Game probably needs some more publicity

[♀⛤WitchyWoman⛤♀]

In the last 6 months I've come across both friends and people really wanting nostalgia and a game that brings back qualities of older helicopter/fixed wing combat sims. Specifically EECH and Janes titles. I steered them torwards DEX and many of them have bought it immediately or wishlisted it. Many had no idea it existed and were amazed by it. We need to get as many sales as possible because its the best project on steam in this category and its just one guy trying to make a living and also produce a labor or love. I hope the sim gets more visibility because there are so many sim heads out there that don't even know this exists.

Its ludicrous to me to see how many dumb people throw away money on big budget games like COD where they hate on the game in every adaption, yet they still buy it after hating on it knowing its not going to live up to their expectations.

Its a big shame that so many quality indie titles go bankrupt or never even get off the ground. I wish they had the budgets and publicity that EA, Codemasters, and Atari have. We would have a lot more quality software and less garbage.

DEX has a lot going for it.

[Rockwelder]

I would be happy to volunteer if need be. I have art skillz.

[FERdeBOER]

I might be recalling this wrong, but I think Jimmy said he knew at which point of development he wanted to start the marketing phase.
But I totally agree it's becoming a great game.

[Twelvefield]

Trust in Jimmy. Jimmy definitely knows what is best.

[Jimmy Arcade]

I know it sounds really odd, but not having huge exposure is actually really beneficial at the moment.

I have a very nice flow of sales evey month - in fact it is increasing month by month , so there is no risk of any financial issues at all.

Having a more controlled flow of players allows me to really listen to feedback rather than being bombarded by 1,000s of people all at the same time. Which would then lead to either all my time being consumed by replying to people or I'd have to ignore them which then leads to the "this game dev never responds!" etc.

HG:DEX was always planned as the "quieter" game to get the systems and resources sorted for Stealth Fighter D.E.X. and it is doing just that

One of the major hurdles for SF:DEX was the huge terrain sizes needed and I just didn't have the technology/knowledge to do it at the time. Now I do, and when it is dropped into SF:DEX it will be fully tested and known to be working.

Could I have gone for massive exposure with HG:DEX? Sure, MicroProse even contacted me directly about publishing it and that would have got me all the Gunship 2000 exposure I would ever have needed! But! Having a publisher like MicroProse effects peoples expectations - they'd think JimmyArcade was a much bigger company than it really is and it also puts huge amounts of pressure on me as a developer as now there is a 3rd party with interests in how well the game does.

Once I've got HG:DEX under my belt, then I might think about a proper publisher because all the hard work should mostly be done.

[Rockwelder]

This is "Gunship 2025" in all practical purposes. Glad to hear things are looking bright for the future.

[♀⛤WitchyWoman⛤♀]

Well it is good to hear your not selling out to big interests. A problem with publishers these days is they get their hands into the development and the direction, and they often hack things out of the game that they should not. (Stalker and other games come to mind)

Besides that, Microprose is not the original Microprose and while they do good things these days there are a few games in their lineup that are a dumpster fire like B-17 redux which is actually very buggy unlike the original and has caused a lot of things to be broken in the game that simply do not work. You know its a bad sign when the original is still better than a game thats trying to replace it.

So I think your doing the right thing.

[Twelvefield]

I disagree about the original B17 lacking in bugs. I remember some doozies, particularly having the flight crash into one another while turning coming out of the bombing run. Some joystick bugs as well, I remember, but those were in the days of COM and IRQ addresses. Trivia.

MicroProse would make a terrific partner, even minus Wild Bill Stealey... if Jimmy was running into problems. MicroProse does two things well right now: supply game assets from their library and bring home a large built-in market of nostalgic gamers. They aren't particularly great at helping with programming, and they have been partnering with a number of Russian devs, and had begun doing so well before the war.

Me, personally, I have issues with the Russians right now. I recognize that Russian devs do make excellent milsim games, though. How does MicroProse partner with Russians who don't support the Putin regime? I don't know. They do seem to be doing that, but then of course these people have incredibly demanding personal lives to deal with on top of their work developing videogames.

[♀⛤WitchyWoman⛤♀]

i had to refund it due to it being more problems than the original. I may buy again later. That said I have worked for Microprose with a partner on a game called Second front. They are great to work with. Not dissing MP,

[Rockwelder]

Americans are not their president, Russians are not their president. Without getting political, people are forced to have bad guys rule over them, even if they don't want it. It's far too outside of their control.

It's best, in my experience, to treat people as individuals and not generalities.

[♀⛤WitchyWoman⛤♀]

I too agree on the Russian thing. While not getting political there are some WW2 sims that are currently being sold on this platform and the creators makes and sell software to the Russian military. Very pro Russian military as well. Its one thing to treat people with respect, but when they are a paid contractor for an adversary/enemy, thats a totally different ball game. And do not get me started on the "Reds" across the Pacific ether, thats far worse. That said its not the peoples fault as a whole when they have no control over dictators .Anyway, a topic for some other discussion.