Hooptie released to the public

[Carlos Camacho]

Not much activity going on here. I am wondering if (or when) it is time to release Hooptie to the outside world? Of course, when doing so, state that it is a developer's release. I was thinking of macgamefiles and versiontracker. Why? Because I think by having people check it out, you can get some input on bugs, and more importantly attract devs and designers to this group. Believe it or not, there are still many people who haven't heard of iDG and so this could be a good way to catch more members for our community.

From what I understand the current build is stable enough to actually "play" the game right? Anyhow, I think some new blood can help move Hooptie along so that the game can get to a more GM stage and then perhaps this group can start looking at other projects. Looking at some threads in this forum, it seems that there is a good group of people who want to do something Inkubator-based, but for a new project.

Another avenue is for someone in this group to take a lead aand contact InsideMacGames and provide a kind of article/preview of the project/game to them.

This is just a suggestion, so feel free to ignore it.

[Kjurtyl]

I think the lack of activity is indicative of the extreme workload on our members..

Generally, I agree that Hooptie is most probably ready to be released but I would like to see two things happen before we do that.

1. A or many level editors that are release worthy bundled with
the app. I think there is a bit of house cleaning to do there. (John? What's happening over there?)

2. Tiding up the code a bit... Like that #HoldWater/PitTiles thing, is it still necessary or can we just remove those references? I volunteer to clean it up if it comes to that.

If we don't release Hooptie without an editor, I'm afraid we'll both get requests for one (even if we put up links to site that holds em). Also people will have to make more effort to make us some new levels for Hooptie if there's no editor, meaning it is less likely anyone will bother making them. Tiding up the code could wait if Mark is comfortable releasing it to a wider audience in its current form.

I'd certainly be happy to contribute once again to this project with any assistance I can, but it'll have to wait till my break in February considering the duties I've already got on my plate.


- Kjurtyl.

[Pazolli]

I have been busy, but I have been busier and found time to work on Hooptie. I think recently I just needed a bit of a break from Hooptie to refresh my motivation. That said, Hooptie is a fair game with a lot of work behind it and it would be a shame to not see it completed, so I'm definitely happy to keep on working with it.

There are certainly things still to do be done in my eyes, i.e. more sounds, more bad guys. But I think now a fair amount of what I wanted for the project is reflected in the code. Definitely I have learnt a lot in the work I've done for Hooptie.

Indeed, I think perhaps the best thing that could be done for Hooptie now is to get a little more community insight in to the project and the areas that need improvement. I also think a fresh set of eyes looking over the project (even if it is just temporarily) would be a good idea. To that end, I'd be delighted for someone like Kjurtyl to go through and make any changes to the code he wants. I'd also be delighted to hear more comments about how we can improve the game and I'm more than happy to answer any questions about the code and post releases to our mini-website etc.

On one hand, releasing the game to a wider audience would achieve much of what I mentioned above, but on the other, you only get one chance to make a first impression - if that first impression isn't good enough a release can do more harm than good. Perhaps we could go for a FreshMeat.net announcement as they probably have a more technical audience who'd be more understanding of a not-yet-finished relesase?

Mark Pazolli

[Carlos Camacho]

For announcements, why don't we start with Apple's Game-Dev list too. If someone subscribes to the list, please send a note about Inkubator and Hooptie. I'll check out the game assets and see if there is anything I can do.

Kjurtyl, sounds like Mark is saying, go ahead.

BTW Mark, I agree that first impressions are indeed important. Normally I would say keep this within the community until is shines. But as you said, we need some fresh blood. Even if it isn't coders, level designers and asset creators would be a welcomed addition to Hooptie.

I think it best to avoid VersionTracker and MacGameFiles as those sites tend to allow for user posting, and as we all know, some gamers are clueless.

So why don't we...
a.) Let the Apple list know, and Freshmeat. CocoaDevCentral too
b.) Make a deadline for a "preview" version for the "masses" (How does a month from today sound?)
c.) Once the month comes, we have it featured on InsideMacGames. That might bring in coders, level designers, asset creators. (ie freshblood)
d.) More work for say two months
e.) List it on VersionTracker and MacGameFiles
f.) Take input/feedback to improve things
g.) Have this group start considering an addition project.

About the last step, it would be good to do something fun, easy and OpenGL based. OpenGl because I think so many people want to learn it.

Let me know what I can do on my end...

Cheers

[Kjurtyl]

I'll take a serious and in-depth look at the code starting February 17th, I'll get a week's worth of free time then.

- Kjurtyl.

[Carlos Camacho]

Ok, if there are remaining assets to be created or improved, let me know.