The marketing problem is indeed a major obstacle I feel. As you said, most of us simply aren't interested in marketing and I'd rather be improving the game or starting on my next project. Whilst I love programming games and would like to start another, it does feel rather disheartening to think that nobody will ever play them. A solution to the marketing issue would be nice.

I'm considering putting it on Clay.io as the host and trying to drive traffic from Kongregate and other places over to there. That way I get paid for advertising at both ends but I can't imagine it being much. There are lots of other places, but it seems like a lot of work that I'd rather be spending doing programming.

pixel, the fog was basically put there for that purpose, to show the movement. I guess stars might have been better in the end but the fog has other effects (it changes in different systems to give an idea of the amount of gases your ship is collectig). One of the radars can be turned off to make more room.

It's a great idea to post your demo regularly in my opinion, so that people can give feedback. It's too easy as the developer to think stuff is obvious which isn't obvious to the player.

As far as I'm aware, there are no rules against posting a link to your unfinished game for us to test.

Thanks Dave, it's nice to see the work appreciated. I'd like to monetize, but I reckon the game is too complicated and right now, I'd be happy to just see it played by people. I've tried MarketJS but no response. I'm going to look into Kongregate but it needs a max resolution of 800 so I'll have to scale it down a bit. Not sure if I should do a demo (limited to level 2 upgrades) and then a paid version for like 49 cents or 99 cents.

The gas in the foreground was added for just the reason you mentioned. In a space game, you have to have something moving quickly to give the impression of movement. Usually people use stars but I liked the gas effect more - took ages to get it right but I'm pleased with the end result. If you go to the gas giants or the purple planets, it changes colour and looks really nice, especially on the green and red planets (don't go to the red planets though unless you want to insta-die :p ).

The fact that you enjoy the game is encouraging me to keep plugging away with it. I really don't know where to put the game though. Kongregate and Newgrounds seem like the best ideas, they just seem a bit fiddly with HTML5 games. For example, I think I have to host the game myself with Kongregate and if it gets a lot of hits, won't that mean a huge amount of bandwidth on my server (bearing in mind the game is quite a large download first time)?

If you have any experience with marketing and feel you could help me out, I'd be interested in working with somebody on this side of things.

Thanks for the advice guys, lots to mull on. Since it would be purely for developing, I'll go for something very cheap with no contract. I guess the weaker it is, the more I'll have to be careful with objects etc, so I'll go for something at the bottom end of the scale.

I'm new to the physics engine, so just playing around with it.

Let's say the player pushes into a rock. The problem with the standard behaviour is that if he runs fast enough, he runs straight through the rock which flies over his head. Also if he pushes it into a solid wall, he runs underneath and it raises over his head again.

So, how can I make him push the rock, but never actually overlap it?

I didn't even realise they were doing a new Elite, awesome. But you're right, I'll change the name. I'm not sure what to call it though, any ideas?

Oddly enough, it wasn't initially based entirely on Elite. The initial idea was for a sort of space-ship simulator and the repairs part was central to the game, but it was too fiddly so I made it automated. The trading part I added later, it was kind of obvious really.

The trick with combat, when the enemies become stronger is to keep moving and spinning to keep your stronger shields facing them. But yeah, initially it can be a bit easy I guess.

As for monetizing, I'd like to make something from it. It was great fun to work with and I've learnt lots about C2, but it would at least be nice to see my game get some plays. I've stuck it on MarketJS, if that doesn't work, any other ideas? What do people normally do with their projects? Maybe stick it everywhere as a demo and charge like 49 cents for the full version, such as Chrome Web store and other indie sites?

Thanks for the messages guys :)

I live in the UK but I'm sure most that applies here. It's very confusing, just so many targets. I suppose any basic phone would do the trick for starters, it's not like I'd be making the world's best games, it'd mainly be for experimenting at first.

I only want something to develop on, something which is weak so my finished game will work on just about anything. And which is the largest/best market? Is Android the way to go?

I wouldn't want a contract at all, I have a very old mobile phone and I barely use that.

I'll be honest, I know nothing about the mobiles that can run C2 games. What would be a really cheap phone that I could pick up to test C2 games on? Presumably if it's cheap it'll be bad, meaning if a game runs on that, it'll run on more expensive ones?

Looks very nice and professional. A demo would be nice so we can see if we can help you iron out any bugs or problems (it's easy when you're playing your own game over and over to just think some stuff is obvious, when it isn't to the player).

Thanks, glad you liked it. I'm really pleased with the way some of the effects worked out, such as the smoke and the shields. Something I doubt I could have done without C2.

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking of perhaps a demo with a full version for 99 cents or something.

As you say, there is a market for complex games and I'd prefer to write such games as they're the kind of games I prefer to play. I'll read through the articles, thanks :)

My new game 'Korelos' is close to completion. It's an 'Elite' style space game of trading, asteroid mining and combat with a timed-goal of defeating the opposing faction.

Korelos

(Now renamed and link to the Clay.io version).

I'm pleased with some of the effects in this game, but overall I fear it's too complex and difficult to get into (there's a tutorial on the right, the book icon). Is there a market out there for complex HTML5 games such as strategy games?

I should point out this is the full-screen version which may run badly on slower PC's. The screen is too cluttered at 800x600 for the arcade (can't stick it on the arcade anyway as the ship movement uses a plugin, otherwise it's all built-in C2 stuff).