Since it seems like reviews are what I need, how do I get them?

Send out a press release announcing your game. It takes a good chunk of work to compose and send out yourself, but if you do it yourself, it's free. :) Here's an example of one for Inago Rage:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Ichiro Lambe
Dejobaan Games
support@dejobaan.com
www.dejobaan.com

Dejobaan Games Launches Inago Rage, Challenges Players to Create and Fight

Northborough, MA, November 10, 2004 - Dejobaan Games has released Inago
Rage, a single-player, first-person shooter where players fight in 3D arenas
they design.

In Inago Rage, players battle hundreds of mechanized enemies at once,
donning rocket boots to fight both on the ground and in the air. The game
offers 50 frenetic levels, which take place on city rooftops, above gas
giants, and in deep space. As players progress, a storyline illustrated in
graphic novel format introduces them to elements used in the game's building
stage.

Inago Rage allows all gamers to create their own levels, a process once
reserved for professional developers and technically proficient mod
creators. An integrated arena designer makes building easy with its simple
drag-and-drop interface. Players construct levels by arranging architectural
elements such as platforms, towers, and skyscapers. They then place markers
where enemies and power-ups will appear. Special effects are created through
a graphical interface, allowing players to simulate everything from a calm
day on an alien world to a storm-charged nebula above a black hole.

Players build in real-time, allowing them to test their creations simply by
switching from "build" to "play" mode. The game stores levels in individual
files, which are compact enough to be traded in forums or via e-mail.

Price and availability: Inago Rage is now available for $34.95, and can be
ordered online at www.dejobaan.com/inago.

System requirements: Inago Rage requires Windows XP or 2000; an 800MHz or
faster processor; 256MB of system memory (RAM) or more; an ATI Radeon 7000,
Nvidia GeForce 2, or better graphics card; and Microsoft DirectX 9c or
higher.

# # #

Evaluation copies are available upon request. Media kits are available at
www.dejobaan.com/inago/press.htm.

Dejobaan Games is an independent, New England-based game development studio
founded in 1999. Inago Rage is the studio's ninth entertainment title to
date.

This was invaluable to us; Computer Gaming World picked up the story, and we got journalists asking us for review copies. PC gaming is competitive; the reviewers may be harsh. Take their criticism as constructive, improve those areas of your game, then produce a better sequel.

While you're at it, go to the GameTunnel forums and submit your announcement there. They're very indie-friendly. Same for TIGSource. And you should already be submitting your demo to as many shareware sites as possible. Go to upload.com; Tucows; GameSpot; etc. If you've been downloading games from a particular website, submit yours there. If you don't download games, scour the web and find out where other people do.

After some thinking, I found a way to resolve the issue with getting a video to a limited extent - taking dozens of screenshots and cropping them then using virtual dub to stitch them together. 60 screenshots running at 20 fps means only 3 seconds of video, way too short for anything. I do recall a case where, if I had dozens of file_for_screen instructions, it would save as BMP and keep doing so until the file_for_screen instruction was used again where it'd save as JPG instead of BMP as indicated, but having 200 of these instructions can be quite a nusiance to work with just to work around this bug. Snagging dozens of screenshots isn't efficient either as it's very slow. With the 6.31 SED, I can much more quickly get the few hundred file_for_screen instructions needed for a video of a sufficient length.

The main issue is the file size. I don't see much sense in having a video that larger than the game itself.

why not use fraps?

I don't like fraps - it adds text on the video and that'll ruin it. I've got other methods now, testing one right now.

Search for CamStudio, it's free and has no text or logos.

old_bill

I've already mentioned CamStudio - it doesn't allow for me to use uncompressed video and there are so few choices of codecs available. I've now implemented and tested my video recording method. Yep, as I expected, 900 MB for 1000 frames at 640x480 resolution.... I forgot about the "replace" feature. Despite having 1000 instances of file_for_screen due to the bug in 6.31, it's working very well. If I want to add another 1000 frames, I just copy/paste it into Wordpad, use the replace feature to bulk replace frame numbers, then copy and paste the code back in SED. The only problem is the file_for_screen instruction itself - it must always add a number at the end, which causes Virtual Dub to only load one frame. To fix this, I have to bulk rename all those files to get rid of the extra number at the end. From there, Virtual Dub reads all 1000 frames into a single video file and I can play it. It then just needs fine-tuning (maybe some audio - recorded by Audacity) then apply a compression codec applied when done. At 20 fps, my target, I can get about a minute's worth of video for 1000 frames.

After having to write two more programs (using Gamestudio), I finally got the video. The first program was to create all the screenshots. Due to file_for_screen requiring an extra number at the end, I had to bulk rename files. The second, since Virtual Dub doesn't allow for frames to be merged into each other as an effect to reduce the frame rate, was to create a script that read from 3 BMP images and merged them writing an output BMP to reduce the base 60 fps into 20. When played back, it's a bit tricky to tell if it's actually 20 fps or 60. Now all it needs is some (possible) audio, then, when that's done, a codec applied to it.

Hi ulillillia, I think your biggest problem is that you haven't really listened to the advice in this or your demo thread. You'd better, go back and list every helpful hint or criticism that was made of your game. And implement it asap. Then listen to every point given for marketing and make them so.

1) You’ve got to improve your product as advised.
GUI needs help? Visual queuing? Sound queues etc.

2) You have got to give powerful reasons to buy your game.
Why is it unique? Who would find it fun? Who is your target market?

3) You have got to give something free away with your game.
Like the software, or Models or Limited time discounts or something.

4) You have got to learn to market not just create a nice demo film.
5) And you have got to spend as much time with marketing as you did with developing.
6) If you can't do this find someone to market it for you their are at least 2 different successful game development teams that use to offer this, look in the AUMs.

Reread what Lion Ts had to say. These are part of the keys to marketing.

Quote:

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Quote:

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the best advertisement is to make a good game, that people talk about

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NO.
you can sell even bad one. good promotion is a trick. hide weak sides (call them 'futures' ) but show strong and interesting one. write articles about new way or new generation or new but not for everyone... make offers (limited in time, for example), gifts(buy one, take 2!!! or something else),...; prepare ground for talking about!
Each goods has the buyer, sorry for my English.

---

Here are some links that might be helpful.

http://www.jolaf.com/resources/marketart.html
http://www.freeware-guide.com/top10sws.html
http://www.winsite.com/


To bad theirs no marketing 101 sticky, or forum.


I'm half sure you will just look for what’s wrong with this post rather then try to understand its intent, but hopefully this does some good.

I think this is one of Ullillia's "Im going to post a topic that makes it seem like I want advice, but I dont really, because I already know what Im going to do and I want others to agree with me because they will. Ichiro dosent know what he's doing."

"I think your biggest problem is that you haven't really listened to the advice in this or your demo thread. You'd better, go back and list every helpful hint or criticism that was made of your game"

Most of the time theres really no use in trying to give advice to Ullillia, since nothing you mention to him ever gets considered in even the slightest.

Honestly Uli, having a video with a watermark is way better than no video at all. Any developer here, new and veteran, will agree that having a video shows the game more than some carefully taken screenshot.

You've had plenty of reviews in showcase two, you have alot to work with.