If you didn't know, Platform Explorer was finally released. You can play it at the homepage!
Overall, I'm a bit disappointed by how it came out! Obviously, I wish that I had found an artist to work with, but there are other problems that I have with it. You could tell me that I should keep working on the game until it's perfect, but, to be honest with you, I don't really see the point. It'd be nice to earn a small amount of money with the game and it doesn't seem like I'll be able to do that working by myself.
A consequence of releasing this game and seeing the (bad) results is that it's made me rethink how I'm designing games. Specifically, I can't continue to develop games with the same scope that I have been. That presents a problem because I generally LIKE the games that I'm making...
What's particularly frustrating is that I'd like to make games that are even BIGGER than the ones that I'm making. And, I would really like to try my hand at some artsy games. But, I don't think that I could do these game ideas any justice with my low skills in sound and art. Unfortunately, finding help has always been difficult for me, so I'm feeling kind of stuck...
This frustration has translated into working on Feira's Quest (I changed the name). I'm really trying to push myself to finish the game as quickly as possible and that means dropping some features that I would like to put in. I can't justify working on this game for longer than a month or so IF I'm only going to earn ad money. If the results of Feira's Quest end up being similar to Platform Explorer (ie no sponsorship money), then I'm going to have to rethink how I'm doing things.
By that, I mean I'm going to have to make smaller, quicker games with little to no story. While it will be a fun challenge trying to work within those boundaries, I don't really want to work on those sort of games :)
To add all of these game designing challenges, I'm having trouble figuring out how to market my games. There aren't many websites that cover indie games, and, the ones that do seem to cover HIGH profile indie games (stuff like Aquaria and Super Meat Boy). So, not only do my games suffer because my lack of skills, but it's also difficult to get them noticed because the games don't have the right amount of polish. Sometimes I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place :)
But, it isn't all bad - at least, I'm making games the way I want to. And, I do learn a lot doing everything myself. I guess, like everyone, I just want things easy for myself :)
Any thoughts? Let me know, eh!
