Tales from the Dev Side: Kairi Vice is the Spawn of Satan by George Clingerman

January 15, 2012 by 49 Comments

Right before I posted my review of Plugemons: Part 1 last night, I sent out a preemptive apology to two guys in the XNA community who I have the utmost respect for.  One is Jesse Chounard, the guy who developed Bluebones Curse and whose dog I had shot.  The other is George Clingerman, an XNA MVP who is probably the most respected individual in the entire Xbox Live Indie Game community.  Both these guys played a major role in educating me in the inner-workings of the community and gaining acceptance among Xbox Live Indie Game developers.

Both guys also really don’t like it when I go completely Lizzie Borden on games.  I figured since the Plugemon review was my first really brutal one in a while, I should give them a preemptive heads up on it.  I guess the result was George having this epiphany about what role I play in the development process.  The end result was this episode of Tales from the Dev Side.  I almost didn’t post it, because I felt maybe an article that was about me posted on my own site would come across as obnoxious.

Then I remembered I am obnoxious.  Hit it!

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Tales From the Dev Side: Standing Out by Alex Jordan

December 14, 2011 by 14 Comments

Alex Jordan is celebrating his 28th birthday today.  Now that I’ve opened up Indie Gamer Chick to developers to sound off on whatever is on their mind with the Xbox Live Indie Game community, Alex had to take me up on it.  I admit, my advice to developers is not always helpful.  I usually just say “don’t let your game suck” and “make sure you name it something that sticks out in a Google search.”

Alex is going to take it a step further.  His game Cute Things Dying Violently was the best-selling title of the 2011 Indie Game Summer Uprising.  With a name like that, it only had two options: XBLIG or Disney movie.  His naming strategy worked, and Cute Things Dying Violently was the top-selling game of what was the biggest promotional event in Xbox Live Indie Game history.  Of course, the largest revenue went to Train Frontier Express, which is mud in the eye of myself and Ian over the whole pricing thing.  Either way, Alex has some helpful tips for your game to stand out. 

Like Ian Stocker did with Escape Goat, Alex has also generously put up two copies of Cute Things Dying Violently that you can win by either retweeting this editorial or by following him on Twitter.  Winners will be drawn on Wednesday, December 21.  (I know it originally said December 14.  That was an error on my part.  Hopefully everyone is willing to cut me a little slack given the circumstances.  These Tales from the Dev Side contests should run a week after the editorial is published.)

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