Quotes From the Interweb

Storybook Tactics is easily one of the best strategy games on the 360 and the best of the genre I've played all year, and that's including XBLA and retail 360 releases.

Wow. Just wow.

Storybook Tactics, on the other hand, provides engaging and accessible tactical fun without compromising depth.

Indie Game of the Week from DealSpwn. I'm quite happy with that, since Tempura of the Dead came out the same week.

in only my fifth or sixth battle, I was using the Pirate's "Flash Powder" to keep three enemies stunned each turn, while a Knight lowered their Defense and a Legionnaire picked them off two at a time.

From xbla ratings. I think that's a great description.

I'm a bit disappointed with the rating on the channel itself, but I'm not surprised. It doesn't have the immediate payoff and instant hook to be really successful on the platform. Sales have been pretty poor if I'm honest, but I don't mind. I'm just happy to make a game I enjoy.

Also, in the comment for the first review I found this:

There is little real info about it anywhere inline and the demo is too short to get a feel for the game.

Eek!

Contact Info

It seems I don't have any contact info anywhere convenient. If you want to get a hold of me, drop me an email at alex.nelson@mercurywave.net.

I'm only now discovering all these websites that cover XBLIG, if you've stumbled on the game and want a copy for review on your website, please drop me a line or leave a comment here.

Once the real world calms down and I have some time, I plan on writing a postmortem for Storybook Tactics. I'm always a fan of video game postmortems, I'll probably end up getting carried away and have to break it into pieces.

New Dashboard

I figure I should say something about the new dashboard. In the update, Microsoft moved the indie games channel under something called "Specialty Shops". The immediate reaction from the internet was that this was a Microsoft snub, with some people going a bit further. We've got at least another couple weeks before sales data comparisons are meaningful, and I have some thoughts on the change.

I don't think this is actually that bad. I won't go so far as to say it's a good thing, but it isn't the end of the world. They haven't come out and said it, but I suspect some actual market research went into the moving menu.

It's hard to say exactly what the market looks like for the indie games channel, all we know is what games sell well. I suspect the sort of people who wander into the indie games channel and actually plop down money on a game are the same sorts of people who spend money on the avatar goodies and game room games. I think this target market is heavily invested in the services offered by xbox live, and is willing to spend the money (and I think more crucially - the time) to investigate the service, try games out, and purchase the good ones.

I imagine that a team at Microsoft looked at the marketing data when working on the final dashboard menu setups. They probably looked at the data and saw a correlation between the downloads and purchases from storefront A and storefront B, and put them into the same sub menu. That would be a logical move, and should be a benefit to sales for both. This is all guesswork of course. Marketing data of this sort is generally a trade secret, all we'll get is the generic press release.

Some of the other changes are quite nice, and I think much more important than the menu location. The longer lists were really needed, and navigating through games and viewing game pages is a lot nicer. The real question is whether the move and improvements translate to higher sales. In another week, we can get probably start getting some decent numbers, but until then we can only guess.

The Press-Releasening

I totally wasn't prepared for my game being released. Last I checked I still needed like 7 more reviewers. I found out it was approved when I checked my email at work, and it was on the marketplace by the time I got home.

I've written up a press-release-thingy. It has bullet points. I don't have much else to say about it.

Mercury Wave Studio is proud to announce the release of our first video game, available now on the Xbox Live Indie Game marketplace for just 80p (~1USD).

Storybook Tactics is a turn-based tactical strategy game with a unique pixel art style. Necromancers have cast a mind-controlling spell over the great warriors of the land. It's up to a squire and a wizard in training, along with whatever help they can find, to defeat the necromancers and lift the spell. Explore the world and defeat the cursed warriors to free them and recruit them to your team. Choose who you send into battle wisely - each warrior’s unique skills will be useful in the fight ahead.

• More than 20 levels - from swamps to caves, and temples to pirate ships
• More than 25 unique characters to recruit
• Explore a large, branching world map
• Think it's too easy? After defeating the necromancers, try hard mode for a real challenge.
• All this, for just a dollar (80 points)

You can find screenshots and a trailer for the game on the marketplace page, here.

Did I mention it's only a dollar? Because at 80 points - it is.

Now to send off some review copies.

I can now say I am a video game developer

Oh. And like that it's for sale on the marketplace.

Woah

My game's been approved and will be on the market place within two days.

[neo]
Woah
[/neo]

I hadn't been tracking it's progress very closely, this is a delightful surprise.