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Sightline [DK2 support released]

Frooxius
Honored Guest
I'm excited to announce that the crowdfunding campaign for SightLine has launched!

Official website  |  Facebook Page

Help us make this reality! Share and comment! 🙂

As a special treat, he's the last part of SightLine Prelude, finishing the surreal sci-fi short about the events before the story of SightLine.

Also I have made new topic for the development of the full game after VR Jam, so you can get updates and continue discussion here:
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=6896

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

Get 1.2 Windows build (DK2 support)

Also SightLine is now on Oculus Share
https://share.oculus.com/app/1380132786019bpblgi7ldi

Update: Because I would like to make SightLine into a full blown game, I'm considering launching an IndieGogo campaign, but I could use some advice. Would you mind answering some of the questions in this post?

Hello,
I would like to share my Oculus VR jam entry with you - a game prototype named "SightLine", based on a principle that as soon as anything exits your field of view, it can change!

Official website (in construction)
Facebook page

Description

Our universe is volatile. Anything can be happening in places you're not observing. But laws of physics ensure, that whenever you look back, everything will be nice and consistent. In this game, laws of physics are broken.

The moment you look away... anything can change. The moment an object leaves your line of sight, it can vanish or change into something else.

Will you make sense of this unstable world and use the volatile nature of the environment to your advantage, to solve puzzles and get to the end?


Sightline is an environmental action/puzzle game prototype made specifically for
Oculus Rift VR jam developed with Unity and thus supports Windows, Mac and Linux

2nd milestone video
Note: It lacks some of the polish and changes in the final build, I didn't have time to make or even upload (I have 0.6 Mbps upload >.>) new trailer, but at least you'll have some surprises while playing 😉




Download
Windows (Final VR jam prototype build - 1.0) (~150 MB)

Soundtrack (On SoundCloud)

Works with keyboard/mouse and Xbox 360 controller.

Credits
Created by: Tomas "Frooxius" Mariancik (that's me :3 )
Music by: Ondrej "Sakabi" Pultar
Voice by: Julian Ceipek
Also I used a bunch of creative commons/free assets, they're listed in the README file included with the game.

I'll be happy if you share your thoughts, constructive criticism or just any comments! ^^ The last 3 weeks were quite tense, I worked as much as I could on this and I hope that I'll at least stand a small chance 😄 And hopefully that you'll find it fun 🙂
122 REPLIES 122

spinaljack
Protege
If you're going for crowd funding then you really need to add screen support to increase the potential market size.

Try and get some websites to review the game otherwise it will be very hard to reach that market. I know Kotaku wrote several articles on the Rift, you should send a copy to that guy.

$30k sounds like an okay target.

There are several successful crowd funded devs who would likely help you with your pitch, kickstarter has a preview mode you can use to send to them to comment on. Not sure about indieGoGo

ErrorsGalore
Honored Guest
"Frooxius" wrote:
Would you be willing to support IndieGogo campaign for SightLine both financially and by spreading the word?


Yes, a million times yes! 😄
Order 062XXX Arrived

Frooxius
Honored Guest
Serk: Thank you very much for your answer and the points you raised!

- I don't think I have other option. I understand it will be a distraction, but much smaller one than all the other things and projects I would have to do to secure income from other sources. Plus I wouldn't be able to pay a graphic designer nor the musician I work with (who is in worse financial situation) and the development would drag for a long time (or I would have to cut the game down a lot)

- I would love to go to KickStarter, but I haven't found a way to put a project there from unsupported country. Can you point me to some of the ways, maybe there's something I don't know about.

- Yeah, I realize that including screen support is going to limit some of the features. Maybe I'll limit the screen version functionality and make a compromise that will allow people to play it without Rift, but give incentive to play it with the Rift for extra immersion and features.

spinaljack: Thanks for suggestions!

ErrorsGalore: Thanks a lot! ^^

Serk
Explorer
"Frooxius" wrote:
- I would love to go to KickStarter, but I haven't found a way to put a project there from unsupported country. Can you point me to some of the ways, maybe there's something I don't know about.

There is this guide by the guys who made Xenonauts. It's a bit old, so read the text in red, and keep in mind it might not work for every country, so I guess you'd have to talk to someone who actually knows about this.

Also, it might be less of a necessity now if Indiegogo has grown since the time that was written. I don't have specific data, though, just a hunch that Kickstarter tends to attract more interest.

Frooxius
Honored Guest
Serk: I saw that guide before and I wanted to start company in the UK for that reason (remotely), but they now added requirement where you must be actual US/UK/Canada citizen, so that option is busted 😕

This is one thing that I hate about KickStarter... there are people with interesting ideas even in other countries and if IndieGogo can do international, why can't they? 😞

But thanks for your effort anyway.

Someguitarist
Explorer
I would definitely support your game, as long as one of the tiers at a reasonable price was a copy of the game! 😉

The problem though, is that I *definitely* think that 30,000 is going to be a bit hard to hit. I don't follow that many kickstarters, but I do follow a few and it's only rarely that I see them go that high without some sort of well-known developer attached.

The *other* problem is IndieGogo. That's going to severely limit your audience. Case in point; I already have a kickstarter account set up. I would pay to help fund this game. But if you launch on IndieGogo, I probably wont; mostly because I don't want to go create another account over there and link my bank card to it. It's just too much work. Plus, you'll probably get less coverage over there...

And the third problem is that while you can add regular screen support, I think it takes too much away from the game. First off, I do want to stress that I *absolutely* loved your game, and congrats on the VR Jam. Seriously, made me feel things, etc, etc. But I don't think you'll be able to convey that on a screen. While the idea certainly is novel, if I'd played the demo on a screen without using the Rift I don't think I'd be impressed. I'd probably be intrigued, but not enough to drop money on a Kickstarter... 😕

And that brings us back to the first problem; I think 30,000 is going to be a bit high, but maybe doable. Like you said up there, there's maybe 10,000 Rifts out there, if that? Out of those, I'd assume maybe less than half would donate, so lets say 4,000. Then if we say a 10$ tier that gets you access to the game, you're looking at 40k. So, I mean, it could be doable.

My advice; don't worry about adding screen support. Stick with the Rift. Most Rifters know you from the VR Jam and would donate. A screen wouldn't convey the same feelings and what you've accomplished on the Rift. Skip the IndieGogo and go straight to Kickstarter.

And also, general disclaimer; I have no idea what I'm talking about, so please take this all with a grain of salt!! 😉

Frooxius
Honored Guest
Someguitarist: Thanks for your feedback, but I think you misunderstood me. I can't go to KickStarter at all, because they don't support projects from my country and IndieGogo seems like the next best thing that's international.

It's concerning me now that IndieGogo seems to limit the audience even more, but I don't really have a choice on the matter 😞

I think 4000 Rifters donating is very generous and I kinda expect much less, which is why I hoped to widen the audience with a screen. I'm now not sure if it's actually doable. The problem is, with less money there will be less time for development before I have to move on to another project to get some income, resulting in more cut down game and I won't be able to pay a good graphic artist, which further increases the workload on me and thus the time required for development.

I'm not sure what to do really, I don't have any experience with campaigns so far and it's a bit confusing, what might work out and what won't. Thanks for your feedback though.

spinaljack
Protege
Other than crowd funding you can alpha fund your game through places such as Desura, Indie Game Stand, Steam etc.
Steam is obviously a tricky one but you can put your game on other portals and also do a steam greenlight and offer steam keys if/when you get onto steam.

Also set up a website for the game where you can accept direct donations or sell your game using a payment processor like https://www.braintreepayments.com/faq or http://www.sendowl.com/

Prison Architect uses send owl which also handles digital delivery of your game / license

Prison Architect is actually a prime example of how to alpha fund without kickstarter.

Someguitarist
Explorer
Sorry, somehow I missed an entire page of comments...

That is troubling, that you can't Kickstart from another country. 😕

I'm not saying that you shouldn't add second screen support, just that the experience as a whole wouldn't be as moving that way. If I'd of experience SightLine on a monitor, it wouldn't be nearly the amazing experience that it is.

I say just go for an IndieGogo campaign then. Do one that still returns funds to the donators if it's not fully funded, unless you're willing to fund it partially yourself. Worse case-scenario you can use it to gauge interest.

Whatever you do though, I'd definitely pay to see more of it! Good luck to you!!

Frooxius
Honored Guest
Hello! I have some news, I've updated to game a bit, fixing some bugs (falling through the wall) and added more checkpoints. Also Mac & Linux builds, however they need some testing (Linux build isn't uploaded yet, I need to recheck it, I'll post it later).

Get 1.1 Windows build
Get 1.1 Mac build

Important: The Oculus Share rejected the Mac build because of dropping FPS, but didn't provide much details. Is anyone willing to test it for me with Mac as well to see if it happens too (I myself got smooth FPS when I tested it) and if so provide more information?

Also SightLine is now on Oculus Share (which I discovered just a few days ago xD )!
https://share.oculus.com/app/1380132786019bpblgi7ldi There's still 1.0 build though.

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

spinaljack: Thanks for the suggestions. I've tried alphafunding of my game before, but it failed (didn't even get enough sales to reach the payout level, so I had to drop the project 😕 ). I need some investment in advance, otherwise I don't think I can jump into development full-time and it would drag on anyway, as I would have to take up some more projects to secure income. I'm not sure if I should combine both methods, maybe if the IndieGogo campaign succeeds, I can then also run alphafunding or pre-orders and such if some people want to join after the campaign though. So thanks ^^

By the way, do you think it's okay to give beta/alpha access for higher price than full game when released? For example for $10 on IndieGogo you get the full game when it's done, and for $30 you get like daily/weekly builds. I'm not sure if I should just give alpha access to everyone or give it as something extra for these who want to contribute more.

Someguitarist: Ah, that happens ^^'

Anyway, I think you could say that about other games that got Oculus Rift support afterwards, like HL2 or TF2. They are completely different experience with the Rift, with still fun on the screen so I'm kinda going with that idea.