Going Old School, and then back to New :P

[NihilVulture]

Yo peeps! It's me, NihilVulture, the man of torture! LOL

Been awhile since I been in Jolt Country, just turned 30 last month... My whole 20's flashed before my eyes :(

Anyways, I been working on my IF game for days, called DELTERRA. Which is a mixture of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. And of course I am using ALAN 2 as my engine. Very strong it is in the force.... oops! Anyways I am taking a small break, maybe a few days, but I want to make a tribute to the old school... Like Scott Adams and the boys at Graeme Yeandle of Gilsoft legends (i.e. the Quill). So I downloaded Scottcom and Bunyon Interpreter.

It will be simple Text Adventure, with like: You are at a lake. You see a sword. You can go North or East.

You get the picture... I intend to sell my games if I make over 10 of these bad boys, for only 6 or 8 usd on Lulu... But that may not be tactical, unless I can get one ya guys to say "Hey, I would love to buy an old school game like that!"

I know that something of DELTERRA's caliber can be marketable, I just hope there's a few out there with a heart to look for an old game style in a new age :)

My intentions are to make the games either seperate or in a compilation placed into Data DVD or CD packages (which Lulu creates). But the first game will be called "CROWN OF XOTH: Fortress of the Death Wizard." When it is done, I will take beta testers, who will of course receive CoX as a freebie along with any other game they play :) I am not a professional, nor do I promise to finish EVERY project, but at least I can get this done within a week's focus.

Well guys, see yall later!

[NihilVulture]

So far so good, I got my locations done, just need the items, characters and the logic to finish it up.

My new stance on the game is, is that the text adventures are free for download upon complition. Plus it will be catalogued for a disk for the series, when all is finished.

I think that wll be even smarter then charging one text game at a time; seeing how the room is described Scott Adam's style (I am in a Maze).

[Flack]

Just out of curiosity, what is the current state of people trying to make money off of their IF work?

[NihilVulture]

Flack, there are a small handful of peeps, selling IF, like the Hugo made super human kid game, Malicnhe Entertainment is (but kinda steep priced) at the moment one of the few companies who make marketable Interactive Fiction.

I think it's a person's choice to makret what they want. First off I differ the Text Adventure from IF. IF is more interactive then Text Adventures. Text Adventures through my studies, make only verb-noun parser/command line commands

While IF is more involving. Sometimes allowing or not allowing puzzles. More of an interactive novel if you will. I would sell DELTERRA for 10 usd, but I am not selling the software as an upload. If I am investing to make 10 usd software, I want the best look possible. So it might be on a DVD or CD. Most likely CD.

But ask yourself this, Flack, and it si not being ugly...

If people shoudln't sell IF or Text Adventures, then why are we selling books and other games? And for retro sakes, why sell revamped shooters of old classics? And most of all, why is DnD still selling to this day? If we cover roguelikes, then why does Diablo sell even to this day? Because it captures a certain audiance. I am not gonna go outta my way to sell my work for over 15 usd. I am selling it for the time I invest, and the packaging there in. Not because it will or will not make me a proffit...

[Flack]

I think you may have misunderstood my question. I wasn't implying that you shouldn't try and sell your game(s) -- I was just asking if anyone was currently successful in trying to sell IF in general.