Love AI War and/or Tidalis? We could really use your help...

[mlaskus]

Thanks for the screenshots Keith.

Ah, right, I forgot about the filesize. Yeah, it is animated so it is quite big... :/ But that is only a problem if you actually have to upload it to their server. If you keep it on imageshack or imgur, or pretty much anywhere else they probably won't be bothered by it. Unless, ofcourse, they don't want the forum pages to load long, and that's why they limit the size.

I can make a shorter version later, but first I will concentrate on creating a nice full version. Cutting it into smaller pieces will take me no time then.

EDIT:
@Spikey00
Programmer humour? You are a bad, bad person Spikey

[Lancefighter]

:\ no their rules state any signature must be within their size.. they dont offer any imagehosting..

[keith.lamothe]

:\ no their rules state any signature must be within their size.. they dont offer any imagehosting..

I think it's very clear that CCP doesn't want other games advertised through those banners, even if it does fit within the file size.  A more relevant question is how many bytes other forums are likely to tolerate, as that helps determine the number of frames we have to work with.

[TheMachineIsSentient]

When you get a banner going, post it for everyone to spread the word.

[Rustayne]

I had an idea for Tidalis for you guys.  Is there any reason you guys couldn't set yourselves up with the big casual websites, like Yahoo! Games, or Shockwave.com, or Real Arcade?  I'd imagine if your trying to target the casual market, these venues would be a great place to put Tidalis in.  My wife is very big in casual games, and those 3 are the main websites she tends to go to play.  I would assume there are probably more venues, but for the most part, I'd imagine that Steam and Impulse aren't where most casual gamers are.  Most use steam for Valve games, or are gamers in general, and Impulse if you like Stardock products, or want to be able to play a game without Impulse running.

The other suggestions throughout this post have been very well thought out, and would of been some of my recommendations as well.  I do really hope you guys can get through this rough patch.  You guys are wonderful people, and your company beliefs and values are a very important aspect to why I love you guys.  You stay true to your fanbase, instead of milking them like most companies.  

[x4000]

We got in touch with BigFishGames just today.  Shockwave just does flash stuff, to my knowledge.  RealArcade, Yahoo! Games and such actually already distribute AI War, but my contact there has gone rather cold after AI War didn't do much there (just the wrong market, really).  I need to prod him harder to see about Tidalis, you're right.

One other idea we've been batting around is doing a $6.99 micro-expansion for AI War in the November timeframe.  A different focus from CoN by a long-shot, but no features have been finalized and it's still just a maybe-maybe sort of idea.  The idea would be to lump in a bunch of easy-to-add but high-value new features that would be exciting for folks but that we could get done in a month total.  But what are the reactions to that here?  Basically, the idea being that this expansion + CoN would equal in total a bit more content and such than TZR did by itself -- then later, the fourth expansion sometime next year would be full-sized on its own.

No promises, but I just wanted to test the waters and get an early reaction from folks.  So... thoughts?

[keith.lamothe]

No promises, but I just wanted to test the waters and get an early reaction from folks.  So... thoughts?

Yea, we've got some cool ideas, so it wouldn't just be tossing a bunch of stuff in a (virtual) box and selling it... but I really don't want y'all to feel like we're over-milking the AI War cow.  I'm very interested in what people think about the idea of another medium-sized expansion.

[TheMachineIsSentient]

I like the idea Chris. There are a lot of things that we could use... Do think you could throw in some bug fixes as well (I really need to fix for what is breaking my game, even restarting on a new game is not fixing it)?

If this is an expansion after the unity release, perhaps you could be celebrating that with maybe a new graphic for ship weapon fire. Anyway, I like the idea of you dropping some downloadable content for money, I'm up for that. If you could throw in even a couple game changing features and some bug fixes, you got my money.

[keith.lamothe]

Oh, we'll fix the bugs for free (for all customers) as always, that's a given

Could you refresh my memory on the showstopper you're facing?

[Rustayne]

Well oddly enough, Shockwave isn't all flash games.  You can download full games from them as well, with an hour time limit, and then buy said game.  They also offer a membership as well, to which if you play 9.95 a month and you can play their full selection.  I don't know for sure how this translates into making money but that is what my wife has told me.  As far as Yahoo, and RealArcade (Gamehouse now), I couldn't locate AI War in either of them.  So they have either been pulled, or are not in their database to search for.  Wife also mentioned a site called IWin.com that offer services like yahoo and such.  I took a quick browse over there and noticed a couple bigger name games, like Puzzle quest 2, for instance, that is it's own game.  

As far as your idea for a $6.99 micro-expansion for AI war, I think that would be fine by most of the loyal base.  Most of us are understanding and care about the issues here at hand, and would love to help out if we could.  If it is something that is feasible to do, then I'd say go for it.  I'd be gladly to pick it up personally.  I don't think your overmilking it, as the Charity with CoN can be marketed alot differently due to the fact that it is for a charity and not for your personal gain.  Yes, it was an extra 4 bucks, but it went to somewhere good, and most people have no issue with donating a few bucks to a charity that will aid and help kids out.  Marketing wise, that is how I would handle it if there were to be opposition that your releasing too many expansions.  

[dumpsterKEEPER]

No promises, but I just wanted to test the waters and get an early reaction from folks.  So... thoughts?

Yea, we've got some cool ideas, so it wouldn't just be tossing a bunch of stuff in a (virtual) box and selling it... but I really don't want y'all to feel like we're over-milking the AI War cow.  I'm very interested in what people think about the idea of another medium-sized expansion.

Personally, I'd be happy to buy any new expansion (micro or otherwise) that you guys might come out with that expands the AI War universe. I haven't been able to spend as much time hanging around the forums for a while due to RL stuff, but I'm happy to continue supporting Arcen (and encouraging those I know to do the same) as I've really enjoyed everything you've put out so far.

[TheMachineIsSentient]

http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,7048.0.html
This is my bug, the mercenary dock isn't working properly. Even starting a new game...that's why I was initially suggesting I reinstall unless it is due to the configuration of the game that I create.

Do you prefer private messages( do we even do that on this forum?)?

[Shardz]

We got in touch with BigFishGames just today.  Shockwave just does flash stuff, to my knowledge.  RealArcade, Yahoo! Games and such actually already distribute AI War, but my contact there has gone rather cold after AI War didn't do much there (just the wrong market, really).  I need to prod him harder to see about Tidalis, you're right.

One other idea we've been batting around is doing a $6.99 micro-expansion for AI War in the November timeframe.  A different focus from CoN by a long-shot, but no features have been finalized and it's still just a maybe-maybe sort of idea.  The idea would be to lump in a bunch of easy-to-add but high-value new features that would be exciting for folks but that we could get done in a month total.  But what are the reactions to that here?  Basically, the idea being that this expansion + CoN would equal in total a bit more content and such than TZR did by itself -- then later, the fourth expansion sometime next year would be full-sized on its own.

No promises, but I just wanted to test the waters and get an early reaction from folks.  So... thoughts?

Yeah! My thoughts are "sign me up!"! 

I pretty much auto-purchase AI War expansions without even thinking about it, so I might be the wrong one to ask...but, yes, I love the idea of more content in whatever way you decide to produce it. You could do a nice major story arc that would branch off in some obscure direction to keep us all on our toes...or maybe to provide alternate game modes or something. Whatever it is, count me in.

[Vinraith]

I think for most folks here a new AI War expansion would be an automatic purchase. I know I'd buy it, probably twice.

[Sizzle]

As far as a micro expansion, at that price point it would pretty much be an automatic buy for me.   For one thing, anything I can get several hours of entertainment from that costs less than movie tickets is an automatic win.  Secondly, you've already cemented your reputation as one of the better development teams out there for community interaction, which clinches it for me, really.