A Shooter Decision Followup

I have done it. I have made a decision, and one that i am happy with. Or at least think i am at the moment.

I ground down the issue to as few Major questions as i could. Then tried my hardest to answer them truthfully. I had help from other XBLIG Devs (thanks DrMistry, theBigDaddio) and a few friends (Jeff and Paul). So without further ado here are the questions i distilled it all down too.

1. Will people who buy the game feel ripped off with only 13 levels?
2. Will this negatively effect my downloads of the game?
3. What effect will this have on the View of Sorcerygames overall quality?

I had a lot more questions at first, but am very happy now with only three that i care about.

So..
1. I think people will not feel ripped off. They will spend a single dollar and get a game that if they are good they can play through the whole thing in about 35-40 minutes (still gotta test exactly how long). I think this is great value for money, as it will take them some time to get good enough to actually do this. So realastic time this game is worth must be about 3 hours or more.
2. I do not think the number of downloads will be effected by the number of levels. Noone knows how long the levels are etc, so a number is just a random piece of information. Though i do believe that there is percieved value in a higher number. (i have 100 levels etc!). In the end the quality of the gameplay is what will sell this game. As that is what it is designed for.
3. This one concerned me the most and in the end cost me the most sleep. I have decided though that quality can be measured in various ways. For this title it will not be the graphics or the effects all over the place (like my other title Pellmell was). This one is about the pure simple addictive gameplay experience. This is where I believe the game shines. Yes, i have SFX on button presses and i will have other quality type stuff in there, bought music and shared hgh scores etc. So for 1 Freakin Dollar this game is gonna be a great addition to the Sorcerygames portfolio.

So there you have it. I have made my choice. I have already designed level 13 and it is in. It makes me giggle when i play it, so i must like it a lot. Now i just need to create level 12s level aliens triggers, and the levels are first pass done. Maybe i'll get time to look at the leaderboard sharing code soon. Not that i am looking forward to that work, bah! But someone has to do it.

Thanks for the input everyone,
Laters

Making better Blog + A Shooter Decision

I have been quite active over the last couple of months trying to improve my Blogging skills. So far i have introduced Pictures, this i loved, and a picture can speak a thousand words. Then recently i aded my first video. Ok, so these are a bit more time consuming to create, Also Youtube will only allow me so many videos per my account (8 i think), so not sure waht will happen with that when i get really going. In the last and a couple of previous posts i have introduced coloured text. I wasn't sure what it would come off like, but tbh i am quite happy. The effect is much better than i expected. Now i just need to work on refining what i highlight, and with which colours.

So far i hope you would all agree that my blogging is getting better and not worse in the visual department. I am not so certain from a creative standpoint though. Simply because i get no comment reactions, so it is hard to know what to do. Till i have a better direction i will carry on with my meandering writings.


Really Important Decision to be made...

On a more serious note, i am in a quandry over 'A Shooter'. It was supposed to be a 1 dollar game, but the time i am putting into it are expanding this. The gameplay is exactly what i wanted, and i think aweome. The issue i am having is what to do with it. I can see i have a further 9 levels to create, and i am not sure anyone will truly appreciate the work i will have to put in to finish them properly. I still have a lot of work on the overall balance for the existing 11 levels. So my thoughts are... So far there is about 25 minutes of gameplay so far. So if I add just 1 more level, and then maybe do a special Boss for level 13 (seems appropriate), will the game be any worse for it ? I do not think so, and it will have about 35 minutes of gameplay too at that point. I think the sales will be exaclty the same as if i have 20 levels. I can always do a sequel if people love the gameplay and mechanics, but at this time i think i am just overdoing it.
In all Seriousness.... What Do YOU Think?