90 replies to this topic

[Orbitguy]

I like how everything has a TM next to it. lol

In all honesty, I think there are too many. It sort of makes the page look weird.

Other than that, I think the .tk domain is fine. People will flip out at you who are in the buisness, but as long as it's not .freewebs or .weebly who cares.

You use a lot of different colors on your page, some overall color scheme might be wise but it's not really nessecary seeing as you're an indie game company.

[beatson]

My site looks like a company site. Yeah, they have a slideshow of ads on their home page. That's the only difference.

I think my site looks good.


I see why not many companies have gmc accounts. This whole topic has been me explaining to people what trademarks and copyrights are, and what company websites are, etc.

ProGames™ is an indie game company run by 1 person, Brandon Orner.
GeoGames™ (ProGames™ subsidiary) is run by 1 person, David Wright.
We are 2 people. Just like 2dBoy. http://2dboy.com/

And on that note, good luck with your company

[ProGames™ Company]

NEWS
Apr. 4, 2012

3 games are in development to be released this summer!
They are available for pre-order.

Fallo™ - puzzle game

Brandon's Adventures™ - platformer

Check them out on the store!

Edited by ProGamesUSA™, 25 April 2012 - 12:27 AM.

[ProGames™ Company]

NEWS
Apr. 4, 2012

3 games are in development to be released this summer!
They are available for pre-order.

Fallo™ - puzzle game

Brandon's Adventures™ - platformer

Check them out on the store!

NEWS
Apr. 10, 2012



A contest is on! Until June 1st! Check it out on the site!

Edited by ProGamesUSA™, 25 April 2012 - 12:27 AM.

[True Valhalla]

Since your to cheap to get a .com domain, get a .tk domain. They are free and you look a bit more professional.

.TK looks terrible still. I simply won't visit a .TK address. If the owner can't even invest a few dollars on a domain name, how can you expect any investment in the content or quality?

That said, I typically feel the same way about seeing a .webs or .weebly domain, or any sub domain hosting service in the same style.

I've used Weebly in the past and it's a fantastic service, but I forked out that $100 to get rid of the branding and get a proper domain, and so far my Weebly sites have had over 1 million hits combined.

Sub domain hosting services look unprofessional. Put some effort and money into hiding that, at the least.

[ProGames™ Company]

Since your to cheap to get a .com domain, get a .tk domain. They are free and you look a bit more professional.

.TK looks terrible still. I simply won't visit a .TK address. If the owner can't even invest a few dollars on a domain name, how can you expect any investment in the content or quality?

That said, I typically feel the same way about seeing a .webs or .weebly domain, or any sub domain hosting service in the same style.

I've used Weebly in the past and it's a fantastic service, but I forked out that $100 to get rid of the branding and get a proper domain, and so far my Weebly sites have had over 1 million hits combined.

Sub domain hosting services look unprofessional. Put some effort and money into hiding that, at the least.

Yeah, we will be getting a .com domain instead, hopefully soon. .tks are... eh.

[ProGames™ Company]

About a month until the end of the contest! So get ready to submit your fanart soon if you're in the contest!

[theepicgeno]

NEWS
Apr. 4, 2012

3 games are in development to be released this summer!
They are available for pre-order.

Fallo™ - puzzle game
Call of the Dead™ - classic horror fps
Brandon's Adventures™ - platformer

Check them out on the store!

Just saying... but Call of the Dead is a call of duty mini game.... So you shouldnt ™ that..

[ProGames™ Company]

NEWS
Apr. 4, 2012

3 games are in development to be released this summer!
They are available for pre-order.

Fallo™ - puzzle game
Call of the Dead™ - classic horror fps
Brandon's Adventures™ - platformer

Check them out on the store!

Just saying... but Call of the Dead is a call of duty mini game.... So you shouldnt ™ that..

Yeah I saw that, so that won't be its real name. I haven't really started on the zombie game yet. I'm working on other games at the moment to be released in Summer.

But anyway, remember the contest ends on June 1st! Check out the contest on the site, and draw!
There are 0 contestants so far, so everyone who wants to enter, send an email on the site!

Edited by ProGamesUSA™, 25 April 2012 - 12:37 AM.

[ProGames™ Company]

1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in the contest will have a bonus with the poster! If they are going to buy Brandon's Adventures™ they will get it 50% off. Estimated price at the moment will be $10.00. Decided price will be announced closer to release.

Now on the store you can choose: CD or digital.
CD - You will receive the game by mail. There is $1.00 added for shipping to the price.
Digital - You will receive the game by email with a password to unlock your copy.

[MonkeyMaw]

Let me be 100% honest here. I can appreciate the effort you have put into the site, the store, and even into the games. After really taking a look at everything, even the youtube videos, I can only conclude that you are a young person with big aspirations and very little knowledge with this stuff. The following is merely opinion and my firm stance on why this is all so hard to take seriously.

First, you have everything trademarked, copyrighted, and terms of use everywhere. I believe that one should protect their intellectual property, but I believe it could be over done, as in this case. It's interesting to me that you linked to 2DBoy. To me they are considered professional independent game developers. With that said, I'd like you to count all the trademarks and copyright symbols on their website, related to either their name and or games. I think I spotted one! I just think that if you are going to try to be professional, then start by examining how real professionals do things. Littering everything with trademarks and copyrights does nothing but show an incredible amount of entitlement and paranoia.

Second, the website seems to be based on how great Brandon Orner is, and not about what the site is intended to be for, which is games. Sure you have some pictures of some games. There are no demos and I had to search around on youtube to even find any videos. The about page really needs work. It's just odd to refer to yourself in the third person and then to discuss how "He" knows this and that. I'm not going to say the design is bad at all. I've seen far worse.

Third, it's great that you are making the games and the art solo, but I think you need more practice. The screens make the games look very low quality and while I can safely agree that sometimes gameplay out weighs graphics, I cannot see this with these games. I've seen the play-throughs and it looks as if you have just learned GameMaker and you are excited to throw everything you make out there! I'm not sure how you can logically believe that people will buy these games without playing a demo or seeing some video etc. After watching you play-through those two games and even seeing the same ending screen in both games, I realized that this is all either a joke, or just an attempt to make a few bucks.

I've read every post here and I understand you do not take constructive criticism well. That's fine and if you wish to ignore my post as well, you have a right to do so. However, people are sharing their opinions and criticisms to help you. I do wish you the best of luck and if you can take some our advice and rectify a few things, I may even visit your site again

Edited by MonkeyMaw, 28 April 2012 - 03:40 AM.

[ProGames™ Company]

The company site is for the games and the people (the whole company). The store is for the games only.

I'll use less tm symbols xD. Got carried away.

I've been programming for years and am very experienced at gm, c++, quickbasic, visualbasic, and java.
I think the screenshots look good. I may upload new trailers though.

I am a young adult who started his own company.

We are very professional. Btw, I'll try to get some demos up soon.

Those two playthroughs were the same game. That game has 3 minigames with 2 modes. The ending screen was the screen for when you get past the game in one mode.

Thanks for your suggestions.


Btw, by screens did you mean the cover art for the games on the site?
If anyone is interested, we could use a cover art designer now that we're selling CD copies of games.

Edited by ProGamesUSA™, 28 April 2012 - 04:13 AM.

[MonkeyMaw]

I've been programming for years and am very experienced at gm, c++, quickbasic, visualbasic, and java.

I'm sorry Brandon but to be honest, it's irrelevant. John Carmack is very experienced. He does not run around talking about how good he is though, he lets his games do the talking.

I think the screenshots look good.

Fair enough. If those screens represent the best you can do and you think they are effectively showing the quality of the game, then all good. Let's just hope customers feel the same way. If they don't, then you your sales will reflect that.

Those two playthroughs were the same game.

Oh you're right, I apologize for that error!

Thanks for your suggestions.

Anytime. I'm sure you didn't want to hear it all, but I'm just trying to help

[ProGames™ Company]

So if anyone is interested in being a cover art designer, reply here or send an email!

[ProGames™ Company]

A demo is now available on the store! Check it out!

[GameGeisha]

You are clearly nowhere as professional as you think you are.

When I downloaded the demo, the first thing I noticed is the ad-supported host. As a professional company, you should either pay to get rid of the ad screens or use another host that doesn't have them, because they unnecessarily cheapen you from a business perspective. As MonkeyMaw already said, go look at a few websites belonging to real professional game companies and see the difference.

After downloading the demo, the link that your installer dropped on my start menu doesn't even work. Then I navigated to the install directory and realized that you misspelled the target in the start menu link. I should not have had to troubleshoot this --- had I been a real customer, you would have just lost a potential sale.

When I opened the readme.txt to get a feel for how the game works, I just had to wonder if you have ever read a proper EULA in your whole life. It reeked of inflated egos, and demonstrated a total lack of business sense and maturity. Just to give a taste of it for other readers of this topic:

Stealing, Copying, Uploading to the internet, and making illegal copies of a commercial
game IS ILLEGAL!!! DO NOT DO IT!!!

Come on. If you were 8, I would think this is somewhat cute and righteous. But as a young adult, this looks pompous and foolish --- you should have used more appropriate vocabulary and writing styles to express this idea, especially now that you are in a business environment.

Then I started playing the game. The graphics demonstrate a complete ignorance for colour theory --- most of the in-game text camouflaged right into the background, the HUD was a strain to look at and the background texture hides bottomless pits until I was right next to the edge. The gameplay is a familiar Mario-Kart-ish style, but the physics were very poorly executed, and the controls were not documented nor taught in-game.

Stop using "classic" and "retro" as a crutch for producing poorly made games and handling business badly. That excuse is getting as old as the one with the dog having homework for breakfast. Being young does not absolve you of responsibilities to learn about and honour what the market demands of you.

GameGeisha

[ProGames™ Company]

Thanks for reporting about FileDropper and it's issues. I'll be choosing another way to get demos to the people.

Thanks for the bug report. However, I think Speedy the Mouse 1 and 2 may be redone with updated HD-ish graphics.

The readmes will be re-written as a regular EULA.

I have been planning on redoing Speedy the Mouse 1 and 2, so check back soon for the NEW redone version of those 2 games!



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the way, I'm looking for 2 people:

-Someone who is a good artist (for cover art design)
-Someone who is good at video editing and video animation (for trailers)
Send an email or reply here if interested.

Edited by ProGamesUSA™, 29 April 2012 - 02:52 AM.

[Sir]

Ok, I'm sorry, but I was wandering the GMC and saw your post. I decided to take a look at your site, ya know, why not?

1) This has already been said before, why so many TM markers?
2) This has also been said before, the screenys look cruddy.
3) This hasnt been said before. I went to your site, then had to go to ANOTHER site just to get to your store. Why?
4) Host the download links on your site, perhaps?

[ProGames™ Company]

1) I'm going to use less. Working on it.
2)Speedy the Mouse, and Speedy the Mouse SSA are being redone (new graphics)
so new screenshots will be put up on the day of its re-release. I'm working on the graphics.
3) I'm organizing the company site, at the moment, and when I'm done, the store will be moved back onto the company site, ok?

[MasterOfKings]

Firstly, the TM is ridiculous. I highly doubt any of your work is actually protected under a trademark. Get rid of it.

Stealing, Copying, Uploading to the internet, and making illegal copies of a commercial
game IS ILLEGAL!!! DO NOT DO IT!!!

I'm no expert, but unless you've paid to protect your work, people can do whatever they want. Although, you may have automatic intellectual property protection.. but that won't go far for your company.

Secondly, your site's colour scheme could do with an overhaul. It's not terribly impressive. Plus, your store page uses way too many colours. Some of your links aren't even links. The store could do with being something like store.progamesusa.tk, rather than a completely different url. I would like to also point out that progames looks like programs spelled incorrectly (albeit, you can't really fix that).
I recommend actually looking into making your own site (I'm assuming you used a website builder), as it'll give you a bit more control. I did offer free web development myself, in case your interested (if so, go here - not advertising, I'm just making an offer). Plus, GET A FAVICON. Using the dot tk one makes the site look heavily unfinished.

I'm not sure that your site sells your game very well. Actually getting to any sort of download, or purchase link was very difficult (there's a demo to [some of] these games?). The site titles aren't done (Speedy Mouse page title was down as Home).

Overall, your site is both unfinished and difficult to use.

.TK looks terrible still. I simply won't visit a .TK address. If the owner can't even invest a few dollars on a domain name, how can you expect any investment in the content or quality?

I use a .tk address... Although, anything that ends up being available will only ever be free.

Edited by MasterOfKings, 01 May 2012 - 02:26 PM.