Game Design, Programming and running a one-man games business…

The unavoidable Kudos 2 patch

Posted on October 2, 2008

So the game is now on sale, and a few early buyers had a horrid crash bug, which I’m hoping is now fixed. I’ve certainly fixed *a* crash bug, so I’m assuming it’s the same one, as the crashes I used to experience in certain circumstances only on my XP laptop have now definitely gone. A few minor typos and other fixes are in the new patch too.

So right now I’m uploading demos and full copies of version 1.01 and will be doing a patch for those early buyers soon. Sales have been reasonable, but not earth shattering, although it takes a few days to get going normally, and press releases and review copies have not been sent out yet.

I’m in it for the long haul anyway.

Kudos 2 On Sale NOW!

Posted on October 1, 2008

At last, it’s all done and dusted and the game is ON SALE! This is the first game I’ve released since doing the whole ‘talking to pirates‘ thing. It’s also the best game I’ve ever made, and the one that’s taken the longest, cost the most and involved the most effort to get it the way I want. I’m really extremely proud of the way it has turned out.

All I need now is for people to like it, and buy it, so I can pay the bills! There is (of course) a free demo if you aren’t sure if it’s your kind of game. here is the demo link:

http://www.positech.co.uk/kudos2/demo.html

Here is the website with screenshots etc:

http://www.positech.co.uk/kudos2

The game is set at $19.95 which is a price that’s just low enough that it makes me panicky and Fidgety. I’m hoping that all the feedback I got about the price of games actually makes sense and that more people buy a $19.95 game than would buy a $29.99 one. (and a big enough difference as to end up making more overall). If not, I’m kind of screwed :D I also made the demo more than twice the length of the original games demo, because that was another, possibly fair criticism aimed at modern games.

Obviously there is no DRM on the game, you just download it, install it, run it and have fun. Any feedback on the games purchase process is much needed, as are any bug report because this is day one, and let’s be honest, there is bound to be something that I’ve forgotten due to extreme tiredness, stress and tunnel vision.

Now go try the demo!

Edit: If you could digg this (http://digg.com/pc_games/Kudos_2_On_Sale_NOW) It would really help get the word out, as I’m just an invisible indie game developer unless people get to hear about it. Much appreciated.

Kudos 2 gameplay video

Posted on September 29, 2008

It’s tough to convey a game like this in video. It’s all about the numbers and the stats and the text, so videos always seem a bit of an anti-climax. At least my videos shows you what the GAME looks like, as opposed to the FMV.
I just saw a trailer for the latest total war game. I have a love hate relationship with them, but love the historical setting for the new one. The thing is, the video is 90% FMV, which only illustrates how crap their engine is by comparison. I’m sure a lot of people don’t realise how much is FMV, or subconsciously our brains blur the line. That’s why they show hot chicks in beer ads. We all know the hot chicks don’t come with the beer, but our animal brains make the connection and equate it to beer == shagging hot chicks.
It’s sad really. Although I know this sort of thing works well, I don’t think I’d stoop to it.
Anyway, here’s a new video. The game should be out in 2 days.

Adding some basic mod support

Posted on September 28, 2008

People really liked modding Kudos. Maybe it was because that game was (like all of mine) amazingly easy to mod. Adding a new job is just a text file. Adding new books and other purchasable assets is similarly easy. I intend kudos 2 to be just as easy (if not easier) to mod for.
Eventually.
But right no I’m concentrating on finding and squashing any bugs. I’ve just spent some time today getting modded jobs to work (still needs testing), but it won’t be the perfect easy user-friendly experience I intend it to become on it’s initial release.
Hopefully, I’ll eventually have some separate tools to produce new jobs and scripts for the game, but I’d rather worry about that in the week after release, and the weeks after I get back from the hugely needed holiday I have booked for the end of October.
So if you buy the game (expected release date is Wednesday) and you think it doesn’t allow enough modding, don’t worry, that will change almost immediately.