My new game's finished...with video, and a rant to the industry.

[jstrike]

So... I've been talking about how I had all these new game ideas lined up, which probably nobody believed me about, and for awhile I've been so busy with running my Bitcoin casino that I haven't had a chance to sit down and make any of them a reality. But all I want to do is design new games, and I've got all these crazy sketches in my notebook. It takes a couple hundred hours to turn any of them into what I see in my head. But I don't like people thinking I'm just blowing smoke when I say I'm workin on something, so here goes another one... like I said, I'm just gonna keep doing this and I hope it does scare the crap out of MG and Playtech. This is the first new slot since I launched my site 3 months ago, and my fourth one so far. I love making these things, thinking about them, how to make them original and how to make 'em fun.



Video's a little choppy because I took it on my laptop, but the game plays smooth on any computer from the last 2-3 years. It's called Scuba Cube, and in keeping with how I want to do things differently, it's designed to be a real combination of brains and luck. You can win it either way. I don't think there's anything quite like it out there, it's kind of a slot, kind of skill-based... has a perfect 100% RTP if it's played perfectly every time, or about a 96% RTP if you just play it in slot mode. I wanted to share it here first... it's going online tonight for the Bitcoin players... what happens next, nobody knows

Now, two different industry software companies asked me to come work for them if I'd shut down and ditch my casino project and my work for the last few years, in exchange for a high-five, low-six figure sum, and ...I can't do that. Because broke and in debt as I am, I quit the only decent job I had for this, and having put every dime I ever made into this thing, I don't want to spend the next year of my short, drunk, gambling & smoking life working on another goddamn Pai Gow game or somethin. Only to be forgotten. This is part one of a five-or-six-part opus, guys. Now I have respect for the casinos that made the offers because they're fair, and honest, but I'm sick of seeing the same old stuff and I suspect a lot of players are, too. So this is a little rant for the industry folks... I do want to make money, I'm not some kinda maniac ascetic who digs being poor and living on lentils, even though I've lived on lentils plenty and I don't have a problem with 'em. Being a Bitcoin casino owner is great, and now I have a fireplace, which is new for me, and now I'd like to get paid what my time's worth. I get that I'm not invited to the club as a casino owner, and I'll never be because no casino owner in history ever wrote his own software and it's a rich man's game. But I'm not a just another keyboard jockey you can stick in a cubicle and forget about. Despite the fact I didn't go to college and never held down a white collar job, I drove a cab long enough to know when I'm about to get taken for a ride.

So here's what I can do. You can look at it and play with it, and I don't need no patent 'cause it'll cost you at least $125k to reproduce it, and I can make two more in the time it takes you to do it. I wrote the math, the graphics, the platform, the 3D rotations, the sounds, the security and the interface in less than 3 months from concept to completion...and I also plan to make money off selling it, and not a little. If you know your software sucks or your games are old or no one trusts your brand, however honest and reputable and innovative you are; and you paid $300k last year for a team of guys who didn't do much; you probably need a fresh view on things. You're gonna get what you pay for. You think I'm just so desperate I'll go work for basically nothing, for the privilege of it or something, and give up my dream of freedom just to make a quick buck? I won't. You know, at night I think about how to write these things, and how I'd write 'em if I was locked in a cell...how just thinking the math would keep me alive, how I'd do it in my head so I wouldn't go crazy, and how when I came out I'd be prepared to do one a day. So far I haven't heard anything that makes me want to give up any degree of independence, and if I have to steal all your customers over to Bitcoin by writing better games than your outsource guys in India can, then that's the way I'll go. So... don't try forcing me to give up what I care about the most, my site, my independence and my creativity. Which would be why you'd want to hire me in the first place, right? You can grind on another 10 years the way you're goin', and don't worry about me...I have a long way to go before I catch up... but if you aren't offering an alliance based on mutual respect, then it's something you think I'm just a kid you can take advantage of.

Anyway, rant finished, I'm goin out to smoke a cigarette and take a deep breath. It's been a long three months, and I'm going to write about all of it on my blog here later.

[anniemac]

Good for you, JStrike.

[binary128]

JStrike,

My initial reaction, and final response, to your video - Wow! Absolute wow! Absolute freakin' amazing wow! I called up one of our Flash developers because I wanted to tell them "You have got to to see this!" (They weren't home, so no response there.)

As to the actual game - I don't know yet. I think I would have to play it for awhile to see. It may not prove to be my particular cup of tea, but for that I'd just have to see.


My response to your rant:

A few minutes ago I re-read a post I made in another thread, in which I used the words "damn game", confusing, silly, bullshit, crap, garbage, insulting, annoying, and "the sad truth". I thought to myself; "Damn, I'm a cranky old bastard, aren't I?".

After reading your rant, I thought to myself; "Damn, he's an even crankier bastard than I am, and he's not even old yet!"

Chris

[jod5413]

WTG!!!! It is really great to see integrity and grit in today's world. I am quite overwhelmed by your "rant". Good Job!!

[Nifty29]

Ahhhhh.....now THIS is what makes the forums worthwhile.

No bullshit. No whining. No conspiracies.

Wonderful

[LaHutti]

Jstrike ... I only have 2 words: Respect man

[vinylweatherman]

THis kind of thing would suit those operators that utilise a multi-software platform. This frees them from being tied to just one supplier, and they can buy in as little as one game from an independent developer. The key is to ensure that these games are easy to integrate into such platforms, so that there are as few barriers as possible to the game's deployment.

Operators who already offer unusual games are most likely to be interested in this kind of offering. Those who stick to the tried and tested "standard" casino games are going to take alot of convincing, and even then are only going to dabble with offerings from a established supplier.

Unusual games, and multi-software platforms, seem to be found mostly in sportsbook operations that have a "games" section on their site. 3Dice also seems more willing than most to experiment with the unusual. For weird and wonderful slot concepts, Slotland/WinaDay has plenty, and it is hard to find a "bog standard" slot game on either site.

The offers from the bigger companies show they recognise talent, but they want to OWN it by having you as an employee, rather than licensing the games. THEY will then reap the big rewards if one of these games really takes off, leaving you with only your salary, and when they have used you up, they can end your contract, yet THEY will continue to profit from the games.

If you play "hardball", as you seem to be doing, they will have no choice but lease any games they want, or go without. Once you get one mainstream operator to license one of these games, the rest will sit up and take notice because you will then be a REAL threat, and if the game is good enough, they will ALL want it rather than have their players go looking elsewhere for it.

They want rid of your Bitcoin casino because at the moment it is a platform that offers these games that is beyond their control. They can only compete with it by using their own offerings.

The above game will appeal to players who like to play a "thinking person's game", rather than just press a button and get a result. Calling it a "slot" is not strictly accurate, as it has more in common with the AWP or "Fruit Machine", where in game interactions influence the outcome, and the better player can get a better RTP.

This one should appeal to those who used to play "Rubik's Cube" when it was the "in thing". Such players are also likely to be skilled enough to get a near perfect 100% RTP.

[DiamondGeezer]

Smoking

Re Rant: I am getting a flavour of Ben & Jerry's (before they sold out obv!) with a twist of Robert Di Niro coming through.

Can't wait for the blog .

[same_old]

I want a 500% bonus at 3 times WR because I know the man who wrote the software!!

[SlotMonster]

I'd thanked your original post twice if I could. Awesome job! Waiting for the blog post!