Saturday 26 January 2013

Update 0.1.3 Released

Luminesca has just been updated to version 0.1.3, which you can download from the same place you purchased it (Desura, Indievania or direct download).

This patch fixes the bug which prevented some players from finishing Chapter 1 and adds a few small changes. You can view the full list of changes here.

I was working on adding some substantial 'story content' but decided it would be better to just get this bug fixed as soon as possible.  There will be another (bigger) update to Chapter 1 in the next week or so before I move on to Chapter 2.

Also, Linux support is coming very soon!

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Those pirates are fast (and... helpful?)

Piracy is something every game developer must come to expect. It's unavoidable in this age of widespread connectivity and was certainly something I was anticipating with Luminesca. What I did not expect was just how quickly piracy would become an issue; I made the game available for pre-order on Friday and noticed it listed on certain sites within a few days.

Luminesca utilises a piece of opt-in data tracking software called Lumos (no affiliation!). When the game starts up players can indicate whether or not they are happy to have Lumos send me anonymous hardware, software and session data about their system and experience with the game, which I can then use to improve it.

I knew something was amiss when I checked the Lumos figures and noticed that the recorded number of players was triple ten times the number of sales. Of course there are bound to be some players who chose not to enable data tracking so the actual numbers will be even higher.

I'm not here to rant about the evils of piracy or propose a solution. As far as I'm concerned there is no solution and the evils are irrelevant; there will always be people trying to get something for nothing. For a small developer it seems so futile to waste time on preventative measures.

I did, however, find it interesting that so many pirates were willing to permit illegally-acquired software to send usage information back to me. They're providing me with helpful data, whether they are supportive or not!

Of course there is always another way they could help which I would not object to in the slightest, and I can only hope they anyone who played Luminesca for free enjoyed it enough to make a contribution and help spread the word.

Friday 11 January 2013

Pre-order Luminesca now, get early access!

luminesca.com is now live and you can pre-order the game right now!

The sooner you pre-order, the cheaper you can get it for. It's currently 50% off and this price will creep up as more content is added and the final version approaches, so get your pre-order in ASAP!

PRE-ORDER NOW!
for Windows | for Mac
(Linux coming soon)

Also available on Desura!
Desura Digital Distribution