Ask the developer a question!

[CraigStern]

I refuse to sign up for another site just so I can answer your questions. Instead, I will do so here, in this thread.

Ask me anything (within reason), and I will answer!

[KZ]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of questions do these include? Simply related to game development, future aspirations, plans, etc, or more personal ones with you more or less stop being anonymous and letting in the general public into the know about who you are? (Like you've been slowly doing over the last year or so.)

[CraigStern]

You can ask whatever you like: questions about game development, life advice, trivia, etc. I'll then decide whether to answer.

[KZ]

Oh goodie :)
Then I do have one from steelfist here, which is rather suiting to start things off:

Why didn't you keep Malignus as a name? Everyone knew who you were anyway.

[CraigStern]

I guess that's true about all of you knowing who "malignus" is. You can consider the screen name change as just another part of the process I've been going through over the past year, trying to make Sinister Design and everything associated with it (myself included) more approachable to new fans and more professional as well.

[Zhampir]

If you release TSOG to the public early, pre-total completion (as no RPG is totally complete, but complete enough) will you continue to work on it or start on a new game altogether?

[CraigStern]

Hm, I'm trying to figure out what you mean. Are you asking if I'm going to keep updating the game with additional content post-release? If so, the answer is "maybe."

I'm not in a position where it makes economic sense to just keep adding more and more content after the game is done and released, but if there's something that I think the game really needs that I didn't think of beforehand, I'm certainly not going to shrink from adding it in afterwards.

[Zhampir]

That's just the answer I wished to hear, thank you.^^

[KZ]

What are your plans for future projects? I remember you talked about Fool's Gold at some point, and the Shadowling Assassin? Do you have desire to expand into another genre?
Are you thinking of mixing up games in future, making some free-for-all, and some buyable premium ones to keep your profile high in the Flash gaming community?
Are you considering at one point to make this your main job focus- developing flash games and, possibly, to create a design studio?
What's your thought of venturing into making short games in Flash for iPhone?
Given an article with regards to Flash game prices that your posted in summer, what are your thoughts on the general potential of Flash game market and general user mentality? Do you reckon, with enough concerted effort, certain Flash developers will be able to set the price-tone in light of the crisis and changing customer attitudes?
Any thoughts on how to tackle the issue of selling Flash games to minors and facilitating methods available in the future?
Thoughts on using social community websites like Facebook, as well as Twitter, to promote your products?
Just general thoughts on shifting attitudes and expectations towards Flash games that you noticed in the last 5-7 years? (Or better yet, over the last decade?)

Quite a few questions there, but I'll definitely be interested to hear your opinions on any of the questions above.

[laserpants13]

What actionscript version did you use for tsog? (just curious).

[Zhampir]

Do you plan on expanding your programming department? (i.e. more programmers(even if only volunteers))

[CraigStern]

I am using Actionscript 2 for TSoG, though I'm moving to Actionscript 3 for all future projects.

I'd certainly like to have an experienced programmer I can rely on to do work for me, volunteer or otherwise. If you know someone like that (or, for that matter, if you are someone like that) let me know. :)

What are your plans for future projects? I remember you talked about Fool's Gold at some point, and the Shadowling Assassin? Do you have desire to expand into another genre?
Are you thinking of mixing up games in future, making some free-for-all, and some buyable premium ones to keep your profile high in the Flash gaming community?
Are you considering at one point to make this your main job focus- developing flash games and, possibly, to create a design studio?
What's your thought of venturing into making short games in Flash for iPhone?
Given an article with regards to Flash game prices that your posted in summer, what are your thoughts on the general potential of Flash game market and general user mentality? Do you reckon, with enough concerted effort, certain Flash developers will be able to set the price-tone in light of the crisis and changing customer attitudes?
Any thoughts on how to tackle the issue of selling Flash games to minors and facilitating methods available in the future?
Thoughts on using social community websites like Facebook, as well as Twitter, to promote your products?
Just general thoughts on shifting attitudes and expectations towards Flash games that you noticed in the last 5-7 years? (Or better yet, over the last decade?)

Um, geez. That's a lot of questions to ask at once! :D Do you want to put together an interview for the front page of the site?

[KZ]

Aye, I thought maybe you'd like to answer some of them. ;)
As for putting up an interview- methinks you've already just done that :P

[hellboy222]

I was thinking is the full version of TSOG going to be available to everyone and then you have a version that you buy which has extra goodies, or is it going to be a buy and play with no free version?

[CraigStern]

I would expect TSoG to be like Telepath Psy Arena 2, with a free demo and a full game that is pay-to-download.

As for putting up an interview- methinks you've already just done that :P

All right, all right. You win. :P I'll pick and choose a few of these:

What are your plans for future projects? I remember you talked about Fool's Gold at some point, and the Shadowling Assassin? Do you have desire to expand into another genre?

My latest idea is to make a game that combines turn-based tactics with a collectible card game. Instead of recruiting characters, you collect cards. Some cards let your hero cast spells directly on the battlefield, some change the rules of combat, and some summon minions for you to command. You can build multiple decks, level up your minion cards in battle, and go dungeon-delving for especially rare cards.

That's just one idea, though. Whatever I end up deciding to make next, you guys will be the first to know. ;)

Are you thinking of mixing up games in future, making some free-for-all, and some buyable premium ones to keep your profile high in the Flash gaming community?

I've considered it. The free Flash game market is pretty competitive, though. As I learned with TPA1, it doesn't really work to release a not-so-great free game to build buzz these days. And the games I tend to like making take a lot of time and effort to make. I'd consider it if I had a large enough sponsorship offer waiting in the wings, but I can't really predict whether that's likely to happen or not.

What's your thought of venturing into making short games in Flash for iPhone?

Well, the iPhone doesn't support Flash, so that's pretty much DOA. Unless you're talking about Flash CS5's reported ability to export to iPhone format? I've heard some mixed opinions on how well that'll work. Given the technical limitations of the iPhone platform and the likelihood that Flash-exported games will run slowly on it, I think iPhone development should probably be left for people better at optimizing code than I. (And that's without even getting into how the iPhone App store basically requires your game to be sold at $0.99 per copy in order to get any attention.)

Just general thoughts on shifting attitudes and expectations towards Flash games that you noticed in the last 5-7 years? (Or better yet, over the last decade?)

Well, just in terms of being a program you can plausibly use to make games, Flash basically didn't exist prior to the beginning of this decade. Check out Tom Fulp's description of how he made Pico's School with Flash 3 back in 1999:

This year also saw the introduction of Pico's School, hailed by many as the pinnacle of Flash 3 "programming". I say that in quotes because Flash 3 didn't offer much in terms of programming - it didn't even support variables. I came up with a very complex work-around for tracking events and data, making Pico the most advanced Flash 3 game I am aware of. It wasn't until Flash 4 that variables were introduced, and Pico would have been much easier to make. :)

It didn't support variables--that's just crazy!

Flash games have gotten a lot more sophisticated over the past 5 years, particularly in terms of graphics. Only over the past year or two has Flash started to gain acceptance in the larger games-making community as a legitimate game development platform, and not just an engine for crummy, free games, which I think very important for indie developers.