than BYOND), if only it were put in front of others. It's not going to become the next Minecraft, or Braid, or Journey, or what have you. Hell, not even the next Space Station 13 or NEStalgia. But it is definitely a game that people enjoy, and that many others that haven't yet heard of it would enjoy. So why not? No, it doesn't get a whole lot of play around here (7000+ downloads and 600+ favorites seems like a lot, but obviously that's got to be taken with a grain of salt, because it has only accumulated those numbers by being here for the last 10 years), but I feel that much of the lack of "BYOND interest" is because it is not a "BYOND" game. It doesn't follow the usual formula that the average BYOND players expect. Which is all the more reason to try to expand its audience to outside of BYOND. I don't have any sort of illusions of striking it rich or becoming famous, just a desire to spread the word and shine a little light on my "baby". | |
I don't think there's no interest in this game because it's unintuitive to play and hard to really learn. I think there's no interest because most people on Byond plain haven't heard of it, and those who have heard of it aren't that interested in playing on an empty server.
Also, it's funny that you mentioned Space Station 13, as I personally think that that game is proof that there is a solid audience on Byond for games like this- you just need to throw it out there more. | |
NTXUb wrote:
I don't think there's no interest in this game because it's unintuitive to play and hard to really learn. Hmmm... Not sure if you're saying that the game is unintuitive to play and hard to learn, but that's not the main problem, or if you're saying that you don't think it is such to begin with...lol I think there's no interest because most people on Byond plain haven't heard of it, and those who have heard of it aren't that interested in playing on an empty server. This is actually likely very true. The game has been around for over a decade, and was once pretty well-known around here, but a long silence, and a huge intervening turnover in BYOND users (IE many of the "old" people are gone, and the BYOND community is now mostly made up of "new" players), have left it virtually unheard of by most of the current playerbase. Also, it's funny that you mentioned Space Station 13, as I personally think that that game is proof that there is a solid audience on Byond for games like this- you just need to throw it out there more. But here's my problem. BYOND doesn't really currently offer any good ways to promote games within the player community. Sure, there are these forums (only viewed by less than 1% of the BYOND userbase, judging by Tom's estimate that the site sees around 10,000 players daily), but past that, the only way to reach the masses is to send out spam pages, or to go into a bunch of hosted games and hijack them with spam links. Neither of which are things I want to do. (I sent one mass-page out, but I felt so dirty doing it... I hate pager send-to-alls) I could probably jump into some SS13 forums and pimp the game (there are actually a handful of SS13 players who are MM fans, so it wouldn't be entirely out of the blue; in fact, there's an old thread on BayStation 12's forum about an MM playing group) I may actually do this. But even that feels a little wrong to me. So, again, my current best bet is to spread the word outside of BYOND. | |
I love this game! My cousin does too, we use to get so excited whenever it was hosted. Don't listen to these Losers who can't appreciative an innovative game. Most games on BYOND play identical spare SS13 or so. Keep at the game and host it often! I wish I could get a group of people together to play a strict RP session. Honestly haven't played this game in a year or so.
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SuperSaiyanGokuX wrote:
NTXUb wrote: Its actually easy to learn... I learned it first day I played (which unlike "Mafia" matches dont last 10 seconds and doesnt have a steep learning curve) I think there's no interest because most people on Byond plain haven't heard of it, and those who have heard of it aren't that interested in playing on an empty server. I actually try to throw the games name out there when some new people ask for an rp game similar to pryce high/mitidake high... as respect to you for making such a good game... and i used to host it from 2005-2011 or so, I would be hosting it now if I didnt have such shitty net... Also, it's funny that you mentioned Space Station 13, as I personally think that that game is proof that there is a solid audience on Byond for games like this- you just need to throw it out there more. I think some board game forums would be a good place to advertise... maybe you could ask some youtube gamers (like penguinz0) to play it as an advertising campaign (actually ima do that right now) look through my posts history and you will come across an advertising topic I made to teach people how to advertise outside of BYOND. ;) I think you can use it Cheers - Jordan Harris | |
SuperSaiyanGokuX wrote:
I don't have any sort of illusions of striking it rich or becoming famous, just a desire to spread the word and shine a little light on my "baby".  | |
i suggest you try posting your game on indiedb, which is a good place to start... its a pretty good way of getting some support for your game.
here is an examle of how i have mine set up http://www.indiedb.com/games/rotting-aftermath later down the road you can submit your game to desura which is pretty much an indie game distributer which is ran by the people from indie/moddb. | |
I loved the game for when it came out. Was very hard to learn. I even hosted it a couple of times for people to enjoy. Don't know if it will ever get the renegotiation it deserves. I haven't touched that game for awhile since the last update. Hopefully I can still learn it. lol
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Hey SuperSaiyanGokuX, can you add me as a friend? My membership expired so it seems you don't get my messages anymore.
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I'm actually hosting this game for Halloween. This game gets a lot of attention from people who wouldn't otherwise know about BYOND. I've gotten a lot of my friends into it, but I do think you should put it on Steam. I bet you'd get a lot of people on Greenlight. As for the camera thing, First-person view could fix that (if you were to make the game on a 3D engine rather than the BYOND engine)
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I really want to see this make a resurgence. I spent many a night playing this game back in 2005 when I joined.
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I would also enjoy seeing this game, and many other older BYOND games getting revived. They're what kept me around, playing. They're so different and unique compared to what's in everyone's hands nowadays. Please bring this game back haha, you'll get support for the playerbase if you try.
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I did like the changes I saw in your update posts, but I still need an actual experience with it to comment in depth.