Lately all of my updates have been about Spandex Force. Trust me, I could write a ton more on what’s happening with the game but today I’m just going to give you a quick link: Check out the Encyclopedia of Life project!
It’s an amazing attempt to catalogue the 1,8 million know species on the planet…and to add new ones as they are discovered. Here are some example pages of how it will look. There are two things that immediately strike me about this:
- This looks like a lot of fun. Seriously, it looks awesome! I’ve mentioned my fascination with Wikipedia and how I can look up esoteric topics for hours on end…and I can definitely see myself doing the same on this site. As a kid I used to read books about nature, and I spent countless days browsing my mom’s library of books on sharks and reptiles and mammals and fungi and whatnot. This site will probably be the same for the next generation of nerds.
- Listening to the-end-is-nigh environmentalists you get the impression that the world will end in a few decades. I googled for “extinct species per year” just now and found a page that claimed that 30000 species become extinct per year. I have no idea if that figure is correct, but if it is, negative people are probably saying things like “there’ll be no species left in 60 years!” Of course, they’re probably missing the fact that new species also emerge constantly. Either way, the thing is that if species are dropping and emerging at that rate, then it’ll be rather difficult to maintain this collection of species. 30000 per year means that someone will have to write a big red “EXTINCT” on 82 pages per day. I’m guessing that the 30000 species per year is either wildly exaggerated…or that the 1,8 million named species mentioned on EOL refer to a relatively stable core of species. Hey, I have no idea how many non-named species there are, after all!
Oh, and buy Spandex Force unless you’ve already done so! If you have you’ll be getting an update soonish; testing is still in progress.
At last I’ve unleashed Spandex Force onto the world! Go download yourself a copy of this exciting puzzle RPG right now, and make sure you buy it as well. Here’s the official press release which you can find on…surprisingly few other game-related pages so far. Strange. Sheeplings was picked up like wildfire, and judging from sales per day compared to Sheeplings, Spandex Force is approximately 1900% better than Sheeplings.
That’s a completely bogus comparison, of course. Sheeplings was slow to pick up speed, and didn’t really start selling after I made a new version that added many improvements; Spandex Force, on the other hand, has sold consistently since v0.5. Speaking of sales, I imagine that it’s easy for the casual reader to think that making games is all profit and fun, but let’s put things into perspective a little:
For the work I put into Sheeplings I got less than 50 cent per worked hour, after deducting what I spent on art. Probably more like $0.2 - I didn’t keep track of the hours I worked on the game. Surely, if Spandex Force sells better than Sheeplings, I must be better off this time?
Not exactly.
At the moment all sales of Spandex Force have paid off just above half of the art and music costs. I.e., so far I’ve had to pay for the privilege of releasing a game.
So go play Spandex Force and buy yourself a copy so that I can make more games! I promise you that I won’t be buying any sports cars for your dough - it’ll all go into production costs for my next game that I’ve started prototyping…
Since I’ve issued yet another press release regarding Spandex Force I might as well show it here as well. This regards the awesome Spandex Force photo contest that I’ve announced!
The actual press release follows:
To celebrate the upcoming release of the superhero-themed puzzle RPG Spandex Force, independent game developer KarjaSoft have announced a heroic photo contest.
Bring out your halloween costume and submit a photo of yourself dressed up as a superhero! Five copies of Spandex Force will be given to the funniest, most original and overall best entries. Extra credit will be given for inventive superhero names and an amusing background story for the hero. For more information and a couple of inspirational example photos, go to:
http://www.spandexforce.com/contest.php
“I couldn’t find any disgustingly tight spandex for the example photos,” laments Miro Karjalainen, owner of KarjaSoft. “But you can see me pose as Prince Harming and the Dubious Desperado at least.”
The last day to submit an entry is February 14, and winners will be announced on February 16.
Spandex Force is a tongue-in-cheek puzzle game with RPG elements, available for Windows and Mac. For screenshots and downloads of the beta version of Spandex Force, visit:
http://www.spandexforce.com
Come on - send me a picture at contest@karjasoft.com!
