Quick Update

Hello all,

I thought some of you might be curious as to the progress of our new game development. We're not quite ready to release the hounds, but it's getting very close and all of us on this side are extremely excited.

The first big news is that the game has been officially christened. The game's title will be THREE CARDS TO MIDNIGHT. We will have an early version of the box cover available in the next week or so.

On another front, James is doing a bang-up job on the new website. I think everyone will be very impressed (though probably not surprised) at how good it looks. We're still at least a month away because I want to have plenty of content when we go online, but I'm really excited about how it will turn out.

Next week, I expect to finish up the first trailer for the game. It won't show any in-game content except for audio and some of the original Tarot cards which have been created specifically for this game; it's really more of a teaser than a trailer, but I think it will definitely pique people's interest in the game. When the trailer is ready, James will get to premiere it on this website for a little while, and then, when the new website is ready, we'll show the trailer exclusively there.

Another thing we'll offer on the new website will be Matt Heider's original musical theme for THREE CARDS TO MIDNIGHT. I just listened to it today for the first time and it's amazing!

As for the anticipated timetable, I'd like to get the website launched on September 1. I have several interviews lined up for late August and I want to be able to point readers to the website.

I'd like to have a small interactive demo ready by late September. And I think it's safe to say that we'll be able to release the game by Halloween (October 31).

As I said in earlier messages, I hope everyone here will join us in a grass roots blitz, starting around September 1st, to invade any and all online game forums and spread the word about TCM. We're very confident that this will be an amazing game - hopefully deserving of its own continuing series of titles, a la Tex - but we all know there have been lots of great games that sold poorly for a variety of reasons. This time around, I don't want "I never heard about your game" to be an excuse. And if people don't like the game, fair enough. But I really think they will. :D

And, if this game does well, just imagine the kinds of games we could make. :wink: More on that later in the year...

I promise to stop in with another update in late August and look for the teaser trailer next week.

Thanks again for all your support!

Aaron
September 1st - it's in the diary. Will hound every forum, shop and everything else I can find.

In a good way of course :wink:
David
Great news, can't wait to buy it.
Travis Jacobs

"You might not sound so idiotic if there were at least something excitable in my post to begin with..." --Baf
Great! I will be waiting for this game, the music of Matt Heider and a trailer. Excellent news! I will be buying it and I hope everybody does.
Awesome news! I'll count the days till its release.
Image
Definately sounds interesting. Can't wait. I think AC has something for the terrot though. First Tex now a whole game surrounding them.
I'm game! 'Nuff said.

-Fred
Pirates, vampires, zombies, ninjas, ghouls, aliens, goblins, monsters, robots, sorcerers, undead, werewolves, demons, mutated dinosaur-cyborgs and those pesky phone salesmen! The shotgun is a one-size-fits-all solution!
Oh man I'm aching to get the machine rolling. It's been a while since I did some good old PR :D
Part-Time Nomad
Great to hear from you again Aaron, good to hear all is going well, thanks for updating us!

Regarding the trailer, are you sure you want to keep it exclusive? Maybe you could do a clip cut down version of the main trailer or a short alternate version to spread across all the different video sites? And add a note to go to the main site to see more clips or more info. e.g. Youtube, Google Video, Metacafe, Revver and the other 100 or more sites. That's not even really counting all the other video clip sites scattered around the web I could send it to.
Also once it's on Youtube or any of the other major video sites, people can easily embed it in their blogs, social network profiles or websites meaning it can spread even more.

Also depending on what the game is etc. you could consider doing a flash viral game. But I don't know if it would work out etc. for your type of game. Depends on the game I guess, e.g. maybe spread out a demo of the very first part of the game, like the Tex Murphy demo. If you decide to do this I can help with distribution as I've looked into it and know what to do and know thousands (yes literally) of sites to spread it to in this arena. You can probably net thousands of hits that way gradually.

If it couldn't possibly have a flash counterpart in any way, then there are also alot of sites for free software/game downloads that a free demo version could possibly be spread out to.

I have been looking into marketing a lot lately so I will do what I can and feel free to get in touch with me about anything :)

Anyway best of luck.
(Ruri_Ayanami from the old Tex Murphy ezboard).
"I don't believe in intuition, don't know why... just a feeling." - Tex Murphy
Simply Awesome News...

This has been a bad week for me as far as News goes, but this certainly lifts my spirits... Thanks AC...
The Paved Straight Road, Won't Always Get You Farther Than The Winding Dirt Road...


Can You Run Your Game??? Click Here And Find Out...

*Note, Not All Games Have Been Tested & Therefore May Not Be Listed...
Fantastic to hear the news!

Thanks for the update!

Jen
If someone is crafty with a Design Program, maybe we can get a Flyer made up that we can email to each other and then we can print it out and post it at our local game stores... Thoughts???
The Paved Straight Road, Won't Always Get You Farther Than The Winding Dirt Road...


Can You Run Your Game??? Click Here And Find Out...

*Note, Not All Games Have Been Tested & Therefore May Not Be Listed...
Hey Aaron. Thanks for giving us the update, and as always, keeping us informed. I think you can count on all of us to help spread the word about the new game. I can't wait to see the teaser, the website, and more importantly, the game. I look forward to buying it. Later.
"If at first you don't succeed,
redefine sucess."
- Sowden
www.nineteenthstar.cjb.net
www.sowden.cjb.net
Very exciting news, AC. We're behind you all the way in all your endeavors.
"If you look to me for illumination, you better have a flashlight!"
Ooohhhh....the suspense surrounding this project is intriguing. Each update just leaves me wanting to know more. See you soon!