One thing I can tell you is the unique hits to the Jolly Rover website (http://www.brawsome.com.au/JollyRover) have tripled this month, but that puts it only at a meagre 3,000 unique hits, for JR to be a success I'd say it's got to be something like 100,000 unique hits. So, got a bit of work to do =0).
It's actually only got 4 reviews at the moment
- Adventure Gamers 3.5/5
- JustAdventure B+
- GameZebo 4.5/5
- Good Game 15.5/20
So, it's trending around an 8/10.
On the weekend I submitted the game to about 50 different review sites. That was a lot of work let me tell you! I'm hoping reviews start popping up over the next month or so. Darn this E3 taking up peoples time though!
You've been getting some good ratings for 'Jolly Rover'; 3.5 on AdventureGamers is a good score - that's what they gave 'Curse of Monkey Island'. And 15.5 is what Good Game gave 'Torchlight'. So these numbers look pretty promising. Hopefully these sort of scores will continue if the game is reviewed by these other sites you mentioned.
Edit: Just a quick question. If you had the choice, would you choose to make a Jolly Rover sequel in 3D or would you keep it 2D?
I really quite like 2D, but I love what you can do in 3D for dynamic conversations. Also it's much easier to change a characters clothes in 3D, and you only have to animate something in one facing direction (such as a talk/give/take animation). I would say 2D, if I had a choice. I reckon 2D or 3D would cost about the same, maybe 3D would even be cheaper.
Bajo? Yeah, he looks as though he's either really buzzed on caffeine, or really needs to use the restroom.
And, by the way, it's good to hear that you're planning a sequel, Andrew. I'd love for Jolly Rover to actually become a series/saga like Monkey Island.
I'd say Bajo was just itching to get to E3. That and he probably does that cause Junglist isn't on the show anymore to control him.
What are you (Andrew) considering for a new series?
If I didn't have to worry about money I'd do an adventure game set in an interesting period in Australia's history. I've already got most of this designed.
Otherwise I've got a couple of different ideas for a few other series' but they're all set in space.
On the weekend I submitted the game to about 50 different review sites. That was a lot of work let me tell you! I'm hoping reviews start popping up over the next month or so. Darn this E3 taking up peoples time though!
After E3 you should touch base with them again to make sure its not lost in all the E3 madness....
also there are some people who post here who have gaming sites and blogs that you may want to talk to... or just continue talking about it in forums like these.... it is how I heard about it after all.
By the way, guys, it's currently half price on Steam! I urge all of you to go and buy it, because it's an excellent game and you will enjoy it.
Plus, what else are you going to waste that five dollars on if you don't buy it on? Chips? Lollies? Believe me, this game is more enjoyable than those two things combined.
If I didn't have to worry about money I'd do an adventure game set in an interesting period in Australia's history. I've already got most of this designed.
Haha! Probably not, but I'm sure an adventure game would be able to make it interesting. Though it would have to be a good adventure game, and there'd have to be a lot of sensationalizing, and it shouldn't be entirely historically accurate. That's what they did in the Ned Kelly film.
Hey, come to think of it, perhaps a game about bushrangers could work well as a game?
saying you can't make an adventure about pirates because of Monkey Island is like saying you can't make a first person shooter about World War 2 because of Wolfenstein.
You have a point. If an adventure game was high fantasy with certain references to fairy tales, I don't know if as many people would call such a game 'a King's Quest clone' compared to the number of people who compare any and all piratey adventure games to Monkey Island.
I saw Jolly Rover in GameStop yesterday. Didn't get it. (was looking for specific games at the time) =\
I haven't played the demo yet. Ah, to heck with it. I'm buying this. It's 5 bucks, I mean come on, really. Wouldn't you buy a game from TTG if it was 5 bucks, even having not tried it yet? If it was $15, I might have tried the demo first, but it would seem to me that people aren't saying "this game is good but ToMI is better" as was said about Bill Tiller's GPoVI (which I have not played.)
As such, I'm buying it and giving the whole game a try. I'll post again later when I've beat it.
Such that I'm still in the brig at the moment, the graphics so far look very good. Somewhere between MI2:SE and CMI, which is good. (sorry about the MI comparison.)
The first dialogue tree says "[CLICK TO SELECT]" next to each option. Maybe it's me, but having played many an adventure game, I would think that newbies would only need it to say that the first time, and for it not to be present after having clicked something. Meh, I'm being nitpicky.
The blue-text-for-new-dialogue, white-text-for-old approach for mouseover objects is good. I like that idea. Also, I like that the mouse cursor goes nearly transparent during cutscenes.
One thing about the options menu though. When you mouse over the check boxes, they highlight with a red check mark. This mouseover check mark persists even after having unchecked an option (eg. turning subtitles off,) so one has to know to move the mouse away from a check box in order to see whether an option is on or off. I was confused at first when messing with settings. I thought that they were buggy and wouldn't turn off until I moved the cursor away and realized the issue. The highlight ought to either only apply to the initial mouseover, or the box ought to highlight instead of the check mark.
EDIT:
Good game so far (talking to Ron atm.) Voice acting is spot on. [nitpick]There were a couple of lines from DeSilver that seemed to sound as though recorded a tad louder than the rest of the dialogue [/nitpick], but the inflections of words in all the dialogue from everyone so far is great.
Also this...
Ron: Yar, where be yer sense of adventure?
Rover: I believe I left it in my other pants.
lol epic. =D
Truth be told, this game seems way worth more than 5 bucks. More than 15 even. Heck, I'd have paid 30 for it.
This is a very good game. No, it's not like Monkey Island. It's not. Really. It does have certain things in the game that are inspired by Monkey Island, but this game is really quite different in tone. Sure, Gaius isn't a pirate either when the game starts out, but that's about it. Guybrush Threepwood has this loveable ineptitude about himself combined with rather overt silliness in Monkey Island, where Gaius and Jolly Rover are not really like that. It's still a great game, it just is different in tone.
Having developer commentary (which is only available after playing through once already) and item-get dependent unlockable stuff were good ways to create replay value.
I watched a review of this game, and it's true that this game is targeted for adults. It's not really "effed-up" like the review seems to indicate, but it does have women (female dogs) calling themselves "bitches" in one particular scene and there are a few sexual connotations throughout the story (though I'm not sure children would pick up on them.) ...Though after thinking about that, SoMI also does have sexual connotations/references in certain dialogue, but still Jolly Rover's tone is targeted more for adults.
I highly recommend this game. Also, It's currently only 5 bucks from Steam.
because it's derogatory. obviously. which is one of the reasons why it's not really for kids.
If my young nephew called his dog a bitch, his mother would be mad at him and he'd get in trouble I'm sure. I don't know what it's like where you live, but in the US, we don't call our dogs bitches. It's just not a polite term to use. As well these are not ordinary dogs anyway. They are anthropomorphic dogs, which means they have human characteristics... and they call themselves bitches (albeit in only one scene.)
So yes, it should be obvious why that would be an issue for children.
I highly recommend this game. Also, It's currently only 5 bucks from Steam.
I also recommend that you buy it. It's a really good pirate adventure game; you guys would have killed for a game like this 2 years ago. And if it weren't for the release of ToMI, this game would have recieved a lot more recognition and would have probably been much more successful - it really was unfortunate timing for Brawsome. So, this is another reason why you should go and buy this game - to give it the success that it deserves: the success that it would have received had ToMI not been released just before it.
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One thing I can tell you is the unique hits to the Jolly Rover website (http://www.brawsome.com.au/JollyRover) have tripled this month, but that puts it only at a meagre 3,000 unique hits, for JR to be a success I'd say it's got to be something like 100,000 unique hits. So, got a bit of work to do =0).
It's actually only got 4 reviews at the moment
- Adventure Gamers 3.5/5
- JustAdventure B+
- GameZebo 4.5/5
- Good Game 15.5/20
So, it's trending around an 8/10.
On the weekend I submitted the game to about 50 different review sites. That was a lot of work let me tell you! I'm hoping reviews start popping up over the next month or so. Darn this E3 taking up peoples time though!
Edit: Just a quick question. If you had the choice, would you choose to make a Jolly Rover sequel in 3D or would you keep it 2D?
I'd say Bajo was just itching to get to E3. That and he probably does that cause Junglist isn't on the show anymore to control him.
If I didn't have to worry about money I'd do an adventure game set in an interesting period in Australia's history. I've already got most of this designed.
Otherwise I've got a couple of different ideas for a few other series' but they're all set in space.
After E3 you should touch base with them again to make sure its not lost in all the E3 madness....
also there are some people who post here who have gaming sites and blogs that you may want to talk to... or just continue talking about it in forums like these.... it is how I heard about it after all.
Definitely worth getting, well I've been enjoying it anyway.
Currently downloading the demo. I like point and click adventure games right now, so lets see if I like it.
Plus, what else are you going to waste that five dollars on if you don't buy it on? Chips? Lollies? Believe me, this game is more enjoyable than those two things combined.
We had one of them?
Ooh space is good!
I just bought it.
Haha! Probably not, but I'm sure an adventure game would be able to make it interesting. Though it would have to be a good adventure game, and there'd have to be a lot of sensationalizing, and it shouldn't be entirely historically accurate. That's what they did in the Ned Kelly film.
Hey, come to think of it, perhaps a game about bushrangers could work well as a game?
Liking the new price. Pretty sure this thing will sell much more now.
It's a fun game! You won't regret it.
brawsome, do you get a bigger cut of the sale if we buy a Steam key directly from you?
You have a point. If an adventure game was high fantasy with certain references to fairy tales, I don't know if as many people would call such a game 'a King's Quest clone' compared to the number of people who compare any and all piratey adventure games to Monkey Island.
I saw Jolly Rover in GameStop yesterday. Didn't get it. (was looking for specific games at the time) =\
I see that it's currently $5.00 both from the developer and from Steam. Wow.
I haven't played the demo yet. Ah, to heck with it. I'm buying this. It's 5 bucks, I mean come on, really. Wouldn't you buy a game from TTG if it was 5 bucks, even having not tried it yet? If it was $15, I might have tried the demo first, but it would seem to me that people aren't saying "this game is good but ToMI is better" as was said about Bill Tiller's GPoVI (which I have not played.)
As such, I'm buying it and giving the whole game a try. I'll post again later when I've beat it.
I lied.
At first glance I notice a few things:
Such that I'm still in the brig at the moment, the graphics so far look very good. Somewhere between MI2:SE and CMI, which is good. (sorry about the MI comparison.)
The first dialogue tree says "[CLICK TO SELECT]" next to each option. Maybe it's me, but having played many an adventure game, I would think that newbies would only need it to say that the first time, and for it not to be present after having clicked something. Meh, I'm being nitpicky.
The blue-text-for-new-dialogue, white-text-for-old approach for mouseover objects is good. I like that idea. Also, I like that the mouse cursor goes nearly transparent during cutscenes.
One thing about the options menu though. When you mouse over the check boxes, they highlight with a red check mark. This mouseover check mark persists even after having unchecked an option (eg. turning subtitles off,) so one has to know to move the mouse away from a check box in order to see whether an option is on or off. I was confused at first when messing with settings. I thought that they were buggy and wouldn't turn off until I moved the cursor away and realized the issue. The highlight ought to either only apply to the initial mouseover, or the box ought to highlight instead of the check mark.
EDIT:
Good game so far (talking to Ron atm.) Voice acting is spot on. [nitpick]There were a couple of lines from DeSilver that seemed to sound as though recorded a tad louder than the rest of the dialogue [/nitpick], but the inflections of words in all the dialogue from everyone so far is great.
Also this...
Ron: Yar, where be yer sense of adventure?
Rover: I believe I left it in my other pants.
lol epic. =D
Truth be told, this game seems way worth more than 5 bucks. More than 15 even. Heck, I'd have paid 30 for it.
This is a very good game. No, it's not like Monkey Island. It's not. Really. It does have certain things in the game that are inspired by Monkey Island, but this game is really quite different in tone. Sure, Gaius isn't a pirate either when the game starts out, but that's about it. Guybrush Threepwood has this loveable ineptitude about himself combined with rather overt silliness in Monkey Island, where Gaius and Jolly Rover are not really like that. It's still a great game, it just is different in tone.
Having developer commentary (which is only available after playing through once already) and item-get dependent unlockable stuff were good ways to create replay value.
I watched a review of this game, and it's true that this game is targeted for adults. It's not really "effed-up" like the review seems to indicate, but it does have women (female dogs) calling themselves "bitches" in one particular scene and there are a few sexual connotations throughout the story (though I'm not sure children would pick up on them.) ...Though after thinking about that, SoMI also does have sexual connotations/references in certain dialogue, but still Jolly Rover's tone is targeted more for adults.
I highly recommend this game. Also, It's currently only 5 bucks from Steam.
Well bitch means female dog so I don't see a problem here.
If my young nephew called his dog a bitch, his mother would be mad at him and he'd get in trouble I'm sure. I don't know what it's like where you live, but in the US, we don't call our dogs bitches. It's just not a polite term to use. As well these are not ordinary dogs anyway. They are anthropomorphic dogs, which means they have human characteristics... and they call themselves bitches (albeit in only one scene.)
So yes, it should be obvious why that would be an issue for children.
I also recommend that you buy it. It's a really good pirate adventure game; you guys would have killed for a game like this 2 years ago. And if it weren't for the release of ToMI, this game would have recieved a lot more recognition and would have probably been much more successful - it really was unfortunate timing for Brawsome. So, this is another reason why you should go and buy this game - to give it the success that it deserves: the success that it would have received had ToMI not been released just before it.