zxdplay

16 minutes ago, Link said:

I would be interested if there are enough good launch games.

 

Straight away, I doubt any project could find 170 buyers on this site in the time span of one campaign. Do you have other places where you will promote this? 

What will HS offer that Ouya didn't?

How will you attract other developers? 

Will HS use C programming, or what?

HS will use C language or java for development, but which one to use requires further evaluation of the hardware performance before making a choice.
I haven't done any publicity because I'm too busy. I'll consider it after the HS console is finished.

46 minutes ago, Scrobins said:

I am intrigued and would be interested in purchasing if you reached the necessary threshold. Do you have any games in development for the console already as well?

I am currently planning the first game release, and I am the only one working on it. Therefore, HS is actually a

"HOMEBREW game console", 

Hello, everyone. Today I want to discuss something with you. I have been thinking about making a brand new 2D cartridge game console. I don't know how many people are interested in it.
I have always wanted to develop games on game consoles with cartridges, because I like physical cartridges. I previously planned to make games on the SFC (SNES) and SEGA MD (Genesis), 
but soon I found that it was too difficult to make games on these two platforms.The CPU in the SFC is too weak to program in C language, and I can't even buy an original MD machine. The biggest pain is music production. The BGMs I can get are all wav, mp3, or midi. 
Due to the capacity limitation of the cartridge, it is not practical to save PCM audio sources in the cartridge.
Moreover, neither SFC nor MD supports midi playback, and converting midi to a playable format has poor results. I am not proficient in music, and although I can appreciate it, I cannot compose or produce music myself. I believe many Homebrew game producers have encountered the same problem when producing music.

So I came up with an idea to create a brand new game console, a game platform designed specifically for Homebrew game creators and players.
The name of the new game platform is HOMEBREW SUPPORTER, referred to as HS below.

HS should have the following features:
1. Use cartridge as the storage medium for game resources, with a cartridge slot similar to the 60pin slot of the FC.
2. The game graphics are mainly 2D, with rotation, scaling, and semi-transparency (Alpha blending) effects. It supports high-definition output with a maximum resolution of 1920x1080 at 60fps.
3. The game development is easy to learn and has low development costs, allowing game creators to fully unleash their imagination.
4. Music can be played in wave, mp3, midi, and common music formats. This ensures the quality of the music while shortening the development cycle and reducing the difficulty of game creation.
5. It is open to all Homebrew developers, and anyone can develop games on this platform without any royalty fees.

The  price of HS is between $50 and $80. I would like to seek your advice here. If you are willing to purchase, please let me know in the reply to this thread. I will calculate the total number. When the total number of willing purchasers exceeds 170, I will officially launch this project.

It's actually a wish list. It's not about actually paying, but just asking if you are willing to add HS to your wish list. If the total number of people in the wish list exceeds 170, I will start the project.
 

It should be mentioned that HS is not an emulator, not an Android box, but a brand-new game console. If HS can be successfully produced, I will continue to develop games for HS. The first batch of consoles will come with a free game.

Finally, regarding the NFT incident, it was a mistake that I made. I apologize to everyone here and hope to receive your forgiveness. Thank you.

The first batch of consoles is a test model, and the shell is borrowed from the FH-C26 (an 8-bit clone of the NES), and the HDMI and USB interfaces are installed on the back panel.

The picture below is not a real machine, just the finished look

star keeper was invited to participate in the steam event
Steam SHMUP Fest
25 Sep - 2 Oct, 2023

6 hours ago, Jfreakofkorn said:

Ah snap 

This is badazz , finally 

Thank you for bringing us the game on the next level , PC 

I hope that the following games will be made into game cartridges. In fact, what I really like is physical cards.

If there are any problems during the game operation, please give me feedback so that I can handle them immediately

Astebros looks really impressive, and I'm confident that it will be a success. The backgrounds and every frame of the animation must have been hand-drawn by professional artists.

The PC version has been officially released on Steam, priced at $9.99. There was a 12% discount in the week leading up to the launch, bringing the price down to $8.79.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2465770/Star_Keeper/

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

MINIMUM:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

OS: Windows 7 or higher

Processor: Dual core 1GHz

Memory: 200 MB RAM

Graphics: A graphics card that supports OpenGL3.3 or above is required

Storage: 80 MB available space

Sound Card: Onboard sound chip

Key Input

The game defaults to keyboard controls.W, A, S, D correspond to Up, Left, Down, Right respectively (similar to NES D-pad).

C and V correspond to select and start buttons respectively.

J and K correspond to B and A buttons respectively

Press Right Alt+Enter to enter full-screen mode, and press Esc to exit full-screen.

You can also use a controller for gameplay. You will need to configure it in the controller settings interface.

Now many people can finally play this game

5 minutes ago, RetroX85 said:

Is there a password for lives?   

No, this password is used for continuing the game.

1 minute ago, RetroX85 said:

Is that a choice weapons screen? 

haha,that is password input screen!!

the player can finally turn off the power and continue playing next day
 

9 hours ago, RetroX85 said:

@zxdplayHope things work out soon with Steam. I'll gladly buy the PC version and have another go at Star Keeper with the bonus level and easter eggs you've included with this release.  

thank you, The problem with Steam has been resolved,Thank goodness

now I need to add a new feature to the game.

I must go to bed now. See you tomorrow

there

5 minutes ago, Gloves said:

People don't tend to re-read the original post after their first time doing so, fyi. It's good that you update it, but making a quick post to say "please see my updates on the first post" or similar helps point people in the right direction. 

I made a new post explaining

@John Riggs It's already late here, and it's 2 AM. I should get some sleep. 
Sir, I sincerely hope that you can help us.

1 hour ago, John Riggs said:

Ferris just clued me into this. 

Sounds fun! Though talking about homebrews and indie projects don't get near as many clicks, there are a few who are really into it and I'm always happy to spread the love. 

Still, there's gotta be a way to reverse engineer the original rom and change the mapper so it'll work on traditional mappers or something.

Welcome, I have sent you a private message. Please take a look

1 minute ago, RetroX85 said:

Any plans when you'll have it on Steam ? 

It's hard to say for sure. I've been waiting for news from Steamworks these past few days. I have already submitted the required documents to register a Steamworks account, but I have been facing issues throughout the registration process. I have been communicating with Steam customer support, but it hasn't been going smoothly. It might take a few more days. Additionally, even after officially becoming a Steam developer, I will need to study how to use the Steamworks SDK, which will also take some time.
 

The price will definitely be much lower than $30, but it hasn't been finalized yet! Initially, it was set at $30 because I wasn't familiar with the market for digital game versions on Steam.

4 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Why not take the advice and make it cheaper?

I did accept everyone's suggestions and crossed out the sentence about the $30 price in my original statement. Furthermore, I updated the post and provided additional information to explain that I have accepted everyone's suggestions and will reprice it. Didn't you see it?

2 hours ago, a3quit4s said:

I’m not sure what you have planned marketing wise, but this game is not going to sell itself the way you think it will. Don’t get me wrong I hope it does but, personally, I think your on your way to wasting all that time porting the game. 

It wasn't a waste of time. In fact, the PC version should have been developed long ago. It's just that I never found the time to plan it properly, and that's why it has been delayed until now. The main purpose behind creating this game was not solely for the next game; the primary objective was to give those who truly wanted to play Star Keeper the opportunity to do so. The physical version of the NES game is being sold at inflated prices, making it unaffordable for many people. I understand that you value the experience of playing on the actual NES console, but not everyone shares the same perspective. Some people simply want to be able to play the game, and having a PC version is better than not having one at all.

As for sales, I am completely okay if the sales are low. I am not lacking money in my life. Of course, if the game becomes a huge success, I would be even happier. I could use the earnings to do more things, like creating Star Keeper 2

5 hours ago, a3quit4s said:

I agree that a lower price may lead to more sales but you have to remember there are like a million $5-$10 games on steam. He is only advertising here thus far. Gotta put some bucks up to market the game or maybe Riggs can help put the word out

I’m still under the impression the creator is wildly overestimating the popularity of this game. Sure we all know about it, but the average joe doesn’t even know what a NES is anymore much less Star Keeper. 

I agree with your conclusion, but I haven't overestimated my game. We all know that the VGS homebrew community is very different from the Steam community, so it's hard to say how the game will perform on Steam. The game's sales could be in single digits, or it could be a lot. As I mentioned before, it's possible that we may never reach our goal, or we could achieve it quickly. Everything is filled with unknown variables.

7 minutes ago, Khromak said:

If it's $30, I will buy a copy for myself, maybe one for a friend or two.

If it's $10, I'd buy a 10-pack and give them to everyone even remotely interested in video games I know.

If it's $5, I'd buy a 20-pack and give them to every friend I have on Steam.

All I'm saying is, for my part I'm going to do my best to make sure this is a success, regardless of price point. I'll certainly be telling all my gamer friends about it, though it's not the biggest group tbh.

Thank you very much for your support

4 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

That's why people are saying price it lower. $30 and you just get us nuts buying it. And we're pretty small.

Price it at $10, you'll get a whole lot more people around the world considering it.

$5, you're in impulse buy territory.

You're right, I'll think about it again

2 hours ago, Gloves said:

I have to imagine that "1000 sales" is the goal at the $29 price point. 

OP is hoping to get around $20k (assuming he's accounted for the chunk that Valve takes) from the PC release, by my estimate. If his only goal was to sell a thousand he could put it up for a buck and be done quickly. 

Excluding Steam's commission and taxes, I can receive up to 65% of the total sales revenue.