What a shame that MikeHibbert didn't reach the goal. It would be a great alternative for the sims-like.

The author doesn't take seriously his project anyway or he answered to everybody.

Probably his project was not going anywhere with poor graphics and he knows it. La Vida couldn't compete with the Sims 3.

If I were the author, I'll release the game as free (freeware) and make another one more seriously.

I think MikeHibbert started La Vida to get attention to media.

I've been seeing stuff about this game for at least a year now, but that's because I searched hard for Sims competitors. The organiser doesn't seem to know how to promote it, and if there is a clear idea about the goals of this game as opposed to The Sims it is still inside his head and not published for us to gain interest in the project. I would suggest starting with Android/iOS/Facebook development and then branching out into PC/console games. A much bigger following can be gained by beginning with free-to-play games, and if he doesn't want to use (what I agree is a horrible) micro-transaction scheme it can be ad-supported and rely on how often the player signs in for game currency and new items. Sure, phone and Facebook gamers are not quite the same audience as PC gamers, but there is some overlap especially with this type of game and it's the best way to make sure the franchise is heard of, makes money from the outset, and makes the best use of the technology at hand before a big budget is gathered.

On a side-note, it's good that the GTA developers are reaping the rewards for their excellent work. I remember when those people were a small outfit, but they had clever brains, and a desire to try new tricks. Now look at them, probably the best in their league and those profits have produced breathtaking results.
The opposite of EA, in fact.

Mike Hibbert.

Sigh.

Planted the seeds. Didn't bother to water the plant.

Some sunlight would have been nice too.

La Vida? More like La Muerte.

I wonder how much of the donations would have gone to hiring an advertiser?

My guess is, he expected his project to get donations solely on merit, realized it wasn't happening (seven days before the end date!), made a token effort to rectify it, and then gave up in a fit of pique when his half-assed attempt didn't do anything.

It's really too bad. The game looked decent for a single person's work. If he'd actually done some advertising - and had more realistic monetary goals - this might have gone somewhere. I have no experience with advertising and I could have done better. And Mike, if you ever stop sulking and come back and decide you need someone to do it for you, I can and will prove it.

Also, what's up with the womens' spines? They're standing as if they were pregnant, but the baby bump was in their breasts. Spines don't work that way! My back is hurting just looking at them!

Gosh he didn't need formal advertising - some interaction with potentially interested players might have done the trick!

I found Mr. Hibbert's post about La Vida on one of the Linux forums. I gave him a bunch of detailed feedback on his Kickstarter and why I felt it needed more work. He responded to my post, and even went back and edited his Kickstarter pitch to address some of my comments. So, even though he didn't follow up here, he does appear to be willing to listen to feedback. Hopefully he won't give up on it just yet, but there are many details he needs to address.

Also, if anyone is wondering about the tech behind the game, he mentioned in one of his posts that the game is using the Unity engine (I assume he's still using the free version of Unity - that would explain the lack of shadows in the demo videos).

Well perhaps you could give him our feedback and ask him to post links to where we can find discussion about the game! It's all very well just posting a link to where we can give him money, lol!

Here's a link to the forum thread I mentioned. Apparently he's targetting the Linux audience, so that seems to be his main venue for discussing the game.

La Vida

Without actually being rude about someone I can't express my amazement at this man. EA gather support for their games in forums where gamers go, not forums where people interested in discussing Windows technologies go. He may be a techie, he may be a good game developer (which we don't really know yet) but he's not gonna get his game funded by potential players in that way. If he wants to go on talking about it only on sites about operating system technologies, he'll just have to get formal financing and a business manager, or get the idea bought up by a company that knows how to reach customers.

He may well be intending to market the game as requiring the Linux OS, but you still reach out to gamers primarily, and those who are interested enough will of course install the required OS. That's the way round it's meant to work.

He's using Unity, which allows you to create builds for Linux or Windows (or other OS as well). So Linux shouldn't be a requirement to run the game.

Unity can create windows and linux games. So most likely, he was bragging about the linux feature but assuming that everyone knew about windows. By the way, it is rather easy to make a nice quality mock-up using Unity since the engine does most of the work, and other huge chunks can be purchased by the developer from the Unity store. In a few days, one could make what looks like a game but really is missing the big parts that make the game interesting and unique, which requires coding and scripting.

Hi All

I wanted to come back to address your concerns and really make you aware of the plans for La Vida's future.

First of all a little about myself:

I'm a 41 year old software developer from the NE UK where I've been developing applications for over 20 years now. I've developed more applications, (not just games), than I care to remember.

I'm not a trained writer or a media savvy genuis either so apologies if my spreading the word only amounted to 1,162 views of my kickstarter page. This seems to have been enough for other more well funded projects to have gain success. Clearly not the case with mine.

Its agreed that perhaps this was a premature and I need to work some more on providing a demo or displays of more actions that you can get up to in the game, so thats what I'm doing currently.

As a result of that plan I've been and spent more money from my company account on some equipment to record motion capture for animating the 'Characters' and I plan to add some GUI interfaces as well include the long term goal system that will drive the game out of the 'Like the Sims' arena.

As I run my own company this will have to remain as it was before, all done in my spare time.

I'll try my best in future to keep in contact with you guys as I see you all have a lot of good ideas as to what you would like to see done differently. Please feel free to offer suggestions if you have specific ideas.

So far the game is going to be geared towards not 'fulfilling your dream life', its more about learning to accept yourself and learning to work with what you are ... and maybe even dispelling some of the stupid ideas that the media put forward as a 'way to success'.

I'll be honest, I dont have 100% of every single aspect of the game worked out but I have a vision and that always been enough for me to complete projects in the past. So I'm still plugging away, albeit without a artist to supply the 'Better graphics' that will make the game look more modern and appealing.

Your all invited to offer suggestions and of course if you'd like to play test the game once there's more to look at then your very welcome.

Regards

Mike

Hey Mike, great to hear from you again. Please remember that there is a huge audience out there for this kind of game, and if you can connect - and stay connected - with that audience, you'll find them to be an invaluable resource.

I think you really need to create a website (or specifically, a forum) just for La Vida. When I wanted to learn more about it, I had to hunt through Google to find your other forum posts. If La Vida had its own forum, you could really get all of the potential players - and all of their feedback - in one convenient place. As others have pointed out, your potential audience is much bigger than just the Linux users.

Ok, I see what I can do to get one under way and when its ready I'll post the address here.

Mike

Mike, I think I am in a minority for badly wanting just a human life simulation rather than a game with goals, but many more people would like less gimmick/quest stuff than The Sims is increasingly giving us, and a little more attempt to emulate human needs and intelligence! I'd really like it if your characters had their bowels seperate from their bladders, their thirst seperate from their hunger, and some intelligence to realise that if they need to be at work in one hour they don't start cooking a 3-course meal for breakfast that takes two hours, but rather deal with a bladder that will be burst all over the floor in a few minutes and then eat a quick snack before work! I am not asking them to be rocket scientists, just simulate some awareness.

Preferably not the uncanny psychic awareness that Sims have, where they may have trouble remembering where their own toilet is at home, but the moment they set foot on a lot they've never seen before in their lives they not only know where every object is, even behind locked doors, but how much they all cost (they use expensive items in preference).

I do applaud your determination, but I can't help thinking that it's perhaps too much of a crusade for one man.
There's an element of "If you can't beat them, join them" to this, have you thought about using that mocap equipment to create some new and unique anims for Ts3?
With a new game, alot of old ground will be re-treaded, and after all that work, you still have a percentage chance of no release, and wasted hours.
Worth thinking about.

I just want to add that Inge is not alone.

I would also like a life simulation that isn't heavily reliant on goals.

Um...sorry if I was rude earlier.



So, the player takes a pre-generated character and then has to bring them to success using their 'inborn' talents, personality, desires, etc? That sounds pretty interesting, and I know that some people already play that way.

Some suggestions:
It might be a good idea to outsource some functions. You seem to have computer simulation down, but you could use some other people to advertise for you, figure out the logistics of distribution, make sure legal matters are sorted out, etc. It'll free up more time for you and allow each matter to get attended to with the care it deserves.
Please fix the womens' spines. I know boobs are sexy, but broken backs aren't.

I really hope this turns out well and it looks like you're at least on the road to it.

If there are no reliance on goals what will there be?

I'm afraid I've been asking for help for a few years now and not gotten the help so I decided to go and do it on my own.

Thanks for offering to help I very much appreciate it, and as for the womens backs lol, she, (her name is Joan by the way), is a free model that I found was easy to work with, (and not in the way that sounds lol)

Oh and BTW here's the forum you guys said I should setup: http://la-vida-game.co.uk/forum/


Mike

We would set our own goals, such as whether we'd like our character to marry the guy or girl next door. Or whether we'd like them to have children. There would still be goals (e.g. feed your character to keep them from starving and make sure they get to work on time everyday to avoid the risk of losing their job), but they would be optional.

If our character dies of starvation, the game will only be over for the character, not the player.

Basically, the freedom to do what we want as long as it's reasonable (i.e. characters would still have to make money in order to afford bills and furniture).

Ah ok I see what your getting at!

Yes I like the idea of that, I add that to the wish list.

Mike

Thank you for considering it.

Mike, thank you for coming back and telling us a little bit about yourself. My husband and I are also indie game developers and while we do have a small team, we do a lot of the game creation on our own. It takes a lot of time, years usually. A major company can take 5 years to develop a game, an indie team twice that, depending on funds and the size of the team. Most teams work on a volunteer basis simply because they love game creating.

I like your ideas! Like Inge, I prefer a life simulation rather than goals but goals that are set on something other than making money and buying better stuff doesn't sound bad.

What engine are you using? I have experience with T3d and Unity, both good engines. Are you active on the forums for these engines? Do you have a game design document? I actually have a template for one that I would be glad to share. They are daunting but help a great deal.