{"author_name": "localcoder", "cat": "October Challenge 2010", "comments": [{"author_name": "", "time": "October 19, 2010 5:33 am", "epoch": 1287484380, "text": "Congratz dude. I haven’t checked out the game yet, but I found you in the Zune store. \":)\"", "spam": "N"}], "epoch": 1287466200, "likes": 0, "metadata": {"p_key": "69103", "p_author": "localcoder", "p_authorkey": "1113", "p_urlkey": "104906", "p_title": "Space Octopus Mono for Windows Phone 7", "p_cat": "October Challenge 2010", "p_event": "LD18", "p_time": "1287466200", "p_likes": "0", "p_comments": "1", "p_status": "UPD5", "us_key": "1113", "us_name": "localcoder", "us_username": "localcoder", "event_start": "1282262400", "event_key": "4", "event_name": "LD18"}, "text": "

\"SpaceOn the 9th of September, I decided that I was going to complete a game in time for the Windows Phone 7 launch. That was goal number one. I knew I didn’t have long, so I picked the most complete game from my portfolio to start from and began porting it to C#.

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I had already started when PoV issued the October Challenge, but his second post said that the game can be something you’re already working on. OK, count me in.

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So I added goal two: Sell a copy before the end of the October. This is quite different from my original goal. In fact, the last time I tried to make a commercial game, I “finished” it but never sold a copy…

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\n \"Space

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I don’t have a Windows Phone, and couldn’t get hold of one. Someone at Microsoft offered to let me test on his pre-release device, so I took an afternoon off work to visit the local Microsoft office and see if my game actually worked.

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It did! But my control scheme, which seemed so sensible with a mouse, was terrible on a touch screen. Oops.

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Next week I went back again with the second draft control scheme. It was slightly better. I never got back to test the third revision… it’s interesting developing for a device that hasn’t been released.

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\n \"Space

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I applied for early marketplace access and submitted as soon as I got it, on October 11th. I spent just over a month on the game, working every weekend and an increasing number of weekday evenings towards the end.

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The game has now been approved. It will be in the marketplace on launch day – I have already met my original goal.

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But to complete PoV’s challenge, it has to be good enough that someone will buy it. That’s where I would like your help.

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\n \"Space

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You probably don’t have a Windows Phone 7 phone, but I really want your feedback on this game. So I’ve hastily made it run on Windows, and you can get it here:

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http://www.newnorthroad.com/space-octopus-mono-windows-1.0.zip
\n (6 MB, Windows, requires the .NET framework)

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Before now, I had no easy way of showing people the game – it’s had almost no user testing. So I don’t know what’s good or bad and what I need to improve.

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I had to cut a lot of features to get SOM submitted on time, including some of what I thought would be the key reasons to buy it. I won’t tell you what they were, because I don’t want to color your feedback – but please tell me what you think. Give me some hints, and I’ll try to make an update that will get that first sale.

", "time": "October 19th, 2010 12:30 am", "title": "Space Octopus Mono for Windows Phone 7"}