From: mssmith@afterlife.ncsc.mil (M. Scott Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Mac game developer seeks advice
Date: 15 Nov 92 21:21:56 GMT
Organization: The Great Beyond

Hi.

   I have spent a few weeks now planning and developing a new game for the
Macintosh.  I completed a "proof-of-concept" version of this game, but I do
not plan to have this game finished until around March.  At that time I
will investigate the distribution options available, including commercial or
shareware.

   I won't post any specific details of the game, because that's basically
been settled and I already have a few people who have been a great help in
testing the game, helping with music, etc.

   Rather, I'd like to solicit some information from the net community on
some topics I've been thinking about.  I've got a few questions:

[1] Do I need to support black and white?

   Right now everything is in color.  Initially it seemed I could just have
two versions of the game, one with sprites designed in color and the other
with sprites designed in black and white.  However, as the game has progressed,
I'm not at all sure that it could conceivably look good in black and white.
The sprites are very small (like 12x20 pixels in many cases) and just might
not translate to black and white.
   Are there that many people out there without color?  I'm looking torwards
the future with my main market being the new color consumer Macs.  But I
don't want to offend anyone.

[2] Can I make System 7 a requirement?

   I have never developed under System 6 and don't even have a copy of
System 6.  My game uses features of System 7 (such as GWorlds and TrueType)
which could make developing a System 6-savvy version a headache.
   Again, I don't want to offend anyone -- but are there still a lot of
people using System 6?  Would it be unfair for me to require System 7?

[3] Is a game window the size of a Classic's screen big enough?

   Right now the main game window is the size of a Classic's screen (512x342).
This looks reasonable on a 13" screen, but I don't know how it would look
on 16" or 21" monitors.
   I had considered "expanding" the game window and area to fit well on the
largest monitor device available, but since the game does use small sprites,
etc., I'm not sure how I would make it work on something greater than
512x342.  It would basically require an entire re-write.
   Certainly I think many games should take advantage of available screen
real estate, but I'm not convinced it would be worth my trouble.  (Again,
I'm not sure if you can give me advice on this one without actually seeing
the game, but how upset would you be if the game didn't fill your 13"
monitor?  It really doesn't look bad on mine, though.)

[4] Do you buy Mac games?

   I've got a few questions in this area.  First, do you purchase Mac games?
I know that the majority of Mac games floating around out there on peoples'
computers are not purchased ones.  I won't preach against piracy because
that's been done enough and that won't solve problems.  Games are expensive,
and I've bought many games myself which I haven't felt was worth the money.
   But first, are there any ideas of how many people are out there that
would buy a Mac game?  (I don't necessarily want to hear a number of people
that would have my game, but rather a number that would buy it.)
   And are there a significant number of people who don't *always* buy
games, but would buy a game if they felt it was of high quality?

   Another possible avenue of distribution is shareware.  I know there have
been many excellent shareware (or even PD) games written for the Mac, such
as Solarian 2.  If I were to distribute this as shareware, how many people
do you think would get around to sending in a donation?

   Finally, what is a fair price to charge for a game, be it commercial or
shareware?  Although I hope this game will be of very high quality, I would
fight to have it sold for a cheap price -- like maybe $24.95.  Would that
make more people buy it?  I think it's kind of ridiculous that games now of
days are over $50.
   If it were shareware, I'd probably ask for $15.

[5] What are your feelings on copy protection?

   I have absolutely no plans for adding ANY kind of copy protection to this
game.  I'm against copy protection, although I know that games are most at
risk for being copied.  Of course, if this was commercially distributed, my
publisher would probably make the final decision about copy protection.
   Since I have seen discussion about the merits and evils of copy protection
already, I guess I only want to hear form people who would be in SUPPORT of
copy protection, if any.  I assume that most people are against it, although
I would understand if someone was for it because they feel that if they're
buying a game, other people shouldn't get it for free (at least not easily).

I can probably think of one last question..

[6] What types of games do you like?

   This game I'm writing is kind of a traditional arcade-style game.  It
doesn't have tons of amazing 24-bit graphics.  I don't have any artists on
the team (unfortunately, since I'm a better programmer than artist).  And
it's fairly simple -- it is my hopes that I won't need to include any
instructions except what keys to use.  But I can see that this could become
very addicting and that a lot of people would enjoy it a lot.
   So, do people now of days want games with a team of 80 artists or a simple,
addicting fun game?  (I guess that's a leading question.  :))

I'd appreciate any comments from anyone on any of the topics I raised.  Feel
free to mail me or post to the net; there are probably other people on the
net who might benefit from your responses.

Thanks!

M. Scott Smith

(mssmith@afterlife.ncsc.mil or umsmith@mcs.drexel.edu)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games