New batch of screenshots!

Sorry for the lack of updates! Here are a few screenshots! Expect a new trailer very soon and a release date!

Developper Diary #9: How soon is now?

So here I am.

Right now, i'm finishing the port of Death Pirate for Android. I was pretty scared at the amount of work and the complexity of the task but, actually, it was pretty easy (in spite of a few Game Maker issues that got me stuck for a few days... :-/ ).

At first, I wanted to add a lot more stuff and release a new mini game in a free version of the game. In the end, I did none of that. The vanilla game already had a lot of contents. It would have taken me a lot of time to make the new graphics, code a new mode and think about the new concepts. A friend of mine, who is also a developper, told me that it would be better to use this time to polish my game instead of adding new clunky modes and butchered graphics. At first, I thought he was wrong.

I think most of the appeal of Death Pirate comes from its story, characters and universe. So I wanted to add more of that, to expand the license to make it richer and attract more people. To give his idea a try, I revamped the game menu to make it more dynamic and more pro. And then I realized he was right.

Adding more content in an amateurish game would be useless. And my game is already 26 stages long and features 7 playable characters. It was enough. I had to do that polish and make some publicity to give the game a true second chance. Then goes away then the idea of a free version. I'm against demoes. I think they kill the magic that happens when you play a game for the first time. It's more frustrating than anything else as you don't get the real scope of the game.That's why I wanted to make a specific new mini game that would be included in the full version but also released as a free game. Well, it won't happen. Well, not now.

Right now, I'm in a big bug chase. And there are a lot.

Buma

Developer Diary #8: Change of mind

2500 units?! It was way beyond my expectations!!! I sold the game for 4.99 dollars and it sold 2500 units! Amazing!!!

And Desura paid me... 400 dollars?! Hum... Let's see: 2500*5=12500 dollars... 12500-400=12100 dollars. Yeah... I really accepted a very bad deal. That's OK, I signed, I take the blame. But no more Desura for me.

So now, I have a few questions... Of course, I wouldn't have sold that many games through my website. Because selling a PC game outside of a store is just suicidal. Nobody cares about your game, even if it is a masterpiece. But it would have sold as much and perhaps even more on a platform like Steam or GooglePlay with a much better deal. Is that so? Then there is the genre of the game. HMDP is full-fleshed game with many characters, many stages and modes, unlockables and complex gameplay. PC gamers are supposedly more attracted to this hardcoregaming type. It is a different thing on android. There, we have free, simplistic, time killing, applications. Would it fare as good? To port a platformer on tablet is quite an ordeal as you have to greatly simplify stuff. It might even end up a completely different game... But to make it simpler would actually get rid of the clunkiness of some mechanics and make it more "in-your-face"... Hum... That might be interesting.

This pushed me to port the game on Android: much better deal and perhaps even more exposure though more competition... Well... In front of the previous result, I HAVE TO do it. Frankly.

Buma

Death Pirate SP: Features

Death Pirate SP is a new upgraded version of Heavy Metal Death Pirate for Android. Here is a run-down of all its features:

- Totally revamped gameplay especially made for android. The focus now is more on the shoot'em up elements as the player can fly freely around the levels.

- All characters have been rebalanced so their gameplay has been adjusted for the new support. Lackluster characters such as Backhorn and Mifune are now able to compete with the others.

- The ending has been expanded and many bosses have been remade.

- A new difficulty setting appears! You can fight now fiercer and stronger enemies for more GOLD!

- Many, many bugs have been corrected.

- The game speed has been greatly accelerated without any impact on the performances.

- Some portraits have been redrawn.

- An all new menu interface for Android.

The game will be released very soon- probably around february 2015. More infos coming soon!