Would you play an ERE computer game? (GREENLIT)

[TheWanderingScholar]

Where is the kickstarter for this game?

[TopHatFox]

After I opened up the Sea of Ambition, I constantly hear the wind sound no matter what location I'm in.

Also, when I landed on the Port of Ambition with my boat, the boat got "stuck" on the wood of the port; I was unable to move the boat out of the port after that.

[Ian]

Where is the kickstarter for this game?

Not yet created. I'm actually 90% of the way there, and I'd hoped to start it up this week, but Amazon Payments is being frustrating about approving my identity.

After I opened up the Sea of Ambition, I constantly hear the wind sound no matter what location I'm in.

Also, when I landed on the Port of Ambition with my boat, the boat got "stuck" on the wood of the port; I was unable to move the boat out of the port after that.

Are you playing the newest version? I just recently fixed a problem with the wind sound, but if you have the newest version and it still hasn't gone away, then I'm not sure what the problem is.

I see what you mean about the port. It'll be fixed in the next version, but meanwhile all problems with lost or stuck vehicles can be fixed by teleporting back to the castle.

[Ian]

Amazon Payments isn't the greatest system, but their customer service is nowhere near as awful as I've seen reported. After some communication there, my account is approved and so I think I'm close to ready. Check out this preview link and provide comments/criticism:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/10 ... n=c8a92e25

I know I'm not great with audio/video, but I did what I could to put together an intro. I'd like to launch my campaign this weekend, so criticism is welcome sooner rather than later.

[Ian]

Alright, everyone, the Kickstarter is LIVE and counting down!
(url: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/10 ... icle-quest)

I wish I'd had a little longer to get everyone's feedback on the project pitch, but weekends are good times to launch and I don't want to delay this any further. Feedback is still welcome, and obviously the alpha testers will continue to iron out various bugs. (Alphas: there's a new version of the game at your link, with an assorted collection of improvements and a few necessary fixes in the post-game.)

Any of you who are interested in pledging to this project, it'd be great if you did so sooner rather than later. This stage with less than 30% backed is the stage where most projects fail, so it would be nice to get over that obstacle early. My offer to play the game early and for free is still valid for anyone who has posted in this thread before, though you might want to wait until the alpha testers have polished it up a little more.

I think that's all I have to say for now. It begins...

[Ian]

Goal passed! This forum has been quiet, but I have referral data and I know you guys have been pledging - many thanks!

This is a busy day to have this happen at work, so I haven't even written the announcement on Kickstarter yet. There will be some new information about platforms, new backer tiers, stretch goals, and other things. But I wanted to let you guys know first.

[DutchGirl]

Congratulations, Ian! And now, onwards...

[JamesR]

I was looking at the kickstarter page, and thinking about the mac support. I remembered that there are some extremely well done wine (windows emulator) wrappers for games. It might work quite well for this because I'm guessing the game engine isn't doing anything too fancy, and should be well supported emulation wise. Might be a quick way to get cross platform support.

[jacob]

I can translate into Danish for the one or two Danes who don't speak English already

[Ian]

Congratulations, Ian! And now, onwards...

Thanks!

I was looking at the kickstarter page, and thinking about the mac support. I remembered that there are some extremely well done wine (windows emulator) wrappers for games. It might work quite well for this because I'm guessing the game engine isn't doing anything too fancy, and should be well supported emulation wise. Might be a quick way to get cross platform support.

Yes, this is definitely something to consider (especially since the licensing on the engine looks to be a thorny issue). I would guess that the game wouldn't be hard for Wine and equivalents to run, but I don't have a machine to test it on.

I can translate into Danish for the one or two Danes who don't speak English already

Heh. I'm happy to cover as many new versions as people want, but each translation will be a fair bit of work.

[jacob]

Attention!

Only $19 away from reaching the stretch goal of $1000.

[Dragline]

It is done. The project is now officially in the "Zone of Winning."

I have Charlie Sheen to thank for that phrase.

One of my life's goals is to spend a lot of time there, although perhaps not how he envisioned it.

[Ian]

When I woke up this morning, I saw the notification for a $19 pledge and wondered why... and then I saw the total. Major thanks to whichever one of you brought this project to $1000. In addition to being a nice round number and a new digit, the project is 210% funded. I'm overwhelmed by the amount of support shown.

I'm also happy that based on my referral numbers, that support isn't just from ERE-minded people. A solid chunk is from here and the MMM forum, or the banner ad from people already reading ERE, but the majority are people with no apparent exposure to the idea. If I play a small role in convincing any of them to live their lives a little more efficiently, I'll be satisfied.

Having said that, I'd like to see if I can keep up the momentum and get Linux/Mac supported as well. This is the last stage of the campaign, so it can be critical for total numbers. If anyone has any spendthrift relatives with more money than sense...

More seriously, if anyone is moved to share the project, now is a good time. I've been doing some cross-promotion that's seen some results and I'll be putting up new pledge tiers to see if I can appeal to any of the big fish on Kickstarter that only back winners. For a money-free way to help, if anyone here uses Wine or another Windows emulator, send me a PM and we'll do some testing.

[C40]

If there's a Mac port I'd like to test it

[Ian]

Thanks for the offers - I'll get back to you if we reach that stage. Right now we're working on testing in Wine as a partial measure (or other Windows emulators, I'd like to get as much compatibility as possible).

[Ian]

We've tested Linux emulation and I'm hoping for Mac, but I'm here to announce that the campaign has entered its final four days. If it stays at this level I can make the game I intended, but I'm hoping for a final surge since that's the traditional pattern on Kickstarter.

I've also opened up alternate payment options if anyone doesn't like Kickstarter or Amazon. All pledge levels are available via alternate methods as well.

[Ian]

Final 48 hours! Meanwhile, two questions:
1) I'm going to set up a little forum to coordinate translators - does anyone have a strong preference for which free forum provider is best?
2) Does anyone here use WINE on Mac? I have a very simple/short test I'd like to run.

[workathome]

Have you seen this?

http://winebottler.kronenberg.org

[Ian]

I've been working to get the game WINE-compatible, but this might make that process even easier. Unless I missed an option, though, there's no way to pre-package a game, so I can't test. Anyone want to give it a try?

[C40]

I've got a Mac and some time to test. PM with instructions.