Hello, I am developing RPG with Tactical Combat and strong engaging story (at least I hope so - as I am investing all my savings... We plan for a release end of year - game is about 40% ready. However, I want to build a strong community before the launch and also ask community for feedback - e.g. about signature skills for the classes (there will be 7 of them..) - give users a vote and implement the skill(s) which they like the most. So - on the one hand - game is still 4 months away... on the other - I want some feedback when we still are developing certain things. So - what do you think --- to early to start getting the audience? Are the players too bored those days with mediocre titles that they dont want to be engaged early? I just launched a website, FB and YT account - so you can judge for yourself. www.evehor.com Thanks a lot for your feedback. Event Horizon
First of all, welcome to TA! You came to a good place for community-building for sure. Definitely not too early to gather an audience, and input from them. If you want some impressions on how things can go, I recommend to at least glance over the following threads here: - Planar Conquest - Demon's Rise - Nimian Legends (not a tactics game at all, but great community with lots of input) If you get the right people interested, you'll get a surprising amount of experience and really good feedback for all aspects of your game. I might write more when I have more time later this week, so I'll leave it at "if it's a mediocre - or worse - game, no thanks ". If it looks promising - and from the first impression I got from your post and homepage it certainly does - I'm game.
Definitely not too early! Many threads here are for games that are releasing many years ahead. I'd just like you to know as a former developer, the first release date you have in mind is most likely wrong. The game will almost always take longer than you anticipate. Having said that, its not too early, showing some good gameplay is a great way to get supporters right out of the gate!
Great. Thanks for the feedback! I am not a typical game developer, been working in a different industry for 10+ years.. But always wanted to do a game. I will certainly look at the forums of those other titles and see how to inspire community and get their feedback.
About that... I hope not .. been managing quite big projects in the past (200+ people, not game dev though) - so I did plan very carefully.. We have a lot of things done, started 4 months ago. They only thing I am afraid of is balancing - how I plan this game - engaging but challenging tactical and character build-up - this might be a hard nut to crack... We are preparing the combat gameplay video now - so I hope people will like some of the ideas we will put there.
You can count on your planning going out the window once feedback starts rolling in, especially when you still have things like balancing on the list For that, the most important question is: does it have to be balanced? For a single player game, very often the answer is no. A good example is Planar Conquest: unbalanced as heck, with some hilariously overpowered approaches. But the unbalance made it really fun to play, so who cares? Ah, found the post I was thinking about, where I advised to plan at least 2 months for a good open beta (yesyes, tooting my own horn and all that, I know ). I recommend to start reading here http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=5492&page=283 for some more context. If you're in a hurry, the post itself and a followup are on the next page(s) of that thread. Looking forward to the video, of course
Have also one more question --- Do people look at game website or Facebook/Youtube? Website - you can put in most important information, but its not easy to keep the content fresh - do regular updates. + people do not really get information about new posts/images/movies. While Facebook is designed for that.. Thanks for the feedback again. I studied Demon's Rise - incredible community engagement.. I do hope i can get similar attention and support
As so often, the answer is "it depends" I visit only TA regularly, and look at Twitter/Facebook/Youtube/etc only in rare circumstances when I have a reason for it (e.g. developer dropping a new video on Youtube and asking for feedback) . Main reason for me is available time. Other people - and I'd guess they are in the majority - use Twitter/Facebook/Youtube/etc ; else we wouldn't have all those gaming Youtubers hang around here Personal opinion: Facebook for smaller/daily/weekly updates, Website/Blog/forum when you write a longer piece, Youtube for video hosting - link to it on your other platforms. Fingers crossed for you that you get the same attention. That aside, the DR thread is a great example how your planning can go completely off the rails when an active community gives you lots of good feedback, that's the main reason I mentioned it. I think we at least doubled the time he estimated from beta to release. Some brutally game-breaking bugs didn't help either. In short: Prepare for that
