*Stands on soapbox* To whom it may concern, I am 31 years old, twice over Iraq war veteran. Started Gaming on paper, DND, then Atari, nes and so forth. Got a little bit into development, did some alphas betas both closed and open, and eventually got a job doing some level design, which I promptly quit when I realized games weren't fun, they were work, for practically no money. Now I just mod, tinker, and take verbal abuse from my wife about spending tons of money for games that are still in development, damn you kickstarter. Know I only offer my advice to games I have hopes for and companies that I think listen. (So yes I am off today and have some time to kill.) The biggest is how to release, you would think I wouldn't have to say this, but if a feature isn't working and is totally bugged, you should remove it before release, fix it and put it in a patch, seriously, a bugged game is like buying a new car that turns out to be broken, the first thing people do is say they wont buy from that company again, fucking Nissan. And yes I heard there was a delay in release so this likely doesn't apply to you magnificent bastards. Mods and mod support. Typically games which allow for a deep level of modding do better. I would recommend even at this late stage to keep a little hardcoded as possible, and to make a good set of mod tools asap for the community, and even give support for community patches etc. The more access given to the mechanics of the game the better plain and simple, that way if something is really bothering people like me, it will only take a few minutes to change it and move on playing the game. Don't get in the mindset of specific events. What I mean is make things as random as possible, yes certain things will be scripted, but its not hard to make an invasion of randomly generated things from wherever. One of the reasons many people keep going back to games like dwarf fortress is because it is very much random, so the replay value is high, seriously if you haven't yet read boatmurdered, make your entire staff do it after hours in a "not mandatory" but mandatory unpaid meeting, and make it like a kids book with one person reading and everyone else on the floor, nice and degrading, oh and in a bar but don't allow alcohol because so and so has a problem and you don't want them to feel uncomfortable...in a bar, sitting on the floor. Where was I, this is what happens when most if the game is random and its entertaining as hell. I know its late in the game, but patches can always be made as well as expansions. If you can add that into the game somehow that would be awesome, but don't actually do that, it would be funny for someone to watch but I think your staff would be pissed. Chances are most of them are already working day and night, for countless unpaid hours as it is. Finally, good luck. Seriously the industry is brutal especially for small studios. If you let me know when release is, ill rub my lucky cats tongue, spin three times clockwise and fart twice in a Tupperware, just for you. If you ever feel you want an outside opinion on a feature (or a used tool, restaurant equipment, trucks really I can find just about anything for only a small mark up) I would be more then happy to read it via email and get back to you on it, I don't charge for consultations anymore especially since I am not writing the code. *Gets off soapbox* *Hopes soapboxes are in the game*
