This screen shot is really evocative of the Gap series of books from Stephen R. Donaldson. Probably because I'm in the middle of reading the series, but still. ...Looks great!
That sad thing with GK was that there was such great support and interest during the whole name a character contest, and it seems both interest from the developer, and in turn the gamers have died. It is a shame that this has gone by the wayside. I am sure it could have been the game to launch this talented small group of developers. I do know that the other game (kids game can't remember the name) got priority and was released. I think this game would have been the one to put the developer on the gamer radar, not the other one. Munkie!
Good thing I just arrived, I think this looks awesome. I'll buy it right now.oh wait, I can't? well, release it so you can have my dollars.
Imp vs. Oaf! I don't believe the game had "priority" over Galactic Keep. The great thing about Galactic Keep is that the game allowed the devs to put all the cards into pen and paper. They could play games as if it was an actual boardgame and make adjustments in balancing as needed. Imp vs Oaf was more like a fun little side project where they could put some of their GK code to use. I admit I'm dying to get some playtime with the game but DS and PSP games can take over a year to complete. People keep expecting iPhone games to be completed in a month or two. Quality takes time and indie devs have far less resources at their disposal. All we can do is wait... And maybe pepper Rob with some emails demanding they move faster whatever works
Personally, I'm thrilled they're putting so much time into this, and even though I want to play it, as far as I'm concerned they can take as much time as they need. I'm figuring it should be one of the absolute best games on the iPhone that wasn't put out by a company with a staff of 100s of people. I get the impression that the naysayers that keep commenting on the delays have no clue what it actually takes to program a piece of software, especially if you have to work another job in the mean time to make a living. I do, and it's not fun or easy. We should just be happy that they're continuing the project at all. For those of you that have nothing better to do than complain that they can't seem to get anything done, go find a different thread to whine on. These guys need our support, not criticism.
I was supportive, I said they had my $. Really, this looks ultra cool and I am glad I just discovered it, because if I had been waiting a long time already I might explode. It'll be here when it's done, but I already love it.
My comments weren't necessarily towards specific people, though the offensive parties will know who I'm talking about. As a developer myself, I get so sick of reading threads like this where people are so demanding of the developers and "why don't you do this?" or "why isn't this done yet?" What a lot of these iPhone developers turn out is quite amazing considering they are working on small teams (or sometimes individually) and most of them are working other jobs besides. Look at how long it took to get Duke Nukem Forever out... oh wait, that's not out yet, is it? And that's a long time professional team with a lot more resources than these poor guys. My previous post wasn't directed at you, so just set your money aside and be ready for when this does come out
I picked that mainly because it was an example I figured almost any gamer could relate to. Pick any set of high profile games, however, and a bet you'd find development delays in a decent percentage of the titles you picked. All I'm really trying to say is cut these guys a break. Or, if we really want to see this game come out sooner, let's petition Apple to set up a method where we can prepay for a game that doesn't exist so these guys won't have to work their extra job
Why would an indie developer with limited time to work on a project spread themselves thin like butter over too much bread? Why have I seen two games from these guys launch after this was the first to be announced in development?
I don't think that part is surprising. Sometimes the best order to finish things in isn't the same order you start them in.
We knew this was coming. Yeah, there's nothing we would rather do than work on Galactic Keep 100% of the time. Seriously. It's a game I've wanted to make for a long time. But (here it comes) it's exactly what drelbs said, we need to eat. We're actually working on a much bigger unannounced project that's taking all of our time right now. Skull Smasher is of a scale that we can develop it while we're working on this other larger project in parallel. Galactic Keep deserves our full attention, and it'll have it soon.
So do you have like a huge crew working on all these games? You said GK will get your full attention but now you have a unannounced project that diverting attention from already announced projects? Is this much bigger project still smaller than GK? It sounds like you just said that you're working on these smaller games to support this unannounced project, not GK. It also sounds like GK has been put on the backburner behind a project you haven't even announced yet. Is there just not enough hype for GK to encourage development in tandem with the smaller titles and not this new one? Do you think GK is just a niche title that won't sell as well as this new project you're supporting financially with the smaller titles?
Actually, they never said the small project was meant to fund the bigger unannounced project. They just said it was small enough that they could work on it in tandem with that project. Since they haven't explained I have no idea (and it's really none of my business), but if I were to guess I'd say that they unannounced project is probably a contract from someone else that they are getting paid for, which is why they pushed it out in front of Galactic Keep. As for their size, here's a quote from a post of theirs on 6/29 - "We've started working on another project that has put GK on a VERY limited hold for the moment. We're in a position where we have to take in other projects in order to fund our core work. Like I've said in the past, we're a small group." Given the circumstances, it really sounds like they're doing the best they can, and it would be a lot more encouraging to them if people would stop questioning their loyalty to Galactic Keep. That, and if someone wants to pony up some development cash for them that would be great as well
mystery game, etc. Not exactly, the other big title has a completely different buisness model...hard to talk about a project that we're not supposed to talk about We aren't the only party involved, lets put it that way. I can say this though: it's nothing like anything else we've done...different style, different mechanics and a completely different market. What's the same (with the mystery game) is that we're really paying attention to how the game is playing, how it's built and what it looks and sounds like. We're crafting it (like we're crafting all our games). When it is announced, a lot of people are going to be pretty surprised... We're hoping that GK will appeal to a broad group of people. Sure, there's a core audience but the game will be easy to play and fun in short sessions as well as longer sittings. There is depth if you want it or you can just run around the maps slashing things up, roll the die, skip the story. It's a flexible system that we're really proud of and we hope you'll be able to get your hands on it at some point...in the not so distant future (?) We're going to support Galactic Keep heavily. There will be a lot of updates, more content, new features added, add-on packs etc. But the bottom line is that YOU NEVER KNOW how something will do ...so we have back-up plans. With every new project we learn and create useful new game code. Every game that we work on makes every other game faster, more full-featured and, in the end, better.
I was excited about this when it was first announced. I'm still excited about it. Can't wait for its ultimate release.
