indie royale – MagicalTimeBean

Escape Goat Owners: How to Claim Your Steam Key

Escape Goat is in beta on Steam right now, and I’ve been distributing keys to the various marketplaces and bundles that have sold Escape Goat over the past year and a half. (Crazy that it’s been that long, and it’s just now coming to Steam–it’s like a launch all over again in some ways.)

If you haven’t claimed your Steam key yet, here’s the status based on where you bought the game:

Humble Store (bought on this website) – You should have received a link via email
IGN Game of the month (also distributed with Humble Store keys) – Contact me
Desura – Keys available if you log in (see instructions below)
Indie Gala – Use the Desura key you got with the bundle
IndieGameStand – Log in to IGS and claim your key
Indie Royale – See Desura instructions below
Indie Gala – See Desura instructions below
Green Light Bundle – Keys will be available in about 2 weeks
Others – Contact me

How to claim your Steam key from Desura

Open the Desura client
Click on the blue button at the top left
Click on History>Gifts History
Click on the “your collection” link in blue
Click on “Keys” next to Escape Goat

(Thanks to fluffnugget on the Steam forums for this)

Achievements and Beta Progress:

If you want to go for the achievements in the game, here’s a list of them. They won’t appear in the client until the game is on the marketplace.

The game should launch within a week or so if all goes according to plan. Let me know if you have any questions or if you have trouble claiming your keys.

Why Escape Goat 2 is (Probably) Not Coming to Xbox Live Indie Games

Last week I spent three days at CasualConnect in San Francisco showing Escape Goat 2, as part of their amazing Indie Prize event. Free demo space, lunches, snacks, and an open bar every day! I felt like royalty. I wish I had time to play more games and see more of the show, but I was pretty committed to demoing Escape Goat 2 the whole time. I hardly left my table during show hours.

The most common question I got was “So is this coming to mobile?” which has a lot to do with it being CasualConnect. Being a paid-up-front, download game on PC, I was definitely a fringe title for the event. I resisted the urge to give a flat “no” to the mobile port question, and instead explain how the game would need to be redesigned for touch input, and with a direct port it just wouldn’t be a high quality game. (Imagine: Virtual D-Pad) Pretty much everyone got it when I put it that way. Each platform has a cost of porting, and I have a limited amount of time… it comes down to prioritization.

The priority is a basic equation: Potential revenue divided by hours of work.

It’s tricky because both of these numbers are guesses. For something like Wii-U, I doubt I could even get in the ballpark for either figure, so I’d have to do more research. For Xbox Live Indie Games, I have already released three games there, so I have a much clearer picture.

1. Potential Revenue

For potential revenue, I could look at how much each of my games made in their first year. I wish I had kept all the reports, because I can only download the most recent ones. But from the data I managed to revive, here are some estimates:

Game	Launch	First year revenue
Soulcaster	March 2010	$8,000
Soulcaster II	December 2010	$4,500
Escape Goat	November 2011	$4,000

A lot of people are shocked when I tell them these figures. But that’s just XBLIG, only certain types of games really make viable revenue there. And as you can see, the trend is–though my games are getting objectively better–they make a little less money each time. It’s probably that the marketplace is getting more more crowded with high quality titles.

Compare those figures to what I made when these games launched on PC, in the Indie Royale bundle:

Game	Launch	Bundle Revenue
Soulcaster I & II	February 2012	$17,000
Escape Goat	June 2012	$15,000

This graph illustrates my 2012 revenue breakdown:

There’s a chance Escape Goat 2, with its higher production value, will make more money than any of my other games on XBLIG. Very true! There’s also a chance that when the Xbox One comes out, Microsoft puts the 360 into the federal witness protection program, like they did with the Xbox when the 360 came out. Maybe the One will have a great self publishing deal–I’m keen to learn more about this in the coming months. But my future is not with the 360.

On the subject of revenue, there’s also the issue of pricing. Do I really offer my $10 PC game on XBLIG for just $1? I bet it would make more money there, but does this help me in the long run on other platforms?

2. Cost of Porting

The other variable in the equation is the time it will take to port. Now being built from the Escape Goat code base, EG2 should be ready to rock on the 360, right? Not really. The new lighting engine required a new renderer, so we’re not 100% organic XNA anymore. It could take a couple weeks to get the code to compile for 360, not to mention time spent on optimization. The file system needs to change to use storage devices. I have to remove every instance of default paramters. I’ve got to do Evil Checklist testing, go through playtest and peer review. It could easily be a month-long project, and yield a separate code base in need of maintenance.

Escape Goat 2 has been chartered to make money. If I’m going to do this indie thing full time, I have to pick my battles wisely. I have a lot of fans on Xbox who don’t have a PC, or prefer to game on console (just like me!) and it bums me out that I have to snub them this time around. I wish it wasn’t like this, and I hope in reading this article you can see what went into the decision to avoid XBLIG.

The Future

But just so this article isn’t a total bummer, let me close by saying that Escape Goat 2 really works best as a console game, and it will be on a console. Couch and controller. I will be in contact with Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft later this year to see what it’ll take to port and publish on Wii-U, PS4 and Xbox One. I hope to see you guys on one of those systems. I owe my indie career to XBLIG, and it will always be special to me.

I’ll see you on the PC in September, and we’ll take it from there as opportunities come up.

Indie Royale Bonus Content Unlocked: Soulcaster Guest Remix Album

It’s official: Indie Royale has added some music content to bundle purchasers, including six never-before-heard Soulcaster remixes done by some talented friends of mine.

Back when we were setting up the bundle, the Royale crew asked about adding the Soulcaster OST’s to the bundle as bonus content. I was fine with that, but knowing that they’re available for “name your price” on Bandcamp, I wanted to provide something special and exclusive for the bundle.

My concept: a remix album. The only problem was that I didn’t have any time to work on it. So I put the word out to some composer buddies, to see if there was anyone willing to do a track in just a few days. I thought maybe one or two people would have time, but no… here are the six songs I got back. Unreal!

Here are some bios on the contributors. In the spirit of Valentine’s day I’ve tried to add my personal touch to them. (I’m listening to the To The Moon soundtrack right now, so if this starts getting really sentimental, just bear with me.)

1. James McCawley – Neverglade 02:35

James is a long-time friend with origins going back to the Video Games Lounge on AOL. He’s currently working as a sound designer & “occasional composer” at Treyarch, where he recently wrote some incidental music for Black Ops, including most of the BGM for Dead Ops Arcade.

2. Kyle Johnson – Ruin the Remix 04:00

Kyle and I met through the Game Audio Network Guild back in 2005, when we first collaborated on some contract gigs for GBA and NDS audio. Since then we’ve become close friends, and I’ve known him through his tenure at Neversoft, where he did all kinds of stuff for the Guitar Hero franchise, notably (ha!) track design. He’s an all-terrain music guru with sharp composing skills, who just so happens to shred at the guitar. His latest project is a deep ambient collaboration with Tom Owen, We Spies.

3. Surasshu – All Souls Alliance (10,000% Remix) 04:35

Steven and I also met through the G.A.N.G. back in 2005, and he proved a valuable ally on the many game soundtracks we did. It’s rare to find someone who can cope with the limitations of Gameboy Advance and DS, but Steven just happens to be a master of authentic 8-bit and chiptune styles. Just don’t think he’s pigeonholed into that style though, because I’ve found him one of the more versatile composers I’ve worked with. His most recent endeavor is yogurtbox – Tree of Knowledge, what I can only describe as the soundtrack to a make-believe Japanese dating sim.

4. Jake ‘virt’ Kaufman – Merchant of Beatdowns 04:08

How do I write a bio on virt? Everyone knows virt! Jake and I started doing game audio around the same time, about a decade ago, and in that time he has gone from mere mortal to unstoppable demigod. I could name drop (Bloodrayne: Betrayal and Retro City Rampage), but what I want to say most is that he came through for me on this face-crushing dubstep remix with zero advance notice from me. I think he went without sleep to help me promote Soulcaster’s PC debut and that just says a lot about the man’s character.

5. DJ Bouche – Soulcaster II (Northern Lights Remix) 02:23

Andrew Lim (a.k.a. DJ Bouche) is a contact I made through this remix album, actually, when I asked Steven to see if he knew anyone interested in doing a track. Steven came through with DJ Bouche. He’s a remix, trance, soundtrack and chiptune virtuoso, who according to his Soundcloud profile, is looking for a break into the industry. Listen to the track, and listen to his Soundcloud reel… the man is ready.

6. madbrain – Storybook – Symphonic MIx 02:10

Hubert Lamontagne (a.k.a. madbrain) is another Surasshu comnection. He’s a mysterious fellow without much web presence, flying under the radar for now, no doubt waiting for the right time to make his move. In addition to music composition skills, he’s got some programming ability and is making a digital synthesizer based on physical modeling of wind instruments.

Cover illustration: James Walker

James and I first got in contact just a few months ago, when he dropped me a message about Escape Goat. He’s a fellow jack-of-all-trades game developer, currently working on a master’s in statistical analysis of compiler optimization (OK, so he’s a few notches above me in the coding department). When he’s not distracted by academics, he’s working on his next indie title, yet to be announced but looking very cool so far.

As of now, the only way to get these awesome tracks is to buy the bundle… your contributions will be put to good use, trust me! Help us shatter some records, and get some great games and music in the process.

Soulcaster I & II Are On PC!

The wait is over… you can get these titles right now as part of the Indie Royale bundle!

Already played them on Xbox? Well I’ve added a few extras to sweeten the deal:

Three control schemes: Original 360 controller, keyboard only (fully remappable!), or click-to-move with keyboard and mouse
New challenge rooms: 18 all new levels (8 for Soulcaster, 10 for Soulcaster II) which unlock after beating the campaign. Think of them as time trials with unique combinations of summons. It even saves your best times for each room!
Unlockable campaign modes: Hard Mode not difficult enough for you? Try going without one of the summons. Still not had enough? Try beating the game with just the archer! Your best total time for each campaign mode is also saved.
Autosaving. No more writing down passwords (though I’m gonna miss this). It is 2012 after all.
Option to run in windowed mode or full-screen, stretched to fit or pixel-perfect.

I’m really excited to finally offer these games on PC. My main project this year so far has been porting these games, and I couldn’t have done this without the help of my crack team of beta testers. I love you guys!

Time for some screenshots:

Comments are very welcome here! I hope you enjoy Soulcaster I & II on PC!