Muerte's Arena
No Faith Left
19530 people visited the page though, giving me a visit to download ratio of 1 in 65. I would be okay with it if the game were selling at $10, but its free (as in beer). Not only that, the total install size is less than 500MB.
Epic gives away a game (or two) every week. Games that were worked on by teams with budgets larger than all the money I've made in my life. I can never compete with that.
The independent developer portion of the video game industry is stifled by the very companies that purport to support it. With one hand they give a welcome and with the other operate the machines that suck all of the air out of the room.
If 10,000 people had downloaded the game I could then say, "At least there is a receptive audience", but I have less than 300! How can a donut shop exist when the pizza shop to the left is giving away free pizzas and the restaurant to the right gives away gourmet meals!?
Well, that's that then.
I feel very much as I did when I was playing Dark Souls 3 and I reached Filianore. Major Spoiler, but this really sums up how I feel about the video game industry at the moment, specifically the Indie portion of it : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omjCRlEnDPY
I can recognize when I am powerless to change a circumstance, so I'll be a good poor man and quietly toil my days away.
Till the end of the world, because we all know fossil fuel burning is never going to stop and renewable energy will never grow at a sufficient rate to stave off our collective doom.
Muerte's Arena is now free
To those that purchased the game and chose not to refund it despite knowing it was dead, I am very grateful, may all that can go right in your life do so, and all that can go wrong turn in your favor, for in my hour of need you did aid me with a bit of hope.
To those that play the game for free, I hope you enjoy what I managed to put together. I hoped to have made this game into so much more which is why I had it at the (what I perceived to be low) low price of $0.99. Alas, this was evidently too much to ask for.
In the marketplace people vote with their money, and the polls have closed. A purchase rate of 0.003 speaks loud and clear, no one is interested in this gameplay style, especially NOT American people (1 or 2 activations total in the US, but I don't know if they purchased or they were curators I gave keys to).
Here lies my first footnote in history : People would rather spend full price on a game they can whine and complain about, than help along something that might become what they want.
Muerte's Arena is Dead.
I put about a year's worth of time into trying to get this ready, to see if there would be any interest whatsoever in this form of play. This past week since release has shown me the harsh reality, almost no one is interested in this game.
Of a quarter of a million impressions, 6k were willing to click on the name and see the game. Of those 6k less than 20 people were willing to buy it. My plan was to see if there would be interest once it went on sale, nope, no interest.
VR will eventually reach a point where guns will be realistic and they'll look far better than what I have made and while I hoped to help push it there, there is not enough profit to do so.
I'm sorry, I cannot in good conscience subject myself to what I would never subject another, to work for pennies on the hour, if that. I could have literally worked one hour in ANY job and had a larger profit.
I'm going to submit that the game be made free, in hopes that more people can play it and be inspired to focus on making guns in VR more realistic. I'm sorry, shaking your hand to reload a weapon is clever and easy, but its not my cup of tea.
I will not develop this game any further and will focus my efforts on becoming a better artist and programmer. I am not planning to enter the VR market again for a while, its either unviable or I'm a failure, and either requires my absence.
Beta branch, now with Akimbo Slime Arena
Given that I mentioned Akimbo pistols in my post yesterday, I figured it would be fitting to add it. Its now in the beta branch, for those that are interested.
I'll be spending the rest of the week implementing things and will likely not update or post again until Friday.
For those that try it, I hope you enjoy the Akimbo pistols and belt. Also, if you don't like it, no need to revert your build, just take the belt off and pop on the original, it'll spawn to your left when you start the Slime Arena.
First Post
The fourth most important button in this game is the Start button, it lies to the left of the X button and below the Thumbstick on the Left Touch Controller. This button quickly reorients you in relation to the space and calibrates where the main menu and belt holder lie.
At the center of your virtual space you will see a thin lined cube. This is the belt holder. The belt that is handed to you by the Training Ground keeper needs to be grab-dropped into this cube. When you do you so, it will hold the belt in that space. I hope to expand on this concept with different belts as time goes on.
The belt itself has three different types of holders. The general purpose holders will hold any item, there is one in front where the health gauge goes automatically in the Slime Arena and two behind the belt. Three magazine holders go around the belt and will only hold magazines. Finally, one handgun holster is on the right and will only hold the handgun.
The M1911 was a heavy inspiration for the first weapon in Muerte's Arena. I focused heavily on the function of the weapon, in that, as a semi-automatic, one would need to rack the slide in order to both load a round into the chamber and cock the hammer. This is required in order to fire the virtual weapon in Muerte's Arena. When all of the virtual rounds are expended, the slide will lock back and when a fresh virtual magazine is inserted into the virtual weapon, the slide release button will need to be pressed, or the rack slide function will need to be performed.
To rack the slide, in Muerte's Arena, you need only hold the virtual weapon in one hand, and place the other virtual hand near the slide action, then press the trigger on the free hand while maintaining it in that space, and it will automatically do the rest.
When the slide locks back, when all rounds are expended, you can release it with the slide release button(B or Y). If you have an empty magazine you will not be able to release the slide, you have to first remove the magazine, and then the slide will release forward. This is in inspiration to the function of the real, original weapon.
To remove a virtual magazine, press the magazine release button (X or A). This will move the magazine out into the virtual space. If you do not move the virtual weapon away, right away, the next time you move it, it will automatically load the magazine back in. This is by design, so that if you release the magazine by accident, you can grab it back in quickly.
When you operate the virtual weapon with the left hand, if you have your thumb on the Y button, you will not be able to operate the trigger, this is also by design. I hope to allow Akimbo at some point in the future, and I didn't want to invert the weapon model, so your virtual skeleton hands are able to operate the slide release with the index finger....its silly, I know, but gameplay trumps, Akimbo can be lots of fun. Soon...but not yet.
For anyone that is willing to purchase, I hope you have fun with what I have made. I hope to make this better and better, little by little. Also, thank you, I truly hope you enjoy.