I find it a little strange that you say I should buy "at my own risk" the experimental linux version. Just a little demo, so I can check it at least works, would add some confidence.
It is valid to target certain Linux distributions, so you can limit your scope to the ones with most exposure to desktop users. Ubuntu comes to mind...
* I love the streamlined nature - auto-sell duplicate items, auto-equip. There's a couple of little niggles that go against this when moving, such as having to let go of <left> and press it again to collect an item from a chest (wouldn't a short delay also be ok?) and moving around corners feels a little awkward; I think I expect holding <left> and <up> to walk up until the next left is free, then go left, but it doesn't seem to work quite like that.
* No save / resume? Really? I get the old-skool thing, but resuming where the last game left off (without save/load, death is still death) would be a nice courtesy.
Awesome. You should ping me - ben at playtomic.com - cause I know all the major portals and can drop you some intros. Negotiations will be a lot better when you can say "X offered me more.".
I don't know how feasible this is, but a demo would be totally awesome. I am guilty of just having a demo video myself, and I think that it really cuts into my sales in a ton of cases.
Any game or app for that matter can benefit from a demo, trial or similar. Even though 5 euro is not a lot, it's still money. As there is so much low-quality stuff out there, customers are sceptical about buying something they haven't tried out to some degree.
I just spent one hour playing your game, love it ! (will play again)
The casual fast-paced rogue-like style is very neat ! I've never seen something quite similar
Not having to care about picking items up and choosing the best one to equip is very clever. It weirded me out at the begining but it really helps to build a spirit to the game.
The magic system, while not being the most intuitive thing in the game, also participate to the ambience. Bravo !
The major caveheat is really the absence of auto-saving and resuming a game. I already lost 3 characters beacause the game crashed,
I've read here that it's in your TODO list, and I really think it should be your top priority, it will very fast get on players nerves.
Superb game anyways, shall I hint you contact the people behing TIGDB (The independant Game Database) ? I would love to leave a kind review here :)
Great website. You have a one pager with all the information required including a video and screenshots and two BUY NOW links. Nothing more is needed, and nothing less would do. I think you nailed it there.
I like the fact that the visual and musical aesthetic forced on early game designers by hardware limitations is now a desirable attribute in a new game. From the video the game looks and sounds great... In fact, I just bought it! Will report on my experience with the Linux version.
I don't know anyone under that age of 30, do the kids like the "8-bit" thing as well? :)
edit The Linux version is an Adobe Air package. Will try it out later.
17 years old and I can confirm this is indeed 'the business'[1], the retro aesthetic appeals to a lot of the younger demographic simply as a stylistic choice rather than a throwback to our youths. Limitation breeds innovation and as a result many games utilising 8-bit inspired graphics tend to have really unique art direction.
[1]: A phrase I may have just invented but plan to use frequently from this point on.
Could you go into a bit more details? I'd find it very interesting to hear about a fresh real-world experience with converting a HaXe game to another platform.
Are there many places where the same code should work but, for some reason, doesn't? Or have you knowingly made some parts of the code platform dependent, and simply need to port/independentize them?
For example some of the flash API is still missing from NME (a lib for the c++ target) & the performance (and more importantly bottlenecks) is quite different on different targets.
Not to mention all the browser limitations you have to work around if you use JS...
Couldn't purchase with paypal - first time the paypal site showed a generic "we don't know" error (didn't note it, sorry), the next time after signing in to paypal I got further, but was told that the payment had been rejected and the error message didn't know why either.