Red Thumb Games & New Game
by Joshua Dallman · 07/20/2008 (1:09 am) · 9 comments
Hi everyone! Here's an update about my Red Thumb Games projects, including a new TGB game I'm developing.
First, Shelled! Online has been released. It is the third game I made, and the first one I released in over a year. It uses the Torque Game Engine (TGE) and you can grab the free demo at redthumbgames.com.
I'm working on some new videos for Shelled but here's the trailer that's out right now:
With the game released, now comes the hard part - getting word out and finding a publisher! I've had someone suggest the game go to XBLA, go to InstantAction, and team up with Nintendo, which is all flattering to hear. XBLA is a longshot and a longshot on top of that (though I'm in touch with them), InstantAction already passed, and Wii games have a different gameplay and feel than Shelled has. I think PC will be its home for a long time, but I'm flattered at the suggestions nonetheless.
Publicity is coming along, with the first review out on Monday at Out of Eight PC Game Reviews, and soon an August GameTunnel review. I'm eager (and of course nervous) to see reviewers pick the game apart. Any press is good press, at least when you're indie and need attention.
The big news for me this week was this: I SOLD MY FIRST GAME!!! I've been doing indie game development since I found Torque 5 years ago and dreamt of this day ever since. Releasing a game is exciting, but SELLING your first game is even moreso. Especially for Shelled, which I have worked on for 3 years now and spent over $20k on, it is an AWESOME feeling to finally make that FIRST BUCK. And actually, global economy that we have, my first buck was a pound, and I made the money in my sleep - the purchase was at 1AM from a British customer. I always imagined a dollar hanging on my wall, not a pound, but it's cool to make money in your sleep. With a 1% conversion rate so far, I only need a few more hundred thousand downloads to break even!
My best friend told me years ago when I started all this that a key to success is being able to visualize the outcome and really imagine it (quoting Zig Ziglar). Afterall you cannot create what you cannot imagine. At the time 21-6 was doing Orbz and TubeTwist, BraveTree had ThinkTanks, the excitement over Torque in the indie community was going gangbusters, Marble Blast was getting bundled with Macs and (OMG!) made the jump to consoles, and Jeff Tunnell encouraged indies like Andy Shatz and myself to follow our dreams and go for it. All this created a very tangible reality of "yes, this can be done, people are doing it" and helped imagine that it could be. Selling my first game was an absolute watershed moment. It was the realization of a dream. Have you seen "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle?" That first game sold was my pile of 25 White Castle burgers. It was EXACTLY what I wanted. My advice for indies? Visualize what you want to accomplish. Hold that visualization close. Never forget it.
As a bonus, the first purchase contacted me and said "OK I have literally just purchased Shelled! Online after trying the demo and I have to say I am really, really impressed. It reminds me of an old game I used to play [a 2D Scorched Earth clone]. To me this seems like a 3D version of that and it's about bloody time someone made a decent remake." Bloody right, Danny! And thanks for the purchase and support :)
Well you can't slow down in this industry or you'll be a dinosaur, so I'm already deep in my next project, having quietly started it months ago. I'm continuing to nurture Shelled on the press and publisher front, but otherwise that project is done. It was the first game I designed, and the update/sequel was NOT a re-design, so I'm eager to break into some new design material. I'd like to introduce DRAGON HATCHERY, a match-3 and management game aimed at the casual game audience:
"Dragon Hatchery lets players open their very own mystical hatchery! Match colored eggs to hatch baby dragons, then feed and care for your baby dragons to nurse them into adulthood. Dragon Hatchery combines a unique match 3+ game with a time management game. If you are a publisher or distributor please contact me to get a preview of this title."
Dragon Hatchery features:
- Match colored eggs to hatch baby dragons
- Feed and care for them in your own hatchery
- Use powerups, coins, and jewels to help your quest
- Unique match-3 and management game in one
- Will you be able to save dragonkind?
Website at http://www.redthumbgames.com/dragonhatchery/
Gary Preston and Christophe Canon are the programmer and artist respectively, and the game is made with an earlier version of TGB (T2D).
It's a refreshing change of pace to be working on a casual game after Shelled. It's erroneous to say that casual games are more simple to make than hardcore games. True, you don't have 3D modeling and rendering, 3D level editors, client/server networking, etc. Casual games may have less technical challenges (which may be one reason why indie programmers aren't drawn to making them, they think they're "too easy" to make, no challenge = no fun). But casual games typically need more time balacing gameplay, iterating art and effects, and ensuring broad accessibility (the greatest of the challenges). They're not easier to make per se, they just take a different skillset. And with fewer variables in 2D than 3D, there's less to screw up on (the cam for example, which is fixed). However, those elements that you DO have remaining, need to be perfect. Why? Because you're competing with Peggle, and that game is liquid digital crack.
To that end I will be attending the 3-day Casual Game Conference in Seattle this upcoming week, with meetings scheduled with a dozen casual game publishers to talk about Dragon Hatchery (Shelled is too hardcore and mostly off the table to discuss). If you are a publisher or distributor (or even if you're just going to the conference) I would love to hear from you! Please note that I am going as myself, not as a representative of GarageGames; please contact GG if you have business with them.
Well that's all from here for this weekend. I hope you enjoyed the update, and expect to hear more about Shelled and Dragon Hatchery in upcoming months.
Keep making indie games and keep the dream alive!
Josh
First, Shelled! Online has been released. It is the third game I made, and the first one I released in over a year. It uses the Torque Game Engine (TGE) and you can grab the free demo at redthumbgames.com.
I'm working on some new videos for Shelled but here's the trailer that's out right now:
With the game released, now comes the hard part - getting word out and finding a publisher! I've had someone suggest the game go to XBLA, go to InstantAction, and team up with Nintendo, which is all flattering to hear. XBLA is a longshot and a longshot on top of that (though I'm in touch with them), InstantAction already passed, and Wii games have a different gameplay and feel than Shelled has. I think PC will be its home for a long time, but I'm flattered at the suggestions nonetheless.
Publicity is coming along, with the first review out on Monday at Out of Eight PC Game Reviews, and soon an August GameTunnel review. I'm eager (and of course nervous) to see reviewers pick the game apart. Any press is good press, at least when you're indie and need attention.
The big news for me this week was this: I SOLD MY FIRST GAME!!! I've been doing indie game development since I found Torque 5 years ago and dreamt of this day ever since. Releasing a game is exciting, but SELLING your first game is even moreso. Especially for Shelled, which I have worked on for 3 years now and spent over $20k on, it is an AWESOME feeling to finally make that FIRST BUCK. And actually, global economy that we have, my first buck was a pound, and I made the money in my sleep - the purchase was at 1AM from a British customer. I always imagined a dollar hanging on my wall, not a pound, but it's cool to make money in your sleep. With a 1% conversion rate so far, I only need a few more hundred thousand downloads to break even!
My best friend told me years ago when I started all this that a key to success is being able to visualize the outcome and really imagine it (quoting Zig Ziglar). Afterall you cannot create what you cannot imagine. At the time 21-6 was doing Orbz and TubeTwist, BraveTree had ThinkTanks, the excitement over Torque in the indie community was going gangbusters, Marble Blast was getting bundled with Macs and (OMG!) made the jump to consoles, and Jeff Tunnell encouraged indies like Andy Shatz and myself to follow our dreams and go for it. All this created a very tangible reality of "yes, this can be done, people are doing it" and helped imagine that it could be. Selling my first game was an absolute watershed moment. It was the realization of a dream. Have you seen "Harold and Kumar go to White Castle?" That first game sold was my pile of 25 White Castle burgers. It was EXACTLY what I wanted. My advice for indies? Visualize what you want to accomplish. Hold that visualization close. Never forget it.
As a bonus, the first purchase contacted me and said "OK I have literally just purchased Shelled! Online after trying the demo and I have to say I am really, really impressed. It reminds me of an old game I used to play [a 2D Scorched Earth clone]. To me this seems like a 3D version of that and it's about bloody time someone made a decent remake." Bloody right, Danny! And thanks for the purchase and support :)
Well you can't slow down in this industry or you'll be a dinosaur, so I'm already deep in my next project, having quietly started it months ago. I'm continuing to nurture Shelled on the press and publisher front, but otherwise that project is done. It was the first game I designed, and the update/sequel was NOT a re-design, so I'm eager to break into some new design material. I'd like to introduce DRAGON HATCHERY, a match-3 and management game aimed at the casual game audience:
"Dragon Hatchery lets players open their very own mystical hatchery! Match colored eggs to hatch baby dragons, then feed and care for your baby dragons to nurse them into adulthood. Dragon Hatchery combines a unique match 3+ game with a time management game. If you are a publisher or distributor please contact me to get a preview of this title."
Dragon Hatchery features:
- Match colored eggs to hatch baby dragons
- Feed and care for them in your own hatchery
- Use powerups, coins, and jewels to help your quest
- Unique match-3 and management game in one
- Will you be able to save dragonkind?
Website at http://www.redthumbgames.com/dragonhatchery/
Gary Preston and Christophe Canon are the programmer and artist respectively, and the game is made with an earlier version of TGB (T2D).
It's a refreshing change of pace to be working on a casual game after Shelled. It's erroneous to say that casual games are more simple to make than hardcore games. True, you don't have 3D modeling and rendering, 3D level editors, client/server networking, etc. Casual games may have less technical challenges (which may be one reason why indie programmers aren't drawn to making them, they think they're "too easy" to make, no challenge = no fun). But casual games typically need more time balacing gameplay, iterating art and effects, and ensuring broad accessibility (the greatest of the challenges). They're not easier to make per se, they just take a different skillset. And with fewer variables in 2D than 3D, there's less to screw up on (the cam for example, which is fixed). However, those elements that you DO have remaining, need to be perfect. Why? Because you're competing with Peggle, and that game is liquid digital crack.
To that end I will be attending the 3-day Casual Game Conference in Seattle this upcoming week, with meetings scheduled with a dozen casual game publishers to talk about Dragon Hatchery (Shelled is too hardcore and mostly off the table to discuss). If you are a publisher or distributor (or even if you're just going to the conference) I would love to hear from you! Please note that I am going as myself, not as a representative of GarageGames; please contact GG if you have business with them.
Well that's all from here for this weekend. I hope you enjoyed the update, and expect to hear more about Shelled and Dragon Hatchery in upcoming months.
Keep making indie games and keep the dream alive!
Josh
About the author
#2
07/20/2008 (4:40 am)
Congrats Joshua, I also know the feeling of getting that first sale, it's an important and special moment in every developers life so enjoy it as it can only ever happen once! It's also very wise to not just wait for the sales to come in and start on that next project. So good wishes for the future project(s) and I look forward to seeing your hopefully upward progress! :) 
#3
Congrats on getting Shelled online out the door. Your new game sounds cute and interesting.
07/20/2008 (7:27 am)
Quote:InstantAction already passedAre they nuts???
Congrats on getting Shelled online out the door. Your new game sounds cute and interesting.
#4
-Jeff Tunnell, Independent Game Maker
07/20/2008 (12:00 pm)
Way to go Josh. Shelled should be on IA.-Jeff Tunnell, Independent Game Maker
#5
07/20/2008 (9:30 pm)
hats off joshua :) 
#7
07/21/2008 (12:12 am)
Heck yeah man! Congratulations on your first sale. I remember the first sale I ever saw, it came just a few hours after we put Aerial Antics up for the soft launch on the OLD Leadfoot Productions site November 2003. It was really great knowing that someone thought enough of something I worked on to plunk down some hard earned cash and more than that was the fact that they were spending that on something just for fun not because they needed it. Good luck with Dragon Hatchery, that looks like a solid product. Reminds me of that other puzzle game you did which was going to be a Shelled bonus game but perhaps with some additional gameplay. I like the look of the bottom screen shot with the little dragons sitting in the circle. 
#8
08/07/2008 (5:34 am)
Congrats Josh... 
#9
Having experienced the Joy of making sales in your sleep, I've gotta say it truly is an awesome experience waking up with more money that you went to bed with.
Congrats dude,
-Justin
08/18/2008 (8:08 am)
Way to go Josh, the game looks great! Having experienced the Joy of making sales in your sleep, I've gotta say it truly is an awesome experience waking up with more money that you went to bed with.
Congrats dude,
-Justin
Torque 3D Owner Eric Forhan
Congrats on the sale and I hope there are many more. :)