Looking good Acharis. I really should look into youtube videos. And GIFs, that's another one i need to look into.

I wouldn't be 100% sure without data backing it up, but I suspect if you were to look at most videogame Kickstarters, the tiers where no game is awarded see very few backers compared to the rest of the tiers. In many ways, KS is like a pre-order, but with even less of a guarantee of getting your money back if the game gets cancelled or the company goes under. (Though nowadays with the ability to pre-order directly from a company instead of a retailer, there might not be much difference)

Also, just an FYI because it was mentioned, T-shirts and posters and stuff...I think people should try to avoid those at all costs when doing a kickstarter. Sure they might be cheap to order, but then you have to ship them everywhere, and if you've underestimated shipping costs, one sure way to earn the ire of your fanbase is to go back and charge for shipping. Not to mention the time involvement of trying to fulfill all the physical orders. I think you'd be much better served giving out something like in-game credits, an in-game mention, access to an audio track or digital artbook, etc. Most of that is basically free. Keep physical content to the premium tiers.

A funny story from my development:

There are 600 planets in the game, each needs a unique name. I managed to get a hold on like 150 decent names (invented, preselected, etc) and I reaaaly didn't want to invent remaining 450. So I created two files "decent names" and "garbage names" (whose I got from various online generators with almost no sorting out). I was thinking that maybe I will make some voting system so players can sort these out and other complex ideas. But then I just decided to temporarily drop them all into the game. So, since I had two files I though "let planets near player use the better names and the outskirs let use lame names since player will see these rarely", so I did it. I launched the game, looked at the map and... wow, I made A FEATURE! The plenets neraby the player sound civilized and terran like while the planets further into alien territory sound... alien :D

And that's how, thanks to my laziness, I made the first game ever (I think) that uses logical planet naming convention for galaxy generator :D

And GIFs, that's another one i need to look into.

GIFs you say... once you research these post your findings :)

So I just did some really basic stuff with free movie to gif converters. Not super impressed with the quality, but imgflip was free. There seem to be a ton of them out there, so if anyone finds any /knows of any better ones, let me know.

PS: For an example: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/1798/entry-2261559-playing-with-gifs/, that was the the longest I could make it and get 20 fps, without upgrading to 'pro'.

I wonder if I should continue this release every two weeks...

==========
Version 0.13 (EarlyAccess, prototype branch) released.

I know I was saying it will be an Alpha, but just before release I played it and... not yet, that's not an alpha yet. So, it's another Prototype branch build.

This time I focused mostly on economy & balance. It's probably the most boring version

Changes/rebalance:

• Industry redone (IC removed, instead there are industry ratings A-F)
• Edict to control industrial investements Empire wide
• Usable size of the planet (affects max industrial facilities)
• Finances rebalanced & adjusted (Imperial tax, bureaucracy penalty, etc)
• Old edicts renamed to Reforms and new ones done
• Icons for technologies also technologies simplified (more consistent now)
• Starvation, proper population growth, etc
• Better summary of ships in the flet (average per squadron)
• A lot of smaller improvements

New features:

• Fleet modernization option

Progress report video:

Did another update. I would say the 2 weeks cycle has pros and cons. It helps focusing on things (sonce I have to do one every 2 weeks) it also has shorter iterations (so I start to panic earlier if things go wrong :D). But it also is a bit distracting. I think, for most people/teams I would recommend monthly... On the other hand some games have it weekly (like Gnomoria had, at least when it was updated).

Maybe I should split it into BIG and SMALL updates? Like big one would have the YT video and everything while small one is, well, small :D

-----

Version 0.14 (PROTOTYPE).

A lot of smaller changes and polish.

Changes:
- ground combat redone (invasion progress)
- intelligence screen (description of races & special traits)
- civilized races take into account threat level
- interface improvements & many other small improvements, balance

Progress report video:

Tip of the day:

I found it benefitial to split design and coding (implementation) parts. These don't go well next to each other (sitting in front of the computer and trying to both design it and implement, doing these at different times of day seem to work better).

BTW, v0.15 was released.

I have redone my homepage: http://www.pocketspaceempire.com/ basicly moved to wordpress and copied there the tumblr stuff.

You know, from a retrospection, I should have done this from the start. Overall, I tried to do too many weird things (crowdfunding, tumblr, indieDB, early access and other oddities). If I were to start again I would do:

- HomePage (a proper one, not like the previous one) and post there all the big stuff and news

- YouTube channel

- Facebook & Twitter

- post on 1-2 forums *I* like the best (to forge out/try marketing pitches and get some feedback, not for promotion)

- mailing list (obvious, it's an obligatory one)

- a closed Alpha

- Steam Greenlight (that one is always good)

And THAT'S IT! I should have done it the standard way, like everone else, and not invent some strange things :)

BTW, tomorrow the first Alpha will be released.

Oh, yes, forgot to update the topic. So, I have released it on Steam :) It's an odd feeling :)

The interesting thing is, that after you release a game you suddenly become a sort of, I don't know, minor celebrity? Before I was contacting press, now press started to contact me... A weird feeling I tell you :D I definitelly recommend to make a Steam release, if nothing else for the insane visibility your game gets (not among players, but among press and thieves trying to trick you into giving them codes they can sell later).

I went the Early Access route. I know, risky, but I already am glad for this decision. It fits my development style (and I have a mini forum on Steam where I could spam for feedback and the like :D) althrough I would not recommend it for everyone.

Here is the store link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/446000/ (I still feel weird when I can search for "pocket" and it shows my game :D)