Morbus
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
Armageddon Empires, a turn-based strategy title from Cryptic Coment, received a free expansion pack yesterday. Here’s part of the official announcement:<blockquote>Close Air Support is something that indies are in a great position to do and it’s a real competitive advantage despite the small scale of the operations. In this new age of 900 lb. consoles, being able to evolve and expand a game slowly also plays to the PC’s strengths as a platform. Armageddon Empires is still the same core concept that it was back on release day in July 2007 but it’s a much better game now 8 months later. Cults of the Wastelands came about because of a convergence of factors. Let’s not kid ourselves. It’s a marketing ploy. Just like in Sea Lab 2021 when Sparks gives Stimutacs away for free that’s what I am doing with my demo. The promise of not only seeing Marduk when you buy the full version but Marduk and the Cults should be enough to push any fence sitters right over the edge and maybe even create some new addicts as well.
Beyond simple greed, there were some other factors involved as well. I originally had an idea of releasing free promo cards every couple of months. This had to be cut like so much else. I tinkered around with adding the capability to the existing architecture but when it became clear that it wasn’t going to be trivial I shelved it. I’m a collector myself who struggles with collection addiction. I’ve had some real victories going cold turkey off MMO’s, collectible this and trading that. But the endless possibilities of another expansion block are captivating and seducing. Even if that promo is a lame card/mini it’s still satisfying to add it to the collection. Does the man with the most toys at the end win? I don’t know but I liked the idea of adding something more to AE.
I also wanted to thank customers who had taken a chance and supported me. AE is a modest success because people take the time to talk about it to other people. Word of mouth is what has put me in a position to contemplate and start working on a second strategy game. Even the wonderful press coverage I have received is due in large part to reviewers and opinion makers talking about the game at their secret meetings in the Reviewer’s Guild. It has to be because my PR efforts have been pretty half-a**ed. In my defense, it’s not an easy task and I expected progress to be slow and measured so I’m not complaining. But the bottom line is that I want to send a message to supporters of Cryptic Comet that I appreciate the vote of confidence and you can expect good things like Cults of the Wastelands from me in the future.
Thanks!
Vic</blockquote>Download: Cults of the Wasteland
Spotted at Rock, Paper Shotgun
Beyond simple greed, there were some other factors involved as well. I originally had an idea of releasing free promo cards every couple of months. This had to be cut like so much else. I tinkered around with adding the capability to the existing architecture but when it became clear that it wasn’t going to be trivial I shelved it. I’m a collector myself who struggles with collection addiction. I’ve had some real victories going cold turkey off MMO’s, collectible this and trading that. But the endless possibilities of another expansion block are captivating and seducing. Even if that promo is a lame card/mini it’s still satisfying to add it to the collection. Does the man with the most toys at the end win? I don’t know but I liked the idea of adding something more to AE.
I also wanted to thank customers who had taken a chance and supported me. AE is a modest success because people take the time to talk about it to other people. Word of mouth is what has put me in a position to contemplate and start working on a second strategy game. Even the wonderful press coverage I have received is due in large part to reviewers and opinion makers talking about the game at their secret meetings in the Reviewer’s Guild. It has to be because my PR efforts have been pretty half-a**ed. In my defense, it’s not an easy task and I expected progress to be slow and measured so I’m not complaining. But the bottom line is that I want to send a message to supporters of Cryptic Comet that I appreciate the vote of confidence and you can expect good things like Cults of the Wastelands from me in the future.
Thanks!
Vic</blockquote>Download: Cults of the Wasteland
Spotted at Rock, Paper Shotgun
