This weekend I set about remastering my 2007 game Santa's workshop in time for a mid-November steam release.
Some History on this game
In 2007 I spent upwards of $300 on original commissioned art for a game and I thought the portals (this is pre-steam greenlight) such as big-fish would eat it up but none were interested. As a result the finished game got sent to the likes of download.com and tucows etc. but didn't sell a single copy (that I recall).... failure #1. In 2011 I produced an android version which has 5 purchases to date at $1 each... failure #2. The original 2007 game was developed for Windows only using Blizmax targeting a fix resolution of 1024x768. the Android 2011 version was developed in MonkeyX and used a virtual resolution but used the same assets as in 2011 720p screens were considered high-end.
The 2017 AppGameKit HD remaster
1. The first thing I did was to up-scaled the original assets using
ImageResizer with the XBR2x method. I had to tidy up the edges a little on some assets but overall the outcome is really nice.
2. Plan to use the same 112 puzzles as it will be trivial to import them.
3. I am targeting 1080p and enabling virtual resolution for higher\lower screens, i personalty have a 1440p screen and it all looks nice and crisp.
4. Plan to get the game onto steam and approved by mid November, on sale for $2 or $3.
5. I'll also post it on itch.io.
6. PC, MAC and Linux to maximise user base.
So here we go, 3rd times a charm. I'd considered net sales $400 a massive success as I'd recoup my steam fee and asset costs, but this will require ~200 sales and all this has to happen in the space of 6 weeks over the xmas season.
Progress
I spent the weekend fixing the assets for 1080p, I also created the title screen (below). I honestly thought i'd get more done but the hours just melt away sometimes.
