New Game ENTITY released

Community Forums/Showcase/New Game ENTITY released

Swifty(Posted 2008) [#1]
My first game "ENTITY" is now available at http://www.smallbiggames.com






slenkar(Posted 2008) [#2]
what kind of game is it?


Grey Alien(Posted 2008) [#3]
How do you download it, I only see a buy now button? Congrats anyway. Hey when I read the thread title I thought you'd made some kind of TGame type and were calling it a "game entity"!


Sauer(Posted 2008) [#4]
The graphics look good, but I can't figure out what its all about. A little game description would do your website good, and increase the chance of sales.

Plus everyone here would like to know :)


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#5]
Thanks for the comments guys.

The game is a little hard to describe. It is an arcade style game, but there is no shooting. You control a "particle beam" with the mouse to kill the "Entities" as they appear on screen, but some of them you have to avoid as hitting them is bad :)

The game includes info on controls etc:


I just got the website up and will add more to it soon, just a little burnt out on coding right now :)

System requirments are very low, and it only needs 10MB HD space.

The game is $4.99 thru paypal or credit card.


Nate the Great(Posted 2008) [#6]
just a question how long did it take to make?


MGE(Posted 2008) [#7]
At first I thought you were a Bmax user with a similar user name. :)

Is it like "Qix" ?

Where's the demo download?


plash(Posted 2008) [#8]
This is kind of a shadowed game.. not much info and nothing that would excite me to buy/play it. Maybe you should post a video of the gameplay?


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#9]
Updated site with a backstory to the game.

This is actually a remake of an old amiga game I made many years ago. It took a few months to make, working on it part-time when not working on my mmo....


Gabriel(Posted 2008) [#10]
Is there supposed to be a download? I don't see one either.


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#11]
Games is for purchase only atm.

$4.99 - less than a sub :)


plash(Posted 2008) [#12]
$4.99 - less than a sub :)
How much satisfaction will a sub give me over this game though? ;)

You might want to run over the 'News' you posted a few times.. Just a couple typo's.


MGE(Posted 2008) [#13]
No one is going to buy your game without playing it first, price has nothing to do with it.


big10p(Posted 2008) [#14]
Yes, a demo version is a must!


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#15]
Game play video is now up on site:

http://www.smallbiggames.com/entity_video.html


MGE(Posted 2008) [#16]
Your Windows media 57MB file does not stream.

"Yes, a demo version is a must!"

Eventually, I'm sure he'll learn that. Because he's going to get zero feedback from this forum. ;)


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#17]
Fixed video issue, much smaller size at 5.7 MB


Stevie G(Posted 2008) [#18]
The video shows very little other than some nice vector effects. It's completely unclear what you're mean to be doing. I wouldn't even consider buying a game without playing a demo first.


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#19]
Demo version of ENTITY is now available at:

http://www.smallbiggames.com/Demo/Install_ENTITY_demo.exe

Are we all happy now? :)

Enjoy.


jsp(Posted 2008) [#20]
Plays quite good.
Start screen should may better wait for a key press.
I found it hard to recognize the different levels and the enemies to avoid.
The installer should ask if it's allowed to create a menu entry.
A would be nice to have a introduction to the gameplay inside the game.


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#21]
Thanks for the nice feedback :)



Start screen should may better wait for a key press.



If you mean the info screen as the first level starts, hit SPACE and it will keep the info on screen, pausing the level, till you hit SPACE again.

Everything you need to know to play the game is on the info screen...mostly;)


Nate the Great(Posted 2008) [#22]
It isn't my type of game but it is kind of fun. I would suggest making it have more background or a story before it.

The little thingies that you are supposed to kill kind of look like those diagrams of virus's and germs and bacteria. :p


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#23]
I would suggest making it have more background or a story before it.


I added a bit of backstory to the website today.


Nate the Great(Posted 2008) [#24]
oh sorry I didn't see that :D


jsp(Posted 2008) [#25]
If you mean the info screen as the first level starts, hit SPACE and it will keep the info on screen, pausing the level, till you hit SPACE again.



Yeah, after it had started automatically several times, i realized that. I found it just hard to read / recognize. But maybe it's just me.


Jeremy Alessi(Posted 2008) [#26]
Neat but not worth buying. Have you seen what you can play for free out there these days?


Grey Alien(Posted 2008) [#27]
At first I thought you were a Bmax user with a similar user name. :)
Me too which is why I was confused because sswift seems to know his stuff regarding marketing.


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#28]
Neat but not worth buying. Have you seen what you can play for free out there these days?


So I should give up coding then?


Grey Alien(Posted 2008) [#29]
So I should give up coding then?
No. Keep on building your skills up until you have a really good game that is worth selling.


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#30]
Keep on building your skills up until you have a really good game that is worth selling.


Thanks for the advice, I`m actually working on a much bigger project, so far 2 years in development, with more years to go.

Entity was a much smaller project, and it just felt good to get it out the door :)


Grey Alien(Posted 2008) [#31]
Entity was a much smaller project, and it just felt good to get it our the door :)
Yeah it's a good feeling. It could be worth doing that some more alongside your big project as lots of big projects never get finished...


Nate the Great(Posted 2008) [#32]
I usually make my big projects by making lots of parts of that game and then at the end making them work together to make one big game.


Jeremy Alessi(Posted 2008) [#33]
Heh, I thought this was Sswift and I was very surprised. Sorry for the apathetic response it was a reaction to the thought of Sswift selling something like this when he knows better.

By no means should you give up. This is a neat game that you should be proud of but people are going to call you out for trying to sell it. Give it away as part of your portfolio and people will take you more seriously. That way when you do release something worthwhile people will take it as such. This game is a portfolio builder not a product.


Taron(Posted 2008) [#34]
It's not so easy to develop an understanding for what feels right or wrong in regards to selling something in the first place. If I was you I would take my time and build up popularity and some trust. You need to learn what excites the people and it's very little to pay, if you release your small experimental games "for free". I put it in quotes, because with anyone giving you feedback, he's already paying you back big time. Being humble is step number one to lasting success!

And let me know when you decide to make this free. I'll give it a try for you anytime... ;)


josk(Posted 2008) [#35]
Nice little game, is a bit confusing though.
I do like the style and I agree the instructions should stay on screen longer.


plash(Posted 2008) [#36]
Nice little game, is a bit confusing though.
I do like the style and I agree the instructions should stay on screen longer.
Agreed, maybe a "Hit space to continue"?


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#37]
Agreed, maybe a "Hit space to continue"?



If you hit space with the info on screen , it will stay on screen , till you hit space again.


josk(Posted 2008) [#38]
I think the info should stop on screen until you hit space to start the game, or maybe have a intro screen and press F2 for an instructions screen.


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#39]
A new game play guide is now on the web site:

http://www.smallbiggames.com/entity_guide.html


Stevie G(Posted 2008) [#40]
I don't understand your logic at having to hit space to keep the instructions on screen. It's completely un-intuative. Just keep them on screen and allow the user to read them and start the game by pressing space.

Not a bad game though ... although for the reasons above I had no clue what I was doing :)


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#41]
Entity , full version and demo, have been updated to version1.1

Notes:

Game play info screen now waits for player to hit SPACE.
Fixed a small mouse control bug.

Unistall v1.0 before installing v1.1


Geehawk(Posted 2008) [#42]
Hmm. Well I guess it could be fun if I knew what I was doing ?????

I just moved a round wiping stuff out, sometimes stuff did not want to be wiped out, sometimes the screen shrunk for no obvious reason, and then I died, again for no obvious reason. I guess there might be a health indicator on screen somewhere, but some more obvious indication you are sustaining damage, losing energy would be good. Actually I guess thats probably what all the screen shrinking was about?

Not much fun when you dont know what you are doing. I dont want to have to read lots of instructions to play something, which guns or not is just a Shoot em Up.


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#43]
Please check the web site for a new game play guide.


Geehawk(Posted 2008) [#44]
Well there you go then I used intuition and assumed I should attack anything hostile and not attack anything benign ... not exactly intuitive to have it the other way round is it LOL

I'll have another go now ;-)


Swifty(Posted 2008) [#45]
Well there you go then I used intuition and assumed I should attack anything hostile and not attack anything benign


You would think :)
Anyway, the hostiles mutate into benign ones over time, and are then safe to kill.

Trying to kill a hostile Entity will drain your energy, which is bad.

Let the force field kill the hostile ones, as it takes less damage from them.

BTW, highest reported level achieved so far is 57 -way to go Andrew!
Best I even done was in low 40`s as it gets kinda crazy past 40 !