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Author Topic: Reed's Mine (Android)  (Read 9977 times)

Nekoyoubi

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Reed's Mine (Android)
« on: June 23, 2011, 02:16:43 PM »
I've written and posted to my site a bit about the development of my new Android game, Reed's Mine, but I wanted to mention it here as well as it is a full mobile game developed almost exclusively created with PlayMaker.

Aside from (currently) a custom action for creating and loading the levels of the game, everything else is comprised of PlayMaker object FSMs.

While I don't really feel like this game stretched my capability with PlayMaker any farther, it is almost entirely composed of PlayMaker actions, it's on Android, and it's publicly released. For the combination of those reasons, I felt it should get a mention here.

Here's a link to the page for Reed's Mine on the Android Market.

Here's a link to my Weekend update... post on my site where I discussed it.

Please let me know what you think!
« Last Edit: June 24, 2011, 09:07:55 AM by Nekoyoubi »
- Lance @ Nekoyoubi Games (nekoyoubi.com)

jeanfabre

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Re: Reed's Mine (Android)
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2011, 04:43:35 PM »
Hi,

 Link to android market page not working. Odd.

 Bye,

 Jean

tobbeo

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Re: Reed's Mine (Android)
« Reply #2 on: June 23, 2011, 09:11:42 PM »
I bought it to support a fellow Playmaker's efforts, but you realize this yourself I hope that this barely constitutes as a game! :) I don't mean to be mean or anything, but you don't get any points, there's no challenge. I feel no incentive to mine. It's a little tech demo with crude sprites! I personally wouldn't have posted it on the market before there's at least some basic incentives to mine and collect.

I hope you can develop it into a fully fledged game, and at least you are being honest in your description of the app in the Android description. Wish you the best of luck in developing it further! I look forward to seeing what it evolves into.

Nekoyoubi

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Re: Reed's Mine (Android)
« Reply #3 on: June 24, 2011, 09:32:22 AM »
jeanfabre,

Apologies. I'm not sure why the link wasn't working, but I have re-posted and it appears to be working now. ;)


tobbeo,

I'm sorry that you feel that way. I wish that you hadn't bought it with those feelings of it. Please understand that while I'm not a full-time game developer, I do what I can in the time that I have. Knowing that I am not a graphics-guy, that I needed something simple, and that I had no idea what Unity would even do to the typical Andy device, I opted out of the original graphics that I had made in order to use some much lower resolution sprites. Sorry if a retro-style is "crude" for you, but again, I do it all myself, and I never claimed to be a pixel-art guru.

As for incentives to mine, I'm sorry that you feel no interest or compulsion, but that is not necessarily the general opinion. I know my wife felt the need to show me how many diamonds she found yesterday even knowing that I had been staring at the thing practically non-stop for a week. I personally like to run it to see what kinds of random formations of resources I can see, but most people I've talked to about it seem to just like to watch the numbers go up.

Yes, I will wholeheartedly admit that it needs a lot more feature and polish, but I also have said since the beginning that that would be the case, and that I would rather release early and update often than let another project get lost in perfection. To that end, it's only been a few days and I've released three versions, so I think I'm living up to my end.

If you don't agree with when I released it, I apologize (and can refund the few cents I get after Google takes their 30% for your purchase), but I am happy that I did, and would do it the same again. I am a corporate software developer who's work means next to nothing to anyone, and I'm trying desperately to become a game developer full time, but I can't do that while waiting on perfection on a $0 budget.

Thanks for your honesty, though.
- Lance @ Nekoyoubi Games (nekoyoubi.com)

jeanfabre

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Re: Reed's Mine (Android)
« Reply #4 on: June 24, 2011, 04:18:12 PM »
Hi,

 I genuinely think Tobbeo doesn't want to be rude or mean to offense. Reading this thread reminds me of my own experience and you need to turn critics into 100% positive outcome ( you seem to do that anyway :) ). I would actually be incline to say that Tobbeo is giving you a treat by giving you his point of view. It shows care, people who don't care, simply don't bother expressing their feelings. When I builded my excavator demo  (http://www.fabrejean.net/projects/excavator/ ), everyone around was very skeptical ( to be fair, laughing at me saying "Yeah right, you are going to get clients interested in your pointless demo that do nothing but just amuse you and the two fellows that watch bob the builder at the age of 40..."). Turns out this excavator simulation has attracted in more client and serious projects than in my last 10 years as virtual 3d freelancer !!!

 so, yes, we all need to work more and can't really settle if we want to achieve our goals.

In your case, you should not settle for a no "quest" game. Work out something, I am of no help in this, I am a unity developer... not a game developer. This is maybe where the catch is: developing a game is not just being able to build the interactivity, the visuals, and overcome all the technical challenges, it's also about suprising the player, giving home a sense of achievement after having played your game. This is the hardest part actually.

Your game visually reminds me of "Roland in time" that I played until I feinted when I was young (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrjBV-xGyKU). Analyze why it was such a great and fun "pointless" game to play and apply this to your game, and we will ask for more levels :)

Bye,

 Jean

Nekoyoubi

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Re: Reed's Mine (Android)
« Reply #5 on: June 24, 2011, 04:54:41 PM »
Jean,

Thanks for the feedback. I don't think that Tobbeo meant offense, either - at least I hope not. I just also don't know that I've done my job in explaining some of the game/toy purposes and functions. I really just meant to have something out there that was pushing me to continue to evolve it, which I have been doing since its release and will (as stated) continue to  do so as long as it remains fun to play. Now, obviously "fun" is subjective, but not setting out for a blockbuster title, I think I set my sights on the right level. You can walk around and mine various minerals infinitely (look for caves) and view your total hoarded amount (menu key). That was what I set out to have for the initial release, and so far I think it's been met.

I appreciate Tobbeo's opinions, no matter how much I wished they were not the case. I know the world does not agree with my sentiment of development transparency, and while I understand that, I can't help but feel compelled to explain to people that if you lose a bit of polish and pride, you stand to gain a lot of fun and wisdom.

As for being a Unity developer over a designer, I don't think I have much of a problem from the design standpoint, and hopefully, that will become more clear the farther along the project continues. I think people are all too used to seeing things be one-and-done, and that's not at what Reed's Mine is. This was intended to be an elaborate time waster. Not the next Minecraft. I already have been working on fun things to throw into the mix (and have been since before the release) such as dwarves to trade resources with for fun items like dynamite, message-in-a-bottle-style cave drawings (that are actually driven by other players), etc. I'm not going to cover everything that I'm working on, but only because I like the idea of throwing out updates that people will want to see.

I've not seen Roland in Time, but I will certainly check it out when I get out of work... if they let me out of work today... but as for asking for new levels, Reed's Mine is already infinite... ;)


All,

Again, thanks for the feedback - even the bad stuff. I hope not to disappoint with the overall progress, and hope that if you've read all of this that you understand a bit better who I am, and what I am about, and now have no misconceptions about what this game/toy actually is. For the record, I will be building a web-player version as well, so more people will be able to see it, provide input, and help evolve it.

Thanks again!
- Lance @ Nekoyoubi Games (nekoyoubi.com)

tobbeo

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Re: Reed's Mine (Android)
« Reply #6 on: June 24, 2011, 05:40:57 PM »
No, no, no! Sorry that my response came off harsh. I want to explain what I meant a bit further. I bought it and I am glad I did, because like I said, I want to support fellow Playmaker developers! I should have added more positive support. Look below for my responses on each comment.


tobbeo,

I'm sorry that you feel that way. I wish that you hadn't bought it with those feelings of it. Please understand that while I'm not a full-time game developer, I do what I can in the time that I have. Knowing that I am not a graphics-guy, that I needed something simple, and that I had no idea what Unity would even do to the typical Andy device, I opted out of the original graphics that I had made in order to use some much lower resolution sprites. Sorry if a retro-style is "crude" for you, but again, I do it all myself, and I never claimed to be a pixel-art guru.


There's nothing wrong with crude sprites if the game is fun! I'm sorry I used the word crude, I didn't mean it as a bad thing. I should have used the words simple. Graphics don't matter if the gameplay is addictive! There's nothing wrong with your art style, it has a cool retro vibe too it and plenty of people like that.

Quote

As for incentives to mine, I'm sorry that you feel no interest or compulsion, but that is not necessarily the general opinion. I know my wife felt the need to show me how many diamonds she found yesterday even knowing that I had been staring at the thing practically non-stop for a week. I personally like to run it to see what kinds of random formations of resources I can see, but most people I've talked to about it seem to just like to watch the numbers go up.


Ok, that's completely fine. That was just my opinion, and actually I hadn't seen the points menu when I posted my first reply. Maybe give the player feedback on the gameplay screen when you mine that score/points has been added? You have to take the good with the bad I think. Not everyone is going to like any game, ever. "You can't please everyone." I should have been more supportive, and for that I am sorry. I expressed my point of view, and that's how I personally feel about the game at its current stage. But if you have positive feedback, then there's nothing wrong to go with that and publish it on the market. I'm just one person!

I did say in my reply that you are being honest in your description of your game.

Quote

Yes, I will wholeheartedly admit that it needs a lot more feature and polish, but I also have said since the beginning that that would be the case, and that I would rather release early and update often than let another project get lost in perfection. To that end, it's only been a few days and I've released three versions, so I think I'm living up to my end.

If you don't agree with when I released it, I apologize (and can refund the few cents I get after Google takes their 30% for your purchase), but I am happy that I did, and would do it the same again. I am a corporate software developer who's work means next to nothing to anyone, and I'm trying desperately to become a game developer full time, but I can't do that while waiting on perfection on a $0 budget.

Thanks for your honesty, though.

I bought it to support your efforts and have no regrets about buying your app! We are in the same boat, as lots of Unity developers are. We want to be game designers, but we have a fulltime jobs (mine's currently taking up 7 days a week, 12 hours a day at least) that stop us from getting it out. But people persevere, and I know indie developers who have worked on their game for 3 years in their spare time before releasing it. I'm a year into developing my own game! I am going to have to face my critics as well when I finally release it, despite all the sweat and tears that I've put into it.

Your model might work, maybe it'll turn out like minecraft and with each iteration you gain more of a following, and one day your sales add up to making developing the game a full-time job. I hope that happens for you. And like I said in my first reply, I wish you the best of luck and look forward to seeing what it turns into. At the moment though, those are my, personal, opinions about your game. This is a forum and if you want feedback you have to be open to the good and bad. I tried to express myself as respectfully as I could, but I am sorry that you got hurt by what I said.

Tobbe
« Last Edit: June 24, 2011, 05:45:20 PM by tobbeo »

Nekoyoubi

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Re: Reed's Mine (Android)
« Reply #7 on: June 24, 2011, 08:05:54 PM »
Tobbe,

Please don't take what I've said wrong. I appreciate your opinions and the willingness of people on this forum (or any other for that matter) to give those opinions to me in expressive detail. It's far better to hear why you don't like what I've done so that I may evaluate my shortcomings than to just hear that you hate it and wonder why I've failed. In your particular case, I'm sure I will be able to offer you more of what you would like to see in the planned updates alone. ;)  Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to give more than the 'crude graphics' ;x (yes, I know what you mean), as I honestly am a fan of pixel art - whether I am any good at it or not - and have very few "resources" and no capital. ;)  But we'll see. If that ends up being something that would enhance peoples' enjoyment, then who am I to oppose.

Also, as for your friends and yourself working on games for years, this is just a matter of opinion as well, I believe. You see, I have (undisclosed, publicly) properties that I have been developing (and no, not just in my head or on paper) for years as well. That doesn't mean that (to me, anyway) with the advent of amazingly productive software like Unity and PlayMaker, that someone shouldn't be able to have an idea, prototype it in a weekend, and then build it (to my transparency standards at least) in another week or two. Sure, people who've been working on things for years will want what they've done to be more complete, but then again, so do I with my long term project. Hopefully you'll see that soon with some PC stuff I've been working on. ;)

It too, however, will be released early and often as opposed to a long and drawn out development cycle that I will never think is good enough. Hell, I don't think Reed's Mine was good enough either, but it hit my requirements and people around me were wanting it out, so there it went (after a little over a week in development).

Again, please don't misunderstand my comments. I do hate that you were displeased with the game/toy, but I also hope and think that you will be pleasantly surprised at how it turns out. If so, maybe you'll consider trying it out with a project of yours as well. It's good for breaking the inifini-dev cycle. ;)

Anyway, I hope we're all good here, and I hope you get so much more than you pay for with Reed's Mine.

Cheers! ;)
- Lance @ Nekoyoubi Games (nekoyoubi.com)