Gunstar - update

[STEVIE G]

I've been working on this over Easter and beyond.

* Increased the size of the levels - they are now 4 times larger with no drop in framerate.
* Added alot more variety to backgrounds - new colours, land feature, vegatation and buildings etc..
* Added a few new enemies and reworked some of the older ones to look a bit better.
* Increased the number of waves to 40.
* Toying with an upgrade system similar to Van Tourisimo (might drop that).

Some screenshots ...

[Steve Elliott]

Cool.  Looking forward to trying out the new version.   

[Santiago]

 i love this graphics style!, i wait the demo!! good work!!

[blinkok]

Lovely as always. Is the dithering programmed or texture?

[Derron]

Hint: spellcheck the thread title


PS: Any stats for download counts etc? Would be interesting for such a great title.


bye
Ron

[STEVIE G]

Title updated, my eyes are going in my old age 

Gunstar is a hidden url at the moment so only 75 downloads. By contrast Van Tourisimo has 4,500 downloads with 9,500 views.  As soon as you charge these figures take a nosedive as no one wants to pay for hard work on itch.  I was going to try £1.99 and see how that goes.

[STEVIE G]

Lovely as always. Is the dithering programmed or texture?

The dithering is applied directly to the background texture each wave. It's  meant to represent a buildup of corruption by the Virus spreading enemy ships.

[Derron]

Thanks for the stats. Does it happen for the "pay what you want" method too? So asking for 1,99 or a price the user enters. I assume it does not matter much - if there is a price tag - even optional - people skip it.

If you are there for the download count: ask for money and start a "100% discount campaign" - this will lead to links spread on the "now free" threads on reddit and other pages.
Think it is useful if you added a little ad into the game - promoting other games you have (eg Gunstar then).

bye
Ron

[STEVIE G]

Thanks for the stats. Does it happen for the "pay what you want" method too? So asking for 1,99 or a price the user enters. I assume it does not matter much - if there is a price tag - even optional - people skip it.

If you are there for the download count: ask for money and start a "100% discount campaign" - this will lead to links spread on the "now free" threads on reddit and other pages.
Think it is useful if you added a little ad into the game - promoting other games you have (eg Gunstar then).

bye
Ron

Van Tourisimo was set to 'no payment'.  I changed it to 'pay what you like' yesterday as a test and went from average of 10 downloads a day to 0.  V strange as they're pretty much both free.


Finalised the 3 versions of the Gunstar - took much longer than I would have likes.  They are seen here seen taking on a Brute (latest and final enemy - an absolute nightmare) and then fleeing the scene to find another target.  This is just a test but you will automatically upgrade to the MKII and then MKIII when power has been maxed.  Each version improves firepower, acceleration and armour and your wingmen powerup will be the previous version.




 

[Matty]

That looks quite excellent.  I love the pixelated look.

[3DzForMe]

  I've been working on this over Easter and beyond.

* Increased the size of the levels - they are now 4 times larger with no drop in framerate.
* Added alot more variety to backgrounds - new colours, land feature, vegatation and buildings etc..
* Added a few new enemies and reworked some of the older ones to look a bit better.
* Increased the number of waves to 40.
* Toying with an upgrade system similar to Van Tourisimo (might drop that).

Some screenshots ...   

Awesome, nice to see its progressing looking forward to trying the latest edition.

Its poor that interest drops to 0 as soon as you put 'pay what you want'. It almost seems worthwhile having two itch.io versions of it - one where peeps can just download it - then on the 'credits' page have link to an Itch.io where peepps can 'pay' for it with what they want. Rubbish you've to go to those lengths.

Don't let it take it away from excellent work, great stuff as usual StevieG.

[Derron]

>  I assume it does not matter much - if there is a price tag - even optional - people skip it.

Maybe my English wasn't good enough there so I better clarify: what I meant to say is: as soon as you tag it "pay what you want" people will skip the game (not the ask for the price). They see "hmm, something with money" or maybe even "orrrrrr this needs an additional step to download it).

As said you could try to create an entry (maybe a "Deluxe version" with 2 additional levels). Sell it for 2,99.
Then create a campaign offering it for 100% discount (0,00) for 2 weeks.
Download count of this version will raise a lot then.

BUT ... you do not know who just downloaded and who plays. Many "collectors" around.


bye
Ron

[Steve Elliott]

As soon as you charge these figures take a nosedive as no one wants to pay for hard work on itch.  I was going to try £1.99 and see how that goes.

  I knew you were going to update the game so haven't bought it yet, but I will.  How about Steam?  Are people more likely to pay there?

Have you got some YouTube promotion videos out?  Personally I think your game looks much much better when animated, rather than in a still screen shot.

[Matty]

Regarding 'pay what you want' and user behaviour I came across this link today from a site that must have existed once as a sale place a bit like itch.io and others....

http://indiegamestand.com/

Interesting read - the top few lines about sales volumes of pay what you want across their website.

[iWasAdam]

There is also the fact that games done sell unless they are good. Not just good, but brilliant - everything fits and the game captures something that engages people.
It's not just about knowing a market, it's about having something that sparks its own market.

If its money, then tools are possibly a better option, but again you have to have a tool that does something unique and answers a problem in a brilliant or stylish way.

Does my game/tool stand out, or is it just one of many doing nothing special in a dull and uninspiring way?