#mindlabyrinth

So I am an indie developer seeking out fortune and a large audience on the world wide gaming web.

I have a game that works, which I regularly upgrade. But sometimes I feel tired... Let's face it : it demands a tremendous energy to publish a game when you target multiple operating systems.

Strange Masks has already been released on Windows and Linux and Mac. And it is planned to be released on Android, iP* family and maybe Blackberry with the help of the Haxe development community (Joshua if you read this, you know I may come to ask for your help).

Ok so with the help of the Haxe programming language and the fantastic NME gaming lib I can release the game on every platform without doing more than rebuilding the project on every platform and change a little bit the graphics so that it may fit to every screen it is played on.

But then I have to publish the game. And this part of the job requires lots of patience...

Step 1 - Build + create installer : 35 minutes

windows : 10 minutes ( game + demo )

linux : 15 minutes ( 32bit game + 64bit game + demo )

mac : 10 minutes ( game + demo )

Step 2 - Upload the demos to amazon S3 ( 75Mb ) : 10 minutes

Step 3 - Upload the games to BMT store ( 75Mb ) : 15 minutes

BMT uses a idx file to know what to download so you need to update the game index list each time if you include the game version number name like me (game_x.x.x_.exe). 

BMT is not located in France so it takes time :)

No approval required : upload and it's available.

Step 4 - Upload the games to indiecity : 15 minutes - often to infinite and beyond...

Indie city low bandwidth (from France) + terrible xhtml javascript queries make the whole experience nightmarish since some request fail and you don't know if you have to push that button again or wait wait wait... Until it comes over... Or not... I have to admit that I have not been courageous enough to update the game since the 1.0.2 version... I will have to do it though...

First download : approval required. It may take a few days. Then updates won't need any more approval.

Step 5 -Upload the game to Ubuntu Software Centre (linux only ) : 10 minutes

The Ubuntu Software Centre is INMHO currently the best selling platform. Because it is so easy to use, it always works, the support team and feedback are excellent. They take our tar.gz and make some very nice debs. I wish everything was as beautifully crafted. Bravo Canonical !

Every upload needs an approval. The first approval does not take more than a couple of days, though.

A few more steps will be added later for Desura and Gameolith and hopefuly Steam greenlight when I will gather enough positive reviews and a good community.

So today it takes at least one hour, but since I want to be sure that everything works, I test everything before... Silly paranoid me ?

So in the end, publishing a new update takes a few hours. Add the online shops and you can be sure that publishing a game can eat up your whole day.

en : On october the 2nd, I was at Cap Sciences Bordeaux, a French public Science Center demonstrating the Mindwave Mobile :) 

I also did a demo to my friends at Motion-Twin.

As always people enjoyed dueling on Magical GNU with the MindWave Mobile.

As always I wonder why Neurosky does not do any real thing to push the Mindwave but instead choose to push external projects like the Shippo... (sic..)

en : an article featuring Neurosky's Mindwave Mobile and two games. One of these being MindLabyrinth :)

en : young lady playing MindLabyrinth at LinuxTag 2012 at Holarse Booth. Thanks :)