Beach Ball Break 1.05 is coming ...
by Jeremy Alessi · 05/24/2006 (12:20 am) · 5 comments
After holding a soft launch with Beach Ball Break last week I can see there's an interest in the title in general because it's been downloaded plenty. However, it's not selling. With nearly 2,000 downloads in the first week that's pretty sad ... actually not, but I'll explain more about that later ;)
I initially was going to just release the game for free. However, I had a few people play it and got to realizing that's it's pretty cool and the ... 'well you never know' factor kicked in so I put a little more into it and got it set up to be sellable. Now I can see there are a few flaws the main one being that there's not much of a game in a competitive sense going on. I really didn't think it needed it, I just wanted to put something up to remind you of the beach even when you're stuck inside and give people 5 minutes of playful relaxation.
Anyhoo I've taken the past week and added in a new gameplay mechanic which people will be able to check out very soon in addition to an online ranking system and some changed up backgrounds and levels. These updates allow the game to still be as relaxing as any person could want ... even more so than before but they also allow the competitive person to play that way. Instead of trying to force people into a predetermined balance, I've created a really dynamic way to play on all skill levels yet the interface still isn't hindered by the need for special instructions or even additional button presses.
I should be done with it this week, look for another blog soon!
I initially was going to just release the game for free. However, I had a few people play it and got to realizing that's it's pretty cool and the ... 'well you never know' factor kicked in so I put a little more into it and got it set up to be sellable. Now I can see there are a few flaws the main one being that there's not much of a game in a competitive sense going on. I really didn't think it needed it, I just wanted to put something up to remind you of the beach even when you're stuck inside and give people 5 minutes of playful relaxation.
Anyhoo I've taken the past week and added in a new gameplay mechanic which people will be able to check out very soon in addition to an online ranking system and some changed up backgrounds and levels. These updates allow the game to still be as relaxing as any person could want ... even more so than before but they also allow the competitive person to play that way. Instead of trying to force people into a predetermined balance, I've created a really dynamic way to play on all skill levels yet the interface still isn't hindered by the need for special instructions or even additional button presses.
I should be done with it this week, look for another blog soon!
About the author
#2
05/24/2006 (8:51 am)
Post link to product! :( 
#3
05/24/2006 (1:33 pm)
A link to the product could be useful...I'm not even sure where to find it to try it. How's Oust coming along?
#4
1.05 will be a big improvement but you can check the current version out at Mousetrap Arcade.
05/24/2006 (1:46 pm)
Oust is moving along nicely. At this point a lot of the artwork is going through the paces and we'll be putting a lot of the game back together late in the summer. As for a link ... well I posted about it 2X before and at this point I'm not particularly interested in advertising the game any more until I release 1.05 so that's why I didn't post one1.05 will be a big improvement but you can check the current version out at Mousetrap Arcade.
#5
edit: After playing the first two levels, it seems like it would benefit from some weather/environmental effects that change somewhat randomly; Clouds, rain, seagulls, splashy bits of foam, fish jumping occasionally...
Overall I do like the feel of the game.
05/24/2006 (2:09 pm)
Cool, I've got some time to kill today, I'll give it a spin.edit: After playing the first two levels, it seems like it would benefit from some weather/environmental effects that change somewhat randomly; Clouds, rain, seagulls, splashy bits of foam, fish jumping occasionally...
Overall I do like the feel of the game.
Torque Owner Gary Preston
To paraphrase the advice, even if the game makes zero sales (or very few) you'll have gone through the entire process of setting up the website, payment methods, support, marketting, legal aspects etc experience which will be valuable for future projects. So look on the bright side, if it doesn't sell you've gained experience.
The other valuable lesson to try to learn is why isn't it selling, anything you learn here will definatly help for future games :) Is it that the game just isn't good enough? Is it that you're not making it easy enough to buy? What can you do to improve it?
I've not downloaded it, so I can't really offer any advice on any of the above. Try to get some feedback off of others though.