Topic: Would love to get feedback on my WiiWare game

Well long story short, our plan to make some money didn't exactly pan out (I don't think I'm allowed to say anything beyond that). Plus our only programmer didn't want to go through another round of development hell (believe me, making a game even on the scale of Eduardo is extremely difficult when you have no budget and have to make the game in your spare time--and when it's your first game on top of everything else, heh) so he moved on to other things (or will shortly, with our little iphone app done and almost ready to go). I'm personally going to pursue game development, this is my passion and as easy as it would make life I am not going to give up this goal. That's not my personality. I've been working on several concepts, that, if I find the right programmers, I'd like to turn into games for XNA or iphone. I'm also doing some art for a PC game. Aaand I'm trying to see if there are jobs in the industry out there where I could fit in. If I'm going to be working on my own projects in my spare time, I might as well have a paying job in the games industry instead of working for the university. What better way to become a better developer, right?

To answer a couple other q's...

Speaking for half of the people here, why was Eduardo the Samurai Toaster not released in Europe?

We wanted to but couldn't afford it.

Now that Semnat doesn't exist anymore (why?) is Eduardo an abandoned project? Or is it still open for publishers?

Do you mean as an IP, or if publishers can pick it up for an other-region release?

Are you still interested in WiiWare development?

If it's working with another team, sure. But we won't be able to make any more WiiWare titles.

Oh and thanks again to all of the criticism you guys have given us, I do appreciate it! And don't worry none of it is too negative.

I haven't played this. I think a reason might have been what Adam said. I like a game to be challenging without my having to make it that way. I agree with what Sean says about having scores and leaderboard, online if possible, but at least a way to save scores. That's something I don't like about another wiiware game Gravatonix, I never got it. If it had a way to save things that would have been better (including their options).
You have to find ways to motivate people to play your game and keep coming back to it. Killer instinct said something differant on the easy mode compared to the higher one i played. It said something like (prob not exact),"So you beat the game on easy. I hope you're proud of yourself", something like that.
Also it's nice to find out something new when you come back to play a game. Animal Crossing: City folk does this and it makes you want to go back to it.
Hope this helps. I know I didnt play it. Might be useful hearing why someone didn't get it.
One more thing. Maybe you could have added the differant difficultys (the hard, at least) as unlockables too.
Good luck on your next game.

We got a lot of feedback on difficulty, and that was the most surprising aspect to us. Personally I like having a choice, and don't like it when games force a difficulty level on me. Eduardo can be pretty dang tough if you so choose (very hard mode with 1 life, try to beat it that way!), but I wanted to give players the choice. However, gamers don't seem to like that and need certain presentation and incentive when it comes to those things, and I definitely understand that perspective and would change things with a sequel.

As for leaderboards and all of that, that would be filed under "no resources". We bit off more than we could chew!

I like choice, too. I just prefer it presented as a sort of alternative mode. The gamer doesn't know the game half as well as the designer does, so he doesn't know what settings would be the most fair. You have to tinker too much to get something that works right, something many won't feel like putting the time and effort into. Very Hard with 1 life would just be unrealistic for the vast majority, so I never even bothered that.

@semnat I never played the game (i have limited funds due to having 2 black holes;kids;) im in for shooters & rpgs. But im sorry to hear you wont be releasing anymore Wiiware titles. we need all the titles we can get. I completely understand how costly it is to make a game. Im mainly posting here because you mentioned making iphone apps. Question is you gunna make and Android apps???????????
ps I hope you can someday revisit wiiware theres alot of ideas that are out there that need to be made

Please don't forget the Wii Ware market in you future endevors. The iphone market is pretty crowded, so look at all methods of digital distribution for your future games.

There are quite a number of risks involved in wiiware development, but I don't believe I can talk about any of them in detail. Unless I got a job working for a wiiware developer, I will not be making any more wiiware games I'm afraid. Even if our programmer still wanted to work on games, which he does not, it would be too much of a risk. I wish I could elaborate!

hoodtrix: maybe Android apps down the road!

Sorry to hear about your situation. I had really hoped to see you guys go into WW development even further (Eduardo had some potential as a new IP/series) but I understand that the tremendous risks involved, financial and otherwise, can completely turn you away from coming back when your first game didn't sell too well. Although I won't touch on it directly, but I'm sure this is where the issue lies, in the unit sales. It saddens me to hear about things like this happening to indie developers. Honestly, I don't know what else to say.

Oh and by the way, the aspect about having choice of difficulty was a good decision. Don't be swayed otherwise. All the best with your future endeavours!

Am I the only one who didn't like the backgrounds? I prefer background art that has a decent amount of different colors and is actually drawn to resemble a landscape, building, etc., even if it's just cartoony.

These people who hate customisable difficulty settings are fools. It's the reason why I still have yet to beat Mega Man 9...

Best of luck to you!

I haven't played the game, but I've always planned on buying it. I love highly stylized games, but it just looked like it didn't have a lot of replay value. From what I've seen, though, it looks like you guys really put a lot of effort into it.

I think my main issue is that there wasn't anything to do after I beat it. Something like a survival mode or being able to select a certain level to play again would have been great. Otherwise, the game played very well and I loved the visuals.

What do you mean, select a certain level to play again? You can do that from the very start.

There is a toaster shaped hole on my SD card menu. As and when it is released in Europe, I shall be downloading it. Any idea if and when it will be? EDIT: Nevermind, read the thread properly now...

Do it. Android is gonna kick Apples ass, and you wanna slice o' that pie.

Bit early in the evening for that isn't it?

I don't get it. Help me out here. 0.o

_{he's taking the p' aint he... no I'm not paranoid, much}

please dont take this the wrong way but you obviously dont work in the cellphone industry saying what you just said. I do and have for 8yrs and honestly Im no fanboy of apple or Palm web os or WM or Android. I i just know whats good and whats not. Indeed apple changed the cell phone industry as we knew it. However it has become stale (im only talking OS here not carrier) Android is the "Next big thing" unless Mr. Jobs pulls something crazy out of nothing.

sorry didnt mean to high jack the thread

There was reason to return for it's co-op amongst friends. But obviously, scores would've worked well here.

I couldn't get into this game very much myself because, to me, it's a button-masher, having to fire fire fire so much til your thumb hurts. I guess I'm not cut out for this speed of shooters.

I liked the art style though (backgrounds and whimsy).

If a publisher can pick it up for EU / JP release and how much will it cost?