On Friday the 13th Nintendo ballsed up their Switch launch event. They did so by focusing on things we already had and are bored of (motion control), introducing new things we don’t want (IR sensors) and forgetting that the device already has an awesome selling point – you can carry it around with you.

Add that to a very lackluster games line up and many are declaring it will follow the trend of Nintendo’s ever decreasing sales of home console.

I’d like to argue that this may not, and hopefully will not, be the case.
Continue reading “Nintendo Switch – What I think.”

Because it’s Christmas party season we’re not both available on Friday or Saturday this weekend.

Therefore Rich will be doing some crazy PS4 stuff on Friday night. I’ll (most likely) be playing a couple of hours of Deathwing and/or Paladins on Saturday night. Both will start around 10pm ish.

Follow our Twitch channel now ready for the weekend or for when it’s *not* Christmas party season and we’re both around!

You can also check out previous streams as we’re recording them all on the site.

See you at the weekend.

Today Andy reviews Amol Wagh’s book “Market your indie game like a pro” and compares it to his real life marketing experiences. You can get the book on Amazon via this link.

Can you market your indie game like a pro?

Marketing is a constant struggle for Indie Devs.

I’ve got my own views on marketing which are slightly opposed to conventional “wisdom” banded about the community. So when I was messaged directly on twitter about this book I thought I would compare it to my own experiences and see what matched (or didn’t).

Before I get started I will say I’m in no way stating I am some kind of marketing god. Clearly that isn’t the case. But Rich and I have been doing this for a few years. We know what’s worked for us and we know….we really, really know what doesn’t.

Also I won’t cover every chapter in “Market your indie game like a pro”, just the ones that stood out for good, or bad reasons. So, let’s get stuck in.
Continue reading “Review: “Market Your Indie Game Like A Pro””

Blitzmax has been my development tool of choice for over 10 years now. But I’m about to move permanently…
andysopinion
Back in 2005 a very exciting thing was happening in my world.

I’d been using Blitz3D to mess with 3D game development for the last 2/3 years. It had even helped me get my first programming job. I’d finished a couple of basic games in it and was pretty well versed in it’s eccentricities.

However the creator of this famous development tool had announced something very special: A new version of the Blitz tools: BlitzMax!
Continue reading “Moving away from BlitzMax”

Hey, do you know us? Or, alternatively, should we know you? As we’ve restarted our blogging efforts we thought we should restart our link building efforts.

We’ve now got a links section in the side bar showing 5 random links from our collection of, well 5 links at the moment so they’ll all be the same! But we’re hoping to add many more in the near future.

Link building, as in, with you!

We’d like to do some kind of building links exchange with as many of you as possible. Currently we only have a few categories so far and we’re sure that’s not enough so as long as what you do is vaguely related to what we do give us a shout.

What we need from you is:

  • Your name or organisation name (obviously)
  • The URL you want us to link to
  • A 100x100px logo we can use (or we can just put a blank square there if you’ve got nothing)

A few additional points:

  • Please no betting sites. No, not even if you’re offering money.
  • It helps if we know you or know of you at least
  • It’s an exchange so if possible we’d love a link back to us!

So get in touch either by adding a comment below or by tweeting Rich or Myself or maybe Facebook if that’s you’re preferred network.

The links we currently have will appear below here – thanks for joining in!
[qcopd-directory mode=”all” style=”simple” column=”2″ search=”true” category=”” upvote=”on” item_count=”on” orderby=”date” order=”DESC”]

In tonight’s Livestream we’ll be playing “Scrap Mechanic” amongst other things. Read below to find out what else we’ll be getting up to!

The Kitchen Livestream
The Kitchen Livestream

The Rough Livestream Schedule

So as we said, first up will be us exploring “Scrap Mechanic” an early access game on Steam. It’s the first time we’ve played it so that should be…interesting!

Next up there’ll be a discussion about our “disagreement” over pre-orders from earlier in the week. We think this is a really interesting subject and will be looking at your chat while talking and taking your points on board.

Oh, I want your opinions on one of my new Tribloos 3 levels, it has moving parts and I want to get the speed right!

We’ll also be talking about cool things we’ve seen over the last few days and if you really, really want me to I’ll play a horror game of your choosing (I’ll even install the Outlast 2 demo in preparation, just in case).

This time I might even remember to record it so we can put it on our YouTube Channel later in the week!

So come along to stick your oar in and have a laugh with the Bumpkins!

Our stream will occur here at 10pm tonight: https://www.twitch.tv/andybumpkin

Hey you. Are you thinking of pre-ordering a game, console or peripheral? Then stop, breath and consider if it might make you a dick.

I’ll offer a bit of background for my theory that pre-ordering can cause dickishness. I’ve spent a lot of time studying magic and working as a magician, so have spent a lot of time learning about misdirection. Many people assume that misdirection is simply making the audience look the wrong way while you do something sneaky. It’s actually a lot sneakier than that. A true master of misdirection makes your mind look the wrong way.

Continue reading “Why you should worry about pre-ordering games.”

andysopinion

In this week’s “A Bumpkin’s Opinion” Andy gives his personal thoughts on the growing voice against game preordering in the light of publishers not providing pre-release review copies of their games.

It’s one of the bigger issues at the moment – big game developers are holding off from sending out review copies to review sites and Youtubers. Bethesda recently allowed the public to preorder a game and receive it the same day that the press got their copies.

I’ve seen a few review sites complain about this and I’m not unsympathetic, but the advice they’re giving you is completely wrong.
Continue reading “Stop worrying and preorder games!”

The Kitchen
The Kitchen

Gosh, we’re just full of announcements this week. Announcing a website relaunch and a new game…

You’d think we’d stop just there, but no! We’re going to resume streaming too.

We did a few little streams back when Space Farmers was released, showing how the levels were created and other bits and pieces.

However this new stream will be more structured, more regular and 50% more fun because Rich will be taking part too!

So come along to this weeks stream for the following fun and larks.

We’ll be:

  • Livestreaming some co-op gaming
  • Having an open discussion about that week’s development
  • Discussing any fun stuff we’ve seen that week
  • Taking any questions posted to us in the stream chat
  • Probably playing something else to finish off the stream.
  • Most importantly come and find out why we’re calling this The Kitchen!

it’s going to be totally relaxed and hopefully entertaining to be part of. We hope to see you there!

URL: https://www.twitch.tv/andybumpkin
Date/Time: Friday 10:00 GMT

PS: If you miss it don’t worry, we’ll hopefully be uploading all content separately to Youtube afterwards.

As a developer it’s wonderful to watch people enjoy playing a game you’ve poured your sweat, tears and, quite frankly, your sanity into.

Tribloos 3 Alpha Screenshot 2
Speed Runners Unite!

So when you see a small number of amazing people try to speed run your game, showing you play techniques you never even knew existed while being sooo smoooth with their co-opnitude (sure, that’s a word). Well…

It almost brings a tear to your eye, if we were prone to crying which were not because we’re MEN. *ahem*

I very much doubt the current speed can be beaten, some of those levels are pretty tricky as it is. (I think there’s one level which could be done faster but I’m not going to say which). I’ve watched the videos several times now and they are really impressive.

Just, very well done guys. Very well done indeed.

But I want to know what “All Levels (except that one)” means though!

Check out the speed runners here

I’d love to see someone speed run the “Grinder to the Max” level…