Time to Market!

So it's time we get word out about the game! Not really my favourite part of being a game developer, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Before starting to market the game, we need to decide what the game really is. This may seem a bit silly, because we're the ones who made the game. Why wouldn't we know what the game is? Let me explain.

Coming up with a description of the game is much, much harder than it seems.

First try:
"Bird of Light is a action/puzzle runner that combines 2D top-down puzzles with 3D runner action. "

Second try:
"A game that combines classic top-down tile-based puzzles with 3D turn-and jump action."

Then Sushil went to GDC and someone described the game as a "Sandbox Runner". It was an Eureka moment for us. We liked the name, and come to think of it, it was actually a kind of open-world runner. The definition on Wikipedia is:

"An open world is a level or game designed as a nonlinear, open areas with many ways to reach an objective. Some games are designed with both traditional and open world levels. An open world facilitates greater exploration than a series of smaller levels, or a level with more linear challenges. Reviewers have judged the quality of an open world based on whether there are interesting ways for the player to interact with the broader level when they ignore their main objective."

I guess that pretty much settles it. 

"Bird of Light is an Open World Adventure Runner."

There may be some flak for using the term "Open World", as it brings to mind games like GTA, but I guess we're going to have to deal with it.

So we are planning a three-phased launch. Beta test, followed by Soft launch and then full release.

Marketing-wise, we have created a thread on the good old Touch Arcade forum, but things seem to be lukewarm for Bird of Light there. A fair number of views, but very few comments or Beta signups.

What floated our boat was Reddit. One good post and our trailer videos got 1500 views in a single day, not to mention some really good feedback on the game (by looking at the trailer!!)

A couple of points that stood out from the peole who commented on Reddit:
a) The sound effects were generally below par. The "Wheeeeeeeeee" sound was immensely irritating.
B) The 180 degree turn was very disorientating due to the sudden-ness of the change of camera angle.

We are currently in huddle mode to solve these issues, watch this space!