Casual Game Blogs

Jay Is Games: Record Tripping

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:00:00 +0000

Platform: Flash — An experiment in concept, Record Tripping is a short game that you control using your mouse scroll wheel. Play a series of mini-games that take you through Alice in Wonderland with one very pretty presentation. The whole package is a cool little showcase of a neat idea with lovely trappings, well worth the short time it takes to complete. Tagged as: action, bellbrothers, browser, experimental, flash, free, game, macwinlinux, minigames, onebutton, rating-g, unique

Game Producer: PS3 Does Not Support PS2 Games - Why?

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:50:42 +0000

I asked friend of mine who told me that PS3 does not support PS2 games. The reason is - I don’t know - but I’d guess it’s either (1) production costs or (2) marketing thing. Or both. (Or maybe something else)

I’m asking this because I realized that if PS3 would support PS2 games, then purchasing PS3 would be a no-brainer to me: I would get blu-ray, fancy new games AND all the good classics (which PS2 seems to have).

But since PS3 does not support PS2 games the choice becomes trickier: Now I can consider Xbox 360. And PS2. Or PS3. Or something.

If it is a marketing trick (meaning: they want people to buy newer expensive games), then it sort of is a good, but it’s also eating their own leg. By monopolizing this thing “you can no longer play PS2 games on PS3″ it means that I’m thinking the alternatives as well: Xbox live has pretty decent Arcade place so I’ve heard…

If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles.

Jay Is Games: Robot Unicorn Attack

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:00:00 +0000

Platform: Flash — Have you ever wondered what ponies dream about? It's not hay or salt licks. They dream of racing with shiny dolphins across a purple landscape, leaping to avoid smashing into stars and racking up a high score. That's right, they dream of being a magical robot unicorn! And now, thanks to this weird yet addictive two-button game from Adult Swim, so will you. Neigh, my friend. Neigh like you've never neighed before! Tagged as: action, adultswim, arcade, browser, flash, free, game, jumpandrun, macwinlinux, platform, rating-g, simpleidea

Casual Gamer Chick: Postman Pat Review

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:23:35 +0000

Postman Pat is a puzzle game for the iPhone/iPod Touch. The puzzles consist of a few different types of mini-games. Sometimes players will have to stamp envelopes as they are coming off of a conveyor belt and other times they will have to match two letters going to the same person. Each game requires the user to attain a certain amount of points.

The points the player needs to advance to the next level is given to the player before the game starts. If the player is not able to attain the allotted number of points, the level will need to be played again. The player can keep playing until they pass the level. In Story Mode players can not progress to the next mini game until the one they are on is complete.

The mini games are not too difficult, but some of them take some getting use to. The stamping of envelopes took a time or two to get use to touching the stamp in the correct spot. If the player touched the envelope in the wrong spot the stamp would go over the address, which would result in no points for the envelope.

The touch controls work well and the game never mis-registered a touch. The touch mechanisms are easy to use and make it easy to navigate through the game.

Over all, Postman Pat is a fun set of mini games that will keep players entertained for a while. The game is set up perfectly for short bursts of game play. Players can play much longer, but each mini game can be played in a matter of minutes, which makes them convenient for waiting in line or for an appointment. Players that like puzzle games in the form of mini games can’t go wrong with Postman Pat.

Grey Alien Games: Games I played this week and IDEs I used

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:13:30 +0000

Someone called Blitzplotter on the Blitzmax.com forums often asks what games we played over the last week and this time he also asked what IDEs we’d been using. I thought I’d post my answer here as it’s been a fun week with lots of variation and cool times gaming with my boys.

OK then, “top 5″ games this week:

1) Half Life 2 Episode 2
2) Lego Indy 2
3) Trine (completed)
4) Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (completed)
5) Either World of Goo or Lego Batman.

And that in fact is all I played this week, apart from Facebook games: Treasure Madness and The Warlords, and maybe Bejewelled Blitz. I recommend you check them all out if you like Facebook games (and even if you don’t!)

Oh wait, just realised I played a ton of XBox Live Arcade and Indie games (all demos) and some were neat such as:

Arkedo Series 01: JUMP!
Arkedo Series 03: PIXEL!
Miner Dig Deep
Magic the Gathering
Gyromancer

Unfortunately Alien Breed Evolution didn’t do it for me, too dark and annoying. Shame as I loved the original games on the Amiga. There were quite a few other lacklustre titles too - I can understand that for Indie titles (people maybe just starting out), but not for Live Arcade titles.

Top 5 IDEs used this week:

1) Visual Studio 2008 Express with XNA
2) Flex with AS3.
3) MS Frontpage and Notepad++ (for my new Aikido website). Yes I know I’m stretching the limit of what an IDE is.

And that’s it. Sadly I didn’t use Blitz this week. Well I fired up the IDE to answer a question for someone.

Jay Is Games: Mobile Monday

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 05:00:16 +0000

Platform: Mobile (iPhone, iPod Touch) — Games featured this week: Cabby; Plushed; Trundle; Castle Frenzy — One secret fact about iPhone games is that they can make you do weird things. Tilting the device to steer a car, for example, seems innocent enough, but when you're operating a flying taxi cab or flinging enemies up into the virtual sky, it's easy to get carried away. But you know what? Who cares if you look like a weirdo. You're having fun, and that guy making fun of you is not. Tagged as: blog, iphone, itunes, mobile, mobile-monday

Game Producer: Buying Games From Stores Is Soooo Out

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:22:46 +0000

Today I was visiting one nearby supermarket and out of curiosity I checked the console “department”. I checked the games… and started ponder how “old fashioned” it would be to buy from those shelves. I buy all my games online (hmm, with the exception of sometimes going through some shelves when I feel like need for gold digging) and I stared those games and felt that I’d never want to buy those 67 eur games that way. I have purchased some brand new games… but that’s via Steam. Not from supermarkets. I guess I might consider ordering some game that would be delivered to my home. Might. If it couldn’t be ordered online (like that’s going to ever happen). Hmm, maybe it’s just me but I prefer downloadable stuff.

What about you. Do you purchase games that come with physical boxes? Do you like going to supermarkets checking out for some new games to add to your collection?

If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles.

Jay Is Games: Sarah Maribu and the Lost World

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:15:00 +0000

Platform: Download (Windows) — Embark on a hidden object adventure to a lush, mysterious, and strange uncharted jungle island. Despite the flaws there's a lot of hidden object fun to be had with Sarah Maribu and the Lost World. Just sit back and enjoy the wild, illogical, yet dazzling adventure through the island of misfit dinosaurs. Just tell them Grandpa sent you. Tagged as: adventure, affiliate, demo, download, ersgstudio, game, hiddenobject, hybrid, rating-g, windows

Casual Game Guides: Alice’s Tea Cup Madness Review

Morgan@engenuous.com (CGG Staff) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:17:00 +0000

Excuse me... I've just had tea with the queen... and how did you spend your afternoon?? That's what I thought... certainly not as exciting as my afternoon... but we can't all be privileged to dine with royalty. LOL! Ok, so the snobbish tea party thing is a little too much fun for me... I'll stop now. Alice's Tea Cup Madness... how fun! Alice was always one of my favorite characters growing up... in fact I'm drinking out of a Alice in Wonderland cup right now, so I couldn't help but be super excited when I saw this new game come out. I just HAD to play it right away! The characters in this game are ridiculously cute! There's the white rabbit, of course, and the Mad Hatter, and the queen, and my favorite... the Cheshire cat... who isn't mad... but he's cranky. Ha ha! Alice fell down the rabbit hole, but this time the only way out is to make money to cross the field of flowers... so Alice teams up with the white rabbit to open up a tea house in order to make some dough... or pastries... whatever. Anyhow, it's a challenging time management scramble to get the orders filled and the tea made and the pastries baked and topped appropriately. Later you add more toppings, and different kinds of teas and different pastry shapes to make it even more challenging! It's crazy! Or should I say... mad?! They even throw in some different kinds of time management techniques... such as if you have two orders of croissants, you can grab the pastry and drag your mouse over two places to fill two plates instead of running back and forth. Alice can only carry one plate at a time, so this comes in handy especially when the orders start pouring in. Ha get it? Pour... it's a tea house? Huh? Man, I'm funny today! My one word of advice is save your money up for the instant serves right away. This feature lets you automatically serve customers at once. So you can concentrate on making the orders and then all you have to do is click a button to serve all of them at once! It really is a time-saver! The graphics are beautiful. Bright pinks, blues, and purples galore, and the game is super fun to play! I know what I'll be doing for the rest of the weekend... well besides breaking for some quality time with my ummmm... "tutor." I think we're hitting it off pretty well... even though I still don't understand a word he says about economics...

» Alice's Tea Cup Madness Cheats & Forum

» Alice's Tea Cup Madness Free Trial & Related Games

Casual Game Guides: Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allen Poe Conspiracy Cheats and Walkthrough

Kristi@engenuous.com (CGG Staff) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:58:00 +0000

Well, it's one of those days where you just want to curl up in bed with a good book or a good movie. Cloudy, with a steady drizzle to lull you into a happy place. Even my son, who's normally bouncing around about this time is quietly playing with his toys. I should be taking this free time to start planning my husband's birthday party, but I just can't seem to bring myself to tackling that big event right now. I'm not sure where to even start. Should I keep it small with just immediate family and a few close friends this year? My son thinks we should take a trip to Disneyland, but I'm not sure that my husband would enjoy that as much as my little troublemaker... lol. Anyhow, I thought I would instead take this time to finish up the guide I've been working on for a little bit now: Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allen Poe Conspiracy. Ever since Cecelia posted the review for the game awhile back, I've been working my way through solving the mysteries and having a great time. And now that it's finally finished, I thought I would share it with all of you today! I hope you enjoy playing it as much as I did! And now, I guess I'll go back to party planning. Between being a mom and a wife, it's amazing I have any time to myself!

» Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy Cheats & Forum

» Midnight Mysteries: The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy Free Trial & Related Games

Jay Is Games: Paradise Quest

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:49 +0000

Platform: Download (Windows) — Gorgeous to look at, easy on the ears and with a fun new twist to the old match 3 dynamic, Paradise Quest is tons and tons of match 3 fun, with enough side tasks to break up the gameplay and keep it feeling fresh. Entertaining, educational, and fun for the entire family. Tagged as: affiliate, demo, download, game, iplay, match-3, puzzle, rating-g, windows

Game Producer: Awwwww…. I Lost All Mine (Their) Customers. And Links Won’t Work. (Only Good News Is That More Money Flooding This Way)

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:47:50 +0000

I just got informed that Big Fish Games affiliate system is changing. It’s not anymore about “guide a customer them once, get paid for lifetime”.

The new program is a “last to refer” system. Even if other affiliates have referred the same consumer you are referring, if you are the last person to refer the consumer and they buy a game within 90 days, they become your referral and you will earn commissions from all their game purchases for a full year.

The existing affiliates in the top of the food chain are naturally pissed off. BFG has like 60 million consumers in their databases (not sure if I can say this out loud, but just to make sure, if anybody asks you - I didn’t tell this).

I’m fine with all this. I was wondering why I was getting more sales from BFG so it’s fine. Maybe somebody can now “steal” my customers but at least I can steal other customers.

Now… to the slightly shitty thing.

It looks like the *links* might not be working properly. I’m not totally sure, but http://www.bigfishgames.com/?channel=affiliates&identifier=af9a7b34cd50 sure looks different than https://my.bigfishgames.com/index.php?afcode=af9a7b34cd50. If this means that seven trillion developers and their moms need to go through all their files to change codes, it’s bit sucky. Those of you who know how this should be done (such as creating referral link to something like www.gameproducer.net/bfg.php which would then redirect to the correct URL) are fine. The rest of us (who were too lazy to do this in the first place) might need to change the links.

I don’t know. Didn’t see info. Just making a wild guess.

The really good (perhaps) news are that they are finally creating a way to track sales. BFG is giving all sorts of campaign tracking stuff that you can use to see how many people bought this and that, and via which channels.

Me likes these changes.

If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles.

Jay Is Games: Weekend Download

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:20:32 +0000

Platform: Download (Windows) — Games featured this week: A very brief tale; Strangers; War and Peace — Sometimes you don't want an epic story or 80 hours of gameplay out of your game. Sometimes you just want to mess around, experience something quirky, and call it a day. All of the games below are extremely short. They're "just 'cause" games, because the only reason you play them is just because you can! Tagged as: blog, download, weekenddownload, windows

Jay Is Games: The Clumsys 2: Butterfly Effect

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 23:30:00 +0000

Platform: Download (Mac, Windows) — What if history's greatest discoveries never happened? What if it was all because of a butterfly and one very sloppy time traveler? When Helen's grandfather manages to set the modern age back into the stone age after one careless time jaunt, Helen takes it upon herself to set things right. Travel throughout history in this colourful hidden object game and make sure things happen the way they should, unless you like the idea of living in a mud hut. And we're pretty sure those don't get cable. Tagged as: adventure, affiliate, demo, download, game, hiddenobject, macwin, pointandclick, rating-g

Jay Is Games: Zoo Transport

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:35:00 +0000

Platform: Flash — How many crates could a penguin stack if a penguin could stack crates? You're about to find out. There isn't a human in sight, so it's up to you and our fine flippered friend to transport crates of live, bouncy, feisty animals to the nearest zoo with only your stacking skills, a battered red pickup, and a physics engine on your side. Tagged as: achievements, browser, flash, free, game, macwinlinux, physics, puzzle, rating-g, stacking, tanoku

Jay Is Games: M-Bot: The Game

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Platform: Flash — M-Bot: The Game is a gorgeous, shiny, frenetic gem of a 2.5D shooter with style to spare, where you pilot M-Bot through the urban ruins of the Newgrounds community to disable spambots and make the world safe for friendly posters everywhere. Tagged as: action, arcade, browser, flash, free, game, macwinlinux, newgrounds, rating-o, shooter, sidescrolling

Casual Gamer Chick: Diner Dash Gets An Update

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:01:14 +0000

PlayFirst has announced an update to Diner Dash for the iPhone/iPod Touch. The update adds improvements and additions to the game. The update will entice new and old players alike and adds more content for players on the go. The update adds new graphics and levels, as well as, refined controls.

The update offers an exclusive restaurant for players on the iPhone/iPod Touch. The new restaurant comes just in time for Valentines day and is appropriately named, Romantic Rendezvous. The new place comes with 10 levels that require players to take a run down shack and turn it into a great restaurant and the perfect place to take a Valentines date.

“Diner Dash on the iPhone and iPod touch has been a big hit with mobile gamers and fans of the Diner Dash series,” says Chris Williams, Senior Product Manager of PlayFirst. “With the new Diner Dash update we’re giving players more of what they love about the series: the ability to tap, touch or slide their fingers to seat and serve customers on their way to restaurant renown, improving the landscape of time-management games in the mobile space.”

Press Release Follows:

PlayFirst has primed a fresh new update to Diner Dash®, the critically acclaimed time-management game for the iPhone® and iPod touch®. Since launching in the App Store in 2008, over one million people have played Diner Dash on their iPhones and iPod touches. The Diner Dash update offers a full menu of additions and improvements, providing old and new fans alike with a fresh serving of Diner Dash while on the go.

Starring PlayFirst’s iconic entrepreneur and world-famous diner maven, Flo™, the new Diner Dash update re-imagines the original title, serving up new additions and levels with optimized graphics that make everything from the restaurants and characters, to the dishes themselves shine like never before.

Just in time for the Valentine’s Day rush, the update will also offer a new, iPhone-exclusive restaurant called Romantic Rendezvous for in-app purchase. This new restaurant will feature ten “Snack Pack” bonus levels where players can transform a run-down café into the perfect place for Valentine’s Day dates. To further set the mood, players can place beautiful bouquets of flowers on tables for bonus points.

“Diner Dash on the iPhone and iPod touch has been a big hit with mobile gamers and fans of the Diner Dash series,” says Chris Williams, Senior Product Manager of PlayFirst. “With the new Diner Dash update we’re giving players more of what they love about the series: the ability to tap, touch or slide their fingers to seat and serve customers on their way to restaurant renown, improving the landscape of time-management games in the mobile space.”

The update also serves up refined controls, offering greater flexibility for players of all skills and gaming preferences. iPhone fanatics will also now be able to share their culinary accomplishments with friends by using the new Facebook functionality, allowing players to post high scores to their Facebook pages.

The Diner Dash franchise originally debuted as one of the top-selling downloadable games of 2004 and has since become one of the most successful brands on multi-platforms including iPhone, iPod touch, mobile, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, WiiWare and Nintendo DS.

PlayFirst recently announced Diner Dash 5: BOOM!, the fifth major title in the award-winning series that will be available February 18, 2010 on PlayFirst.com with a special commemorative edition, Diner Dash 5: BOOM! The Collector’s Edition.

Diner Dash for iPhone and iPod touch is developed and published by PlayFirst. The full Diner Dash game will be available in early February for purchase in the App Store. Customers who have previously purchased Diner Dash for the iPhone or iPod touch can download the new upgrade for free.

Game Producer: The Best Mailing List Unsubscribe Page I’ve Ever Seen

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:50:18 +0000

Check Tell Tale Games and subscribe to their mailing list. Then unsubscribe. Pretty fun text… where they try to convince me to stay. It’s pretty nice idea for “viral marketing”. Their effort got some guy (that would be me) to blog about their site’s mailing list. And this was simply by having a bit different unsubscribe page for a mailing list.

There is indeed possibilities for marketing everywhere. Even when customer is about to step away from your store.

If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles.

Jay Is Games: Link Dump Friday

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Games featured this week: Gluey; Turtillion Island; Bananafoot; Them Coconuts; Choco Valentine 2 — Need some sunshine in your day? How about bright colours, bizarre imagery, and a monkey in an iron barrel? That's right, this week's Link Dump Friday celebrates the weirdly wonderful games of the World Wide Web. Point-and-clicks, defense, physics, puzzles, all for you, dear reader. So hold tight to your no-nonsense socks if you value them, because this one is going to knock them right off with cuteness. Tagged as: blog, browser, linkdump

Jay Is Games: Babylon Sticks: Unbearable

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:00:03 +0000

Have you ever appreciated how important Flash games are for distracting us from every day's hellish existence? Tagged as: babylonsticks, comic, funny

Game Producer: Xbox Live Top Selling Indie Game Made 6 Figures

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:11:39 +0000

Kotaku and Gamer Bytes reported that game called I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 was the best selling Xbox Live indie game for the year 2009.

Pretty darn cool.

Interesting that the game was priced $1. Would have been pretty sweet to know how much the game would have sold when priced $2. Or $5. Or $25.

Congraz to the developer - awesome job.

If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles.

Casual Gamer Chick: A World of Keflings Coming To Xbox Live Arcade

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:14:31 +0000

NinjaBee has announced A World of Keflings will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade. A World of Keflings is the follow up game to the popular A Kingdom for Keflings.

“A World of Keflings is much more than a sequel,” said Steve Taylor, President of NinjaBee. “It’s a new game with a ton of new features, including some innovative ideas that stand out from both Live Arcade and full retail games. A World of Keflings also has a new story focus, with new exotic lands, characters, quests, buildings, customization options, and a lot more.”

Players will be treated to a more complete chronicle of the Kefling world than in the first game. Players can play as their Xbox Live avatar and build Kefling lands. Each land contains its own climate and culture as well as unique resources, buildings and tech trees.

If you are into building type arcade style games, check out A World of Keflings when it arrives on Xbox Live Arcade in 2010.

Press Release Follows:

OREM, Utah – Jan 5, 2010 – It’s official. Those oddly cute, yet addictively sweet Keflings are back… in a big way. Independent video games developer NinjaBee has confirmed that A World of Keflings, a sequel to the enormously popular A Kingdom for Keflings, is coming to Xbox LIVE® Arcade in 2010.

“A World of Keflings is much more than a sequel,” said Steve Taylor, President of NinjaBee. “It’s a new game with a ton of new features, including some innovative ideas that stand out from both Live Arcade and full retail games. A World of Keflings also has a new story focus, with new exotic lands, characters, quests, buildings, customization options, and a lot more.”

A World of Keflings is the bigger, more complete chronicle of the Kefling world where players can play as their Xbox LIVE® avatar and explore and build in the different Kefling lands. Each new kingdom has its own climate and Kefling culture. In addition, each kingdom contains its own unique resources, buildings and tech tree.

“When we set out to make a second Keflings game we decided that we were going to do it right and make it a whole new experience that clearly was bigger and better than the first,” said Brent Fox, NinjaBee’s Art Director. “A World of Keflings captures all the charm and casual-style of play of the first game, but adds more depth, humor and a ton of features players have requested.”

One of the most asked-for features included in the Keflings sequel is local multiplayer. Players will be able to build an entire world for the Keflings together with their spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, kids, friends or whomever on the same console.

NinjaBee has been teasing concept art for the new game each week this month. To see the revealed artwork visit www.NinjaBee.com/blog/. NinjaBee plans to release A World of Keflings later this year, though a specific release date has not yet been established.

A World of Keflings is NinjaBee’s third XLA title to support playable avatars and is the second title NinjaBee has announced it is bringing to XLA in 2010. The other, Ancients of Ooga, was announced last fall.

Jay Is Games: Mechanical Commando 2

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Platform: Flash — Got mech? Time to suit up in Mechanical Commando 2, a fast and frantic top-down shooter from Berzerk Studio featuring lots of enemies, lots of bosses, lots of missions, and lots and lots of bullets. With achievements and upgrades galore, it's enough to satisfy the trigger happy space marine inside all of us. Tagged as: action, berzerkstudio, browser, flash, free, game, macwinlinux, rating-o, shooter, topdown

Jay Is Games: Factory Balls 3

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:43:26 +0000

Platform: Flash — Factory Balls is back and coming to a browser near you, with more wicked ways to waste time attempting to paint small white balls to factory spec while a throbbing beat plays in the background. Everything Bart produces is tons of fun and Factory Balls 3 is no exception. With its cutesy visuals and kicking soundtrack, Factory Balls 3 is one of the best time wasters around. Tagged as: bbonte, browser, factoryballs, flash, free, game, macwinlinux, puzzle, rating-g

GBGames: Happy New Year!

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:30:55 +0000

I know. I’m very late, but I didn’t mean for the new year to start without me! What can I say about 2009? What does 2010 have in store?

Let’s look back on 2009 first. I created an index card and kept it with me throughout the year to remind me what I wanted to focus on:

My four main focii: being more decisive, creating more value, delivering more value, and being healthier.

Being more decisive was meant to remind me that I need to be more active in my pursuits if I expect to make a difference. I may want to run my own business and create games, but unless I make bigger and better decisions, I’ll continue to get mediocre results.

Creating and delivering more value? Those two were inspired by Steve Pavlina’s article How to Make Lots of Money During a Recession. Creating and delivering real value to customers is the best, most sustainable way to earn a living. You can probably trick people into parting with their money, but if you can deliver your creations to people who are willing to pay for it, you’ll be well ahead.

And finally, being healthier. I wanted to lose weight and feel as fit as I did when I was in high school.

So how did I do in each focus last year? Miserably.

At the beginning of the year, I was able to leverage the work of outsourced contractors to create a Facebook game, Sea Friends. You can read the post-mortem, but here are the key highlights:

It was the most aggressive schedule I have worked on outside of 48-hour game development competitions.
I learned a lot about what I can accomplish by leveraging other people’s time.
I got a taste of what life is like when you put everything else on hold and dedicate your time and resources to a single pursuit.

That last bit, however, got me in the end. I spent way longer recovering from this project than I would have liked. Between a day job and working on this project, I had no time for relaxing. I couldn’t afford idle time or time spent on anything that wasn’t getting that game finished. I paid someone else to shovel my car out of the snow during this time because I couldn’t afford the time to do it myself! So I needed to take time off, and unfortunately that downtime lasted much longer than anticipated.

And as for Sea Friends, it’s not a very good game, but it still had a few hundred daily active users as recently as a few weeks ago. I could have spent time improving it, but between feeling burnt out and the proprietary nature of the Flash file, I couldn’t motivate myself to do so. I’m not proud of it, allowing those two things to stop me, but it’s what happened.

After Sea Friends, I had a whole year to release a new game, but outside of Ludum Dare competition entries, I didn’t finish anything. So much for creating and delivering value.

I suppose I’m being overly negative. Late last year, I also invested in an online educational course on Internet business development, and since my focus has been there for the past few months, that’s why there has been a drop in the Thousander Club entries (and blog entries in general!). What I’ve been learning there should help me not only with GBGames but also a different website I started.

The focus that resulted in definite improvement was the focus on being healthier. I went from 188 lbs in February to a peak of 192 lbs in May down to 180 lbs in December. That’s a net loss of 8 lbs, and 12 lbs were lost between May and the end of the year! I’ve also been playing soccer, so I’m feeling more fit in general, too. Aside from a pulled hamstring in October, I’ve been improving my health slowly but surely.

So if 2009 was a mediocre year for me, what makes me think that 2010 will be any different?

Because I’ll be leveraging Purpose, Discipline, and Habits this time around.

Last year, each focus was practically the equivalent of a bad New Year’s Resolution. They were vague, and I didn’t do anything to change my life so that each focus played a big role. Yeah, I had a reminder in the form of that index card, but what was it reminding me to do or be?

I realized I didn’t want a repeat of a mediocre year, and so I decided I was going to make changes to my life to ensure it.

First, I didn’t want to feel aimless, drifting from one interesting project to the next without accomplishing anything. I needed to figure out what I really wanted out of my life. I needed to figure out my purpose.

Using the exercises in the book Life on Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life, I was able to get a good start with this statement:

A Life on Purpose is a joyful life of freedom, continuous learning, encouraged and supported creativity, insatiable curiosity, and prolific creation, all driven by passion and a desire for excellence, powered by a healthy body and soul.

Bam. It’s great to have something to help me make decisions. If it doesn’t lead to more freedom and fun, I’m not interested. If being that person’s friend is discouraging and stifles my creativity and curiosity, I don’t want that friendship. If my heart isn’t in it and I can’t improve, why should I bother doing the same old same old? And if my health deteriorates because of it, why should I accept it as a fact of life?

Ok, so what do I want? Generally, I want to be a prolific creator. I want to be a lifelong learner. I want to be fit and healthy. I want to be a leader and role-model. I want to live a life of passion.

I’ve identified four major goals that I want to accomplish this coming year, and while I won’t be able to list all of them here, they all pass my “Is it a match for my purpose?” test.

One goal is to earn regular revenue from GBGames. So far, the only revenue I’ve ever earned is from ads, and it was never significant in the first place. I could basically pay for web hosting. With the recession, my revenues have dropped.

So how do I plan on changing things this year? Hasn’t my goal always been to earn revenue from GBGames? Yes, but I never gave my business the attention it needed. This year, I’m taking steps to change my life so that I can give it that attention.

There is a quote I like about discipline: “Discipline is remembering what you want.” A lot of people fail at keeping New Year’s resolutions because they think they need to dedicate all of their will power to accomplish it and they burn out. Will power is great for short bursts of focus, but it’s the wrong tool to use for the long haul. Discipline is the right tool. Will power will let you do things to change your environment so that discipline is easier to maintain. For instance, if you want to lose weight, using will power to avoid eating all of the junk food you keep in your home every day is a poor use of the will. A better use? Dedicating an afternoon of throwing away your junk food, shopping for healthier food, and planning healthy meals. Now you have healthy meals and snacks because you used your will power to change your environment to match your goals. Set your life up in a way that makes it easy to remember what you want out of it.

How do you do so? You install some good habits. If you can get yourself to go for a walk every single day after dinner without fail, you’re a long way along your goal of becoming more fit, and each day it becomes harder to fail.

So how do I leverage my purpose, discipline, and habits to help me accomplish my goal of earning revenue for GBGames this year? Frankly, my business plan is still being formed, and it’s the subject of another blog post. That said, in previous years, my business has suffered because it was always an afterthought. Development hours were squeezed into weeks full of non-development. 2010 will be the year that I gear my daily actions and habits toward improving my business. I’ve already taken stock of my current situation, and I’ve identified what needs to change. While I feel behind already, this work was important and needed to be done to pave the way for the rest of the year.

In previous years, I believe I have written inspirational posts about how things were going to change, but I never stuck by those convictions. This year feels different. It is different. I’ve hit a point where what I knew intellectually about the connection between action and results is now intuitively known as well.

While I intend to write more about my plans, for now, days after Groundhog’s Day, here’s to 2010!

Jay Is Games: Space Oddity 2

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:27:39 +0000

Platform: Flash — From the dark realm of deep space we find ourselves back on the disquietingly silent space station where we left off in the first Space Oddity, an episodic point-and-click adventure from Pastel Games. When the 2nd chapter, Space Oddity 2, begins you had just gained access to Level 3 and attempted to contact headquarters, but there was no reply. What has happened? Are you all alone? Why doesn't anyone answer? Tagged as: browser, flash, free, game, kkochanski, kkonwerski, macwinlinux, mskutnik, pastelgames, pointandclick, rating-g

Jay Is Games: Prose and Motion

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:00:23 +0000

Platform: Flash — It's word game meets physics puzzle in Prose and Motion, a unique game by DeeperBeige. Click and drag letters to the starting point on each stage, carefully arranging them one by one in a neat little row. Spell a word to move on to the next level, spell the correct word and you're even more awesome! Tagged as: browser, deeperbeige, flash, free, game, macwinlinux, physics, puzzle, rating-g, word

Game Producer: Should I Get Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 (Even PS2 Could Be Neat)

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:16:57 +0000

For some reason I’ve started to think about getting either Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. I know there’s no rational reason but I’m sure my brain will use any imaginable way to convince me. Like… suggesting me that “hey, you got a baby coming - better prepare now!” or that “you gotta be aware what kind of games are out there, buy a console!”.

Luckily I know myself well enough not to trust those thoughts.

Anyways.

Xbox has better price, you can get it black as well, can watch movies (but not bluray) and play several fun games. On the other hand, PS3 has that bluray thing (not that I’d have any use for that but at least it could get me bragging rights) and there’s also neat games for PS3.

On the very other hand… there’s PlayStation 2. Which has tons of games. Good games. Games that don’t rely on graphics. Enjoyable games like Tenchu (the new versions for Xbox 360 got bad grades).

So… what you vote?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

I’m not getting one quite soon, but thought to ask what you guys think.

If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles.

Jay Is Games: 4 Differences

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:00:20 +0000

Platform: Flash — Ivoryboy's gorgeous "spot the difference" game has returned with 4 Differences! Scrutinize the two pictures and click on each bit that doesn't match between the pictures. Tagged as: browser, case, flash, free, game, macwinlinux, puzzle, rating-g, simpleidea, spot-the-difference

Grey Alien Games: Quitters Arcade

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:15:59 +0000

I’ve just been checking out Serious Quitters’ Arcade which is a website containing three free arcade games designed around the theme of quitting smoking.

Before I continue, I want to be upfront that I was approached by Buzzparadise and asked to write an article about Serious Quitters’ Arcade for money. I don’t have to say nice things about it, just write about it, which seems fair to me. Well I’m a non-smoker and my dad is extremely ill from smoking and so I can wholeheartedly support the message of this site without compromising myself. I’ll also report back later if Buzzparadise actually keep their end of the deal and pay me, because if they do, and you have a blog, you might want to look into it.

One thing that Serious Quitters’ Arcade has got right is the apostrophe in its name. That’s a good start in my book of pedantry. There are three 80s-style arcade game cabinets and each one has a different arcade game as follows:

Blast N Quit

This is basically a side scrolling shooter with simple controls. It’s got a nice style of retro/mono graphics but only held my attention for a short while. It’s quite tough from the start and you have to hammer on the Ctrl key which isn’t so hot. Basically it’s just a minigame, but it has a few different powerups and different cigarette-themed enemy types. See you what you think:

Bin ‘Um

I felt this was the weakest game, it’s not even a mini-game, more like a micro-game. Basically a hand carrying a pack of fags (fags are cigarettes to you non-UK readers, not homosexuals) moves left to right and you have to stop the hand on a column that contains a bin. Then you have to hold down a button to get the correct power to throw the fags in the bin, and that appears to be it. Didn’t play for long. Check it out:

Escape From Planet Smokey

This is a vertically scrolling platformer where you have to collect coins as you leap from platform to platform whilst avoiding smoking related enemies. I actually found it quite funny because it has these women puffing out smoke in your direction and when the smoke hits you, you fall off and die. Sometimes I feel like that walking around Yaletown. You see a nice looking young lady and then she goes and ruins it by lighting up and puffing stink in your direction … sweet. Probably this is my favourite game on the site.

Apparently if you play these games that I’ve embedded on my site, a total score will be recorded for this site and it should be visible in each game’s high scores. Neat. So please help this site get into the top 10 by giving them a go. Better still, help yourself by giving up smoking.

Disclaimer:
Quittersarcade.com is built to leverage awareness about seeking help and support from your doctor to quit smoking. If you wish to quit smoking, please seek professional medical advice.

Jay Is Games: Escape from the Snowman's Room

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Platform: Flash — Tesshi-e has graced us with a lovely, classic room escape scenario. With four different escape scenarios to find, Escape From the Snowman's Room will happily engage your logic circuits and transport you to a place where snowmen get really angry if you break their toys in the process of escape. Bundle up, and be prepared to Escape From the Snowman's Room. Tagged as: browser, escape, flash, free, game, japanese, macwinlinux, pointandclick, rating-g, tesshi-e

Jay Is Games: CGDC7 Entries are now online!

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:39:23 +0000

The entries for the 7th Casual Gameplay Design Competition are now online and ready to play!! All entries are available to play immediately on the competition page. There is a place to enter comments for each game, so please use each respective thread to leave your kind feedback and constructive criticisms for the game authors. The competition period will span 3 weeks, and we will announce the winners of the competition at that time. Please help us spread the word! Tagged as: blog, cgdc7, competition, update

Jay Is Games: Go To Hell

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:00:01 +0000

Platform: Flash — Go To Hell is a skill- and reflexes-oriented puzzle game by Metasauce, creator of Hex Empire. One part digging game, one part physics playground, the title welds the two elements together into a tightly-structured experience that's as intriguing to play around with as it is to beat. Tagged as: action, arcade, browser, flash, free, game, macwinlinux, metasauce, physics, puzzle, rating-y

Casual Gamer Chick: Jane’s Hotel Comes To The iPhone

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:12:08 +0000

G5 Entertainment has announced the release of Jane’s Hotel for the iPhone/iPod Touch. The game is a time management game where players have to run a functioning hotel chain. They have to handle the customers and take care of the luggage and anything else the customer needs.

Jane’s Hotel was originally a game for the PC and has been brought over to the mobile devices. Now players can get a time management fix any where they are. Players will have to keep patrons happy by making sure their rooms are clean, bringing them drinks and preparing meals for the guests. If players can manage to keep the guests happy, they will bring in money. The money can be used to upgrade the hotel from a 2 star hotel to a 5 star hotel.

If you like time management games, check out the 40 levels Jane’s Hotel has to offer.

Jay Is Games: Rubble Trouble

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:00:12 +0000

Platform: Flash — Think construction work is boring? Maybe you aren't using enough guided missiles. Unleash the awesome power of the yellow hard hat as you use everything from explosions to wrecking balls to airplanes to destroy buildings and make your cash quota in Nitrome's explosive (literally) take on the physics demolition game. Tagged as: browser, flash, free, game, macwinlinux, nitrome, physics, puzzle, rating-g

GameDevBlog: Schizoid Available on Mobile

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:51:01 +0000

Hey - if you have a Verizon smartphone, you can now play Schizoid wherever, thanks to Skyzone Entertainment. They've done a really good job of keeping the look and feel of the game on a tiny little handset...

Awesome.

Jay Is Games: Chibi Knight

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:00:47 +0000

Platform: Flash — Not enough cute in your day? Never fear, Chibi Knight is here! An action/adventure title with RPG elements, the game has you sending your itty-bitty hero out to save the land from some big, bad beasties, and maybe uncover a secret or two along the way. How cute is this short little gem? Just give the title screen a gander, and a listen. Melted yet? Tagged as: action, adventure, bomtoons, browser, flash, free, game, macwinlinux, rating-g, sidescrolling

Game Producer: Where Have All Good Game Dev Contests Gone?

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:41:37 +0000

Was thinking of creating a brief list of game dev contests, this is a pretty brief list but those interested in participating in game dev contests (or some form of prototyping) might want to check out these:

globalgamejam.org - by IGDA
igf.com - The big Indie game conference thing. You all know it.
unity3d.com/contest/ - Unity has their own
experimentalgameplay.com/ - the prototyping site.
udevgames.com - by iDev Games. (Don’t know how regular this is nowadays)
ludumdare.com - good thing, experimentation.

Please help fill the list.

Update:
Here’s several more from you readers:

If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles.

Casual Gamer Chick: Old School Racing Comes To The iPhone

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:21:32 +0000

Big Head Games has announced the release of Revs! for the iPhone/iPod Touch. The game brings old school racing to new devices. Old school racing games are the good old ones with 8 bit graphics, such as Super Sprint and R.C Pro-Am.

Players have the option to play the Championship and attempt to conquer eight different courses against four different opponents. Players are battling to finish first and get the Championship Gold Cup. If the championship does not sound appealing to you, you can compete for the fastest time. Players can upload their times to a central server and attempt to get the top time in the world.

If your looking for an old school racing game, check out Revs!.

Grey Alien Games: How I changed my Financial Blueprint

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:06:05 +0000

Last Monday I did my second speech at Toastmasters Club 59. It was a speech about money, a topic that some people are not comfortable talking about, but it didn’t seem to phase my audience because the speech went down very well indeed!

Here’s the written version of the speech - the actual speech varied a little bit from this because I did it from memory.

How I changed my Financial Blueprint

Greeting

Thank you madam Toastmaster. Good evening fellow toastmasters and most welcome guests.

Pause.

Strong Opening

“Rich People Suck!”

Pause

Last year I attended a seminar about changing our attitude towards money and during one exercise we had to write down our negative beliefs about money. The guy next to me wrote “Rich people suck” and it’s quite a common negative belief, along with things like: “I don’t deserve to be rich”, or “money is evil and not spiritual”, or “finances are sooo boring”.

Tonight I’m going to tell you about a book I read that made a big impact on the way I think about money.

About the Book

I’ve been into positive thinking and personal development for quite a few years but I never really applied that style of thinking to my finances properly until I read this book.

[Hold up the book]

It’s called “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” by T Harv Eker.

Has anyone heard of it?

It’s not a dry book about finances - it’s packed full of great ideas, and is quite funny and blunt in places.

[Put book down]

The main aim behind the book is to get you to look at your financial blueprint, that’s the way you think about money and deal with money, and to replace any thoughts that hinder your financial success with better thoughts.

I read it quickly and enjoyed it a lot, and then straight away I lent it to Helen, my partner, and said “you’ve got to read this so we can be on the same financial wavelength”.

Our successes

This was back in January 2007 and at the time I ran my own company making computer games and Helen was (and still is) a freelance Science Writer.

One of the things Helen got from the book was a realisation that she wasn’t charging enough – that her work was worth much more. She doubled her rates immediately and still got plenty of work and was able to say no to lower paid jobs. A couple of months later she was earning triple her original rate on some particular jobs!

As for myself, for a little while I’d had a goal of making £5000 from my game company every month. In March 2007 I had my first £5000 month. Then my company went on to have a great year, and the following year my turnover doubled and things are still going strong!

A large part of our success was because we are good at what we do but when we shifted our attitudes towards money, things got even better.

So where do negative beliefs about money come from?

Beliefs about Money

When we are children we hear our parents talk about money in the home, and we hear our peers at school, and what they say begins to shape our financial blueprint.

“Money doesn’t grow on trees”
“No way! We can’t afford that”
“I got the blues so I’m going out shopping.”

Stuff like that. Then by the time we reach adulthood our financial blueprint is already affecting the way we deal with money. It defines if we are always broke, or if we horde our money, or if we are well on the way to being a millionaire.

The book talks about many negative beliefs about money and offers positive alternatives that we can replace them with. Also the great thing about the advice in the book is that it doesn’t just apply to money, it’s about creating wealth in all areas of your life such as love, happiness and health.

For example, one concept I love from the book is that of being bigger than your problems. So let’s say on a scale of 1 to 10 that I’m only a level 1 in terms of dealing with problems. Then along comes a level 3 problem and it seems insurmountable to me. I think “Oh my God, how am I going to deal with that?” But if I work on myself and expand my comfort zone so that I’m say a level 8 person, a level 3 problem is really tiny by comparison, something that I can deal with easily.

Educating yourself

Therefore educating yourself about managing money is vital in becoming financially successful. Once you start effectively managing your money you start to think more about long-term savings, ways to cut your costs, and ways to invest your money to make it grow.

Another great piece of advice from the book is to split your income into several different bank accounts. That’s what I do.

I put 10% of my earnings into long-term savings that I never touch, this is for my future.

Then I make sure all my outgoings are dealt with and then I split the remainder into several more accounts: a giving account, a contingency account, an education account and a Play account. That’s the best account because the idea is to spend it every month just having fun. When you know how much money you have spare for fun you don’t overspend.

The result of using a system like this is that I know exactly how much money I’ve got available for different things. I feel much more in control of my finances.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I encourage you to examine your beliefs about money and ask yourself if those beliefs are serving you well or hindering you. I also encourage you to educate yourself more about money in order to manage your finances more effectively.

Strong Ending

Finally I’d like to remind you that to be successful in whatever you’re passionate about, you’ll need to overcome many obstacles along the way …

And that is why … you need to be … “bigger than your problems!”

Thank you madam Toastmaster.

Jay Is Games: Mobile Monday

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:00:02 +0000

Platform: Mobile (iPhone, iPod Touch) — Games featured this week: Broken Sword: Director's Cut; Cogs; Aargon; Train Conductor — Puzzles come in a variety of forms, from straightforward "here, solve this" to more convoluted riddles in story-driven games. The puzzles in this week's titles are wrapped in different cloths, but they all provide a great challenge no matter what your preference. Tagged as: blog, iphone, itunes, mobile, mobile-monday

Jay Is Games: AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:00:46 +0000

Platform: Download (Windows) — If you're a fan of first person skydiving games with lots of vowels in the title, Aaaaa! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity by Dejobaan Games is right up your alley. Your goal is to make it from Point A (generally assumed to be somewhere above you) to Point B (somewhere below point A) without crushing every bone in your body. Unfortunately the skies are littered with airborne buildings and architectural oddities. And birds. And cars. And large glass plates with numbers on them. Tagged as: 3d, action, arcade, dejobaangames, demo, download, firstperson, game, indie, rating-o, windows

Jay Is Games: Fiona Finch and the Finest Flowers

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:00:40 +0000

Platform: Download (Windows) — Absorbing, engrossing, and hours and hours of fun await those who play Fiona Finch and the Finest Flower. Play as little or as much as you like, plan for efficiency or go nuts and create patterned, formal gardens. Enjoy the feeling of satisfaction from creating a lovely garden without the sunburn, dirt under your nails, or stinging insects. Tagged as: action, affiliate, arcade, demo, download, game, rating-g, simulation, timemanagement, windows

Game Producer: I’m Pretty Proud of My Boycott

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:53:42 +0000

Three-ish years ago I bought a DVD that I tried to return. The store pretty much said “screw you” when I tried to return a $5 DVD that wouldn’t work on a DVD player I bought from that (remember, that I hadn’t tried Daniel Kinney’s excellent idea about returning things - see the comment on Daniel’s idea in the old blog post). Basically, I couldn’t return $5 DVD and it certainly would have cost me more to fight about the issue, since it was only 5 bucks.

Well, couple of weeks ago I was pondering that “shite it”, I’ve been boycotting the store enough (had purchased tons of DVDs, printer, new TV and whatnot elsewhere rather from this ex-favourite store of mine). I’ll go check if they have some new anime moviews. I went to the store.

I checked out the DVDs and felt bit bad remembering how I got treated, but then got into mood for checking in DVDs. I eventually picked one movie and started walking towards the cashier.

I saw the same saleswoman who was “helping” me with that DVD return few years back and I stopped walking.

All the things got back to my mind. I turned back, put the DVD back to shelf and walked away.

I thought - I can get this DVD from somewhere else.

I haven’t counted… but I think this DVD shoppe has lost quite a bit of money, which some other stores have got. But… if that boycott shoppe want to have $5 and problems instead of a customer who has insane urge to buy stuff, then fine by me. Who am I to tell them what to do?

This reminds me about something. Going to see if I can get Samurai Champloo in my hands.

From some other store than the boycott shoppe, naturally.

Pretty crazy what $5 can lead into.

If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles.

Jay Is Games: Nick Chase and the Deadly Diamond

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:00:12 +0000

Platform: Download (Windows) — With his first big job completed in Nick Chase: A Detective Story, our hard-boiled P.I. slips into his favorite bar to get out of the rain. Only then, things get interesting. A bit too interesting. So begins our gritty pal's latest hidden object/adventure hybrid, Nick Chase and the Deadly Diamond. Tagged as: adventure, affiliate, demo, detective, download, game, gestaltgames, hiddenobject, hybrid, rating-y, windows

Grey Alien Games: 800,000 hits. 1,000,000 seems closer now!

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:15:14 +0000

The crappy little hit counter I have on the bottom of the site now reads 800,000+

In Feb 2009 it was at 500,000 hits so that’s 300,000 hits in the last 11 months, which = 27000+ hits a month.

These last 11 months have shown the most hits ever, despite me blogging slightly less than normal due to the fact that micro-blogging on Twitter is just so damn easy and fun! (If you would like to follow me on Twitter, check out the link over on the top right of the blog).

Back in Feb 2009 I thought I might hit 1,000,000 hits by now, but it seems like that figure is a few months off yet. Still that will be a great milestone to reach! And it seems so close now

Game Producer: What’s The Most Important Thing Game Development Has Brought You?

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 18:40:51 +0000

Creating games has many beneficial things in life (whether or not you plan to sell any games): team work, social skills, organizing work, creativity, writing, networking skills… and tons of more.

I started to ponder the most important lesson/experience/thing I’ve got from gaming.

I don’t know what the answer for me is… but somehow I feel that the possibility to share things (and rant about them) together with people and friends must rank pretty high in my list.

Or just rants.

Can’t decide.

Maybe it boils down to experience sharing.

What you’ve got from this thing we call “game dev”?

If you liked this entry, feel free to visit GameProducer.net to read more similar articles.

Jay Is Games: Weekend Download

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:00:06 +0000

Platform: Download (Mac, Windows) — Games featured this week: TowerClimb; Sheep; Heartwild Solitaire Classic — Ahem. Here we go Loopty Loo! Here we go Loopty Li! Here we go Loopty Loo! Because it's Weekend Download that you can possibly read on a Saturday night! Tagged as: blog, download, macwin, weekenddownload

Grey Alien Games: Big Fish Games’ Daily Deal really delivered for me

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 06:07:30 +0000

In December, Big Fish Games promoted my Holiday Bonus game using their Daily Deal programme. Basically game club members got offered my game for only $2.99, but for one day only.

The result was a really good amount of sales at an insanely high conversion rate (well into double figures). Needless to say, I’m very pleased with the result. It’s bolstered the total sales of Holiday Bonus nicely.

I love the fact that the game keeps on delivering year after year, especially as I was so passionate about making that game. I produced, designed, programmed and marketed that game by myself (with additional excellent feedback by the game’s artist) and I had no idea how well it was going to do, but it’s done good

So if you can get on the Big Fish Games Daily Deal, do it! If your game is good, and timed right (e.g. Christmas game at Christmas) you’ll do good too!

Jay Is Games: Simplz: Zoo

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:00:15 +0000

Platform: Download (Mac, Windows) — Simplz: Zoo combines a match-3 puzzle game with a casual simulation for a new and compelling experience. Now, you may have heard that story before when Floating Kingdoms came along, but this one has a potent blend of the genres that interconnects so thoroughly, everything you do in one directly affects the other. The result is a game that elegantly moves you back and forth while giving you the freedom to customize the experience to your liking. Tagged as: affiliate, demo, download, game, macwin, match3, puzzle, reflexive, simulation