What exactly is #gamergate?
Not Gamersgate.com, the PC game digital store and competitor to Steam. The hashtag that’s been trending on Twitter and the internet for a couple months.
Well, as a indie developer, I’m still not exactly sure, but I tried to look it up. I looked up a few random youtube videos about it (which I post here), and encourage you to do your own research and make your own opinions.
I went to PAX PRIME 2014 in Seattle, Washington about two weeks ago to show off my small indie game “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth.”
About “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth:”
“Drew and the Floating Labyrinth” is a hand-drawn 3D puzzle platformer. The fact that it IS hand-drawn, not using cel-shading or any other fancy renderer, but still in a 3D game, makes it unique, and is one of it’s highest selling points. It follows Drew in a mysterious, barren and simplistic environment, made up of invisible levels that require you to look for clues of safety before you simply walk or jump. Therefore, the gameplay mechanics are very different to typical platformers and also a point of interest. Throw in great music and voice acting (not provided by me, and hence why I can confidently say they actually ARE good), and you have my first complete independent game that I am actually proud of (past attempts were barely fit to be called student projects). And I wanted the world to see it, not to sell well, but to show that traditional animation still had a place in media by putting it somewhere they wouldn’t expect for something new.
Have you seen a hand-drawn character in a 3D game before?
Wait… how did YOU of all people get a booth at PAX PRIME?
So far, “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth” has sold over 3,000 copies after one week.
… which is a bit unfair, as almost all of that came from Indie Royale, for being included in their latest indie-centric bundle. But it did get me a bit of new attention and a boost of voters of Steam Greenlight (I’ll talk more in detail about this in another article).
I’ve also said that there are at least a few bugs that exist, and I’ve since added some fixes and small features to the game to hopefully make it better. This update will be available on Desura very soon, and is largely based on what feedback I’ve gotten online and from PAX:
As I stand here at midnight at the top of the Seattle Space Needle, looking out at the beautiful city, abuzz with concerts, performers, and geeks, I think about all the crazy stuff that’s happened.
“Drew and the Floating Labyrinth” ended it’s Kickstarter as a failure, earning even less than “James – Journey of Existence” did, by both backers and pledge amount (although the pledge amount was almost matched), which I may never fully understand.
It’s been a long time since I did a blog post. Which, really, is how it should be, I made way too many posts before. Again, this is because I am very busy finishing “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth,” which I planned for completion in August (next month).
It’s been a bit over 30 days since the hand-drawn 3D puzzle platformer has been on Steam Greenlight. It’s made some progress, although the biggest jumps it makes to the top 100 games comes every two weeks when Steam greenlight’s a giant batch of games. It’s nice to get those popular games, some of which have been there for a long time, out of the way, but it’s not exactly how I hoped to get my game passed. And I’m still confused as to exactly how Steam compares games to be in the “top 100,” as I expect it isn’t just number of visitors or number of “up” votes. Anywho, if you haven’t yet given the page a look, progress has slowed to a crawl, and I’d appreciate a visitor and a vote, either yes or no: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=268645572
