DIYgames.com posted a preview of my new game "Rocknor's Donut Factory". I'm kinda excited because this was my first venture into the world of "Dealing with the press to get some advance exposure". :)

Ah, now I just need to finish the game.

Rocknor's Donut Factory Preview (http://diyg.com/archive/index.php?mesid=800)
http://diyg.com/archive/index.php?mesid=800

~Hanford

Congrats on the preview, Hanford!

My initial reaction from looking at the screen shots was, "Wow, those screens look really busy." For some reason the screens give me a sense of very stressful and chaotic gameplay. It's hard to make out anything recognizable -- each screen looks like a jumble of robotic contraptions to me, and my impression is that it will be a lot of work to make sense of it if I were to play the game. Anyone else have a similar reaction?

Actually, that was my first impression as well. The game "tiles" seem too busy and complicated... perhaps if you toned down the colors and made the main identifying element stand out more... more like icons...

True Steve, but I'd say no more than the Dweep screenshots look to me. Screenshots are rough that way ... they don't show the animation or the progression of the level. Most of the levels in Rocknor's Donut Factory start out mostly empty, with the player placing most of the machery themselves. The screenshots in the preview are mostly of finished or close-to-finished levels.

The gameplay is not stressful at all really... there's a speed control on the factory to speed it up or slow it down, there's unlimited number of restarts on the factory (which doesn't restart the level -- all the machines you place stay where they are, it just restarts the Factory itself) and there's no time limit.

I guess in short I'd say "you have to play it" but of course, it's not out yet! Good feedback though, the screenshots are important in getting people to download and try it.

~Hanford

Originally posted by triptych
Actually, that was my first impression as well. The game "tiles" seem too busy and complicated... perhaps if you toned down the colors and made the main identifying element stand out more... more like icons...

You mean the floor tiles, or the machine tiles? I've been wondering if some of them are too bright.

~Hanford

I had the same thoughts. It's a bit difficult visually grouping tiles together and distinguishing the important tiles from the unimportant tiles. Perhaps if the background and wall tiles stood out less it would be easier.

The graphics themselves could be better (mostly texturing) but it's a bit late for that. The factory control panel also needs a border to it.

Otherwise, it's looks to be a very interesting game. Although as the reviewer mentioned I do see the similarities between it and chu-chu rocket which was quite a fun game.

Yeah, I'm not that crazy about the screenshots myself, but look at some shots of ChuChu rocket and see your desire to play that classic game go down the drain, hehe. Believe me when I say the game is great so far, its terribly addictive, and I've played through all the levels I could at least a few times now. I've also been buying more donuts than i should be consuming, but ahh well. Old Fashion for life!

One thing I think is interesting about the game is it's unique marketing opportunities. If he had a CD version of the game, for example, people could order their favorite flavor. So if I got chocolate with coconut topping my CD would have a nifty little lable that made it look like a chocolate donut with coconut topping. Or how about having a couple dozen donuts and a couple review copies of the game delivered to various magazine/newspaper offices? That could result in more than a couple mentiones. There are also lots of things that can be done for the official website, such as donut trivia, gift certificate giveaways, free donut recipies, and so on.

Anyway, there are a million and one possibilites.

One thing I think is interesting about the game is it's unique marketing opportunities. If he had a CD version of the game, for example, people could order their favorite flavor. So if I got chocolate with coconut topping my CD would have a nifty little lable that made it look like a chocolate donut with coconut topping.
That is genius! Another idea: when you send out a press release (or a game) you could also include one of those paper hats that the Krispy Kreme folks wear -- you can get 'em from any restaurant supply store (http://www.foodservicedirect.com/index.cfm/S/45/N/21/Adjustable_Paper_Overseas_Hats.htm). Just add your "Rocknors Donut Factory" logo on a sticker that you print yourself. Cheap and fun.

You can get paper "baker" style hats (the taller, puffy ones), too. Heh.

PS: After reading Greg's DIY preview at 5:30 am I had to make a Krispy Kreme run, and I've already eaten four. Aagh.

Hanford,

Just wanted to give you a heads-up (so you don't have a mild heart-attack like we did when we first saw this post :) ...that we are also about to release a game that has the word "donut" in the title (and has a donut shop theme). Fortunately, the games seem very different from what I can tell.

Our donut game is our RealArcade contest entry...we haven't heard back yet...but if we didn't win, we'll post a beta so you can check it out if you're interested.

Rocknor's Donut Factory looks interesting--we're looking forward to playing it when it's released. :)

Good luck,
-Scorpio

Heya!

Nice looking preview! I really like your graphics style (do you do it yourself? is it hand-drawn or rendered?).

I'm also very intrigued by the gameplay - I had a ChuChuRocket version for PC in mind some time ago myself, but decided not to do it since I felt the multiplayer aspect was too important. So I'm curious to see how your puzzle style worked out. (did you ever play PitDroids, another puzzle game roughly in ChuChu style?).

Best of luck finishing the game - can't wait to play the demo!

Cheers
Patrick

@gmicek and Sparky:
Yeah, those are great marketing ideas, thanks! I want to play around with ideas like that -- I'd like to do both the paper hat and the CD-as-a-donut idea. I did no physical mailing publicity for my first game, so all this is new to me.

After reading Greg's DIY preview at 5:30 am I had to make a Krispy Kreme run, and I've already eaten four. Aagh
yeah, I know the feeling. I gained 10 pounds for this project (I've heard actors say this but never video game designers). The day I modeled all the donuts I bought 4 dozen donuts from 4 different locations so I could get a broad sample of their shapes and colors! UGH!

@Scorpio:
What a coincidence! Things like this happen more often than is realized ... thanks for the heads up on your game, I'd love to check it out. Perhaps if gameplay doesn't overlap we can co-market together, who knows.

@Midnight:
Thanks for the comments, Patrick. I did all the graphics myself. All the Factory graphics are modeled in 3D and all the UI graphics are done in Photoshop. I never played Chu Chu Rocket (and have no idea what the multiplayer is like) but I did play PitDroids a few times, and of course Lemmings. :)

I'll let everyone know when a demo is available, hopefully soon.


~Hanford

Originally posted by hanford_lemoore
@gmicek and Sparky:I did no physical mailing publicity for my first game, so all this is new to me.

This might seem painfully obvious, but I figured I would mention it anyway. When/if you go ahead and send promotional stuff out you might want to address it to the publications office and put it ATTN whomever you want it to go to. So, if you're sending something to Gamespot make sure you get their address and put it ATTN: Greg Kasavan. Maybe send a few to different people in the same office.

I'm just speculating here, I've never actually done stuff like this either, hehe. I'm sure there are some actual PR people here that can clarify better than I can.