[Steve Ince]

Originally Posted by marsan

But yeah, I'd love to support this game. So I'm seriously considering buying it now. Steve's one of the best.

Thanks, you're very kind.

All that said. I would be more willing to spend the money if I got a cd version instead of just a code I can accidently delete if I am not careful(I am an expert in loosing e-mails with activation codes).

There's nothing to stop you burning your own CD, of course.

Originally Posted by Junkface

I keep meaning to buy it but only remember to late at night when my Mum's too asleep for me to borrow her credit card without upsetting my fickle conscience. However, I promise to purchase it tomorrow, god knows I've been considering it long eough. I think a major obstacle to many people accepting it may be the long load time at the beginning, as it is a somewhat worrying sign for people who haven't played the demo or are unfamiliar with your work. I realise this post is pretty pointless, as I trust that if it were something easily fixed you would have done so already but I somehow felt obliged to add that point anyhow. I'm saddened to hear the game hasn't done better for you, as it clearly is the product of a lot of talent and care.

Thanks for the kind words.
I've not been able to figure out why some people have long load times and not others. Also, it seems to grab more memory on some systems than others and I have no idea why it would need so much anyway - it's hardly cutting-edge graphics. It's the downfall of a generic engine, I guess.

Kolzig: I don't think I charged you enough.

[Kurufinwe]

Originally Posted by Steve Ince

Here's another question: Of the people who already bought it, do you feel you paid too much?

I can't exactly remember how much the game cost, but I know I found it much richer than I'd expected at first, so I definitely didn't feel cheated.

[jacog]

So can we order our action figures already? :-P

Hope it all takes a turn for the better, and if/when you do turn it around, do let us know what worked.

[Steve Ince]

Originally Posted by Kurufinwe

I can't exactly remember how much the game cost, but I know I found it much richer than I'd expected at first, so I definitely didn't feel cheated.

Thanks. that was exactly my intention. I thought that adventure gamers would enjoy that richness, but perhaps it's not something that comes through in the demo. My bad.

Originally Posted by jacog

So can we order our action figures already? :-P

Not quite yet...

Hope it all takes a turn for the better, and if/when you do turn it around, do let us know what worked.

Thanks. I will.

[SnorkleCat]

You can't blame people for not wanting to buy a game. If it isn't to their tastes there's nothing I can do, other than learn from the experience.

True...but I think it's more about finding the people who WILL like the game, and those people don't necessarily hang out on gaming forums. Take someone like me for instance. I never used to hang out on gaming sites and I never subscribed to any gaming literature, mostly because I felt that it wasn't aimed at me. I guess I was turned off by the covers of gaming mags and felt like it wasn't a culture that I could belong to, not being a teen boy....hence I never encountered any games at all. If someone had just handed me a copy of Mr. Smoozles on CD and said "Here try this" I would have, I'd have loved it, and then I'd have gone looking for more.
I guess what I'm saying is that there are a lot of people out there who WOULD enjoy a game like Mr. Smoozles- but they don't know it exists because they don't hang out with "gamers."

As for the price, I don't think it was too much. Most Americans think nothing of spending $20 for something. A trip to the movies with popcorn and soda costs more than that.

[Steve Ince]

Originally Posted by SnorkleCat

I guess what I'm saying is that there are a lot of people out there who WOULD enjoy a game like Mr. Smoozles- but they don't know it exists because they don't hang out with "gamers."

That's very true. Some of those who have loved the game the most are people who aren't regular gamers.

Perhaps I need to get myself 100,000 friends on MySpace...

[SoccerDude28]

Hi Steve. Have you tried to advertise this game with big websites like gamespot, gamespy or IGN or maybe even Yahoo! games? There are only this many adventure gamers and a lot of them are more into the traditional adventure game than the arcade title. Also someone suggested XBOX Live. I think that's a great idea if you can find someone to port it for you. I've seen so many PC games I've never heard of before make the jump, and they are now getting reviewed on all the major websites, and probably getting downloaded many times. If you can get it there, you will get tons more exposure than even tryint to sell it on a CD, and without the need for any advertisement

[CaptainDread]

Late in this thread, but hey - I didn't even find out about the game until yesterday.

I love the game. I'd happily buy a CD version of the game with or without extras (though extras would certainly be nice).

[Christian IV]

Yes, I would buy several!

[Steve Ince]

The revival of this thread is a bit of a surprise. Maybe I should think about it a little more...

[CaptainDread]

If this thread was in the main adventure forum, it'd get a lot more attention.

I know that this isn't seen as a "pure" adventure, but I raise this in rebuttal:

Police Quest is viewed as a suitable topic for the adventure section of this forum, but it has as much maze chasing, death, and points giving as Mr. Smoogles Goes Nutso. I don't see any difference between the Mr. Smoogles chase scenes and the driving scenes in PQ (other than the fact that the arcade sequences in Mr. Smoogles goes Nutso don't make you want to throw your keboard across the room ).

I definitely feel the game should be treated as an adventure title, and as such this thread should be moved to the main adventure forum.

[Steve Ince]

Originally Posted by CaptainDread

I definitely feel the game should be treated as an adventure title, and as such this thread should be moved to the main adventure forum.

Oh, it's definitely an adventure, just not a "pure" adventure. That's why I call it an arcade adventure.

I should have created it for the DS.

[CaptainDread]

Originally Posted by Steve Ince

Oh, it's definitely an adventure, just not a "pure" adventure.

Very few games are.

Originally Posted by Steve Ince

I should have created it for the DS.

The game would certainly fit right at home on that platform.

[Erwin_Br]

Originally Posted by Steve Ince

Perhaps I should have done the game in a similar visual style to Mr. Robot (by Moonpod Games http://www.moonpod.com/ ), which has lots of similarities to Nutso in terms of gameplay style.

Nah, I don't think so... Moonpod has gotten lots of exposure on various gaming sites. I've seen banners for their games on Penny Arcade and GarageGames, for example. The fact alone that I remember their banners should say enough, I think.

--Erwin

[CaptainDread]

Originally Posted by Steve Ince

Perhaps I should have done the game in a similar visual style to Mr. Robot (by Moonpod Games http://www.moonpod.com/ ), which has lots of similarities to Nutso in terms of gameplay style.

The game would have lost some of it's charm then I'd think. The beauty of this game is that if you read the Mr. Smoozles comic, the style of the art in the game fits so well with the comic that you actually feel like you are playing a Mr. Smoozles comic strip.

[Steve Ince]

Originally Posted by Erwin_Br

Nah, I don't think so... Moonpod has gotten lots of exposure on various gaming sites. I've seen banners for their games on Penny Arcade and GarageGames, for example. The fact alone that I remember their banners should say enough, I think.

--Erwin

That's certainly true. The trouble with creating a game on zero budget is that the budget also extends to your marketing...

Originally Posted by CaptainDread

The game would have lost some of it's charm then I'd think. The beauty of this game is that if you read the Mr. Smoozles comic, the style of the art in the game fits so well with the comic that you actually feel like you are playing a Mr. Smoozles comic strip.

Thanks for that. I certainly wanted the game to be an extension of the comic strip and not just a game that used the same characters. I suppose that being the creator of both I have a better chance of creating a game that's faithful to the original comic than most such endeavours.

[Steve Ince]

Press release - Vista version of Nutso:

http://www.juniper-games.com/blog/20...-of-nutso.html