Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby brooss » 13 Sep 2012, 05:39

TumbleGonk is a complete casual game that for various reasons was never published. A new indiegogo.com campaign aims to raise the required funds ($850) to release the game code and art under an open source license.

For more information or to contribute please see the campagin page http://igg.me/p/226582?a=1223497
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby qubodup » 13 Sep 2012, 08:35

Hi and thanks for sharing. I just dropped in $5 (Privately, FreeGameDev doesn't have a budget.)

It is very good that you are specific about what licenses you will use! And in general, the project text is so nice and lean and clear, no kilometer-long blah-blah!

I don't like the art too much but I find the spider-web-mode intriguing. There's also JAG but I'm not too sure about their content licensing. I watched the video (with no audio, i'm in a meeting).

Donators: If you want to contribute anonymously, you can use the attribution name "FreeGameDev <http://forum.freegamedev.net>" :)

tl;dr: this is a well-done campaign, chip in $5 already!

EDIT: I forgot to mentioned that the only thing missing is a screenshot (not everybody likes videos, YT is blocked in offices (and countries? sometimes people don't start videos because they are in a situation where they don't want audio and are not sure whether the audio is off on their computer :) ) But the title is a nice touch!

Social network spreading:
https://joindiaspora.com/posts/1949223
http://identi.ca/notice/96689224
https://plus.google.com/101855866416553 ... ngbjJBBJRm
https://www.facebook.com/fossgames/post ... 7347292229
https://twitter.com/qubodup/status/246150463068708865
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby brooss » 13 Sep 2012, 15:34

Thank you very much for the contribution and encouragement. I've added some screenshots to the campaign gallery like you suggested. Your help in making this campaign a success is very much appreciated and I'd certainly but interested in hearing any other suggestions you have.
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby qubodup » 20 Sep 2012, 09:58

2 more:
http://www.reddit.com/r/opensourcegames ... sify_cute/
http://www.fsdaily.com/EndUser/Puzzle_G ... SS_FreeArt

If you (brooss) have accounts on any of these platforms, you have to bump/retweet/favorite these messages.

I noticed "TumbleGonk is a complete casual game that was originally intended to be published on services like Steam, but for various reasons this never happened." which sounds like "we failed, so we went to IndieGoGo" which is an extremely negative statement and a bad way to introduce yourself :) Maybe you can come up with something nicer.

Also, the screenshots should be embedded in the main page. I don't think the gallery is really noticeable.
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby brooss » 20 Sep 2012, 22:58

Thank you for all your work in getting the word out on social media, it is very much appreciated. I've reworked the introduction on the campaign page and included a screen shot like you suggested to hopefully give a better first impression.

Any more tips about the indidegogo page or promoting the campaign are very welcome.
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby qubodup » 21 Sep 2012, 00:09

I'd make a Linux demo and start posting on the forums of Ubuntu, Fedora and others big Linux OSes. Probably with "Linux desktops are lacking polished casual games and with this project, we try to add one to the repertoire!"

I'm afraid I don't have the time to do any of this myself.

A video with sound would be good but might be very much work. On Linux, here's my current method.
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby qubodup » 21 Sep 2012, 09:38

All: could somebody provide some negative feedback please?

For example, I think that the visual style is perceivable as childish or ugly but I was hesitant to write that because there is no way to fix this in the scope of this campaign, making this a piece of non-constructive criticism. If I'm right about that the people who got in contact with this project think that it is ugly, I assume that this already is where most of them stop viewing the project or where they decide not to view it after seeing the preview image or video.

It could be that this game is not innovative (enough?) compared to existing freeware games or existing foss games or that the people who saw the campaign are not interested in (casual) games.

Anyways, it'd be interesting to just hear your first thoughts that made you reject the idea of supporting (by donating or social-web-promoting) this project. If you want, you can use http://www.sendanonymousemail.net/ or an equivalent at qubodup@gmail.com and I'll re-post.
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby charlie » 21 Sep 2012, 09:59

I think the issue is that it looks like a poorly done version of a very saturated style of game (there's tons of much nicer looking flash equivalents).

There's already an open source similar game in Crack Attack. I know there's a few features in TumbleGonk that are not in Crack Attack, but the latter frankly looks much nicer, and has it's own unique features too.

There's nothing about TumbleGonk that makes you think, "That's a great idea!" Or, "That's really well done!" It just looks like some student project that was done in a few days and now the author is trying to cash in. It is incredibly uninspiring.

Unfortunately I don't think there's a fix for that.
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby MCMic » 21 Sep 2012, 13:31

charlie {l Wrote}:I think the issue is that it looks like a poorly done version of a very saturated style of game (there's tons of much nicer looking flash equivalents).

There's already an open source similar game in Crack Attack. I know there's a few features in TumbleGonk that are not in Crack Attack, but the latter frankly looks much nicer, and has it's own unique features too.

There's nothing about TumbleGonk that makes you think, "That's a great idea!" Or, "That's really well done!" It just looks like some student project that was done in a few days and now the author is trying to cash in. It is incredibly uninspiring.

Unfortunately I don't think there's a fix for that.

Yep, I agree with this.
I don't like crack attack, but JAG is definitely a good game in this genre.
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby brooss » 24 Sep 2012, 12:58

Thanks for providing your opinions.

I've created a new video and added it to the campaign, I'd be interested to hear your impression of it.

I'd make a Linux demo and start posting on the forums of Ubuntu, Fedora and others big Linux OSes. Probably with "Linux desktops are lacking polished casual games and with this project, we try to add one to the repertoire!"

I'd love to do this but the SDL2 dependency makes this difficult on Linux. I don't think SDL2 is available in the repositories of any of the major distros yet and I understand that statically linking SDL2 is difficult and legally questionable. I'm also willing to provide the source and let users compile on their own systems, but again, this requires them to have/get SDL2. Any suggestions are welcome.

It just looks like some student project that was done in a few days and now the author is trying to cash in.

Can you elaborate on what gives you this impression? Is it just from looking at the video/screenshots or is there something in the written description? Do you think that $850 is an unreasonable amount to ask for?
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby charlie » 24 Sep 2012, 16:32

brooss {l Wrote}:Can you elaborate on what gives you this impression? Is it just from looking at the video/screenshots or is there something in the written description? Do you think that $850 is an unreasonable amount to ask for?


Of course I can elaborate. :)

First, is $850 an unreasonable amount to ask for? No, not at all. I'm sure it is a fair assessment of your time.

Secondly, the presentation - especially the video - is completely non-productive for your goal. It is just a gameplay video, and it shows nothing unique, nothing special, just a casual game with graphics that are ... adequate at best, 90s looking even (thick bevels that look like they were extracted from pre-dotcom-boom webdesign).

Compare this to the video for OGS Mahjong:


youtu.be/XdOzD_Hc2lQ

However, I'm not sure that a smooth video that actually introduces to the unique aspects of the game will be enough to increase interest, although it is certainly required.

Consider you are presenting a game that is a very saturated genre and the vast majority of these look a lot better.

You have to make a case for why your project is good and why it is good for the community that they pay to release the source. I don't see any of that. Just a hopeful plea.
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby charlie » 24 Sep 2012, 18:39

I'm not trying to rain on your parade by the way. I applaud the effort to both make the game and consider open source. I'm just being honest about why it is not getting any support. Perhaps also not enough people are seeing the campaign, but again I'm not sure that many more eyes would mean many more donations.
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby qubodup » 02 Oct 2012, 15:01

The new video definitely shows improvement on the graphics side!

youtu.be/HHbkTuHtXHo
(I recommend you use it as the campaign video and make an update post about the new art, ideally with a new screenshot)

As for the background, perhaps some of my colorful cc0/pd svg backgrounds might help or you can come up with something. They are not allowed to distract, so perhaps they would be better with translucent white over them (to make them less saturated).
http://opengameart.org/content/toon-pawn-rpg-set
http://opengameart.org/content/pyramid-background-0
http://opengameart.org/content/simple-h ... l-backdrop

As for sounds, they could use some improvement as well. I can't find any good sounds right now unfortunately and freesound.org is down :|


Is the spider-web game mode original by the way? Because if it is, it would be a good strategy to point that out in marketing. :)
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby qubodup » 17 Oct 2012, 22:27

1. Compare to http://www.indiegogo.com/monster-rpg-2- ... ame-engine
2. Add "puzzle" to "casual game" in the description (might be good for searches?...)
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby charlie » 17 Oct 2012, 22:57

I think my blunt response has discouraged him from posting here.
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby qubodup » 17 Oct 2012, 23:13

Taking a step back/not saying anything can be one of the better forms of taking criticism. :) (no irony/sarcasm intended)
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby charlie » 18 Oct 2012, 01:10

Sometimes it is cruel to be kind though. I didn't want to foster false hope; I don't ever see him being able to raise $850 for this project, no matter how much marketing effort he sinks in to it. It needs to be massively improved (the new tiles were a good start) to just stand aside the hundreds of similar free-to-play web games.
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby brooss » 19 Oct 2012, 11:07

I think my blunt response has discouraged him from posting here.

Not at all, I very much appreciated all the comments and suggestions in this thread. Was there something in particular you were expecting a reply to?
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Re: Open Source TumbleGonk - Indiegogo Campaign

Postby charlie » 21 Oct 2012, 01:05

Nope.
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