9/24/14 -Wednesday: NEW INTERVIEW UP AT RPGWatch!!!
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Couchpotato from RPGWatch has just posted an interview he did with me. It's the first one I've done in maybe 8 years, so it was quite fun for me. Also, because of the types of questions, it was a very long and interesting trip down nostalgia lane. In particular, lots of questions about my previous work with Ossian Studios. And as you can imagine, that led to the infamous debacle of Mysteries of Westgate being delayed forever after development was completed.
Also, in general, you may just happen to learn some things you never knew about me, how Rose of Eternity was conceived, and what I'm thinking about moving forward. So check it out!
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Today's music from my New Age (Best of best) Spotify Playlist is from Gandalf, called, Just a Heartbeat Away. Enjoy!
9/6/14 -Saturday: THE NUMBERS GAME...
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STATE OF THE UNION
Rose of Eternity - The Coming
Time Since Release: 9 years, 2 months (July 6th, 2005)
Download Count:
38,630
Votes: 277
Rating: 9.77
Rose of Eternity - Cry The Beloved
Time Since Release: 7 years, 11 months (October 12th, 2006)
Download Count: 15,485
Votes: 189
Rating: 9.93
Rose of Eternity - Family & Country
Time Since Release: 7 days (August 30th, 2014)
Download Count: 331
Endorsements: 28
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Here's some interesting facts to glean from these numbers (which include some other tidbits of data not written down):
- I marketed the HELL out of The Coming. Intro movie, multiple posts to various websites, etc. This lead to a LOT of early downloads. This was important on NWVault, because you only had so much time to be listed in the new module section. Once you were bumped out of that position, if you hadn't reached the top rated list, you would fall into obscurity. I'm talking a HUGE black hole, where no one would even know your mod existed. Now, maybe this is just the way of the world, who knows... What I did know was that there was no way I spent 15 months working on a game, just for no one to play it.
- I received 800+ DL's of Cry The Beloved on day one. DAY...FREAKING...ONE... That's just... AWESOME... Trust me, I know, I used to track daily DL's for all the most popular mods of the time. The most marketing I did was my daily journal, which was getting 200+ visits a day, and a news article posted on NWVault the day of the release. I already had a name for myself, so that was good enough. Plus, this game was released a mere 15 months after my first.
On the flip side, the overall DL count is much lower. Obviously this is because the game came out on the eve of NWN2, but also because not everyone who DL'd the first game liked it. While I take a lot of pride in my overall rating for Cry, it's also because there were more people voting for it that liked it, versus those that did not. I mean, it makes sense. Anyone who did not like the first game would most likely pass up the 2nd. But if you look past the rating, the actual reviews are where I'm really proud. It's just a shame I can't represent them numerically.
- I received 33 DL's of Family & Country on day one. DAY...FREAKING...ONE... That's just... sad? *Shrug*. So, I've known for a while that I would never get the # of DL's I used to get during my NWN days. The Dragon Age modding scene is nothing close to what it was with NWN. Hell, I'd take NWN2 numbers :) Take for example, the project annoucement page on the BSN. Then take a look at this page on RPGWatch. WAY more views on my thread on the latter. Look, I'm not looking for a huge circle jerk or anything, I just want to get the word out there. And clearly, the BSN, which was supposed to be the holy grail of modding is, well, not that.
Speaking of marketing, because I already knew the situation going in, this was by far my largest campaign. YouTube, Facebook, posts on multiple sites... Man, I was everywhere! And I had to. NexusMods has something similiar to what NWVault has, where they track the hottest mods. I'm not sure what the criteria is, but it must have to do with the number of endorsements you have per week or something. So, already knowing the state of the community, if I didn't get on that list, I would feel as if 5 years of my life had just went down the drain. Luckily, I'm on the list :)
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So yeah, that's just my initial take away from things, when comparing the numbers from all my games thus far. There's still a lot of things to consider, like, are the DL's going to drop off even worse as the month goes on? What exactly are endorsements, and how do people treat them? Why don't people write lengthy reviews on NexusMods like they used to on NWVault?
If I had to sum up my feelings for this release, I'd have to say... give me a few more weeks. Initially, it's a little disheartening, but at the same time, I should have expected this. What I do like is that people who are writing mini reviews have lots of positive things to say, and some of the negatives, I already knew about. I just wish that I could reach more people. Positive or negavtie reviews, I just wish I had hundreds of more people giving me some sort of feedback. One of the best things about the reviews from the vault were that, no matter what type of review it was, I had TONS of it, which helped me grow as a developer. I feel as if I have put out a pretty good product this time around, I just need a larger sample size before I can really diagnose it.
So, the post-mortem, which I have been mentally writing for the past 2 years (yes, I already knew what went right/wrong that long ago) will take a little more time until it comes out. I just need to see how things play out.
Till tomorrow...
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Today's music from my New Age (Best of best) Spotify Playlist is from Michael W. Smith, called, Atonement. Enjoy!
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