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Mobotropolis

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Everything posted by Mobotropolis

  1. Feel like its important for people to communicate on the site itself in some way if its a multiplayer game, but it doesn't necessarily have to be a forum. Depending on the type of game DMs might be enough. One possible problem that may come up with using a 3rd party-thing like Discord is that it might be easier for scammers to scam that way by pretending to be someone they're not -- but your game would have to get pretty big before having to put significant thought into that.
  2. Nor am I questioning them. Those are questions that anyone who might be interested in making a game have to think about. There will be, inevitably, times when people question why they are doing something. When that time comes they must come to terms with facts and perhaps adjust for reality. ... get the feeling I know where this is going and will just check out now, however. Thanks for sharing.
  3. What's your goal? Your endgame? Are you working on your game on nights and weekends hoping to make a little extra money on the side of your day-job? Are you giving it your all in hopes you'll one day be able to quit your day-job and devote all of your time to your game? Are you taking up a side project in the hopes of developing or improving your skills so you can get a better job? ... or is this a hobby and you're not really in it to win it? The answer is different and personal for the Game Owner. We can't answer this for you or anyone else besides ourselves. Once you set your goal you can begin making steps towards achieving it -- hopefully without the expectation that you'll be making 2-3k+ out of the gate because even successful games don't always come out of the gate that way. Creating realistic expectations about what you will accomplish as a Game/Business Owner is a must. The lifespan of the average website is about two and a half years. There are many reasons for it. As you say, time and interests may go elsewhere Technology may march on and leave you behind People may get bored and see what else there is to do If you're running your game as a hobby, any one of those things coming up might be fine since you can decide to move on and try something else. If you're running your game as a business, however, you'll have to come up with a contingency to counteract the effects of burnout, invest Time/Money into renovating or be prepared to bring something new to the table to bring people back into it. The most successful business out there today have a Plan B in place and in case of any one of those scenarios. Word of Mouth is the best kind of advertisement since it's free. You could (and probably, as a Game Owner, should) be open with your players about your Testing to clear up confusion and encourage their feedback based on what it may involve. If you're completely new to the idea of testing for improvement I'd recommend the book The Innovator's Hypothesis. Sometimes a simple, barely noticeable, thing can make a huge different. For example at my day-job we found that Open and Click Rates for emails increased when we sent them in the early afternoon as opposed to the morning, for some reason. We also found differences in our subject line and how frequently we sent emails affected opens/clicks.
  4. Sure. Let's have a read. Dedicated (also called native) mobile apps are also becoming dated for a variety of reasons. You have to fight to get (and stay) in the App/Play Store You have to fight to get noticed in the App/Play Store You have to convince users to install an App They're more expensive to develop That's opposed to the Go to -SiteName.com- and play that made this type of gaming immensely popular in the early 2000s. Think that's the experience the gamer/potential customer of the future is going to want. Go to the site and play the game. Anywhere. On any device. If a game came out of the gate and scratched most of those itches (free to play, works anywhere and is updated regularly, and not just those "We put things in the shop/have a click-to-win Event/ran the lottery script!" updates), it'd be fire. Professional Studios interests are in chasing the best, easiest and more importantly most profitable buck. There's an easier Buck to be Made making a dedicated app with a monthly service fee or micro-transactions ... for now. Mobile Games are getting their own reputation for being low quality cash grabs. You're more likely to find - Games that offer the bare bones of their console counterparts, usually with a Gacha Element (See: Mario Kart Mobile/Pokemon Go) Games that are reskinned clones of other popular mobile games, usually with Micro-transactions (See: Neopets Ghoul Catchers or the dozens of Farmville clones) Games that are ports of their consoles games, usually with an upfront fee to take the place of offering Gacha and/or Micro-transactions (See: Square or SEGA, which has ported most of their 90s hits to mobile for a fee) Mobile Games can scratch a gaming itch while you're waiting at the doctor's office or commuting home on the subway. If you want to play a high quality game with depth you may be waiting until you get home and get on the Desktop/Console, however. The Nintendo Switch is doing what it can to turnaround that stigma, but it too is under-powered and appears to have gotten a reputation for catering to a niche (usually younger) audience. There are reasons for this, of course. No Smartphones are as powerful as you're average modern Desktop/Console. There are also reasons about the same as discussed in the article; the barrier of entry to make even a mobile game is low. If you have the money to pay your mobile app developers your latest Gacha App will be up and running in a couple of months. Even if you're a Solo Developer you can get an engine that can produce a revenue generating game good enough to go in the Play Store for around $100. Aside - That stock imagery in the Blog Post looks really amateurish. but the low barrier of entry to create a blog or post these days is almost another discussion. It's near-free to create whatever you want online compared to what it was at the turn of the century. You can secure a domain name for around $10-20 bucks a year. You can dedicated processional hosting for as low as $5 a month. You can get your blog or social media account started for free. Think the low barrier of entry is more an advantage than a thing holding a game back, these days. The thing I feel holds most games back is the lack of updates/innovation. Instead of trying to put something new, interesting or innovative out there many games are "Like -successful game-, but better in superficial ways". That seems to be the case even with games coming from Professional Studios. Is simply having a clone of a game that works out of the box on mobile going to make yours a hit? Absolutely not.
  5. Most businesses aren't profitable in their first year. Even ones that turn into Unicorns. You're correct in that the hope for an owner should be that their revenue at least keeps the lights on. There should be either enough income coming in on cash in the bank to weather things until momentum picks up. That you have a game and are generating any revenue at all is a huge accomplishment. Many do not get even that far. You're also making a respectable amount a month for presumably not doing this as your full time job. Being into data will likely help when it comes to what's ahead. One thing we found worked surprisingly well at my Day-Job is A/B Testing to get our leads to do the types of things we want them to do. We did all types of testing, from subjects/times/frequencies of emails to what people see when they get to the site. You can test out some things and see what might drive some more revenue, yes?
  6. Yoshi was the first character I got Wow! Incredible! (Difficulty 9 without Continues) with in Ultimate. Would recommend him for people new to the game. Also got it with Ike (first time playing Ike), Daisy, Peach, Fox and my current main; King Dedede. Been playing since the beginning. 64: Pikachu Melee: Peach Brawl: Mr. Game and Watch / King Dedede 4: King Dedede / Lucario Ultimate: King Dedede Used to have a Smash Party every weekend with friends but they all moved away.
  7. If your site is live, available to the public and has the ability for users to sign up I'd say it's Open. That's quite an accomplishment in itself, bugs or no.
  8. Figured In-Development meant games that were being made but not yet available to the public. Most Games (and websites even) are a work-in-progress. That's the nature of the internet. There's a state between a website being just an idea and being ready to point people towards your website, however.
  9. Thank you. Someone asked me about the artistic style I was going for and it took a lot of trial and error to get this far. Found a shortcut in Photoshop yesterday so I can make art a bit faster now. Have a handful of games ready to go but they all need graphics!
  10. Working out the look and feel of some NPCs ...
  11. This looks interesting from the screenshot. Mind telling us a bit more about the gameplay?
  12. Looking for some feedback on a Minigame I'm working on. Here it is. Main this is a possible control scheme for this. The buttons at the button don't work (yet?), but I'm not even sure that's the right way to go for something like this. Meanwhile, if you're on Desktop you something similar you can use the arrow keys to get around. Meanwhile I might work on some graphics.
  13. Howdy. Made a general creative thread on the last two boards I roamed. One shut down and the other is near-dead, so why not make a new home here? The main concept is something of a sim game, after all. First up -- Critters! -- and the old Title/Logo. Originally this was supposed to be a Fantasy World and the pets looked like animals. When I decided to set the concept in the not-so-distant past I struggled with how animals would work in this type of setting. One concept was having players have an Anthro-like Avatar and the Animal-creatures be Tamagotchi-like Digital Pets within the game world that took over the automated functions of running your store. Still struggled with making NPCs and Animals look like they're from the same world. Then, I happened to get inspiration from a random Youtube recommended video. If the game was going to be set in the not-so-distant past why not go for that look? After a round of critical research a handful of series were used as inspiration for the new looks. Cat-Dragon got less busy over time Ghost-Dog originally based off a dog that crossed a certain Technicolor Bridge in 2015. It's still a ghost, but less wolf-like and with fluffy wisps Bird was the hardest concept to nail. Had many more sketches than this. Originally a Chicken-Phoenix, it became a Dodo-Angel Mouse-Fairy, meanwhile, was the easiest. This is also the species I drew the most art and variants of A horse-manticore, of course. Thought it looked too busy so did away with the griffon-features and made it more lion-like Pig-vampire was another easy concept. Feathery wings became batty Concept's old name and logos. I drew #1 but thought it looked too busy. Commissioned #2, but think I wasted money in retrospect
  14. Oh, I love breaking things! Do you have any preview/promotional images you can show of what you're working on?
  15. As someone who has managed games on and off for almost 20 years, I have to say that one of the hardest things to do as a Owner is realize when it's time to throw in the towel. No matter the reason, it only seems fair to yourself and your players to provide them the chance of having the best experience they can have. Whether it be under your helm or another's. IcePets was one of the games I "held over" after a recent audit of still-active games. The plan was to take a closer look around the game and get a feel for what the modern audience wanted. You're also using some of the technologies I'm learning for a more modern game (Construct and Vue). Think I'll definitely take a closer look now. Do you have a ballpark number you're looking for, or are you just fielding offers? You can PM me in case you do not want to share that information publicly.
  16. To say your artwork is amazing would be an understatement. Your first two images appear to be broken -- but I am sure they are also outstanding. Good luck!
  17. I have samples for everything I'm requesting (Maps, Items, Characters). Here's some for maps - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ou5MQzPolz30Y_kIsdg0uFbX6f94EMXV https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Kr9YDlOzLwj2AWaLQAYgsRSzHteKN5jQ https://drive.google.com/open?id=14PuUKkCJOT7nUpEShVE3icGElKF_AiCy Please send me a PM so we can negotiate. I also like one of your items (Apple) and would be willing to take it.
  18. See some artists looking for work and have a decent amount of cash to burn. Hit me up! I am mainly looking for a Map Artist since the navigation for my project was finished last night (woo!). Since the seasons are changing I'm looking for some Fall and Halloween themed Item Bases. Bring me your Pumpkins, Apples, and Lattes. Not your thing? I have three shops and two Games I may also pay for art for. Thanks.
  19. Assisting a bit - What type of payment do you take? And what programming languages do you know?
  20. Woke up at 2:30am. Only back on the Internet by tethering to mobile data. My home internet has been out since Sunday night and the company said they won't begin to even assess the problem until Thursday. Wish I had a person or two to bounce some ideas off. 10 minutes to 6am. Back to Bed I go!
  21. Shame that a game that seems to be memorable to many people was derailed by drama. I guess if anything can be said about such a thing is that it can serve as a lesson learned on the game you're currently devoted to. Not just in how artists could or should be compensated -- but about how things might go should things go South like they inevitably seem to do for any project. Knowing how to PR is an invaluable skill. You are already demonstrating a great skill there; your honesty about what had happened. And it is appreciated. It may be worth-it to have a General Interest Survey when you have time. The people you often hear about are the so-called Vocal Minority. Those who cry and scream loudest about things that may not be in the best interests of the general population. How do you know what the General Population wants? You ask them. You can also look at data, but that doesn't come until later in this case. ? What I've found, especially around here, is that there are more people lurking than they are talking. So you can't really use what people say as a good indicator for what they want. You may have to make a case and throw up a poll for that. And don't get discouraged if one or two people tell you otherwise -- especially if the data shows otherwise.
  22. I'm curious what you mean by "backlash from former artists". Feel like people are willing to spend on the right game, but generating interest is harder than it used to be since there's much more competition than there used to be.
  23. A good programmer will be able to create an feature to meet your needs. The part you may need to start working on before getting a programmer involved is defining your needs. To that, I'd suggest doing two things; 1. Creating some Mockups to show the programmer what you want the feature to look like. Saying you want it similar to X, Y, and Z is a step in the right direction -- but if you want a feature to call your own either you or your developer will have to do some mockups to get a sense of what goes where and what the final feature should look like. Even a rough design, a sketch you do on some computer paper and take a cellphone picture of (NOT THAT I DO THIS*coughcoughcough*) can give people who are working on it a sense of what goes where. 2. Making a list of features for your feature. In a customization feature your models are usually broken down into pieces and you have to design ahead of time (or have a massive headache later) which pieces are going to be customizable. Something like this: Hair Left / Right Ear Eyes Face Lips Eyeshadow Neck Left / Right Arm Left / Right Hand Bottoms Tops Shoes Socks Back Accessory Garland Trinket Background Then it might go a bit beyond that. - Do you want users to have a closet to store their clothing? How should this area look and operate? - Do you want your users to save outfits? How many outfits? - Do you want users to rate user outfits or to be able to share them on site/social media? - Is clothing going to be free, purchased with real money, or both? You also seem to be an artist, so I'm guessing you're going to make the Avatar bases and some concepts for the clothing? If not, you're going to have to find someone who can. Fortunately, there are many artists around here who can do avatar bases. Sure; you can. ? Knowing how to code is such a marketable skill to have that I recommend anyone who can learn it. Even if you decide to commission out the work for your avatar feature having a general idea of how it will work will be helpful to both parties since you will be better able to explain what you are looking for, and may be able to fix or adjust some things yourself once you have the final product. If you are an absolute beginner with coding I have two recommendations on where to learn: An oldie but goodie - LissaExplains This is one of the sites I learned the basics of building a website from Back in the Day (TM). Some of the lessons are outdated, but the fundamentals about HTML, CSS, DIVs and how to include JavaScript are not. For a more modern place try W3Schools You can learn more about Modern JavaScript (Frameworks like React, Angular, and JQuery) and Server Side Languages like PHP and MySQL from here. From there, you'll need some server space to test and eventually host your product for the public to try. For that, I and I'm sure some others out there would recommend DigitalOcean. If the Command Line is troublesome you can one-click setup Cpanel for a visual guide around your server. It's around $5 a month ($60 a year) which is on-par with the average price of a hosting service these days. You'll just have to bring a domain name (you don't need one now!) when you're ready to show your site to the public.
  24. In my War on Frameworks I tried both Semantic UI and Bootstrap -- but ultimately went back to Bootstrap. Not just because it's what my day-time employer users, but I found it was easier to learn and more widely supported (that is, if I have a question I can find more people to answer it). Creating a site that does not look generic is more a challenge for the designer and/or developers. Any tool is only as useful as the one implementing it. Big Edit: Ah. I found something that might be helpful looking for something else; a list of Mods I installed on my Mysida Build: - Explore System (Dailies) - Stats and Training - Official Shop Mod - User Shops - Item Management Pages - Sorting Pets - Random Events - Private Messages - Secondary Currency - Pet Lookup - Achievements System (Badges/Avatars) - Item Drops for Clicks - Pet's Birthday Check - Lottery - Raise Stats with Items - Personality - Item Mixing - Facebook-Style Messenger - Admin Control - Seamless Login - Customize the Index Page - Anti-Brute Force - Welcome Message for New Users - Held Items - Change Browser Title - Quests - Admin Panel - Time Specific Text ("Good Morning/Evening") - Daily Surprise - Avatars in the Members List - Favicon - Bridge to Forum Software - Dialogue System
  25. I have a faint memory of a hosted Virtual Pet Game solution. It was free. I remember the layout of the site was Red and you could create species, shops, and pages. It moderately popular with people with no coding experience at all, but if you did know a bit of what to do it was pretty restrictive (you couldn't change the layout significantly, code your own features, or implement plugins) so not a lot of games came out of it. The site isn't around anymore. You're thinking about setting the price at $20 a month/$240 a year? I can swing that, but maybe you should hold a poll or survey to see how much people are willing to pay for your service.
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