Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso

[Disco]

Steve,

In another thread you said that mixing genres, in this case arcade and adventure, was suicide. I loved this game, and wonder why more adventure fans wouldn't enjoy it so much. Clearly it is not the Pac Man type where you go around eating (rather large) pixels, you do not simply clear stages, you solve puzzles. It is the first game of this type that I have seen where the character has inventory.

Do you think fans of adventures are simply too "set in their ways" so to speak? Knowing this, what sort of gameplay elements would you remove/include if there were another Smoozles game?

[Steve Ince]

Looking back I'm glad I made the game as I learned a lot in the process. There's never a substitute for going through the whole of the process yourself to give you a clear perspective. There are also some great gameplay sequences that I believe work as well as any other in more traditional adventures. In some ways, though, I wish I'd done the game as a pure adventure...

It's not about players being set in their ways but a case of knowing what they like. This applies to all kinds of games but is probably most pronounced in adventures. As soon as you add something that doesn't fit the mould people see it as not being a true adventure. Nutso broke that mould too radically, I guess.

I'm not even going to think of another Mr. Smoozles game at the moment.

[Agustin]

Which channels did you use to sell Mr. Smoozles? Only via your website? It's sad to hear it wasn't the commercial success you expected, and I'm leaning to believe it was more a problem of circumstances rather than the game itself.

[Steve Ince]

Well, it wasn't solely the gameplay and style of it. The Game Maker engine I used probably wasn't really designed for what I was doing. There was a huge load time at the beginning and some people had a lot of problems with the game running slowly. Two machines with the same spec could be very different from one another - one may play it fine and the other not at all.

I managed to get the game onto the Manifesto Games site (which is very supportive of independent adventures, by the way) and have been talking to other portals and the like. One huge portal provider would have taken the game but for the long loading time.

Be very wary of generic engines...

[Agustin]

Hhmmm I'm not very familiar with Game Maker but I think it's an engine tailored for rather small titles. I can understand how Mr. Smoozles might have been too complex for it.

It's a real shame... I'm learning that people are still not only wary of buying stuff online, but they're also reluctant to buy from small websites.

[Steve Ince]

Perhaps that has something to do with it, too. Though I use a reputable firm - BMT Micro.

[Isak]

It's a real shame... I'm learning that people are still not only wary of buying stuff online, but they're also reluctant to buy from small websites.

I couldn't agree with you more. I don't understand why people seems to be "afraid" of buying online, especially from small developers. Is it because they feel insecure about paying, or because they want the whole kit with a cover, booklet etc?

[Steve Ince]

They'd rather give their money to big, rich companies than help the small developers.

[Agustin]

I think it has to do with insecureness. For example, we're currently selling the soundtrack of our game and the sales have been less than spectacular. The curious thing is that we were expecting some decent figures as many fans were anticipating it - we even ran a poll and the overall reception was more than positive.

I can only think of some reluctance to buy from our website (even though we're handling secure payments and we're the bloody developers of the game!). If the soundtrack was available via Amazon, perhaps then we could experience some boost in sales.

This might well be the case with Mr. Smoozles too...

[Steve Ince]

Maybe I need to look into that.

Thanks Agustin.

[Isak]

Yes, sadly, and it's a real SHAME. But if "indipendent games" were released in shops (not online) would they sell well? Or does the general gaming public only trust the big companies?

[Steve Ince]

They just go with the hype. This is why retail is so hard for indies.

[Agustin]

At least our case was good at retail. I believe that having the actual product on your hands before buying it still accounts for a lot... this is already showing signs of changing though.

[Isak]

And then there's sadly these guys who download games illegal, which never helps either indipendent or big developers (and espercially not indipendent developers). For example, I know a person who have downloaded Scratches, which is a shame, because since it's indipendent it's cheaper than most big-publisher games. And I still don't understand, since this person actually buy games that can be bought in a store.

[Agustin]

Tell us where your friend lives... we'll send him a Lovecraftian monster ;D

Like I said here or somewhere else: independent games are still way of being widely respected, but they're slowly getting there!


Edit: oops, I just realized. Sorry Steve about hijacking your forum :-[

[Isak]

Don't worry, I've already told to my friend my opinion about downloading illegal stuff, and I promise I'm against it wheter it's a music, games or movies or anything else concerning illegal download. Yes, sorry Steve, a little off-topic!

[axelkothe]

I can only think of some reluctance to buy from our website (even though we're handling secure payments and we're the bloody developers of the game!). If the soundtrack was available via Amazon, perhaps then we could experience some boost in sales.

do you know about amazon advantage? check this out: http://advantage.amazon.com/gp/vendo...dvantage-music

[Agustin]

do you know about amazon advantage? check this out: http://advantage.amazon.com/gp/vendo...dvantage-music

Thanks for letting me know about this, I'll check it out. The intention is to sell via Amazon at some point as well.

[Steve Ince]

Don't worry, Agustin. It makes my threads look more popular.

Seriously, though, Scratches has done brilliantly for a small team and you should be well proud of your achievements. I hope that you continue to have the success you deserve.

[PolloDiablo2]

I was hesitant about playing Mr. Smoozles as all I heard was how it was NOT an adventure game but nothing about what genre it does belong to. Thought it involved action sequences. I've found the try-before-you-buy version now and will definitely try it. I hope you find a publisher for Sapphire Claw as I really like how the first few screenshots look. I've read the comic and would love to see the comic's characters in an adventure game.