#32833 - Wriggler - Tue Dec 28, 2004 3:52 pm
Not really a coding question, but I'm not sure where to put this one!
If anybody has any experience reviewing GBA software for a gaming publication, this one's aimed at you! How do reviewers receive work in progress GBA games? Do the reviewers have their own flash software, or are they sent a cartridge to use in commercial hardware?
I know where I've worked before (dev) they used flash hardware, but I was wondering if magazine reviewers had the same deal?
Cheers,
Ben
#32840 - SimonB - Tue Dec 28, 2004 4:31 pm
Depends on which company sends them out but from what Ive heard at least larger reviewers that get the stuff well in advance get the game on an official flash cartridge. But then they usually use 3rd party flash carts so they can test multiplayer etc.
Simon
#33319 - grumpycat - Sat Jan 01, 2005 11:09 pm
I would imagine that if you want someone to review your game you need to send it in the most "pain-free" format; i.e. on a flash cart.
I think it proves a level of commitment on your part. You're sending a reviewer a $50-$100 cart, which you probably won't get back, which makes you think hard before you send it. Any fool can email a .bin file. I wonder how many of these reviewers receive, and how many are diverted straight into the trash.
Is the demo THAT good? From the instant the cart is booted, does it look slick and clean? Are there any bugs that the reviewer might find? Does it need more polish, graphics, sound or levels for the reviewer to "get it"?
An in-progress game is obviously not finished, but I think it has to project a level of quality that shows where it's going. Put in title screens, make sure the demo has a beginning and end (don't just power-on into the game, and power-off to get out).
I don't know about you, but if I were serious about having a game reviewed by a magazine I would probably commit at least $500 - seeking out both the top print magazines and webzines. That's a lot of money, and if I were sending out an in-progress review, I would only want to do it once. I would make sure the game absolutely rocked, getting friends to give me an honest report first, before sending it out.
Remember that a review can go against you, as well as for you. How you view your creation may be very different to how other people view it. No one sets out to develop a game that only gets 4/10 in a review. The developers of those games probably think their games rule.
Don't be in that group. Get feedback, put in the effort up-front, and send off your demo knowing that it's going to score well.
#33513 - Rommel - Tue Jan 04, 2005 8:43 pm
I had an internet site for game reviews a few years back, actually a bit longer than that. Unfortunatly, I never did get incomplete GBA games but did recieve a lot of incomplete PSX games, and out of about half a douzen no were on a disc that was instantly recognized on the PSX. All were basicly just CDRs and I had to have a modded chip to play them. This was from Atlus mainly, but had two games from other minor game developers, so for the big boys they might send games that bootup like a retail game.
Hope that helped, even though I doubt it did. ;)