Updates for the last month
So, it's been a month since my last post and I have been busy. For Sky Defender, I have an artist I am working with to replace all the default graphics and I have worked a lot of bugs out of the game. I am mostly working on balancing gameplay now and deciding if I want to spend the additional time adding an online highscore table or not.
"Sky Defender" has now managed to get this site in the top 10 on all major search engines, even though I haven't done any advertising yet and almost all of my (very few) links and posts have been in private developer forums. That's also with my break in blogging. On the other hand, how many people are going to be searching for Sky Defender. What I really need to focus on is getting to the top of the search for Space Invaders since my game is a modernized derivitive of that, and it is a more well known phrase that people will search on. And I'm nowhere to be seen in those searches... Yet. :)
GarageGames is about to release Torque 2D (Torque Game Builder) from the early adopter phase and the pricing is going to jump. I've been considering getting the commercial license, like many others have done, while the pricing is still reasonable for an Indie. Basically it allows me to not have to show the GarageGames splash screen on startup and I believe commercial licenses are owned by the company rather than individual. So if I later decide to focus on the business side and hire a programmer, I can transfer the license to them. Of course, if I'm making enough to consider that then the price of the license would seem very minor.
As I said above, I've contracted out the art for my Space Invaders derivative Sky Defender. I will also be looking soon for a composer to potentially replace the music and sound effects. Along with the launch of TGB to production, Garage Games is expected to announce the Breaking Into Games (BIG) contest. Depending on limitations they put on that, I am considering my Admiral Alexandria platformer game (a Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario derivative). If that is the case I will be looking for a 2D animated sprite artist and a composer/musician for paid contracts. Yes, that is right. I am an Indie game developer that has paid contracts, not vague promises of possible royalties. Just remember I am an Indie game developer and cannot pay amounts competitive to EA or other major studios.
Expect the Beta 1 release of Sky Defender very soon. It will definitely be on the PC, I have a Linux (Fedora Core 5) Virtual Machine that I am going to try to get it working on as well. Sorry Mac guys, I just don't have a Mac system yet and there's no easy way to get one in a VM. I really do want to get it on there, but it may have to wait a while until I can afford a Mac Mini.