Quoting: "Qantourisc, post: 4757, member: 181"http://www.happypenguin.org/ [External Link] allows users to submit updates.

I think there's still a moderation aspect to it, though. I submitted my update about Dirk Dashing 2 v0.9.2, and it still hasn't been posted. Doesn't look like the main page has been updated in 3 weeks.

We'll miss you, Liam. Thanks for starting this site. Hope someone takes over and keeps it going.

That said, I think it was a good move for you to allow developers to post their news and have it show up directly on the home page. That must have decreased your work load a little bit, since you didn't have to copy and paste developers' e-mails and create the news articles yourself. And devs get to share their news immediately.

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True. Except that I could easily spend another 3-4 months adding enhancements, tweaking stuff, etc. I've already spent 3+ years working on this game. At some point, I've got to draw the line and say "it's good enough". Otherwise, I'll never finish. :)

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Mark: I definitely want to add pushing animation for Dirk. I like that idea, and it's one of the items on my v1.0 wish list. But it might have to wait until the first update - there's still so much left to do, and I've only 12 days left until release!

Regarding gifting, I'm not familiar with the Humble Bundle system. I'll have to check it out. But there is a gifting option on my BMT Micro shopping cart page. It's a little giftbox icon next to the product in the shopping cart. There's also a checkbox about midway down labeled "Purchase is for someone else".

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KIAze: I actually tried some rotating red alarm lights at one point, but OpenGL only allows 7-8 light sources, so it became a bit of an issue to do that reliably. And there are also outdoor areas where it would be difficult to place such lights. I like the idea of showing/hiding an alarm icon. I like that better than what I've got now! Thanks for the suggestion!

The audio on the 2nd level, 5th floor is a bit of an indicator that there's more there to explore. In fact, there's a pretty sizable hidden area there, where you can actually get up on the roof...

When we implemented the interactive audio engine in v0.6.3, my musician Jesse Hopkins and I spent a lot of time enriching the sfx and adding multiple sound layers (ambient noise, footsteps, ladder sounds, sfx for most moving objects, etc) to help fill the void when music isn't playing. Glad you like it! I think it adds a ton of character to the game...

I'll definitely try to add a level restart option - if not in v1.0, it will be in the first patch. I actually had a hot key that I used for awhile to "abort" a level and return to the level selection screen, so I've already got code for this. Just need to hook it up a bit better.

When using the elevators, I check if there's an enemy in the way, and if so I reset them to their original position - didn't want Dirk coming through the elevator and getting hurt, particularly if the elevator happened to lead into another tile map.

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Wow, thanks for all the wonderful feedback KIAze!

For #1: I'll have to see why the alarm and ambient sounds are different than all the others... I thought I was turning everything off at a very low level in my code, so it should have worked automatically for everything. By the way, I appreciate your thoroughness in documenting the steps to recreate it - that's invaluable!

I thought I had #2 and #3 fixed at one point. I must have changed something that broke it again. Drat!

Good suggestion regarding the red flashing for the alarm. I had tied it to the sound & music being off, mainly because of personal preference - I play with audio on, and I found the visual feedback annoying after awhile. Making it an option is a good idea. Here's the next question: should I default it to on or off?

(Sorry for bolding - just wanted to make sure my question didn't get lost in the midst of all this text)

I'm still working on the Instruction screens - there's a lot of stuff that's undocumented (characters, moves, stuff Dirk picks up, etc). I knew I was going to redo all the menu graphics at the end, so I didn't want to spend a lot of time working on graphics that I was going to throw away.

I made a note of all your other suggestions. Good stuff! I may not have time to get them into v1.0, so they may have to wait for the first update.

Regarding the alarm lasers blocking the whole path: I should have a switch somewhere that turns them off without having to cross the beams. The only level where the alarm is unavoidable is Chapter 1-7 - and I did that deliberately. It heightens the tension, and from a storytelling perspective, it makes perfect sense that the alarm would be going off during Dirk's escape (since the enemies now know Dirk is there). I did put "N/A" for the Stealth Bonus at the end of that level.

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Quoting: "Sofox, post: 4574"A vital article on this theme: [URL='http://blog.semisecretsoftware.com/open-sourcing-your-game-while-its-still-popul']Open Sourcing your Game while it's still Popular. [/URL]
It talks about the experience of open sourcing Canabalt.

Great link! Thanks for sharing that!

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Quoting: "berarma, post: 4554, member: 131"One reason for developers to go opensource is collaboration but this is where the game industry seams weak. There's a lot of competition and very little to no collaboration.

That's not quite true. I went to GDC back in 2004, and I was pleasantly surprised at how open and helpful game developers are (both indies and AAA devs). I was at the IGF Pavilion, demonstrating my Fashion Cents game which was a finalist that year, and lots of devs came by, looked at the game, and offered great suggestions for improving gameplay in areas I hadn't thought about (e.g., a 2-click alternative to drag and drop for laptop users with trackpads, printing the colors of the pieces on tooltips for color-blind users, ideas for additional power-ups, etc). They also offered publishing tips, and in some cases introduced me to publishers they knew. Most game developers I met weren't at all like the reclusive basement/bedroom coders that I envisioned.

Some indies also collaborate together on various things of mutual interest. I worked with with Gianfranco Berardi at GBGames, Roman Budzowski at Anawiki Games, and Ilya Olevsky at Valen Games (which has since closed up shop) on our Linux ports - we all worked together over e-mail to figure out how to build distribution-independent binaries, and freely shared information we learned. Erik Hermensen over at Caravel Games put me in touch with Jerry Jo Jellestad, who spent many patient weeks over e-mail teaching me the ins and outs of building Linux binaries and installers - he certainly didn't have to do that, given his busy schedule. Gianfranco and I still frequently collaborate to this day, helping test each other's games, sharing new Linux tips we come across, marketing tips, etc.

Going open source would certainly help devs collaborate better, though I don't see devs jumping in and helping code each other's games. Rather, I see devs looking at each other's code to see how they made something work. But then again, the aforementioned guys and I have privately shared some code over the years help each other get something working, so we didn't necessarily need to publicly open our source for that.

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Good article. Thanks for collecting all the issues/discussion in one place. And sorry for derailing your other thread! :oops:

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I just scanned my copy of the Goodbye Galaxy hints and tricks sheet that I received and posted it on my blog:
http://www.mygamecompany.com/forums/showthread.php?2096-Commander-Keen-Mementos [External Link]

Cool stuff!

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That's a nice treasure trove!

I still have some of the original 3-1/2 floppy disks I got from Apogee when I ordered Commander Keen: Goodbye Galaxy from them in 1992, as well as the official hints and tricks sheet. It was printed in black ink on red colored paper, and had an ad for Keen 6 "Aliens Ate My Babysitter" on the back. They also sent a floppy with demos for Secret Agent 1 and Crystal Caves 1.

I immediately purchased Keen 6 through them too, and I've still got the floppy disk, the instruction book, and the hints and tricks sheet for that game (2 sheets, printed on green colored paper and stapled together). They also sent a floppy with a demo for Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure.

Those games were like gold... been addicted ever since!

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