Hey! I am back from Balticon, and so it's time for the HL release train to rumble into motion. Here's the first stage:
I have posted a new release of Hadean Lands to my Humble Store and Itch.IO pages. This is the new Lectrote-based app, for MacOS, Windows, and Linux, with autosave and integrated map and journal windows.
Details...
Bug reports are very welcome. Any bug I fix before the Steam launch is a win.
This release includes both a native app and the bare HadeanLands.gblorb game file, so you can play HL on any Glulx interpreter. (But you don't get the dynamic map and journal if you play that way.)
If you have saved games from the original (2014) release of HL, they are not compatible with this release. Sorry! I've stuck the original HadeanLands-2014.gblorb in the package too, so if you really want to go back to your old save files, it's possible.
(The differences between the current 2016 release and the old 2014 release are small. A few typos, a couple of fixes for obscure ritual corner cases, some improvements to parser disambiguation.)
Here's the important announcement: On June 20th, the price is going up! When HL launches on Steam -- that's June 20th -- it will launch at a price of $12 US. On that day, I am raising the price on the Humble and Itch stores to match. (The iOS version will remain at $5.)
This means that you have three weeks to buy the new version of the game at the old price. Think of it as a secret preparing-for-Steam sale.
Obviously, it's not a secret secret that the game is still available for $5. This is the Internet and you're reading it. But it's a fine line between "I underpriced HL when I originally released it" and "you're jacking up the price on us, you jerk." I don't want to get into that argument on the Steam store page for HL. My position there is "This is a $12 game." Keep it simple, keep it focussed on the Steam launch.
Okay, what else is going on...
If you've looked over the Steam store page you've probably noticed the DLC! Yes, Hadean Lands will have DLC, and no -- I'll spill the joke right away -- it's not extended game content. It's the Hadean Lands Solo Adventurer Pledge Certificate. That is, you can pay extra money for a certificate that you sign promising not to look at hints. Purely optional, I assure you.
The certificate will only be available through Steam. I've put up a detailed explanation on the DLC page. So far, comments are running 100% for "clever idea"... okay, that's 100% of one comment. Still, a positive response. Might even make me some extra money.
Speaking of commentary, Hadean Lands was discussed in three Xyzzymposium posts recently:
- Caleb Wilson on Best Setting
- Aaron A. Reed on Best Use of Innovation
- Joey Jones on Best Implementation
(These posts discuss the nominees for the XYZZY Awards in those categories for 2014. HL won all three of those categories that year, along with Best Puzzles.)
A question which I am still debating: when the Steam launch happens, who do I send Steam keys to?
The original Kickstarter backers definitely get them. I think the IndieGameStand sale this past January promised Steam keys to buyers, so I'll fulfil those.
I don't plan to give Steam keys out to Itch and Humble purchasers from the past year and a half. Those folks have access to the new version already (see above), so I think I'm okay with this decision. (I asked around, and it seems like some game devs in my position do pass out retroactive Steam keys, but not all.)
To answer another question that popped up on IFMud: Yes, there will be trading cards. A set of six.
(So you will also be able to "craft a badge", whatever that means... and get HL emoticons... I am very out of touch on this aspect of Steam.)
On the Steam store page, you probably want to fix the note about the XYZZY Awards— there's a "the" with no noun attached. Looks good otherwise. (I've received a fair number of Steam trading cards, and I haven't figured out the badge stuff, either.)
Hm? The award squib says
Winner of the XYZZY Interactive Fiction Awards for Best Puzzles, Best Setting, Best Implementation, and Best Use of Innovation for 2014.
Is that not what you see?
Looks like this on my phone, at least:
http://i.imgur.com/tEvweJ0.jpg
But it's good on my laptop.
Steam mobile must just pull out the awards name link in that dumb way.
Yeah, it's doing something screwy with the bbcode in the mobile version. I've changed it to have the link as a trailing "(link)", which looks less silly on phones.
Thanks!