Tomb of Doom - A Plasticine Adventure

A few days ago, I released by latest game online.

Tomb of Doom

It's billed as the first plastercine point n click online Flash game ever. I know Neverhood used the same concept, but it wasn't put online =P Special measures have to be done to make a game playable online, like to optimize the filesize so that it wil be small enough to download quickly. This is a huge problem with plastercine games due the huge amt of images used. Hurray me for working around that limitation =D

I actually made it as a project for another module but got offered a sponsorship deal for it. They offered to sponsor my future games as well =D

Didn't really get to consciously apply much of the concepts learnt in NM3216, but I did try to apply the concept of flow though. I conceptually separated the game into 3 big puzzles. Each big puzzle is made up of small puzzles. But I made it in the way that the first puzzle is pretty easy and requires less exploring while the final puzzle requires more walking around and is more complex. So through solving the first simple puzzle, the player will be able to familiarize with the interface and with how things work and from then on be ready to tackle more difficult challenges.

I know academics look down on point and click adventure games but I keep making them bcos there's a huge online market for them. As long as I keep making them, sponsors will keep paying me. It's the whole consumer culture scene that's to blame. Haha.

Maybe the point is that it all comes down to meaningful play. Bcos these people online can't get enough of point and click adventure games (for some reason), they find their own meaningful play in these games even though others may not.

Quoting political economists of media:
"Does consumer culture serve the interests of capitalists only or was it also what the 'masses' wanted?"

*shrugz* As long as the moola comes in, I'm happy.

With this, I think I've discovered a viable business venture.

There is zero start up cost, no risk for me and no opportunity cost since I enjoy making the games. Normally online content makers need to worry about server costs and where to host their work. I've found it much easier to just tell people, "I'll let you host my game on your server if you pay me." I also don't need to worry with marketing my games to the public because these will all be settled by the sponsor. This marketing will in turn attract more sponsors... and round and round it goes =)

This is actually a win-win situation in that the sponsor will be able to generate traffic to his site via my games and will get revenue through ads. It is likely that he will earn twice the amount he pays me, or even more... and the best thing is that the consumers do not even have to pay a cent!

Around 1 week's work bags me around $1000. So if I churn out a game each week, I'll earn like $4000 a month. Sounds not bad, eh?

Of course there are other factors to consider like schoolwork and stuff... so it's unlikely I'll be doing 4 games a month... but it's an idea that sounds great on paper.

Of course, I expect this bubble to burst eventually like the DotCom thingie. But by then, I'll probably move on to other things...