On the subject of donations…
So I’ve recently started accepting donations from people who liked the McCarthy Chronicles and wanted to support its development.
I realise this is a fairly touchy subject and I can almost hear the whispers from afar.
“E-beggin? That’s E-beggin’ Sandra! Kill him! and burn his damn game in the eternal fires of internet hell!”
So I thought I would write a little ‘manifesto’, if you like, of my opinions on the matter.
Firstly I believe things should be free whenever possible. If you don’t need the money and you would do it anyway just for the fun, then you can’t charge people. That’s just taking money for the sake of it.
However, having said that, I do believe people should be rewarded for their efforts if the receipiant has enjoyed those efforts and that reward can take many forms.
I would consider it a reward if my players voted my game highly on the bigbluecup.com Games Database. I would consider it a reward if they dropped me an email letting me know how much they enjoyed it too.
Both the above are conscious, non-passive acts which show that the player cares about what I’m doing and that they want me to continue doing it and it is such a rush to know that.
If my game was downloaded a billion times and I only received 1 note of congratulations then I would consider that a failure. Only 1 person out of a billion took the few minutes it takes to drop me an email? What a miserable failure that would be.
What does a donation mean to me? Well curently im about £400 overdrawn so quite a lot, heh. But its a manifestation of a thank you. Its something tangible which cements my game as a positive force on the internet. It’s something which tells me that people like my stuff and that it is worth their hard earned cash in order to keep me doing it.
So, when should you donate? Think of it like a busker. This is Busker-Ware.
You are welcome to enjoy the entertainment absolutly free of charge. You can watch me busk all day. You can sit down on the cold, hard flagstones and watch me play to you for as long as you like. Even for the rest of your life. But if you enjoyed watching me and you’d like to come and watch me again, throw a coin into my hat.
Sunday, 20. December 2009 7:42
I thoroughly enjoyed this game. Can’t wait for the next part.
The voice acting was very good (esp. McCarthy) and the imagery and theme immersion were great!
Friday, 15. January 2010 7:45
Thanks alot! Sorry I didnt approve your comment earlier.. the reminder got lost in my inbox somewhere
Saturday, 16. January 2010 0:11
Dude,…that game was/is amazing. A absolute unbelievable atmosphere…it’s magical!
keep on rocking,
ToM
Sunday, 17. January 2010 0:05
I downloaded this because of the similarity to the Chzo Mythos that I thought I saw in the screenshot in IndyGamer, but it turned out to be very different after all
The feeling did return a little when I was wandering the hotel alone, slightly terrified of things that might jump out at me. I may be saying things in this comment that constitute spoilers…
Atmosphere is definitely this game’s strength – the rain effect and grainy film look are great, and the decision to make it entirely black and white really gives it the noir feel. I liked the sound effects (the change of footsteps depending on the surface was a nice touch). It was also a pleasant surprise to hear voice acting in an independent adventure, although I have to admit that I found myself skipping it before too long – it suffers from being very slow in places, and McCarthy himself sounds rather like he was recorded somewhere where you were trying to keep your voice down… I sort of see the mood you were going for, but a lot of the time he just sounds bored! Sarah stands out as not being bad, though, and in general it got a lot better as the game went on.
It was a bit strange that there wasn’t an audio cue for the screaming in the night, and the music didn’t change there either – you could really have ramped up the tension there as you head towards the room to check what’s happening. (I don’t think that the text said where it was coming from, either, leaving me to try all the doors and destroying the urgency a bit… I could be wrong.) It was also irritating that McCarthy’s pathfinding route to the hotel door was around to the right, as you enter that room so often from the left.
Back to good things! The animation was nice as well – McCarthy’s sprite reminds me of a combination of Indiana Jones from Fate of Atlantis and Bob Foster (was that it?) from Beneath a Steel Sky. And while the game’s short, it’s definitely got me interested to see where the story goes in subsequent chapters – having been hammering away at my latest project for nigh on three years now, I can see the appeal of releasing something episodically and getting feedback and reactions on each part, before putting it together into a complete story.
Good luck
Tuesday, 19. January 2010 22:12
I also downloaded this game because of how much I enjoyed the Chzo Mythos series. I was not disappointed in any way. This was an independent adventure game of the highest caliber. I love adventure games because I love a good story and the first episode completely delivers in that regard.
Wednesday, 20. January 2010 17:27
I love the concept of Busker-ware and really hope it catches on.