Experimental Videogames

The Kongregate Experiment

Recently I uploaded I wish I were the Moon and Storyteller to Kongregate.

My goal was to figure out if it’s a good platform to publish my work, since Ludomancy is very limited on the people it’s reaching now.

I figured that the people of Kongregate would be accustomed to Armor Games-sponsored Tower Defense, Stick Games and casual RPGs, so I expected Moon and Storyteller to rate very low and only get comments like “gay” and “wtf not a game 1/5″.

So I was really surprised by the reaction… Moon got a high rating, plenty of positive comments, and it survived on the homepage of Kongregate as a “Hot New Game” for at least a couple days. This was truly heartwarming for me, and I appreciate the open heart of the Kongregate community.

As for Kongregate itself, I think it needs more work on the developer relations… the developer forum is not searchable, the documentation insufficient to explain badges, and there are almost no statistics. But the bigger problem is the business model… I personally despise ads, and I would love to see other options for making money, or disconnecting ads completely. If you were wondering, after 66,000 gameplays, Moon made… 45 bucks (it can be increased by implementing the Kongregate API and sigining exclusively, but still).

Having said that, I will probably release every game I make on Kongregate because you always learn something from feedback when you are trying something new.

Update: it got around 90,000+ gameplays now.
Update2: made it to the front page of newgrounds too.
Update3: it got around 97,700+ gameplays and 92 US dollars now. In a couple of weeks, I’ll be implementing the Kongregate API to enable badges and see what happens with the comments, the rate and the gameplays. I had the numbers I wanted from the “pure” release anyway.

Still first at “New Hot Games” with more than 68k gameplays. Awesome work, awesome results.

I expected Moon and Storyteller to rate very low and only get comments like “gay” and “wtf not a game 1/5″.

LOL!!!

Muy bueno Dani.
Your game also appeard on reddit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/745xm/i_wish_i_were_the_moon_a_flash_game_about_a_weird/

I love how those douchebags always dismiss something by saying it’s not a game. It’s like the inverse of old white people saying something isn’t art because it’s not realist or whatever.

Duchamp’s toilet, not an art, lol.

I saw you got a review on playThisThing some days ago and yesterday I Wish… was linked on waxy.org.

pretty neat. congrats.

I hope to see more games with this concept, and I am glad you uploaded the game to Kongregate because it allowed me to toy with your other concept games; works of art, which are exceptionally original. I hope many others also benefit from the discovery of your other works; mostly Heartbroken and The Trials. I thank you for making these.

Out of interest, I noticed your post about considering changing what language you use to create your games. Does Kongregate insist on Java/Flash, or are there more choices on offer?

@Matthew: Kongregate only supports Flash, not Java. Otherwise I would have uploaded my other games .

Ah yes, should have realised that, sorry It might be worth you looking at the Unity engine too. Especially as it offers a relatively cheap way to get on Wii, and has a browser plug-in option.

Congrats. 45 more bucks than I’ve ever made.

I saw this game on Kongregate (and like you said, it got some of those responses that weren’t appreciative, especially “really short i beat it in like 5 mins LOL”) But it really is a neat game with an awesome concept, along with great execution. If there were a series like this, I would definitely look forward to the next one.

I enjoy that it’s short, yet it leaves me wanting more.

Really cool work. Great job.

Hi, I found your game on Kongregate, loved it, followed the link here and read most of your blog

I really like your work and think it’s brilliant that you released it to a wider audience – you could well have received some unpleasant comments and it was quite a risky move. I’m also touched that Kongregate’s audience were so welcoming and receptive, congratulations!

Some of the comments on Kongregate are walkthroughs describing how to reach all of the endings. There are a number of people who will play and write about games in this way, exploring all of the possibilities in the engine.

Given this, you could get some interesting results if you uploaded something procedural like Night Raveler, especially if you had a procedural game with many emergent, generated endings to explore.

i really like your games i hope to be able to try out more in the near future

Really awesome game, man.
Keep up the good work.
Why are you so stubborn about putting in API or using the other bonuses?

@Shadow: I’m not sure I want to attract the wrong kind of attitude towards the game… if you want a badge, having to deal with a game with weird gameplay is only going to make you hate it.

I will test the Kongregate API at some point, though.

I came here from Kongregate too. There are a sizable group of people there who are hungry for creative, artistic games so I loved seeing this on the front page, like a tiny jewel. Please keep submitting your work to the site, and thanks for the lovely experience.

this game is also on jayisgames.com today

Reading this makes me very happy my friend.. you deserve it!! And you should keep making more and more of this knd of games!

Hey, from kongregate here. just wanted to say I really liked your game, but not all of us are like the people who post comments dismissing the game. When they announced Runescape, half the users creamed themselves and started bitching about it, but eventually things worked out and it got the rating it truly deserved. We’re a relatively new community, but there’s tons of potential. Sorry if I’m not making any sense here, but I’m just trying to say that we’re not all idiots. Great game.

[...] He was, understandably, hesitant – expecting either comment abuse or obscurity. He explains in a blog post: '…My goal was to figure out if it’s a good platform to publish my work, since Ludomancy is [...]

Im really fond fo your work,Its very creative,I’ve never seen anything like it

I hope you go big man,GO BIG!

oh an do the characters have any names? Im starting to get attached to them XD

played it weeks before. found it on newgrounds and rated 4/5.

(From Kongregate, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun.) I like the Moon Stories, but Starwave is great; gotta bring that stuff back!

do they pay you those 92 buks? I have 27.66$ but I’m 14 and asked mom about this and she thinks it is a fraud. If you have an answer please answer on my account on kongregate. My name is holgeir564. Check out my games as well.

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Contact Me

Follow @danielben daniel.benmergui@gmail.com

	Today I Die IGF 2010 Finalist, Indiecade 2010 Jury Award, my most well-known artgame.
	I Wish I Were the Moon Indiecade 2010 Jury Award, an artgame about unfulfilled loves.
	Heartbroken Uruguayans A "vignette game" about relationships.
	Starwave (Prototype) A tactical puzzle, fully playable.

The Kongregate Experiment

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