A while back I said I'd let you know in a couple days what is happening in the new year with Hamumu. Well, now it's a lot of days later, so here goes:
1. We got to play both Arthouse and Dramedy (read a couple journals back for details) with my family and they went over like ice cream sandwiches with a side of gold nuggets! That means they were greatly enjoyed. I was really surprised at just how well they did, and a second game of arthouse was pretty much put together without me (luckily, they let me join in though), they just wanted to play again. Dramedy had some flaws which I think I've addressed to some extent, but really I can't find any problems with Arthouse! It just plain worked. Of course, it'd be nice to actually try these games with non-family members and get some more heartless feedback, but it's a start. At the end of this month, I'll have them looked over by other game designers at a board game designer's forum, and we'll see what they say, then from there it's pretty much just more playtesting and then letters to publishers!
2. Unfortunately, it's not time to share what the next Hamumu project is. I thought it would be, but after some hefty research and investigation, I've discovered that I need to do some more research. But hopefully by the end of this month, the stuff I'm hoping will pan out will, and I'll be deep in the design and development of a new game. When that happens, I'll be very open about it, not secretive like usual, and I'll get all kinds of input from you guys to help make it really Hamumuey. I decided there's 3 things you guys really want: more Dr. Lunatic-type gameplay, a level editor, and lots of secret junk. So that's the goal.
3. I'm making a real push into advertising and marketing stuff this year, as well as shooting to get the burden of CDs off my back, and automate as much else as I can too. I want to be able to just focus on making games. I should be rolling out an affiliate program this week (where, if you run a large popular website, you can sign up to sell our games on it for a very hearty commission) as the first bit of all that.
2005 is going to be the Year Of Dumb! We're taking over this place.
