Income has been sparse lately, so I’m trying something a little unusual: people who donate to the site get to pick the titles of upcoming games. Here’s how this’ll work:
- You make a donation through my nifty Paypal button. Use the “add special instructions” link to request a game title.
- I will keep a chart of donations made (and corresponding titles) in the sidebar. At 11:59 PM Pacific time on Sunday, the top-ranked donation determines the title for the following week’s game, and that title gets removed from the list (moving the next one up the chart). Ties go to the earliest submission.
- You determine the title, but I make no guarantees about how I’ll interpret it in making the game. However, chances are very good that it’ll be a substantial source of inspiration – if you want “Dragondot’s Extreme Beach Volleyball”, I’m not likely to make it a shmup.
- This should go without saying, but: nothing spammy (“Game #N: visit www.enlarge-your-mmo-gold-in-8-weeks.com”), patently offensive (according to my own judgment), libelous, or trademark-infringing. If this happens I may, at my discretion, email you to offer you another chance to choose a title. This is something fun I’m doing to thank people for supporting my games, not a service I’m selling.
- I will be selecting donation-titles on July 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th. If this experiment goes well, it will continue past that point – otherwise, it’ll be back to my usual idiosyncractic naming.
On Feedback
So, Dragondot’s Sky was recently featured on Jay is Games. I was initially quite excited by this, as it’s certainly the game I’ve put the most work, dedication, and passion into to date. The critical reception there, however, has been… less than inspiring, shall we say.
Ouch. I’ll be the first to acknowledge that I’ve made some mediocre games, but I’m frankly stunned that this game has inspired such a degree of vitriol. My weekly games are something I do for myself, but when times are tough the encouragement of others is what helps keep me going. This, though, is not terribly encouraging – nor does it provide me anything I can work with to improve in the future. The music sounds “cr@ppy” on your laptop? Thanks for letting me know, but when making my games I have a) one week, b) one computer, c) one person (myself) to test and debug. I can’t fix an issue that I can’t reproduce myself, and a week is not exactly enough time to run betas and focus groups. I’m immensely grateful for the rest of you here that give me feedback that I can learn from and act on (such as the changes made to enemy advancement rates in Dragondot’s Sky). Please continue to do so – the more I can learn, the more I can improve, and that means better games for all of you. =)
And to those whose puppy my game has apparently kicked: My sincerest apologies. Hold the right arrow key to rotate clockwise.