Creeper World 3

After nearly 2 years of mining dilithium on Rura Penthe, my first Unity based title has finally launched:
http://knucklecracker.com/creeperworld3/cw3.php

Creeper World is a real time strategy game where the primary enemy is a fluid that flows over the terrain (which is now modifiable). Both the fluid and the terrain are not presented in the way you might imagine they would be in a standard 3d title. The game is basically a very precise cellular automata simulation with a visual emphasis on viewing the precise location of the fluid (the Creeper). This presented an interesting visualization and implementation problem...

I've built a successful business on the first two games in the series... which were written in AS3 and delivered using AIR. But I made the switch to Unity a couple years ago and decided to take advantage of the drastically improved performance and capabilities of the framework. The results are a game that's faster, larger in scale, and easier on the eyes than the predecessors.

Sales so far have significantly outstripped the launch window sales of the previous games and are exceeding my expectations significantly. Installation support issues are minimal, but not 0. Some small percentage of customers have problems with the Unity player crashing, but it seems to be only a very small percentage at this point.

Now life wasn't perfect working with Unity, I won't lie. No framework is perfect. Things still aren't perfect and there a number of issues I have to live with and work around. I often get asked by fans of the game and aspiring game developers what the transition to Unity was like. I'll tell them of all the beautiful moments and of the tragic moments. But in the end I'll say "I'm sticking with it, so that's the only thing you really need to know".

In summary, I'm pleased with Unity and think I made a wise choice two years ago when deciding to invest my money and more importantly time with Unity. I'm pleased because my customers are pleased. The game is being universally praised, support issues are minimal, and folks are happy.... and that makes me happy.

And here's the screenshot to add color to the post:

 

Cool game, good luck with it

 

Very chaotic looking, in a good way!

 

Played the other two games, lots of fun : )

 

This looks insane lol, pretty sure making it had to be a lot of fun

 

Congrats on your successful launch. I've been a fan since playing the training simulator on Kongregate so many years ago. Looking forward to where you take it while using Unity!

 

Now that the launch is over, the real work begins. Web teaser versions (on Kongregate mainly), greenlight, indie press coverage, game patches and extra features, integration with different stores (from amazon to shinyloot).... it's a whirlwind of things to do. And when that's done (or before actually), time to start the next game!

 

Knuckle, I'm surprised you're not getting more attention. I absolutely adore the CW games, and the fact that you're building in Unity is inspiring.

Kudos sir!

 

It's building... more stores will come online soon, some reviews, more LP's on youtube by folks with large numbers of subscribers. It's a slow process, especially given I don't know much about marketing.

But, the fans of the game seem to really like CW3, support issues are very minimal, and conversion rates from demo to purchase are higher than I predicted. With basically no marketing other than my own tweets, I did about 5x as many direct sales as CW2 when it premiered. This is one of those rare times when the game players are ahead of the game press...

 

Wow looks intense, I'll be checking it out for sure. I all ways loved strategy games.

 

I wanted to echo the encouraging posts. I loved and bought Creeper Worlds 1 and 2 some time ago. I am very happy to hear that you have another game out and that you are using Unity.

I look forward to trying out the demo.

Keep up the good work, and good luck.

 

This game looks amazing, I am going to give it a try!

tried the demo, awesome, I am buying!